今年一季度，艾罗能源营收、净利润持续下滑。该公司实现营收6.84亿元，同比减少65.31%，实现净利润3396.06万元，同比下降93.25%，环比下降26.81%。① The company's gross margin for the first quarter of 2024 was 40.05%, the same as the previous year; sales of many new products began in April; ② Due to European inventory removal, etc., the net profit of inverter companies Goodway, Hemai Co., and Yuneng Technology have all declined to varying degrees since 2023. Li Xinfu, chairman and general manager of Aero Energy, said, “The company is in the process of helping channels jointly remove inventory, and the inventory situation has improved.”
“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, May 8 (Reporter Yu Jiaxin) At the 2023 and 2024 first quarter results briefing held today (May 8), Yan Qiang, financial director of Aero Energy, told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that the company's gross margin for the first quarter of 2024 was 40.05%, the same as the previous year.
In 2023, Aero Energy achieved revenue of 4.472 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.01%; realized net profit of 1,065 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.12%.
In the first quarter of this year, Aero Energy's revenue and net profit continued to decline. The company achieved revenue of 684 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 65.31%, and realized net profit of 339.606 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 93.25% and a year-on-month decrease of 26.81%.
Regarding the first quarter results, the company said that demand in the household storage market decreased due to a combination of factors such as the backlog of channel suppliers in the European market and falling electricity prices. At the same time, the company continued to increase investment in R&D and expand recruitment of R&D personnel, leading to a continuous increase in R&D expenses, leading to a decrease in net profit.
As the first A-share IPO in 2024, Aero Energy landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in January of this year. It mainly provides overseas customers with photovoltaic energy storage inverters, energy storage batteries, and grid-connected inverters, which are used in distributed photovoltaic energy storage and grid-connected fields.
In terms of foreign markets, Aero Energy products are sold to more than 80 countries around the world, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. The main sales area is concentrated in developed countries such as Europe. The company said it is expanding markets including South Africa, North America, and Asia.
Among companies in the same industry, inverter companies Goodway, Hemai Co., and Yuneng Technology have all experienced varying degrees of decline in net profit since 2023 due to European inventory removal and other effects.
In response, Li Xinfu, chairman and general manager of Aero Energy, said that inventory removal in the European household storage market is a common problem faced by the entire industry. “Our company is also in the process of helping channels to jointly remove inventory, and the inventory situation has improved. Currently, the company's on-hand orders are generally stable.”
Starting in 2023, Aero Energy will begin to deploy domestically. Li Xinfu said that the company actively participated in the formulation of industry standards, developed domestic household energy storage application scenarios, and accelerated the domestic layout of integrated optical storage and charging applications. “The company is optimistic about the future development of the industrial and commercial energy storage market. Some models of high-power energy storage inverters suitable for industrial and commercial energy storage were shipped simultaneously to domestic and foreign markets in April 2024.”
The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that since 2023, Aero Energy's R&D investment has continued to expand. In 2023, the company had 802 R&D personnel, an increase of 180.42% over 286 in the previous year. The share of R&D personnel in the total number of people in the company increased from 13.52% to 35.76%.
In terms of costs, R&D expenses for the full year of 2023 were 275 million yuan, an increase of 82.25% over the previous year. The total R&D expenditure for the first quarter of 2024 was 105 million yuan, an increase of 83.52% over the previous year.
Li Xinfu told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that the company is stepping up research and development of new products, developing high-power energy storage inverters (50 kW or more) and high-capacity energy storage batteries (100 degrees or more) suitable for industrial and commercial energy storage, and is also investing in research and development of micro inverters to meet specific market needs. Some models of these products were sold to the market in April of this year. Projects such as 320-350kW high-power string grid-connected inverters, X3-FORTH-PLUS three-phase industrial and commercial grid-connected inverters, and split low-voltage energy storage battery systems are under development.”
However, it should be noted that since mass production and sales of the company's energy storage batteries have adopted a specific adaptation model, they can only be used with their own energy storage inverters; energy storage inverters can only be used with their own energy storage batteries, starting with an intergenerational product update in early 2021. Regarding the research and development of energy storage batteries, Li Xinfu told investors that the company uses a strategy of combining outsourced batteries and self-developed battery management systems (BMS).