Hong Leong Asia expects gradual recovery amid slower vehicle upgrade cycles in China

INDUSTRIAL conglomerate Hong Leong Asia (HLA) expects a more modest pickup as China’s recovery remains slow, and companies hold on to vehicles for a longer period of time.

In an earnings briefing on Monday (Aug 14) for the half-year ended June 2023, the group noted that despite selling fewer engine units as part of its powertrain solutions segment, profit after tax still grew 60.5 per cent year on year to S$48.1 million.

The powertrain solutions segment’s revenue fell 2.4 per cent to S$1.76 billion, and accounted for 84.6 per cent of the company’s total revenue. This comes as the number of engine units sold fell 8.4 per cent to 165,793 units.