CATL reports steady YoY growth in the first quarter of 2025
CATL’s revenue in the first quarter was RMB 84.7 billion (10.17 billion euros), an increase of 6.18 per cent year-on-year, but a decrease of 17.74 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. In terms of net income, CATL reported RMB 13.96 billion ($1.9 billion), which is 33 per cent up compared to last year, however, also down 5 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2024. The start of the year is commonly not a very big sales period in China due to holidays.
Next to expanding profits, CATL is also expanding its investments and has reached an operating cost of RMB 64.03 billion (approximately 7 billion euros), which is up nearly 5 per cent from last year. Among the investments, for example, is Nio’s battery-swapping business, which CATL announced plans to take over just a few days ago. Work is already underway with the fuel station operator Sinopec to establish a battery-swapping network, and a partnership has been launched with Baidu.
In an analyst call, CATL’s management was rather neutral about the new US tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, who has been demanding 145 per cent on Chinese goods since last week. The impact on CATL is “minor” and the company’s US exposure is “quite small.” According to analysts at Citigroup, CATL’s direct and indirect battery deliveries to the USA only accounted for around 2 to 3 per cent of total business in the past quarter. A share of 12 per cent had been expected in advance.
The significantly lower figure indicates that CATL may have already made some adjustments in advance of the tariffs, as reported by Bloomberg. CATL has long favoured licensing its technology to partners in the USA in order to circumvent various problems and has already gained Tesla and Ford as partners.
Last year, CATL suffered a decline in turnover of 9.7 per cent to around 362 billion yuan (approx. 47 billion euros) but was able to increase its net profit by over 15 per cent to just under 50.75 billion yuan (approx. 6.6 billion euros).
CATL is also investing abroad, with battery production in Germany continuing to be scaled up, while German manufacturer Volkswagen is looking to establish a partnership in China. A new investment scheme was also introduced to help support suppliers in regard to technical innovation last December.
The Chinese battery manufacturer is now the largest power battery manufacturer on the planet, with a capacity of 49.6 GWh, ranking first in the world with a 38.2 per cent share, according to South Korean market researcher SNE Research. CATL’s planned listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has also been approved by Chinese authorities and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this month, so it is expected to be completed soon.
0 Comments