Another upstream supplier of new energy vehicles will be listed soon.
Recently, the information disclosed by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange shows that the audit status of Chongqing New Aluminum Times Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "New Aluminum Times") has been changed to "effective registration". This means that the new aluminum era is one step closer to IPO.
According to the prospectus, the new aluminum era is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of aluminum alloy parts for the battery system of new energy vehicles, and has a complete business system of aluminum alloy material research and development, product design, production process and large-scale production.
Similar to most new energy vehicle suppliers, the new aluminum era has taken advantage of the new outlet of the industry and achieved a doubling of performance, but it is also facing the risk of dependence on a single large customer brought about by the high concentration of partners. In addition, the difference in the transaction price in the process of the company's equity change is also the focus of attention from the outside world.
1. Specializing in battery box boxes, revenue began to decline
New Aluminum Times said in the prospectus that it has developed and mass-produced more than 280 battery box box products, supporting more than 2 million new energy vehicles, promoting the transformation and upgrading of battery box boxes, key components of new energy vehicles, and helping new energy vehicles and their core battery systems to "reduce weight" and "increase efficiency".
Benefiting from the vigorous development of new energy vehicles, the new aluminum era ushered in a period of explosive performance. From 2021 to 2023, the company achieved operating income of 618 million yuan, 1.421 billion yuan and 1.782 billion yuan respectively, of which battery box boxes accounted for 83.18%, 86.39% and 92.81% of its main business revenue, which is the main source of its revenue.
However, what is unusual is that the gross profit margin of the main business of the new aluminum era is not stable, which is 21.51%, 29.97% and 24.12% respectively. Among them, the gross profit margin of the core business battery box box in 2021 and 2022 will be 20.83% and 30.28% respectively, but it will decrease by 5.76 percentage points to 24.52% in 2023.
New Aluminum Times explained that the company's average sales price of battery box boxes in 2023 will continue to grow compared with the whole year of 2022, but some new products have more stringent requirements for technology, structure and components, and the cost is relatively high, resulting in a higher increase in overall unit cost than the increase in unit selling price, and then a decline in gross profit margin.
In the same period of the reporting period, the net profit attributable to the parent company of the new aluminum era was 26.8204 million yuan, 165 million yuan and 189 million yuan respectively, although it maintained a growth trend, the profit growth rate slowed down significantly, from 516.79% in 2022 to 14.33% in 2023; The net profit after deducting non-profits was 28.6728 million yuan, 167 million yuan and 182 million yuan respectively.
It should be pointed out that although New Aluminum Times achieved a double increase in profits during the reporting period, the company's net cash flow ran counter to the operating efficiency, increasing from -90.871 million yuan in 2021 to -803 million yuan in 2022, and further expanding to -948 million yuan in 2023, and the cash flow gap is getting wider and wider.
In this regard, the reason for the negative cash flow of New Aluminum Times is attributed to the fact that customers use accounts receivable debt certificates and bills to pay more to them. After considering the cash inflow obtained from its partner BYD and factoring discount, the company's cash flow gradually improved.
In addition, the operating income of New Aluminum Times in the first quarter of 2024 was 371 million yuan, down 23.46% from 484 million yuan in the same period of 2023; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 43.6292 million yuan, a slight increase of 1.70% year-on-year; The net profit after deducting non-profits was 12.9284 million yuan, a slight increase of 1.44% year-on-year.
New Aluminum Times said that although its operating income has decreased due to the decline in the scale of external sales of scrap aluminum and the overall output of battery boxes, due to its gradual reduction of the factoring discount scale of "Di Chain", the company's financial expenses in the first quarter have decreased by 77.08% compared with the same period in 2023, achieving cost reduction and efficiency increase.
New Aluminum Times expects its revenue to be 870 million yuan to 890 million yuan in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year decrease of -8.99% to -6.90%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 102 million yuan to 110 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.52% to 9.48%; The net profit after deducting non-profits was 101 million yuan to 109 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.75% to 9.80%.
Second, the customer concentration is high, and BYD is deeply bound
According to the prospectus, New Aluminum Times is the first domestic battery box manufacturer to supply BYD in batches through aluminum alloy extrusion process, FSW and other new processes, and has now become the largest supplier of aluminum alloy battery box boxes for BYD's new energy vehicles.
According to the prospectus, the battery box box products sold to BYD by the new aluminum era have covered more than 98% of BYD's sales models, accounting for more than 60% of BYD's mid-to-high-end and luxury models, and occupying an important position in the development and supply of BYD's new models and new fixed points.
The performance of the new aluminum era can achieve rapid growth in the short term, and the cooperation support from BYD is also indispensable. In 2021 and 2022, the revenue from BYD accounted for 70.42% and 78.87% respectively, and it will reach 80.46% in 2023, and the revenue concentration is increasing year by year.
It is true that BYD has a good momentum in the development of the new energy vehicle market in recent years, but from the perspective of enterprise diversified operation, if the new aluminum era cannot continue to maintain its advantages in BYD's new energy vehicle battery box and other parts suppliers, its overall operating performance will still be greatly affected.
