Event: on December 18, the company issued a convertible bond announcement: it intends to issue convertible corporate bonds to non-specific objects, and the total amount of funds raised shall not exceed (including) RMB 650 million. It will be used for the new lithium salt project of 10,000 tons / year lithium battery and the use of supplementary working capital.
Comments:
The market prospect of LiFSI is broad. According to GGII data, China's lithium battery shipments were 327GWh in 2021, an increase of 130% over the same period last year. Shipments are expected to exceed 600GWh in 2022, and the year-on-year growth rate is expected to exceed 80%. In 2025, China's lithium battery market will have a compound growth rate of more than 43% in 2025. The rapid development of new energy vehicles and lithium batteries will continue to promote the development of lithium battery electrolyte solute industry. At present, LiPF6 occupies a leading position in the lithium battery electrolyte solute industry, but because of its unstable chemical properties and limited efficiency at low temperature, it is gradually unable to keep up with the needs of lithium battery development. As electrolyte solute lithium salt, LiFSI has the advantages of high conductivity, high chemical stability and high thermal stability, which is more suitable for the development direction of lithium battery with high performance, wide temperature and high safety in the future. According to GGII data, the proportion of LiFSI added by head battery enterprises is between 0.5-3%, and the mainstream formula for some enterprises to add LiFSI has been raised to 3-6%. The trend of increasing the application of LFSI has gradually emerged.
With the continuous technological breakthrough and process optimization, the economy of LiFSI will gradually appear. In the next few years, LiFSI is expected to gradually enter the stage of industrial introduction and demand explosion, and is expected to gradually replace LiPF6 to become a new generation of lithium battery electrolyte solute.
The technology reserve will bloom. As a global leading enterprise of thionyl chloride, the company also has the production capacity of downstream aramid polymerization monomers, m-methylbenzoyl chloride, PEEK and other fine chemicals. This fund-raising project will continue to make use of the outstanding advantages of gas in thionyl chloride industry chain, chlorination reaction technology and sulfur dioxide separation and recycling process to realize the extension of the industrial chain. Prior to this, the company has completed a pilot project of 200 tons per year, and the product index is better than the industry standard, and through the trial evaluation of downstream enterprises, it meets the requirements of various physical and chemical indexes of the electrolyte, and the comprehensive performance of the battery reaches the level of imported products. This time, the company plans to invest 550 million yuan in the construction of a new lithium salt project for 10000 tons of lithium batteries in Weifang Kaisheng, a wholly-owned subsidiary, to raise 100 million yuan to supplement working capital. The total construction period of the project is 24 months, and after completion, it is expected to form a capacity of 10,000 tons of lithium difluorosulfonimide per year. At present, the company has legally obtained the project land by way of transfer, and has completed the project filing procedures for the construction project, and the EIA procedures are in the process of being processed, and it is expected that there are no obstacles to obtaining EIA approval.
Profit Forecast and Investment suggestion: it is estimated that the return net profit of the company from 2022 to 2024 is RMB 492 million, and the EPS is 1.53 yuan respectively. Maintain a "buy" rating.
Risk tips: product and raw material prices fluctuate sharply, capacity release is less than expected, and downstream demand is lower than expected.