The first quarter of 2022 is tantamount to breaking through the barriers for car companies. The higher prices of upstream raw materials, coupled with factors such as tight supply chains and tightening downstream consumer demand under the epidemic, have put pressure on the profitability of the automotive industry.
The Beijing News Shell financial reporter statistics have disclosed that the first quarter of this year's 13 domestic listed car companies have seen that the net profit of 7 car companies has declined. Among them, Jianghuai Automobile's revenue and net profit both fell. The net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 290 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 253.45%. The first-quarter loss has surpassed last year's full-year profit.
Shell financial reporters noted that the revenue of Jianghuai Automobile and SAIC Motor Group has been frustrated, and there are shadows of the epidemic and the crisis of lack of core. "It is mainly due to the impact of the epidemic and chip shortage, the decline in sales and the increase in the price of raw materials such as chips and batteries, which have led to rising costs and a decrease in the gross profit of the main business." Jianghuai Automobile said in a quarterly report.
However, in the first quarter of this year, from the performance point of view, it is also a "double day of ice and fire". Changan Automobile, BYD, Lifan Technology and other 5 car companies in the adverse trend to win, to achieve net profit growth year-on-year. Since March, BYD's net profit in the first quarter has achieved double growth year-on-year, reaching 240.59% and 34.27% respectively. It is worth mentioning that in the first quarter, BYD's auto sales were 291,300 units, of which the sales of new energy vehicles reached 286,300 units, an increase of 422.97% year-on-year.
Breakthrough in the first quarter: SAIC Motor, Changan Automobile cash flow "slippery slope"
Among the 13 car companies that have disclosed their performance, SAIC Motor group ranked first with a revenue of more than 170 billion yuan, but it also saw a downward trend.
In the first quarter of this year, SAIC's operating income fell by 4.14% year-on-year to 176.776 billion yuan, and net profit fell by 19.44% year-on-year to 5.516 billion yuan.
In the first quarter of 2022, the automotive industry faced unprecedented challenges due to rising raw material and logistics costs, chip supply shortages, and repeated domestic epidemics.
"In the first quarter of 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic, sales revenue decreased." In the first quarter of this year, SAIC Motor's net cash flow from operating activities was -9.143 billion yuan, down 555.3% year-on-year.
SAIC Motor said in its financial report that the net cash flow from operating activities in the first quarter changed significantly, on the one hand, due to the expansion of the loan scale of its subsidiary, SAIC Motor Group Finance Co., Ltd., and on the other hand, due to the reduction in sales revenue due to the impact of the epidemic in the first quarter.
Similarly, due to the impact of the epidemic and chip shortage, Changan Automobile also faced greater cash flow pressure in the first quarter of this year.
According to the first quarter report of 2022, the net cash flow generated by Changan Automobile's operating activities was 769 million yuan, compared with 7.233 billion yuan in the same period of 2021, a decrease of about 90%.
Changan Automobile explained that the epidemic in some areas in the first quarter had a greater impact on the production and operation of enterprises, and the epidemic led to limited production of some suppliers, logistics obstruction, and a shortage of supply of parts such as enterprise chips, resulting in a certain degree of loss of enterprises.
In addition, Changan Automobile pointed out that in the first quarter of 2022, due to the global epidemic and external factors, there were sharp fluctuations in bulk raw materials and precious metals, resulting in an increase in the purchase price of related parts and raw materials of the company. The rise of new energy vehicle consumption has led to a sharp rise in the price of lithium hydroxide, electrolyte and other related raw materials, and the above factors have put the main engine factory under greater cost pressure.
Affected by unfavorable factors such as the epidemic and lack of core, in the first quarter of this year, Jianghuai Automobile's revenue and net profit both fell.
Among them, the operating income was 9.761 billion yuan, down 16.43% year-on-year; the net loss attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 290 million yuan, compared with 190 million yuan in the same period last year, a decrease of 253.45%. The loss in the first quarter has exceeded last year's full-year profit.
"It is mainly due to the impact of the epidemic and chip shortage, sales volume decline, and the rise in the price of raw materials such as chips and batteries, which lead to rising costs and a decrease in the gross profit of the main business." Jianghuai Automobile said in a quarterly report.
