By Ben Otto

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. posted a 3.5% rise in profit in the first half, with expectations of a better performance in the remainder of the year on coming vehicle model launches.

The Chinese car maker on Wedneday maintained a full-year sales volume goal of 1.53 million units, up 16% from 2020. It cautioned, however, that the recent worsening of chip availability and the resurgence of Covid-19 globally could threaten sales in the next few months, "thus undermining our chance to achieve the target."

Geely's first-half net profit was 2.38 billion yuan ($366.9 million) versus CNY2.30 billion a year ago. Revenue rose 22% to CNY45.03 billion on robust demand recovery in major markets, it said.

Geely said it expects to face an increasingly competitive auto market in China as the country relaxes restrictions on foreign investment. It said it would further expand export sales to new markets in Southeast Asia and Western Europe in the second half and continue to increase its proportion of new-energy vehicles in its sales mix.

Geely said it expects the rise in raw-material prices to subside in the rest of the year.

Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-18-21 0101ET