#精品长文创作季#
Author / Pot-wrapped meat under the stars
Edit/Spinach's Starry Sky
Typesetting/hot pot under the stars
Liquid metal, when I first saw this word, I thought it was liquid metal. In fact, there are two types of liquid metals, the first is a liquid metal at room temperature, which is generally composed of low melting point metals such as gallium, rubidium, and cesium.
However, the liquid metal often said in the secondary market is actually the second kind, which is solid at room temperature, and is called amorphous alloy in the industry. It is a solid metal or alloy in which the atoms do not have time to arrange and crystallize in an orderly manner when the metal is super-rapid solidification, and the atoms are arranged in a long-range disordered and short-range ordered structural state. Its microstructure is very similar to that of glass, also known as metallic glass.
To put it simply, it is a new type of metal material with the properties of glass, metal, solid and liquid, with high strength, high hardness, high finish, corrosion resistance and wear resistance. Its flexural strength, tensile strength, elastic deformation, etc. are better than those of commonly used materials.
This new material with excellent performance has always been the darling of the capital market. As a leading liquid metal company, Yi'an Technology (300328) naturally has no shortage of attention.
However, judging from the financial report of Yi'an Technology, liquid metal has never been on a large scale. The liquid metal business of Baowu Magnesium (002182), a former partner, has also failed. The market's expectations for liquid metal are a little too optimistic.
1. Baowu Magnesium Industry has not succeeded
Yi'an Technology and Baowu Magnesium were both founded in 1993 and were formerly private enterprises, but now they are both state-owned holdings.
The actual controller of Yi'an Technology is the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Zhuzhou City, and its main products are magnesium alloys, aluminum alloys and other light alloy precision die castings. Baowu Magnesium joined the command of Baosteel, the controlling shareholder is Baosteel Metal, the actual controller is the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and its main business is the production, deep processing and sales of magnesium and aluminum alloy materials.
From the perspective of business structure, the two are quite similar, and both are based on the magnesium and aluminum alloy business, and the extension has expanded into the field of liquid metal.
It's just that Baowu Magnesium Industry has not succeeded.
According to Baowu Magnesium's introduction on the interactive Q&A platform in March 2020, the company's liquid metal business (mainly magnesium-based liquid metal) is cooperating with Yi'an Technology, and the cooperation between the two is mainly focused on materials and research and development work.
Source: Baowu Magnesium interactive Q&A platform
However, as of November 2021, nearly two years have passed, and Baowu Magnesium's liquid metal materials are still under development. Since then, Baowu Magnesium has not updated its progress, and the liquid metal business has not been disclosed in the financial report.
Source: Baowu Magnesium interactive Q&A platform
Nowadays, liquid metal, a hot new material, has become non-existent here in Baowu Magnesium.
Second, Yi'an technology, not large-scale
In contrast, Yi'an Technology's liquid metal business has achieved certain results.
According to the financial report, Yi'an Technology has focused on the R&D and industrialization of liquid metal for more than 10 years, and has formed four major sectors: the first major plate is consumer electronics structural parts, the second largest plate is new energy auto parts, the third major plate is medical equipment structural parts, and the fourth major plate is music and sports equipment structural parts.
Among them, in the field of new energy auto parts, according to Yi'an Technology, the company is the only company in the world that applies liquid metal in the automotive industry, and is the exclusive first-tier supplier of Model X liquid metal door lock covers to Tesla, which has continued to this day.
Source: Yi'an Technology's 2023 semi-annual report
However, as of 2022, the total revenue of the four major liquid metal segments of Yi'an Technology is about 84 million, accounting for only 5.2% of the total revenue.
With the title of "the only one in the world and exclusive to Tesla", it only achieved tens of millions of revenues. So in the field of new energy vehicles, how much demand is there for liquid metal?
In addition, a large part of the tens of millions of income comes from consumer electronics structural parts, especially folding mobile phone hinges.
The hinge is an important part of the folding screen mobile phone, connecting the screen and the body, and relating to the depth of the screen crease, the degree of thinness and other issues. Due to its high strength, good formability and high dimensional accuracy, liquid metal is more suitable for manufacturing folding screen mobile phone hinges.
