①CITIC New Energy attributed its net income decline in the first half of the year to the impact of market conditions, the decrease in the unit price of upstream raw materials lithium salt, and the transmission of price decreases, leading to a year-on-year decrease in the company's product sales unit price and a decline in product gross profit. After excluding the impact of tax and late fees, the net income in the first half of the year was 15.4073 million yuan. ② The company's research and development investment in the first half of the year was 0.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.39%. The multiple ongoing projects involve the "recycling of used power batteries" scenario.
"SCI-Tech Innovation Board Daily" August 23 news (Reporter Yu Jiaxin) After a series of major changes, including the change of name from 'Changyuan Lithium' to 'CITIC New Energy' and changes in the top management, the company released its first performance report after the 'makeover' today (August 23).
In the first half of this year, CITIC New Energy's revenue was 2.507 billion yuan, a decrease of 48.73% year-on-year; the net income attributable to shareholders of the listed company was -65.9303 million yuan, down 202.2% year-on-year from 64.5121 million yuan in the same period last year, turning a profit into a loss.
Looking at the single quarter, CITIC New Energy recorded a loss of 69.12 million yuan in the second quarter, a decrease of 208.71% year-on-year and a decrease of 2265.41% quarter-on-quarter.
Regarding the decline in performance, CITIC New Energy attributed it to the impact of market conditions, the decrease in the unit price of upstream raw materials lithium salt, and the transmission of price decreases, leading to a year-on-year decrease in the company's product sales unit price and a decline in product gross profit.
In May of this year, CITIC New Energy announced that its subsidiary, Jinchin Energy, received a 'Tax Matter Notice' and found that it needed to pay a total of 60.2577 million yuan in various taxes including value-added tax and corporate income tax for the period from 2021 to 2023, as well as a total of 11.803 million yuan in late fees, totaling 72.0607 million yuan.
The half-year report mentioned that after excluding the impact of tax and late fees, the net income attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 15.4073 million yuan. Since 2024, the company's operations have gradually improved.
Since 2011, CITIC New Energy has mainly engaged in the research, production, and sales of battery cathode materials, including ternary cathode materials (including self-supplied precursors), lithium iron phosphate cathode materials, lithium cobaltate cathode materials, and nickel spheres.
In the first half of this year, the financial expenses of Minmetals New Energy were 60.003 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 735.3%. The company said that the main reason is the increase in interest on its convertible bonds.
In contrast, in the first half of this year, although the number of R&D personnel in Minmetals New Energy increased from 253 in the same period in 2023 to 294, the company's R&D investment was 0.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.39%.
In terms of specific technological progress, Minmetals New Energy stated that multiple fast-charging 4.4V high-voltage ternary products for power applications have been developed and production lines have been debugged, and they are about to be put into mass production. The medium-nickel ternary materials for PHEVs have passed the preliminary verification by foreign customers and achieved ton-level deliveries. The ultra-high-nickel ternary materials have been tested in vehicle projects, drone projects, and manned aircraft projects of multiple high-end customers, and small-scale production has been achieved.
The 9-series polycrystalline products are being shipped in bulk in the low-altitude economy field, sodium-ion second-generation products have the conditions for mass production, high-voltage iterative products of medium-nickel materials have been sold on a large scale, and new power-type lithium iron phosphate products have been verified by customers and achieved mass production, etc. The cathode material for solid-state batteries has entered the national-level "solid-state battery industry innovation consortium".
At the same time, Minmetals New Energy is involved in many research projects related to "recycling of waste power batteries" scenarios.
In April of this year, Minmetals New Energy announced that it had reached an agreement with Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., Minghe Industry (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and Hunan Yun Storage and Circulation New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to establish a joint venture company in China to carry out stepped utilization of power batteries and resource recycling business.
According to the latest research by TrendForce, in July, the overall demand for power batteries remained stable, but due to the continuous decline in the prices of cathode materials and battery metals such as cobalt, nickel, and copper, especially the sharp decline in copper prices, the cost of battery materials continued to decrease, leading to a slight decline in the price of battery cells. By the end of July, the price of lithium carbonate had fallen to around 0.08 million yuan per ton, and the oversupply situation remained unchanged. It is estimated that lithium carbonate prices will continue to fluctuate and explore the bottom in the third quarter.