Xusheng Group's performance in 2023 will grow steadily, and the future of automotive lightweight business is bright

On the evening of April 25, 2024, Xusheng Group disclosed its 2023 annual report. According to the data, in 2023, the company will achieve operating income of 4.834 billion yuan, an increase of 8.54% year-on-year, net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 714 million yuan, an increase of 1.83% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 673 million yuan, an increase of 2.82% year-on-year. In addition, Xusheng Group intends to distribute a cash dividend of 2.30 yuan (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares.

Saving development momentum to ensure the quality of profits

In 2023, Xusheng Group's performance will maintain a steady growth trend as a whole, and its net profit will make steady progress after breaking through the 700 million mark in 2022. While the performance was stable, the cash flow of Xusheng Group improved significantly in the current year. According to the annual report data, the company's net cash flow from operating activities for the year was 978 million yuan, a significant increase of 160.58% over the same period last year. Xusheng Group explained that it was mainly due to the increase in sales collection and the decrease in the purchase of goods and services.

With the support of sufficient cash flow, the quality of Xusheng Group's profitability has improved by leaps and bounds. According to relevant data, the company's net present ratio in 2023 will soar to 137.45% from 53.61% in 2022. On the one hand, it shows that the company's ability to collect money continues to increase, and the financial pressure is further reduced, and on the other hand, it also reveals that the company is not "rich on paper", and its net profit is supported by "real money", and the quality of earnings is relatively good.

The general trend of automobile lightweight, aluminum alloy faucet has a bright future

As one of the leading enterprises of automotive precision aluminum alloy parts, Xusheng Group firmly focuses on the three advantages of "new energy, lightweight, and integration" for continuous business layout. In 2023, its aluminum parts will contribute a total operating income of 4.770 billion yuan, accounting for 98.68% of the total revenue and a gross profit margin of 23.26%, while other businesses will achieve a revenue of 63.72 million yuan, accounting for 1.32% of the total revenue and a gross profit margin of 79.74%.

In terms of new energy and lightweight, Xusheng Group continues to focus on the field of new energy vehicles, maintains the coverage of global high-quality vehicle enterprises and high-quality first-class parts enterprises, and actively obtains project designation in the field of automotive precision aluminum alloy, with stable overall operation.

It is understood that the company's customers have covered domestic and foreign new power car companies such as Rivian, Lucid, Ideal, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Leap, etc., mature domestic and foreign advantageous car companies such as Great Wall Motor, Volkswagen, Polaris, etc., and well-known domestic and foreign first-class parts suppliers such as ZF, Valeo, Gesamp, CATL, etc.

In recent years, in the context of the continuous strengthening of the trend of comprehensive electrification, "lightweight" has become the future trend of the development of the automotive industry. According to the "Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" released by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China in October 2020, automobile lightweight is a common basic technology for new energy vehicles, energy-saving vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles, and is the key development direction of China's energy-saving and new energy vehicle technology in the future.

For automobile lightweight, aluminum alloy material has become the preferred material due to its advantages of light weight, easy forming, high strength, corrosion resistance, and lower price than magnesium alloy and carbon fiber reinforced materials. According to the research of relevant institutions, it is expected that by 2030, the amount of aluminum used in light vehicles will reach 259 kg/unit, and the aluminum alloy material for vehicles has a good development prospect.

And Xusheng Group has mastered the "unique secrets" in this regard. It is reported that the company is one of the few enterprises in the industry that has mastered the three major aluminum alloy forming processes of die-casting, forging and extrusion at the same time, and has the ability of mass production and integrated production, and can provide one-stop lightweight solutions for different customer needs.

In addition to continuous improvement on the road of lightweight, Xusheng Group also continues to seek development opportunities in the field of energy storage. Thanks to the relevant business cooperation of downstream customers, Xusheng Group has realized the mass supply of energy storage product shells in 2023, marking the company's successful opening up of new fields other than new energy vehicles in the layout of the new energy ecosystem.

The product is becoming more and more "light", and "rolling" out of technical advantages

It is understood that in Xusheng Group, whether it is an automotive power system, chassis system or battery system, it can reduce weight by about 20% to 35% through process improvement and material modification. Two years ago, the company reduced the weight of a single knuckle from 7.7 kg to 5.86 kg, breaking the monopoly of foreign technology.

This small two-kilogram breakthrough has a "pivotal" significance for new energy vehicles. In the face of tens of thousands of parts and components in the whole car, new energy vehicles are "calculating" each weight, because reducing the total weight of the body is very important to improve the range and reduce costs.

The products can be made lighter and lighter, which is inseparable from the great importance of Xusheng Group to innovation and research and development. In 2023, the company will invest a total of 194 million yuan in R&D expenses, a year-on-year increase of 11.88%. In addition to continuously increasing R&D investment, Xusheng Group also adheres to the attitude of excellence in innovation, "Our innovation is not measured in days and months, but in hours. The relevant person in charge of Xusheng Group said.

"We want to be the first in the industry in our familiar links, and dig the 5-meter-wide track to a depth of 10,000 meters. The chairman of Xusheng Group said in a recent interview.

In such a corporate atmosphere, customers "volume", Xusheng Group is even more "volume". According to media reports, if customers give 7 to 10 days, they can use 2 to 3 days to give a plan, deliver samples, and deliver orders to a certain day and time of a certain month.

The efforts of Xusheng Group have not only gained a good reputation in the industry, but also won the recognition of the government. The company won the Ningbo Municipal People's Government Quality Award in 2020 and is the only auto parts supplier among the award-winning enterprises in this batch.

Looking forward to the future, Xusheng Group said that the company will firmly seize the opportunity of the rapid development of the new energy industry, adhere to the development direction of lightweight, take "North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe" as the market, and focus on the three process modules of "die-casting, forging and extrusion", and actively build system integration capabilities, continue to improve the business advantages of "technological innovation, rapid response, synchronous research and development, and cost control", and strive to become a global leader in the field of new energy lightweight.