National carmaker Proton said today that it had returned to profit in the second quarter due to higher margins from the sale of its latest Persona model.

The troubled automaker, which recently ditched alliance talks with Germany's Volkswagen, posted a net profit of RM3.506 million against a loss of RM250.343 million a year earlier.

"The encouraging market for the Persona model has positioned the company to record further improvements in the passenger car market share," it said in a statement.

Second quarter revenue rose 2.5 percent to RM1.306 billion from RM1.274 billion last year.

For the first-half, Proton made a lower net loss of RM43.248 million from RM308.993 million a year earlier. But revenue in the six months fell to RM2.449 billion from RM2.693 billion.

Market share increases

Proton's market share rose to 33.1 percent from 26.5 percent a quarter ago, it said.

"Proton is continuing to focus on growing its export volumes now that it has made significant inroads into Iran and Thailand," it said.

Proton will not pay a dividend for the quarter.

Proton shares closed today up two sen or 0.6 percent at RM3.60.

Its shares took a beating after it said it had shelved alliance talks with Volkswagen and General Motors earlier this month.