The reliance on a single large customer in the new aluminum era is also the focus of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange requires the company to explain whether its cooperation with BYD is stable and sustainable, and the effectiveness of its countermeasures in the event that BYD reduces its procurement share or terminates the cooperation, taking into account factors such as the acquisition of fixed-point projects and orders in hand.
As of the end of March 2024, the company will mass-produce a total of 64 BYD fixed-point projects in 2023 and beyond, including 30 second-generation CTP products and 29 third-generation CTB products.
However, the supply share of BYD battery box boxes in the new aluminum era has actually dropped from 40.61% in 2021 to 22.91% in 2023, with declines of 26.02%, 10.09% and 7.61% from 2021 to 2023, respectively, in a downward trend year after year.
New Aluminum Times also admitted that the company's decline in BYD's supply share is mainly due to the increase in its capacity expansion rate, which is unable to meet BYD's rapidly rising new energy vehicle sales. In the first two months of 2024, the company sold 92,200 units of BYD's battery box boxes, and its supply share has recovered to more than 28%.
In addition, New Aluminum Times has entered the new energy vehicle supply chain system, providing product supply for customers such as Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile, Honeycomb Energy, and Xinwangda, and has carried out product sample delivery or evaluation tests for 20 projects with other new energy companies such as China Innovation Airlines, Ganfeng Lithium, and CATL, actively expanding the number of customers.
To sum up, New Aluminum Times believes that it has occupied the main supply share of BYD's battery box box, and its supply position is relatively stable; At the same time, it has the technical ability to develop other customers, and has the ability to independently obtain business from the market.
Third, the family color is strong, and the low-price shareholding is controversial
The New Aluminum Era is actually a family business. As of the signing date of the latest prospectus, the founder He Feng directly held 44.9246% of the company's shares, and his daughter He Yu indirectly held 8.3564% of the shares through Runfeng Aluminum. At the same time, He Feng's spouse and He Yu's mother Hu Guoping acted in concert with him, directly holding 2.2803% of the shares.
To sum up, He Feng, He Yu and Hu Guoping's family of three directly and indirectly control the voting rights of a total of 55.5613% of the shares of New Aluminum Times. At the same time, He Feng served as the chairman of the board of directors of New Aluminum Times and was the core technical personnel, He Yu was the director, and Hu Guoping did not participate in the operation and management of the company.
Guotong Red Horse holds 20.2096% of the shares of New Aluminum Times, Longmen No. 1 holds 3.9130%, Dayi No. 3 holds 1.0722%, Dayi Asset Management holds 0.66%, Parallel No. 1 and Parallel No. 2 hold 0.63% respectively, and the remaining 14 shareholders hold a total of 17.32%.
The predecessor of New Aluminum Times was Chongqing Nanfu Aluminum Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanfu Precision"), which was jointly funded and established by He Feng and Chongqing Nanfu Aluminum Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nanfu Aluminum"), with the two holding 60% and 40% of the shares respectively. Prior to the establishment of the company, many senior executives of New Aluminum Times had worked in Nanfu Aluminum.
In December 2018, Nanfu Aluminum sold its 21.8387% stake in New Aluminum Times to Guotong Red Horse by way of listing transfer, and the final transfer price was 4.20 yuan/registered capital. However, this price is significantly lower than the capital increase price of 6.60 yuan/registered capital of Dayi Venture Capital and the transfer price of 13 yuan/share of Runfeng Aluminum.
In this regard, the explanation given by the new aluminum era is that Nanfu Aluminum launched the list of shareholders in order to improve the shortage of funds in Nanfu Aluminum, and its exit price has been evaluated and filed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state-owned assets supervision and administration, and has been approved by the competent department of state-owned assets, and the pricing is fair.
Coincidentally, Duan Ruifu, Zhou Lijian, Shu Zimeng, Qu Yanping, and Chen Mingwen also increased the capital of New Aluminum Times in August 2017 with a registered capital of 3.00 yuan/registered capital, which was far lower than the capital increase price of Dayi Venture Capital in the same period, so the Shenzhen Stock Exchange questioned the reasonableness of the five external shareholders to buy shares at a low price.
In 2020 and 2021, New Aluminum Times also purchased a small amount of mixing heads from Beijing Fushidat Precision Tools Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Fushidart"), which is 100% owned by Duan Ning, the son of Duan Ruifu, with a purchase amount of 79,400 yuan in 2021, which is slightly lower than the price of purchasing similar products from other suppliers.
Before the acquisition of Jiugu Mould in the New Aluminum Era, Jiugu Mould had borrowed 4 million yuan from Zhou Lijian due to its own liquidity shortage, with an annual interest rate of 6.60%, and the corresponding loan was fully repaid at the end of 2021.
However, New Aluminum Times insisted that the above five shareholders decided to invest in shares based on their recognition of the new energy vehicle industry and the company's prospects, and there was no equity holding or interest exchange. The high price of institutional shareholders such as Dayi Venture Capital is because they enjoy special rights clauses for shareholders when they increase their capital and buy shares.