Auto Italia posts HK$130.2mln profit

Auto Italia Holdings Ltd posted a gross profit of HK$130.2 million in the six months ended June 30. The company, whose principal activity is investment holdings, has subsidiaries engaged in the import, marketing and distribution of Italian car brands Ferrari and Maserati in Macau and Hong Kong. According to a company filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the group said ‘Ferrari sales in the first half of 2014 started slowly as compared to the corresponding period in 2013.’ This was mainly due to the fact that its latest California T model will only be available for the Hong Kong market in the fourth quarter of the year and that its California 30 model has ceased production. While the California T model was launched in May, the group has already started to receive orders and delivery is forecast for the first quarter of 2015, according to the filing. In addition, the sales performance of the Maserati fared well in the first six months of the year compared with that of the previous year, ‘with a growth of more than twofold in unit sales,’ the filing reads. ‘The portfolio in all model ranges remains strong and we anticipate that the brand will achieve an overall segment share of over 10 percent in 2014.’