-- Inspur Electronic Information Industry (SHE:000977) posted first-quarter attributable net profit of 604.9 million yuan, up 31% from 462.7 million yuan the previous year.
Earnings per share rose to 0.4119 yuan from 0.3143 yuan, according to a Thursday filing on the Shenzhen bourse.
Operating revenue went down 24% year over year to 35.5 billion yuan from 46.9 billion yuan.
Shares of the information technology company were down 6% in recent trade.
Britain's total vehicle manufacturing dropped 8.2% year over year to 72,511 units in March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Thursday.Car production declined 0.8% to 69,755 units, while commercial vehicle output plunged 68.3% to 2,756 units.In the 12 months to March, total vehicle manufacturing decreased 13% to 208,088 units.
New Zealand's total lending edged higher in March, driven by a rise in housing and agricultural loans, even as personal consumer and business lending declined, according to data from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand released on Thursday.Total housing loans from registered banks and non-bank lending institutions in New Zealand grew to NZ$395.64 billion in March from NZ$393.61 billion in February. Total personal consumer lending fell to NZ$14.54 billion in March from NZ$14.66 billion in the previous month.Total business lending decreased to NZ$142.66 billion in the period, from NZ$142.76 billion. Meanwhile, agricultural lending climbed to NZ$63.63 billion in March, from NZ$63.39 billion in the previous month.
China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index was down 0.1 of a percentage point month on month to 50.3% in April, according to a Thursday news release from the National Bureau of Statistics.The PMI for large enterprises was down 1.4 percentage points to 50.2%. The PMIs for medium and small enterprises rose 1.5 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively, to 50.5% and 50.1%.The production and new orders sub-indices remained above the critical point at 51.5% and 50.6%, respectively. The remaining sub-indices for raw material, employment and supplier delivery time were below the critical points at 49.3%, 48.8% and 49.5%, respectively.Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing business activity index was 49.4%, down 0.7 of a percentage point from March.The composite PMI output index was 50.1%, down 0.4 of a percentage point.