CATL shines in performance and plans for a large dividend.
On the evening of March 15, CATL (300750:SZ) disclosed its 2023 financial report, achieving historically high records in both revenue and net profit. The company's revenue exceeded CNY 400 billion for the first time, representing a 22% year-on-year increase, while the net profit attributable to the company's shareholders surpassed CNY 40 billion, reflecting a 44% year-on-year growth.
According to SNE Research data, from January to December 2023, CATL held a global market share of 36.8% in the use of power batteries for electric vehicles, ranking first globally for 7 consecutive years, and a 40% market share in global energy storage battery shipments, ranking first globally for 3 consecutive years. CATL attributed its performance growth to the improvement in the product capabilities of new energy vehicle models, continuous enhancement of intelligent technologies, ongoing expansion of charging and swapping infrastructures, the increasing proportion of clean energy installations, and growing demand for clean energy storage due to additional computing power, all of which drove rapid expansion of the global power battery industry and a swift increase in the demand for energy storage batteries.
The report indicates that in 2023, CATL' investment in research and development amounted to CNY 18.4 billion, marking an 18% year-on-year increase. The substantial investment in R&D led to the simultaneous release of multiple new products, which became one of the company's major operational highlights for the year. In the field of power batteries, the company delivered Kirin batteries to Ideal, debuted sodium batteries in Chery models, continued the industrialization of M3P batteries, and also introduced solid-state batteries and the SuperCharge battery. Regarding energy storage batteries, products such as EnerOne and EnerC were continuously shipped in large quantities, and upgraded products like EnerOne Plus and EnerD achieved significant improvements in energy density and charge-discharge efficiency compared to their predecessors. Furthermore, the zero auxiliary power light storage direct current coupling solution has been implemented in scenarios such as supercharging stations.
Rapid growth in overseas markets and sustained leadership in the domestic market were additional operational highlights for CATL in 2023.
In the overseas market, according to SNE Research data, CATL' overseas market share of power battery usage reached 27.5% in 2023, an increase of 4.7 percentage points from the previous year. During the reporting period, the company secured partnerships with several mainstream overseas automakers, including BMW, Daimler, Stellantis, VW, GM, Hyundai, and Honda. In the field of energy storage, the company contributed to Nextera's realization of the world's largest single-unit light storage project with a capacity of 1.8GWh; delivered a 6.4GWh energy storage project group to the Italian national power company ENEL; and supplied a 3.8GWh energy storage project to the Western Australian power company Synergy, the largest independent energy storage project in Europe.
In the domestic market, according to SNE Research data, the company's domestic power battery usage reached 171.9GWh in 2023, marking a 28.7% year-on-year increase and maintaining a 44.5% market share for 7 consecutive years. During the reporting period, the company's market share in the domestic high-end (over CNY 300,000) new energy vehicle market exceeded 60%, aiding clients such as Ideal, Xpeng, NIO, WM Motor, and BMW in creating competitive products.
Moreover, in terms of production capacity construction, during the reporting period, CATL' new generation super production line was fully utilized for new capacity construction, meeting the delivery demands of customer orders. In the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) aspect, CATL continued to make substantial efforts, fulfilling its social responsibilities. By the end of the reporting period, the company had four zero-carbon factories and three lighthouse factories, with zero-carbon power usage accounting for 65.4%, a 38.8% increase year-on-year. Additionally, CATL actively promoted regional zero-carbon ecological construction, signing strategic cooperation agreements with cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Ordos, Zhaoqing, and Datong to advance pilot cooperation in low-carbon related application scenarios.
As of the time of writing, CATL' stock was priced at CNY 190.74 per share, with a total market value of CNY 839.1 billion.