Chinese carmaker BYD, partly owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has reported a 20.8 per cent year-on-year drop in preliminary net profit for last year, due to slower domestic market growth and declining profitability in solar energy businesses.

The result, announced on Thursday night, came in at the lower end of the company’s prediction for a fall of between 9.59 per cent and 22.25 per cent. Net income of 437.9 million yuan (HK$551.5 million) fell well short of the 687.5 million yuan expected by analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

BYD’s shares closed up 1 per cent on Thursday to HK$34.7, but have tumbled 27 per cent from a year earlier on speculation that Buffett was planning to sell his stake in the electric-car maker.