When various car companies began to "escape" the Ningde era, Xinwanda, as a second-tier manufacturer, began to show ambition.
Author | Home scale from the planet Magnesia
Yesterday evening, the "power battery upstart" Sunwoda announced the 2021 annual report results.
In this report card, the power battery business that attracts the most market attention increased by 584.67% year-on-year, jumping from the bottom to the fourth position in the company's revenue ratio, and the gross profit margin is even larger, only one step away from "breakeven".
Behind the growth in performance, Sunwoda has stood for a long time in the focus of many roles: car companies are eager for it to grow, and battery factories such as the Ningde era have begun to be more jealous of it.
Nowadays, With its own dream of transformation, Xinwanda has slowly shown its dark horse potential in the field of power batteries.
From loss to profit, Sunwoda has a bigger goal
As early as 2008, Sunwoda has entered the power battery market and was the first to engage in the research and development of battery PACK products. However, due to the lack of involvement in the most critical battery cell business, Sunwoda got up early and caught up with a late set, and it is difficult for batteries without core technologies to gain the trust of car companies in the market.
In 2014, Sunwoda decided to acquire Dongguan Liwei and get involved in the battery cell business, and in the following years, Sunwoda has received orders from Geely, Renault Nissan, Dongfeng and other car companies.
However, from the perspective of the domestic power battery installed capacity ranking, Sunwoda's power battery business has always hovered around 10. On the one hand, Sunwoda's main business is in the consumer electronics market, and the insufficient transformation has led to the lack of full application of the power battery production line, and in recent years it has been in the stage of "Buddhist development". The data shows that in 2016, Sunwoda's power battery accounted for 6.39% of the company's total revenue, but it was less than 2% by 2020.
On the other hand, it is difficult for Sunwoda to obtain orders from high-end OEMs, and can only engage in the research and development of power battery systems for some unpopular models.
It can be said that before 2021, the power battery business is only a side business of Sunwoda, but a turnaround has emerged.
As the consumer electronics market has become more saturated in the past two years and mobile phone sales have gradually declined, Sunwoda urgently needs to find new breakthroughs, so the company has accelerated the layout of the power battery business.
In addition, with the power battery from the "buyer's market" to the "seller's market", The Originally Unpopular Sunwoda suddenly ushered in the recognition of many car companies.
According to Sunwoda's 2021 semi-annual report, Sunwoda's orders in the first half of the year added 15 models, including many well-known car companies such as SAIC and GAC. Geely Automobile has established a joint venture with Sunwoda to lay out hybrid batteries.
Under the multi-party layout, Sunwoda's power battery business ushered in rapid progress in 2021, achieving revenue of 2.933 billion yuan in the whole year, an increase of 584.67% year-on-year; revenue accounted for 7.85%, an increase of 6.41 percentage points over last year. Although the business continued to lose money due to higher prices of upstream raw materials, it has improved significantly compared to previous years.
Trusted by car companies
At present, second-tier battery factories are facing a common problem: the trust of car companies.
As early as 2020, Sunwoda had competed with Ewell Lithium energy to supply BMW's 48V battery, and finally lost. In this regard, Xinwanda said: "The competition for this project also summed up the reasons why we did not get it, and it has nothing to do with the product. ”
Although as a giant of consumer batteries, Sunwoda is a veritable "three-line small factory" in the field of power batteries, and the data shows that in 2020, the domestic power battery installed capacity ranking, Sunwoda did not even enter the top 15, and it is naturally difficult to get the trust of car companies.
Conversely, when the right to speak of battery factories begins to surpass car companies, car companies that are caught in battery anxiety need to find new battery factories to ensure supply. This point has been reflected in the Ningde era, and some car companies have suffered from the "Ning Wang" for a long time, and have revealed the signal to get rid of the Ningde era.
For the investment in Sunwoda, some insiders said that Sunwoda is technically trustworthy, and hybrid, plug-in hybrid, pure electric battery technology are supported. More importantly, as a "small company" of power batteries, there are not many car companies involved behind the "Buddhist" Xinwanda, which is more suitable for investment.
In the camp of domestic car companies, the new forces have a relatively weak voice, and they are more dependent on the Ningde era. Data show that in the current domestic power battery market, the top ten suppliers have divided nearly 95% of the share, and the remaining more than 20 account for only 5%. Among them, the Ningde era is the absolute protagonist, accounting for more than half of the installed capacity share, firmly controlling the distribution of batteries. How to seize the bargaining power and control of upstream batteries and chips has become the heart knot that the new forces hope to unravel.
It is reported that the new forces have been trying to develop battery suppliers outside the Ningde era, including BYD, Yiwei Lithium Energy, and Zhongxin Aviation, all of which are rumored to have cooperation intentions with Wei Xiaoli. Now, together, they bet on Sinanda.
It is reported that after the investment in February, the affiliates of Ideal, Xiaopeng and Weilai will hold 3.2%, 3.2% and 2.0% of the shares of Sunwoda Battery Company respectively. Among them, Sunwoda has directly become the A supply company of a certain model of Xiaopeng, supplying 50% of the battery capacity.
With the help of Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, SAIC, Dongfeng and other car companies, Sunwoda may usher in another rapid growth in 2022.
Opportunities and risks coexist
Although the momentum of Sunwoda is not small, it is still difficult to impact the first-line echelon.
When analyzing the financial report, some research institutions pointed out doubts about Sunwoda's revenue ability. According to the financial report, Sunwoda's total operating income was 37.3 billion yuan, and the net profit was less than 800 million yuan. In terms of debt ratio, Sunwoda's asset-liability ratio is as high as 60%, and the total liabilities for the whole year of 2021 reached 28.8 billion yuan. At the end of the third quarter of last year, Sunwoda's debt ratio was as high as 76%, which is a dangerous figure in the entire manufacturing sector.
In order to reduce losses, Sunwoda will say that it will optimize the capital structure through equity financing. According to the latest news, Sunwoda plans to refinance 3 billion yuan for the power battery business. According to other statistics, from August last year to March this year, in just half a year, the project investment plan of Sunwoda Power Battery has exceeded 50 billion yuan, including the previous Production Base Plan of 20 billion yuan in Zaozhuang, Shandong, 20 billion yuan in Nanchang and the latest production base plan of 12 billion yuan in Zhuhai. Once the market fluctuations and industry declines, the company's capital chain will face a severe test, and it is difficult to support the subsequent expansion plan.
From the perspective of the battery business, battery factories are increasingly restricted by raw materials such as upstream lithium mines.
Since 2018, HEAD battery factories such as CATL and BYD have invested heavily in a number of upstream companies such as mining on a global scale. Entering 2022, affected by the "demon nickel" incident, battery factories and OEMs are even more anxious about upstream resources. For Sunwoda, the "small transparent in the industry", the impact of raw materials will be greater than that of first-line manufacturers.
On the one hand, the ambition for the power battery, on the other hand, the risk of high investment, the "dark horse" Sunwanda's way forward is still uncertain.