In the first quarter of this year, jianghuai automobile production and sales were 131,300 units and 129,400 units, down 11.97% and 11.67% year-on-year, respectively.
Shell financial reporter combed and saw that the performance of Great Wall Motor in the first quarter was also significantly affected by the epidemic.
In the first quarter of this year, Great Wall Motor's net profit was 1.634 billion yuan, down 0.34% year-on-year, and deducted non-net profit of 1.303 billion yuan, down 2.41% year-on-year. This is the third consecutive quarter of net profit decline for Great Wall Motors after the third and fourth quarters of 2021.
Great Wall Motors said that due to the impact of the epidemic in many places in China, many parts suppliers of Great Wall Motors have been affected, resulting in limited production capacity of factories.
According to the data, in the first quarter of this year, Great Wall Motor sold 283,500 new cars, down 16.32% year-on-year. Among them, Haval brand sales were 166,800 units, down 25.13% year-on-year; Great Wall pickup truck sales were 43,000 units, down 27.68% year-on-year.
The joys and sorrows of car companies are not the same. In the first quarter of this year, thanks to the growth of vehicle sales and other revenues, Beiqi Blue Valley's revenue increased by 108.42% year-on-year to 1.731 billion yuan, but it still has not reversed the loss situation, and the net profit loss has expanded to 957 million yuan, which is the largest loss among the 13 listed car companies.
Compared with the financial report of Beiqi Blue Valley in the first quarter of recent years, it can be found that in the first quarter of this year, the sales expenses of Beiqi Blue Valley rose by 62.51% year-on-year to 309 million yuan, which was the highest and fastest growth rate year-on-year; research and development expenses increased by 8.49% year-on-year to 203 million yuan. How to balance the relationship between cost and product and sales has become the key facing Beiqi Blue Valley.
However, from the perspective of sales, Beiqi Blue Valley has improved slightly. Cumulative sales in the first quarter increased by nearly 1.9 times year-on-year to 9,120 units. However, compared with its 2022 sales target of 100,000 vehicles, Beiqi Blue Valley still faces challenges. This means that in the remaining three quarters, Beiqi Blue Valley will achieve sales of more than 90,000 vehicles.
5 car companies have a bumper harvest, and BYD counterattacks with new energy vehicles
Although the overall automobile manufacturing industry was under pressure in the first quarter, there were still some car companies that performed well in the first quarter, and 5 car companies such as Changan Automobile, GAC Group, and BYD achieved double growth in revenue and net profit in the first quarter.
Thanks to the increase in the market share of new energy vehicles, BYD, Lifan Technology and GAC Group achieved net profits of 240.59%, 220.54% and 27.17% respectively in the first quarter.
In the first quarter of 2022, BYD's auto sales were 291,300 units, an increase of 179.78% year-on-year, of which the sales of new energy vehicles were 286,300 units, an increase of 422.97% year-on-year.
At the beginning of April, BYD publicly announced the end of the brand's nearly 20-year fuel era, stopped the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022, and became the first car company in the world to announce the suspension of fuel vehicles. In the future, the automotive segment will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Shell financial reporter combed and saw that BYD's total car sales in January and February were 185,600 units, of which the sales of new energy vehicles reached 180,500 units, and fuel vehicles have tended to be "invisible" in BYD's product architecture. In March this year, BYD's production and sales were 106,700 units and 104,900 units, respectively, of which the production and sales of fuel vehicles were "0".
The growth of new energy vehicle sales and the rise in market share have hedged the profit pressure brought about by the rise in upstream raw material prices to a certain extent, and led to an improvement in BYD's profitability.
Even in the case of a government subsidy decline of more than 50%, in the first quarter of this year, BYD's revenue reached 66.825 billion yuan, an increase of 63.02% over the same period of the previous year of 40.992 billion yuan; net profit of 808 million yuan, an increase of 240.59% year-on-year; net profit after deduction of non-profit was 514 million yuan, which turned positive after two years.
In addition to revenue and net profit indicators, BYD has obvious cash flow advantages compared with other car companies in the industry. In the first quarter of 2022, its net cash flow from operating activities was about 11.933 billion yuan, an increase of 8312.29% year-on-year.
