By P.R. Venkat

Dongfeng 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.

"The board of directors believes that the expected decrease in operation results is mainly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 since January 2020, which has severely affected the business operation of Chinese enterprises and consumers' expenses," it said Monday.

Dongfeng Motor said most of the impact happened in the first quarter. The resumption of work and production at the company was delayed compared to the industry, it said.

"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.

Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com