On October 25th, according to Blue Whale News (Reporter Xu Xiaochun), on the evening of October 24th, Hytera Communications Corporation disclosed its third-quarter report. In the third quarter, Hytera achieved revenue of approximately 1.435 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.05%, and a net income attributable to the mother of approximately 89.0963 million yuan, an increase of 27.1% year-on-year.
On October 25th, the "demon stock" Hytera Communications Corporation hit the limit up again, with the company's stock price closing at 19.26 yuan/share. In nearly 22 trading days, Hytera has hit the limit up for the 18th time, during which Hytera has risen continuously from 3.58 yuan/share, with a cumulative increase of 437.99%. So far, Hytera's market cap is approximately 35.024 billion yuan, with a rise of 28.5 billion yuan in 22 trading days.
Hytera Communications Corporation's business mainly includes the research and development, production, sales, and service of professional wireless communication equipment such as radio terminals and cluster systems, as well as some OEM business. It is a leading enterprise in China's dedicated communication field and a technologically advanced enterprise in the global dedicated communication field.
According to previous semi-annual report data, approximately 46.34% of Hytera's revenue comes from the sales of terminal equipment, and the revenue from systems, OEM, and other businesses accounts for about 30.35% and 23.31% respectively. In recent years, Hytera has been focusing on the overseas market, with a significant increase of 28.77% in overseas business revenue in the first half of the year, accounting for 48.95% of the total revenue, narrowing the gap with domestic market sales revenue further.
On the Interactive Easy platform, Hytera has mentioned that its satellite communication products have been deeply deployed and have achieved significant sales in the "Belt and Road" regions such as Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The recent continuous surge in Hytera's stock price may also be related to orders from the Middle East market.
On September 17th and 18th, Lebanon experienced consecutive pager explosion incidents. There were rumors in the market that this demand gap would be taken over by domestic enterprises, including Hytera receiving nearly $20 billion worth of radio orders from the Middle East. Starting from September 19th, Hytera's stock price began to rise continuously. Investors on the Interactive Easy platform repeatedly inquired about the existence of a $20 billion order from the Middle East and its impact on Hytera's sales, but the company did not respond directly.
On October 23rd, after hitting the limit up for 16 consecutive days, Hytera Communications Corporation issued an announcement on the abnormal fluctuations in the stock price, stating once again that "the current operating situation is normal, and there have been no significant changes in the internal and external operating environment, and there are no major contracts that should have been disclosed but have not been."
From the third-quarter report, it can be seen that at the end of the period, Hytera's contract liabilities were approximately 0.622 billion yuan, an increase of 48.7% year-on-year, which the company explained as an increase in advance payments received in the third quarter. In addition, the company made a large amount of advance payments for materials, resulting in the end-of-period prepaid accounts amounting to 0.334 billion yuan, an increase of 182.65% year-on-year. Whether the $20 billion order exists is inconclusive, but at least compared to the same period last year, Hytera's outstanding orders are relatively sufficient, and the company has reserved more raw materials for order production in the fourth quarter.
In addition, while continuously expanding into overseas markets, Hytera Communications Corporation is still embroiled in years of litigation with Motorola. In the first three quarters, due to the increase in legal expenses, Hytera's management expenses increased by approximately 0.132 billion yuan, reaching 0.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.98%.
In 2017, Motorola was the first to file a lawsuit in the Illinois court in the USA, accusing Hytera of illegally poaching three engineers from Motorola and stealing its digital two-way radio technology, alleging infringement of trade secrets. Over the years, Hytera and Motorola have been involved in a series of patent infringement disputes, trade secret and copyright disputes, antitrust litigation, in the US, Germany, Australia, China, and other locations. In March 2020, the Illinois court issued a first-instance judgment, ruling that the company should pay Motorola approximately 0.765 billion US dollars in compensation, and Hytera chose to continue to appeal.
This lawsuit has continued to the present time. The third-quarter report shows that on July 3, 2024, the US Federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals made a second-instance judgment, supporting the company's claims regarding copyright offshore jurisdiction and distribution, while maintaining the first-instance judgment on other parts, including copyright statute of limitations, trade secrets. As of now, the appellate court has formally remanded the case to the trial court, requesting the trial court to recalculate the compensation amount for the copyright part based on the appellate court's judgment.
In response to Motorola's application for the enforcement of the commercial secret copyright case in the UK, Hytera has already paid a $25 million guarantee deposit in accordance with the judgment of the UK court and is currently awaiting further judgment.
Hytera mentioned in the announcement that the final outcome of the litigation may have a certain impact on the company's profits and has a certain level of uncertainty. In fact, in recent years, Hytera's performance has already been affected by the related disputes. After 2017, Hytera's revenue growth slowed down, and after 2020, it entered into negative growth, while the company's net income changed from 0.401 billion yuan in 2016 to a loss of 0.388 billion yuan in 2023.