China battery giant CATL sees 2018 revenues up 48%

SHENZHEN - China's largest lithium battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) posted a 48.1 percent revenue growth in 2018, as a booming new energy vehicle (NEV) market drove up demand for its products.

Revenues totaled 29.6 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) last year, CATL said in its preliminary financial results for 2018 filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Thursday.

The fast growth in the NEV market spurred demand for power batteries in China, the company said.

CATL, which has partnerships with a number of foreign and domestic carmakers, including BMW and Geely, said it took advantage of its leading edge in technology, scale, supply chain and customer relations to expand in the market, managing to further improve its market share.

The NEV industry is a bright spot in a broader weak motor vehicle market in China, with annual NEV sales surging 61.74 percent year-on-year to 1.26 million units last year.

Meanwhile, net profits attributable to its shareholders in 2018 fell 7.7 percent year-on-year to 3.58 billion yuan, it said.

CATL said the decline was mainly due to a higher base in 2017 when it received earnings from sale of a stake in a smaller power battery company.

Shares of CATL closed 1.92 percent higher at 87.70 yuan Thursday in Shenzhen.