NIZHNY NOVGOROD, May 01. /ITAR-TASS/. The GAZ Group’s net profit for 2013 calculated under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) more than halved to four billion rubles ($112.3 million), the company says in its report.

The Group’s income grew by 12.9% to 143.4 billion rubles ($4 billion). Its EBITDA index decreased 11% to 12.7 billion rubles ($356.5 million). Last year’s investments in the GAZ Group were at 8.9 billion rubles ($250 million).

The company’s gross yield slid down a bit to 25.6 billion rubles ($718.5 million), its commercial spending went up by 14.2% to 5.9 billion rubles ($165.6 million) and administrative spending also grew to 12.5% to 9.9 billion rubles ($277.9 million).

As of the end of year, the corporate loans and borrowings dropped tenfold to 4.3 billion rubles ($120.7 million). The company’s overall long-term obligations decreased 6.8 times to 6.9 billion rubles ($193.6 million). However, the Group’s short-term obligations grew threefold to 81.9 billion rubles ($229.9 million).

In 2013, the GAZ Group continued investing in the projects aimed at the renewal of its lineup and technological modernization. Therefore, the company launched commercial production of the latest-generation GAZelle NEXT light commercial vehicles, as well as organized manufacturing of GOLAZ and LIAZ buses for the Olympic Games in Sochi, and started producing new medium-class Vector buses.

Moreover, in the preceding year the GAZ Group continued developing the gas-based transport lineup, started commercial production of GAZelle Business and methane-powered version of the PAZ buses. In 2013, the company represented the Urals Automobile Works’ designed novelty for the Russian Defense Ministry — a range of multi-purpose protected vehicles.

In 2013, the GAZ Group also launched assembling five models of foreign-designed car brands in the format of cooperation with Volkswagen, General Motors and Daimler, the company said.