Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Co Ltd,, which is backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, on Monday reported a 162% growth in 2020 net profit as it became a major mask maker amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

BYD reported 4.23 billion yuan ($643.75 million) net profit in 2020, up from 1.61 billion yuan in 2019. That compared with a 4.6 billion yuan net profit estimated by 22 analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

BYD, which started making masks early last year, shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak began, did not give details about its current manufacturing capacity of masks. In May it said it could make 50 million masks a day.

The Shenzhen-based car company, which has partnerships with Japan’s top automaker Toyota and German Daimler in China, sold 426,972 vehicles in 2020, 7.5% lower from a year earlier.

Overall auto sales in China fell 1.9% to 25.3 million vehicles in 2020, according to industry data.

BYD, which rolled out a customised EV model for ride-hailing services with China’s Didi Chuxing last year, said 2020 revenue dropped 22.6% to 156.6 billion yuan.

Analysts expected revenue of 148.76 billion yuan.

BYD also said it expects net profit in the first three months this year to grow 77.6% to 166.3% compared to same period last year, citing positive auto sales.

It also plans to issue debt financing instruments worth up to 50 billion yuan.

Reporting by Yilei Sun and Tony Munroe; editing by David Evans / REUTERS