In 2020, folding screen phones were all the rage, and Yi'an Technology's liquid metal revenue also went against the norm, with a significant increase of 68.5%. Obviously, the revenue increment is mainly driven by the demand for hinges.
But the problem is that folding screen mobile phones did not occupy the market as expected, so in 2021, liquid metal revenue was beaten back to its original shape.
Source: Flush iFinD - Yi'an Technology Liquid Metal Revenue
To sum up, it seems that only the advent of folding screen mobile phones has generated real demand and income for liquid metal.
So conversely, in addition to hinges, is it really necessary for liquid metal in other fields? Is the industrial application mature? If according to what has been said so far, liquid metal has special properties and even cost advantages, why is it always difficult to achieve scale?
Source: Guosheng Securities
Third, the market is weak, and the increase in income does not increase profits
For Baowu Magnesium, liquid metal is gradually falling silent. For Yi'an Technology, although liquid metal has become a bright concept, the actual revenue accounts for only about 5%.
At present, the revenue of Baowu Magnesium and Yi'an Technology is still mainly dependent on traditional magnesium and aluminum products.
Baowu Magnesium is a leading enterprise in the global magnesium industry, with mines in hand, integrating mining, non-ferrous metal smelting, recycling and processing. The main products include magnesium alloy, aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy deep processing, aluminum alloy deep processing products, etc. The downstream of the product is mainly for the automotive market, but judging from the data, the market growth is obviously weak.
In 2022, Baowu Magnesium's revenue seems to increase by 12.17% year-on-year, but the sales volume of non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing will actually decrease by 20.71% year-on-year. Since the beginning of 2023, after losing product price support, Baowu Magnesium's revenue in the first three quarters has decreased by 21.74% year-on-year.
Source: Flush iFinD-Baowu Magnesium
In contrast, Yi'an Technology has shown a certain growth elasticity, especially in the auto parts business, but it has increased revenue but not profits.
Yi'an Technology's main products include new energy auto parts, notebook computers and other consumer electronics structural parts, high-end LED curtain walls and industrial accessories, precision molds, etc. Among them, consumer electronics structural parts and other products used to be the main source of income for Yi'an Technology.
In 2019, Yi'an Technology's total revenue was 1.025 billion, of which 300 million was auto zero revenue, and according to this calculation, other business income such as consumer electronics structural parts was 723 million, accounting for about 70%.
However, the consumer electronics market is getting weaker, and the revenue growth of this sector has almost stagnated, and in the first half of 2023, the revenue of consumer electronics and other businesses is still only 320 million, and according to this conversion, the annual scale is less than in 2019.
Today, Yi'an Technology's performance is supported by the auto zero business.
With the soaring sales of new energy vehicles, the revenue of automobiles has also risen. As of 2022, Yi'an Technology's auto zero revenue has reached 910 million, about 3 times compared with 2019. The proportion of auto zero revenue has also increased to 56%, becoming the largest source of revenue for Yi'an Technology.
Source: Public Data Collation
Not only that, magnesium and aluminum are the key materials to achieve lightweight automobiles. Today's Yi'an Technology can be said to have both income and popularity.
However, there is no profit.
The data shows that in recent years, the gross profit margin of Yi'an Technology has plummeted. Especially since 2021, with the increase in the proportion of auto zero revenue, the decline in gross profit margin has become more obvious, and as of the first three quarters of 2023, it has dropped to 13.41%. Net profit after deducting non-attributable to the parent company - 20.9 million.
Source: Straight Flush - Yi'an Technology
Since entering 2024, downstream car companies represented by BYD have continued to cut prices wildly. As an upstream parts supplier, Yi'an Technology is afraid that the situation will be more difficult.
In addition, although Yi'an Technology's zero revenue has always maintained positive growth, in the first half of 2023, the year-on-year growth rate has dropped from 76.05% in 2022 to 18.61%. In the next step, whether it can continue to grow is also a big test.
Note: This article does not constitute any investment advice. The stock market is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market. There is no harm in buying and selling.