Battery Giant CATL Expects 2021 Net Profits of Up to $2.59 Billion

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL), a leading Chinese battery firm, released a performance forecast on Thursday night, predicting that the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company in 2021 totaled between 14 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) and 16.5 billion yuan ($2.59 billion), up 150.75% to 195.52% year-on-year.

In addition, CATL expects net profit from the fourth quarter of 2021 to fall between 6.249 billion yuan and 8.749 billion yuan, almost equalling the 7.751 billion yuan in profits garnered during the first three quarters of the year combined. 

According to the company, in 2021, its market penetration rate in the fields of new energy vehicles and battery storage increased, which led to the growth of battery sales. The company also made progress in market development, while the release of new production capacity promoted the corresponding increase in production and sales. The strengthening of cost control reduced the proportion of cost to revenue.

In terms of sales volume, according to data disclosed in the feedback document of CATL’s previous private placement, in the first three quarters of 2021, the production and sales volume of power batteries and energy storage batteries of the company were 103.54 GWh and 73.43 GWh, respectively.

The installed capacity of the energy storage sector increased further in the fourth quarter of 2021. According to CATL, its energy storage system will increase sevenfold to 17GWh in 2021. In the first three quarters of 2021, the company’s energy storage system was confirmed as 8GWh.

By contrast, in the first half of 2021, the gross profit margins from CATL’s power battery systems, lithium battery materials and energy storage systems were 23%, 21.15% and 36.6%, respectively. In addition, the energy storage system achieved operating income of 4.693 billion yuan, an increase of 727.36% year-on-year; this growth rate far exceeded the other two businesses.

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“From the perspective of capacity demand of the market, the demand for power and energy storage batteries is expected to continue to increase significantly in the next few years, and the company’s market share can further improve,” said the firm. CATL also predicted that before 2025, the company’s battery capacity is expected to reach more than 670GWh.

In terms of innovation capability, as of June 30, 2021, CATL had 7,878 R&D technicians. As of June 30, 2021, the company and its subsidiaries have 3,357 domestic patents and 493 overseas patents, while 3,379 domestic and overseas patents are in the process of application.

In addition, CATL has cooperated with the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences to set up a joint laboratory for clean energy. They planned to establish a cooperative R&D platform for innovation, production, education and research in the field of clean energy.