Before the May Day Golden Week, SAIC Motor released its performance report for the first quarter of this year.
Judging from the content of the report, in the first quarter of this year, SAIC's total operating income was 143.072 billion yuan, down 1.95% year-on-year, net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 2.714 billion yuan, down 2.48% year-on-year, and basic earnings per share was 0.24 yuan, down 2.48% year-on-year.
On the whole, SAIC's key financial data such as operating income, net profit and non-net profit all declined to varying degrees.
Regarding the change in performance, SAIC Motor said in the announcement that the net cash flow from operating activities was mainly due to the fact that its subsidiary, SAIC Motor Group Finance Co., Ltd., appropriately adjusted the loan scale and optimized the deposit structure according to business needs.
Of course, like many other car companies, SAIC's performance decline is mainly due to the adverse effects of the industry's price war.
As we all know, under the influence of the price war, the profits of car companies have decreased, which is also one of the main reasons for the decline in the profitability of most car companies today. In addition, in the extremely competitive environment, automobiles are bulk consumer goods, and it is difficult to increase sales themselves, making it difficult for many car companies to survive, and new power companies such as Gaohe and Weimar are even facing the risk of imminent closure.
As a large manufacturer with many years of car manufacturing precipitation and one of the world's top 500 companies, SAIC Motor will not face the risk of bankruptcy like many new forces, but the decline in profitability and difficulty in getting out of the sales quagmire are also real.
Not only in the first quarter of this year, SAIC's revenue and profit have been declining for a long time.
In 2023, SAIC's total operating income will be 744.71 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 14.11 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.5%...... It can be seen from the key financial data that SAIC's net profit attributable to the parent company in fiscal 2023 will decline by more than double digits year-on-year, equivalent to less than 40% of its historical high of 36 billion yuan in 2018, and almost return to the net profit level of 13.1 billion yuan in 2010.
Especially in terms of net profit, looking at the performance in recent years, except for a 20% increase in 2021, it is in a downward trend - a decline of 29% in 2019, a decline of 20% in 2020, and a decline of 34% in 2022.
In addition, in terms of assets, the report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the total assets at the end of the period were 959.576 billion yuan, and the accounts receivable were 62.556 billion yuan; in terms of cash flow, the net cash flow generated by operating activities was a loss of 4.546 billion yuan, the cash received from the sale of goods and the provision of labor services was 157.956 billion yuan, and the average cash-to-cash ratio of the main business was 77.96%, and the company's cash flow was poor.
And one of the biggest reasons for the decline in earning power is the failure to keep sales.
According to official data, SAIC produced 824,000 vehicles in the first quarter, down 13.37% year-on-year, and sold 834,000 vehicles, down 6.40% year-on-year. However, in terms of terminal delivery, SAIC Motor delivered a total of 1.132 million terminals in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%.
The performance of its major brands in the first quarter of this year showed different trends.
Among them, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM-Wuling sales showed a significant growth situation, while SAIC-GM and SAIC passenger cars showed a downward trend, especially SAIC-GM, the cumulative sales in the first quarter of this year fell by more than 4% year-on-year, the situation is critical, and it has also become the subsidiary with the most serious decline in sales within SAIC.
Specifically, SAIC Volkswagen and SAIC-GM-Wuling's sales in the first quarter increased by 9.60% and 16.37% year-on-year respectively, and Zhiji Automobile also increased by 165.63% year-on-year because of its small base. However, in contrast, SAIC-GM and SAIC Passenger Vehicle decreased by 40.04% and 17.27% year-on-year respectively.
It is worth mentioning that since 2019, SAIC's vehicle sales have declined for five consecutive years, and the decline in sales has led to a continuous decline in its net profit. In particular, the sales of joint venture brands have fallen into a quagmire, which has greatly burdened SAIC.
Last year, SAIC sold 5.02 million new vehicles, only 83.7% of its annual sales target. Among them, the joint venture camp performed poorly, with SAIC Volkswagen selling 1.22 million units, down 8% year-on-year, SAIC-GM 1 million units, down 14.5% year-on-year, and SAIC-GM-Wuling 1.4 million units, down 12.3% year-on-year.
The annual sales of the "troika" were 3,619,100 units, a year-on-year decrease of 11.5%, nearly 500,000 fewer units than in 2022, and nearly 2.5 million fewer units than the peak in 2018, completely offsetting the lost sales of SAIC.
In the face of sluggish sales performance, SAIC-Volkswagen's revenue reached 140.3 billion yuan and net profit was 3.1 billion yuan, while SAIC-GM's revenue reached 145.3 billion yuan and net profit was 2.5 billion yuan. SAIC-GM-Wuling's revenue was 76 billion yuan, and its net profit was 900 million yuan. Combined, the net profit of the three companies accounted for 46% of SAIC's total profit.
The "troika" that once pushed SAIC's sales and profits to the peak is now falling behind to varying degrees in the face of the transformation of the new era, and SAIC has also come out of the comfortable days of "lying down to make money".
Now, the "troika" that failed to climb in sales in the first quarter has also caused the performance of SAIC, which is seriously dependent on joint ventures, to decline. Some time ago, it was exposed that SAIC Volkswagen's internal video of whether to renew Wu Lei's contract as an endorsement sparked heated discussions, which also sparked heated discussions. The decline in profits of SAIC Volkswagen, including SAIC Volkswagen, has become an iron shackle that restricts their development.
Fortunately, SAIC has a new energy market and overseas market performance to hide shame.
In terms of new energy vehicles, SAIC's sales in the first quarter reached 210,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 47.88%. Among them, sales in the domestic market reached 168,000 units, up 117.5% year-on-year, and terminal deliveries in overseas markets reached 269,000 units, up 21.3% year-on-year.
In addition, since the beginning of this year, SAIC has also produced a lot of blockbuster products, including SAIC-GM's Buick GL8 PHEV, Wuling Starlight pure electric version, the upcoming Zhiji L6, Roewe E5X, SAIC Volkswagen ID.7, etc., which will have the opportunity to promote SAIC's sales counterattack in the second quarter and even the whole year.