World's No.1 Battery Company CATL "Half of Last Year's Net Profit Paid as Cash Dividends"

Sales Down 9.7%, Net Profit Up 15%
"New Products to Be Unveiled at Shanghai Motor Show in April"

China's Ningde Times (CATL), the world's largest battery manufacturer, announced that its sales decreased by 9.7% last year, but its net profit increased by 15%.

On the 16th, Chinese economic media Caixin reported that in the performance results announced by CATL on the 14th, last year's sales decreased by 9.7% compared to the previous year to 362.01 billion yuan (approximately 72.6 trillion KRW), while net profit increased by 15.0% to 50.74 billion yuan (approximately 10.2 trillion KRW).

CATL plans to pay 25.37 billion yuan (approximately 5.1 trillion KRW), which is 50% of last year's net profit, in the form of cash dividends and special cash dividends. On January 24, it already paid a special cash dividend of 5.4 billion yuan (approximately 1 trillion KRW).

Last year, CATL's domestic sales in China amounted to 251.68 billion yuan (approximately 50.5 trillion KRW), accounting for 70% of total sales, while overseas sales slightly decreased compared to 2023 to 110.34 billion yuan (approximately 22.1 trillion KRW), accounting for 30% of the total.

Reuters Yonhap News

CATL expects the proportion of new energy vehicles to increase under the leadership of smart driving in China, forecasting that by 2030, the share of new energy vehicles in annual new car sales will rise to 80% to 90%.

Considering that Chinese authorities have adjusted new energy power policies, the energy storage markets in Europe and the United States are rapidly growing, and data centers are increasing due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), CATL anticipates that battery demand growth will maintain a rate of 25 to 30% this year.

CATL estimated that the shipment proportion of high-density 'Kirin batteries' and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) supercharging batteries was 30 to 40% last year and will increase to 60 to 70% this year. In April this year, it plans to unveil new battery models at the Shanghai Motor Show.

Additionally, to respond to the containment efforts by Western countries such as the United States and the European Union (EU), CATL has decided to establish local factories in Germany, Hungary, and Spain. The already completed German factory will expand its production capacity, and the first phase of construction of the Hungarian factory is expected to be completed within this year.