The increase of global new energy vehicle production capacity and the continuous expansion of the market scale of lithium battery industry have brought broad market space and historic development opportunities to the lithium battery industry chain.
According to the data of choice financial terminal, as of the press release of the reporter on April 14, 20 of the 25 listed companies in the battery chemicals (classified by Shenwan industry) sector of the A-share market have announced the financial report or performance express in 2021, which have realized the year-on-year growth of total operating income and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company.
While actively expanding production capacity to meet the demand of downstream orders, enterprises on the track are also aware of the problems of product homogenization and the increase of new “players”. In order to solve this problem, 19 battery chemical enterprises that have disclosed the complete annual report actively increased R & D investment during the reporting period, so as to improve the production process or develop high-end products with more market competitiveness.
20 listed companies increase both income and profit
Thanks to the continuous improvement of the development trend of the new energy vehicle industry in 2021, the demand for lithium batteries increased, the market demand for battery chemicals was strong, and the price rose significantly. At the same time, the production and sales volume also increased significantly year-on-year.
During the reporting period, all the above 20 listed companies achieved year-on-year growth in total operating revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company. The net profit attributable to the parent company increased by more than 300%. Among them, Guangdong Tonze Electric Co.Ltd(002759) (701134%), Shenzhen Dynanonic Co.Ltd(300769) (291883%) and Hunan Changyuan Lico Co.Ltd(688779) (538.17%) ranked among the top three.
In an interview with Securities Daily, he Li, general manager of zhizhishan investment, said that during the reporting period, the contradiction between supply and demand of battery chemicals was prominent, the supply of electrolyte, diaphragm, anode and cathode materials and other links were in short supply, and the structural demand for high nickel and lithium iron phosphate increased rapidly, resulting in the high capacity utilization rate and single ton profit of battery chemicals industry, Help listed companies in the industry to achieve good performance improvement.
According to He Li, the penetration rate of Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) automobile will be around 13% in the middle of 2021, and around 7% worldwide. Considering the leading position of China’s battery industry chain in the world, it is expected that the battery chemicals located at the upstream of the battery industry chain will have relatively large growth space in the future.
ye Yindan, a researcher of Bank Of China Limited(601988) Research Institute, told the reporter of Securities Daily that at present, many battery chemical enterprises are promoting the expansion of production capacity and the integrated layout of industrial chain, improving the scale of production capacity and the self supply rate of raw materials, reducing costs and increasing profits. At the same time, most enterprises are also continuously increasing R & D investment, improving technical level and developing new high-end products to meet the growing quality demand of the downstream market and enhance the sustainability of profit growth.
R & D investment promotion attracted attention
In fact, as ye Yindan said, listed companies in the battery chemicals sector achieved good growth in R & D investment during the reporting period, and achieved results in improving production processes and developing high-end products.
According to the data, as of April 14, 19 listed companies had disclosed the complete annual report data of 2021, with a year-on-year increase of more than 30% in R & D expenses.
A number of listed companies mentioned in the annual report that they are increasing their R & D investment in the company’s products, formulas, production technology and other aspects, and the potential advantages of the enterprise’s R & D capability have gradually been brought into full play in the industry competition.
The cathode material manufacturer Hunan Changyuan Lico Co.Ltd(688779) pointed out in the financial report that during the reporting period, the company focused on developing high-performance and low-cost products from the R & D and design side, focused on improving the core competitiveness of products, deeply cultivated the R & D technology system of lithium battery cathode materials, and carried out targeted technical storage and product R & D. Electrolyte manufacturer Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co.Ltd(002709) said that in terms of lithium-ion battery materials, the company continued to promote the R & D and production of supporting raw materials with high energy density formula in 2021, and new electrolytes and additives continued to be produced in large quantities. The negative electrode material supplier Shanghai Putailai New Energy Technology Co.Ltd(603659) mentioned in the annual report that during the reporting period, it actively promoted the R & D and innovation of nano silicon pilot line, accelerated the development of a new generation of silicon-based negative electrode products, and conducted pre research in the direction of emerging technology routes such as nano silicon carbon, hard carbon, soft carbon and lithium metal negative electrode.
According to Ye Yindan, the capital barrier of battery chemical industry is low. Under the background of national policies supporting new energy vehicles, a large number of enterprises have entered this field in recent years. At the same time of output growth, the performance of enterprises has also been polarized. Enterprises with certain technical strength and stable customer relations fully enjoy the profit growth brought by output growth, product performance homogenization and low customer stickiness. The gross profit margin of shipment is gradually declining.
“For enterprises on this track, focusing on technology improvement will help enterprises better cut into the supply chain of high-end customers, further improve their technical strength through collaborative cooperation and form a virtuous circle.” Ye Yindan further said that for enterprises with strong R & D strength and high proportion of high-end products in the industry, the future development prospect and investment value are also relatively large.
He Li said that for the battery chemical track, listed companies that are more optimistic about the integration of the industrial chain can contribute more stable profits to the enterprise and have been accompanied by the growth of the industry.