From January to March this year, GAC Group sold 608,100 units, an increase of 22.48% year-on-year. Among them, in terms of independent brands, GAC Motor's cumulative sales of passenger cars were 94,500 units, an increase of 21.80% year-on-year, and GAC E'an's cumulative sales of 44,900 units, an increase of 154.85% year-on-year.
The increase in sales of its main products also directly drove the growth of GAC Group's performance. In the first quarter of this year, the operating income of GAC Group was 23.145 billion yuan, an increase of 45.67% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was 3.009 billion yuan, an increase of 27.17% year-on-year.
In addition, in the first quarter of this year, the performance of Lifan Technology also improved. During the reporting period, the operating income of Lifan Technology was 1.249 billion yuan, an increase of 48.74% year-on-year, and the net profit was 50.849 million yuan, an increase of 220.54% year-on-year. From the data point of view, the profit of Lifan Technology in the first quarter is close to the level of last year's full year, and the annual net profit of Lifan Technology in 2021 is 55.6421 million yuan.
Behind the growth of Lifan Technology's performance is the recovery of Lifan Technology's automobile business. From January to March this year, its automobile production and sales achieved a substantial increase year-on-year, of which the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles were 5530, which exceeded the annual sales in 2021.
"Fancy" to drive performance, Great Wall Motors in the first quarter of 800 million government subsidies
According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2022, the operating income of the automobile manufacturing industry was 2,127.06 billion yuan, an increase of 0.9% year-on-year; the operating cost was 1,828.98 billion yuan, an increase of 1.8% year-on-year; the total profit of the automobile manufacturing industry was 114.98 billion yuan, down 11.9% year-on-year.
Shell financial reporters combed the quarterly reports of 13 domestic listed vehicle companies and saw that in addition to the main business, non-recurring gains and losses such as government subsidies, equity transfers, and asset sales have also become one of the engines for some car companies to promote the growth of performance in the first quarter.
From the perspective of specific subsidy amounts, the government subsidies recorded in the profit and loss of Great Wall Motor and SAIC Group in the first quarter were 801 million yuan and 679 million yuan, accounting for 49.02% and 12.30% of the net profit of the current period, respectively.
Jiangling Motors received a government subsidy of 260 million yuan, if the above subsidy income is deducted from the net profit, Jiangling Motors will turn from profit to loss in the first quarter.
In the first quarter of this year, Changan Automobile's operating income did not change much from the same period last year, up 7.96% year-on-year to 34.576 billion yuan; but the net profit attributable to the mother achieved an increase of 431.45%, reaching 4.536 billion yuan, exceeding the net profit of 3.552 billion yuan in 2021.
Among them, non-recurring profit and loss items contributed nearly 50%.
An important reason for the significant increase in Changan Automobile's net profit attributable to the mother in the first quarter of 2022 is that its Avita Technology equity completed a capital increase and share expansion in the first quarter. Avita Technology Company changed from a holding subsidiary to an associated enterprise, which is no longer included in the scope of consolidated statements, and adopts the equity method for subsequent accounting.
Based on the valuation results of Avita Technology Company as of March 11, 2022 as the basis for accounting recording, the sale of part of its equity contributed a net profit of about 2.13 billion yuan to Changan Automobile, accounting for nearly 50% of Changan Automobile's net profit in the first quarter.
Haima Automobile's 2022 first quarterly report shows that its main revenue was 710 million yuan, up 119.95% year-on-year; the net loss was 60.9254 million yuan. Haima Automobile said on the investor interactive platform that the company's operating income in the first quarter increased year-on-year, mainly due to the growth of export business and the delivery of real estate projects; the net cash flow generated by operating activities decreased year-on-year, mainly due to the pre-sale collection of real estate projects in the previous year.
This is not the first time that Haima Motors has reversed its performance through the sale of assets.
In 2019, Haima Automobile sold 401 units of property and some subsidiaries, with a net profit of 85 million yuan and successfully "picking stars". In 2020, Haima Automobile further sold more than 100 properties and its 7% stake in Hainan Bank.
As of the end of March 2022, haima automobile's total assets were 7.426 billion yuan, down 9.52% year-on-year.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Zhang Bing
Edited by Wang Jinyu Proofread by Lucy
![SAIC Motor's total vehicle sales in 2021 decreased by 2.45% y/y to 5,463,500 units[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)