“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, July 12 (Reporter Qiu Siyu) Today (July 12), Stone Technology announced a preliminary increase in semi-annual results. The company expects to achieve net profit of 1 billion yuan to 1.2 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 35%-62% over the previous year; deducted non-net profit of 0.8 billion yuan to 0.95 billion yuan, an increase of 21.17% to 43.89% over the previous year.

Shitou Technology's net profit for the first quarter was 0.399 billion yuan. Based on this calculation, net profit for the second quarter is expected to be 0.601 billion yuan to 0.801 billion yuan, an increase of 51% to 101% over the previous quarter.

Regarding the reason for the increase in performance, Shitou Technology said that during the reporting period, the company continued to advance the “going global” strategy, leveraging product performance and technical advantages, and relying on perfect product price segments to further refine channel layout to expand and dig deeper into global market share. At the same time, benefiting from the rapid growth in overseas consumer demand, overseas revenue has grown rapidly. Furthermore, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the company has obtained preferential income tax rates through certification as a key software enterprise encouraged by the state, which has had a positive impact on net profit.

After the announcement was issued, the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter called the Stone Technology Securities Office as an investor. Regarding overseas orders, the company's relevant staff said, “The specific order situation is not easy to disclose. It will be announced in the semi-annual report to be disclosed later. Overseas demand is indeed quite strong.”

Stone Technology's main business is the design, development, production and sale of intelligent hardware such as intelligent cleaning robots. The main products include intelligent sweepers, handheld vacuum cleaners, commercial cleaning robots, and floor scrubbers.

In recent years, small household appliances, represented by robot vacuum cleaners, have been going overseas strongly. According to a quarterly report released by research institute IDC, in the first quarter of 2024, global shipments of intelligent sweepers were 4.554 million units, an increase of 11.1% over the previous year. Chinese manufacturers have a cumulative share of over 60% of shipments in the global market.

The agency further predicts that in the next five years, global smart sweeper robot market shipments will continue to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6%, and global shipments are expected to approach 25 million units in 2028.

According to reports, Stone Technology products are distributed in more than 170 countries around the world. According to the company's 2023 report data, its share of overseas revenue has reached 48.87%, which is almost the same as domestic revenue.

At the same time, the staff mentioned above also mentioned to the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that “the company's products sell at a higher price and gross profit overseas.” According to the 2023 financial report of Shitou Technology, the gross margin of its main business overseas was 61.65%, while the domestic gross margin was 49.26%.