CBAK Energy Technology - Q2 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to CBAK Energy Technology's Second Quarter and First Half of the 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, we are recording today's call. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Now, I will turn the call over to Irina, IR Specialist of CBAK Energy Technology. Irina, please proceed.

Irina Logutenkova (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator, and hello everyone. Welcome to CBAK Energy Technology's Earnings Conference Call for the Second Quarter and the First Half of 2025. Joining us today are Mr. Zhiguang Hu, or Jason, Chief Executive Officer of CBAK Energy Technology, Mr. Xiangyu Pei, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary, and Yuan, who will help with our interpretation when joining us for the Q&A section. We released our results earlier today. The press release is available on the company's IR website at ir.cbak.com.cn, as well as from the NewsWell Services. A replay of this call will also be available in a few hours on our IR website. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties.

As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the expectations expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's public filings with the SEC. The company does not assume any obligations to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable laws. Also, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during the conference call are in U.S. dollars. With that, let me now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Zhiguang Hu. Please go ahead, Jason.

Zhiguang Hu (CEO)

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings conference call for the second quarter and the first half of 2025. As discussed last quarter, our Dalian facility are undergoing a transition from Model 26650, a small-format battery that has been in use for nearly two decades, to Model 40135, a much larger and more advanced model that enjoys strong market popularity. This transition has led to a sharp decline in Dalian's net revenues and gross profit. Given that we operate on a major battery production base, any downturn in Dalian significantly impact our consolidated results. Meanwhile, our Nanjing facility are facing supply constraints due to a surging demand for our Model 32140 cells. Phase I of our Nanjing plant, which began operation in 2021, is already running at full capacity. We reported last quarter that phase II underwent a delay.

However, its completion has been delayed by a few months to Q4, limiting our ability to fulfill additional pending orders. In short, Dalian is building a new production line for Model 40135 cells with our existing and prospective customers currently testing samples and awaiting mass production. Nanjing is operating at full capacity and are able to accommodate further demand until phase II comes online. Since both the Model 40135 production and Nanjing phase II expansion are expected to be ready in Q3 to Q4, we anticipate a strong recovery in our consolidated result by year-end. This situation explains the slowdown in our performance over the past two quarters. As of June 30, 2025, we reported net revenue of $40.52 million, down 15% from $47.79 million in the same period of 2024.

The primary driver of this decline was a sharp reduction in sales to customers in the traditional residential energy storage market who had previously purchased large volumes of Model 26650 cells. Sales in this segment fell by 44.8% year-over-year. As a result, the composition of our largest customers has shifted with significant growth in order from leading players in the portable power supply sector and top manufacturers in the Indian two- and three-wheeler market. Our strategy moving forward is to continue targeting high-quality European and American customers for our Model 26650, 32140, and the upcoming 40135 cells, while further expanding our market share in India and the portable power supply industry with our Model 32140 and the 40135 products. We had previously decided in partnership with our customers to relocate part of our manufacturing lines overseas in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese products.

However, we have temporarily paused our Malaysian project, and we've seen this as a short-term solution and know that the governments of both countries are currently engaged in active negotiations to reach an agreement. We believe it is prudent to monitor the outcome of these talks before committing to any major investment. That said, establishing battery cell production capacity in the U.S. remains an element of our long-term strategy. We continue discussions with potential partners to determine the most cost-effective approach to realizing this plan. Now, let me turn the call to our CFO, Xiangyu Pei.

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Thank you, Jason. As Jason just mentioned, our net revenue has declined primarily due to our strategic transition from a small-format battery model to a larger, more advanced model. Alongside this revenue decline, we reported net losses attributable to CBAK Energy shareholders of $3.07 million and total net losses of $3.36 million. Of these, the battery segment accounted for $3.07 million in net losses, while our raw materials production unit, Hitrans, reported net losses of $1.06 million. Despite weaker performance in our battery segment, Hitrans delivered a notably improved result. Net revenues for Hitrans reached approximately $19.43 million, up 59.36% from $12.19 million in the same period of 2024. Its net losses narrowed by 32.02% from $1.56 million in Q2 last year to $1.06 million in the same period this year. This improvement reflects Hitrans's sustained efforts to expand its market presence.

In the second quarter and first half of 2025, the unit successfully secured several new customers, driving growth in raw materials sales. Furthermore, a modest decline in raw materials prices during the first half of 2025 stimulated customer demand and encouraged additional order placements. Looking ahead, we firmly believe that with the completion of our product portfolio upgrade and phase II Nanjing project by year-end, combined with Hitrans's continued expansion into new high-quality customers and the ongoing recovery in the raw materials prices, the financial performance of both Hitrans and our battery segment will see a strong rebound in the near future. Thank you. We will now open the floor for the Q&A section. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star one, one on your telephone, and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one, one again. We will take our first question, and the question comes from the line of Brian Lantier from Zacks Small-Cap Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Great. Good evening, gentlemen. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the competitive landscape right now, and if you're experiencing any pricing pressures or if customers are really focusing on the products and the availability of your products.

