On the evening of January 27, Beijing Yihuatong, which has the "first share of hydrogen fuel cells", submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In fact, this is not the first time that Beijing Yihuatong has applied for listing, as early as 2016, the company has been listed on the New Third Board and successfully accumulated equity financing of RMB 790 million. In addition, the company landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in August 2020, raising a total of RMB1.55 billion.
Beijing Yihuatong is a manufacturer of fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles (buses, city buses and logistics vehicles). In addition to selling in-vehicle hydrogen systems according to the models and specific needs of different customers, we also provide technology development services related to fuel cells.
Benefiting from the rapid development of new energy vehicles, Yihuatong has entered the fast lane. Since 2016, the company has achieved mass production of products, and has sold more than 2,000 fuel cell systems to more than 20 Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturers. If calculated according to the total sales power of vehicle fuel cell systems in 2020, Yihuatong accounts for 34.8% of the market share in China's fuel cell system market, which is the leader in the industry.
However, it should be mentioned that according to the report of China Insight Consulting, the fuel cell vehicle industry is currently in the early stage of development, the industry is small, and the market demand for the company's products mostly depends on the development trend of China's fuel cell automobile industry. If the direction of market demand changes in the future, the company's purchase orders will inevitably be affected.
There is a significant seasonal impact on product production, which is another pain point of Yihuatong. Because the government usually updates the subsidy policy for fuel cell vehicles at the beginning of each year, there is such a situation for automakers - after the government updates the relevant subsidy policy, it selects the required product model to ensure that the fuel cell vehicle produced meets the conditions for subsidy. This also directly led to the company confirming orders in the first half of the year and delivering products in the second half of the year.
In addition to the seasonal impact of production and sales, the company also has the problem of relying on large customers for revenue. At present, the company's major customers include Beiqi Foton, Yutong Bus and Geely Commercial Vehicles. In the three years from 2019 to September 30, 2021, the company's sales to major customers were 508 million yuan, 444 million yuan and 344 million yuan, accounting for 91.9%, 77.7% and 92.2% of the total revenue.
During the nine-month period of 2019, 2020 and 2021, the Company's sales to its largest customers were $193 million, $149 million and $257 million, representing 34.9%, 26.1% and 68.8% of total revenue, respectively. In this regard, Yihuatong also said that the company's revenue depends on major customers and has not entered into a long-term sales agreement. Losing purchase orders from significant customers will adversely affect the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
The founder of Yihuatong is Zhang Guoqiang, who is also the single largest shareholder of the company. Before the establishment of the group, Zhang Guoqiang worked in Beijing Qingneng Huatong Technology Development Co., Ltd. (a company mainly engaged in the development of new energy technology) as early as May 2005, successively served as department manager and deputy general manager, mainly responsible for business planning and operation management, and has more than ten years of experience in the fuel cell system industry.
Counting Zhang Guoqiang's development history, he graduated from Shanxi University of Finance and Economics in July 2003 with a bachelor's degree in marketing, and later obtained a master's degree in public administration from Tsinghua University. After graduating from the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering, he completed postdoctoral research in power engineering and engineering thermophysics from April 2018 to July 2020.
At present, Zhang Guoqiang is mainly responsible for corporate strategic planning and managing the overall operation and business development of the Group at Yihuatong. According to the prospectus, Zhang Guoqiang and his wife Xu Huini hold 18.59% of the shares in A shares. As of 28 January 2022, the Company has not been listed on Hong Kong stocks. According to the current market value of A shares of 149.22 yuan, Zhang Guoqiang's net worth is 2.774 billion yuan.
(Author 丨Shijie Zhou Yihang Editor 丨Liao Ying)