VenkatDongfeng Motor Group Co. expects its first-half net profit fell about 60% from a year earlier as Covid-19 curbs severely dented the company's performance. Dongfeng Motor said most of the impact happened in the first quarter. "Since the second quarter, the production and operation of each of the bases of the group gradually resumed to normal level following the ease of the epidemic," it said. Group sales volume outperformed the market in the second quarter, effectively mitigating the downward trend in operation results in the first half. In the first half of last year, the company's net profit was 8.50 billion yuan ($1.23 billion), with revenue coming in at CNY48.45 billion.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 23, 2020 23:59 UTC