Speaker 6

[Foreign language] 第一个问题就是说他想问我们现在的整个的产能和布局情况，就如果说我们现在有任何的关于这个产能增加的困难，包括说客户的这个需求的问题，然后请我们回答一下相关的这个方面的一些问题。

我总于回答一下关于这个客户这个定价压力还有未来需求的一个问题。

Speaker 5

Okay. I think the price, for us, the first issue is the price. As you know, now the battery technology develops very quickly, and every year the performance such as capacity increased. Why the battery cell capacity increases? Because the high capacity can reduce the cost, and the market right now is very sensitive for the cost. CBAK transforms small battery to a larger battery cell to reduce the cost to meet the market requirement. The volume actually now, the market volume is increasing very quickly too because now for the intermarket now needs a battery, such as consumer market and the two-wheels, three-wheels, two-wheels, three-wheels market and electric vehicles. The volume increases were big.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Okay, thank you for that.

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Sorry, Brian. Let me add some points. I think following what Jason just commented, right now, because most of the leading battery players in China are producing prismatic cells, which has a much lower cost advantages over our technical route. However, right now, as you may know, that all the manufacturers for [synthetic] cells are actually trying their best to upgrade their product to a much larger battery model. Actually, the larger your battery will be, the better, cost-effective your battery is going to be. Our strategy is just to keep investing in the R&D programs to try to produce a larger size of our batteries. The project of 4135 is the one that we are currently investing. It's a major upgrade from 26650. The size will be much, much larger, which means that its cost will be effectively lower than our current product.

In the future, as we always say, we are also investing in the R&D of the Series 46, which will be much larger than all the current products we have. We believe that with the time being and with all our R&D programs going very well, we will eventually have a very cost-effective product in the market. That product will target that other major customer market that values the value that will just pay great attention to the costs, including the two-wheeler and three-wheeler markets that Jason just mentioned.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Great. Yeah. My next question was going to be on the 46 Series cells. Where do you stand in that development, and when do you think, best-case scenario, you could actually be producing something like a 46950 or something along those lines?

Speaker 6

[Foreign language] 下一个问题就是想问我们关于46的研发，就是说我们46现在到了哪一个阶段，就是说我们在什么时候大概会量产，比如说类似于46950这种，我们就是对46这个系列的规划是怎么样的。

Speaker 5

Actually, now we make the research and development for 46 Series from already more than two years. Our target, we will achieve the mass production of 46 Series cells at the end of next year.

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Yeah. Let me add some point. As Jason just said, we have already spent enough time on the R&D of our Series 46. We have probably a couple of actual models to choose, 46120 or 46950. A lot of the models to choose actually depend on our major customers' preference. I think the key elements determining when we are going to mass produce the Series 46 is actually the capital, because right now the equipment and production line for Series 46 is extremely expensive at this moment unless we have secured significant orders from our customers.

Otherwise, we will be very cautious about investing into this expensive production line, especially considering we have already two expansion projects at hand, a project for 4135 and a project for 32140. If we have a choice, we would like to complete the fundraising and then proceed with the construction of a production line for 46. Otherwise, we prefer the completion of the current two projects first.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Okay, great. That's helpful. Were there specific factors that caused the delay in the Nanjing expansion? Was it tied to uncertainty around possibly expanding in Malaysia first, or was it difficulty securing equipment? If you have any color around what caused that delay, I'd appreciate it.

Speaker 6

[Foreign language] 下一个问题就是关于我们，你认为我们南京这个二期的这个扩建主要的这个延误的原因是什么？是因为我们马来西亚同时在扩建，还是说有一些什么别的原因导致我们这个南京二期就是扩建这个延误的问题？

胡总, 你回答我补充吧。

这个是这样子，主要是我们的供应商。你说吧，Jiewei Li，还是我来说？

那我来说。

就是我们的设备供应商有延误了, 其他都没有问题。

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Let me respond to this question. I think the major issues causing the delay of our Nanjing project actually come down to our equipment supplier. Some of our major equipment suppliers face problems sending over their equipment. It's just, as a result, we have probably a couple of months of delay. We don't think we're going into any legal tussles with these suppliers because that would cause much longer delays. We are going to resolve these problems very soon. Expectedly, I think we are going to complete the expansion for this phase by the end of this year.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Okay, great. Just the housekeeping, have you been active? Have you disclosed yet if you've been active under the $20 million buyback, and if you have, how much capacity is still available under that buyback?

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Yes. Up till we announced the stock buyback program, we did spend certain cash buying our stock back. I think we have so far spent about, roughly, we need to check the number, but roughly between $1.3 million-$1.5 million at this moment. The stock price was pushed up above $1. I think it's still strongly underestimated, our company. We will see how the market goes and determine when we're going to buy the stock back again because the program is a one-year-long program.

Brian Lantier (Analyst)

Okay, great. Thank you for the update. I appreciate it.

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one, one on your telephone. Thank you. Seeing no more questions in the queue, let me turn the call back to Jason for closing remarks.

Zhiguang Hu (CEO)

Thank you, operator. Thank you all for participating in today's call and for your support. We appreciate your interest and look forward to reporting to you again next quarter on our progress.

Xiangyu Pei (CFO and Company Secretary)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you all again. This concludes the call. You may now disconnect.