F&I Management & Training

Geely Automobile Holdings, the listed arm of China's biggest private carmaker, has reported a 52% rise in profits and issued an upbeat outlook.

It said full-year net profit increased to 1.32bn yuan ($193m; £125m) in 2009, with car sales up 60% to 326,710.

The carmaker anticipates sales growth of 22% this year, helped by incentives from China's government.

Its results come days after its parent company signed a deal to buy Volvo from US car giant Ford for $1.8bn.

Geely Auto achieved record sales of 326,700 in 2009 - 60% higher than a year earlier. But it is still a small player in its home country, having 4% of passenger car sales in China.

The group said it had undergone a three-year "strategic transformation" and said it would introduce "a large number of new models" this year and open two new factories.

"2010 should be a very fruitful year for the group provided that demand for sedans [passenger cars] in China would remain strong during the period," the company said.

China is a rare bright spot in the automotive world, having overtaken the US as the world's biggest market in 2009.

Car sales in China rose to 7.47 million last year, up by almost 50% on 2008, assisted by stimulus measures by its government, which included significant cuts in sales tax for small cars.