BYD Co Ltd <1211.HK>, a Chinese car and battery maker backed by U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Sunday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 500 pct thanks to robust car sales primed by tax incentives from Beijing.

BYD, 10 percent owned by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway , booked 1.46 billion yuan ($214 million) in net profit for the October to December quarter, according to Reuters calculations based on the company's previously reported data.

The net profit beat a consensus forecast of 891 million yuan and compared with 243 million yuan made in the same period the previous year.

Shares in BYD ended down 2.27 percent on Friday at HK$68.90.

The stock gained 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and has been largely flat so far in 2010, compared with a 5 percent decline in the Hang Seng China Enterprises index <.HSCE> of major Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong.

($1=6.825 yuan)

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