(Yicai) Jan. 22 -- Seres Group, which makes cars in partnership with Huawei Technologies, said it likely swung back into the black last year on soaring vehicle sales and the firm’s planned acquisition of a gigafactory has won stock exchange approval.

The automaker expects to report a net profit of between CNY5.5 billion and CNY6 billion (USD756 million and USD825 million) for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, compared with a net loss of CNY2.45 billion (USD337 million) the year before, it announced late yesterday.

Seres attributed the turnaround to strong sales of its Aito brand of new energy vehicles, jointly developed with Huawei. The Chongqing-based company’s total vehicle sales surged 97 percent to 497,000 last year, with NEV sales almost tripling to 426,900.

Shares of Seres [SHA: 601127] sank 5.1 percent to end at CNY131.90 (USD18.16) each today. The wider Shanghai market fell 0.9 percent. The stock has climbed almost 17 percent in the past 12 months.

The firm also disclosed yesterday that a plan unveiled in November to sell almost CNY8.17 billion (USD1.12 million) of shares to fund the purchase of Longsheng New Energy Technology has been approved by the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The target company was set up to make NEVs, with its primary asset being a gigafactory. Seres has leased the gigafactory, which is equipped to enable over 3,000 robots to work in intelligent collaboration, ensuring 100 percent automation in key processes, to produce the Aito series.

Based in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Longsheng New Energy is owned by three state-owned investment platforms: Chongqing Industry Investment Fund, Liangjiang New Area Development and Investment Group, and Liangjiang New Area Industry Development Group.

China’s securities regulator still needs to sign off on the purchase, Seres said, adding that on completion of the deal, it will own the gigafactory outright, enhancing the firm’s ability to ensure stability and autonomous control in product manufacturing.

Editor: Tom Litting