In the first half of 2022, factors such as the rise in raw material prices, supply chain suspension caused by the epidemic in some regions, and geographical conflicts made the automobile industry under obvious pressure. However, after a short period of twists and turns, the domestic car market is accelerating its recovery.

Faced with multiple challenges, the semi annual reports of automobile upstream and downstream listed companies are also uneven. Some enterprises are rising against the trend, and some enterprises are "losing", showing a situation of "ice and fire". The reporter of the daily economic news found that BYD (sz002594, stock price: 272.94 yuan, market value: 794.6 billion yuan) became the "most profitable" automobile enterprise among the main engine manufacturers, and its profit in the first six months of this year exceeded that of last year; In the upstream supply chain sector, benefiting from the rise in raw material prices this year and the new energy supply chain, Tianqi lithium (sz002466, stock price: 110.77 yuan, market value: 181.8 billion yuan) saw a year-on-year increase of 11937% in net profit attributable to the parent company in the first half of the year; However, the downstream of the automobile industry has felt the "chill". Under the influence of the epidemic, many automobile dealers have suffered both revenue and profit losses.

With the continuous introduction of policies to promote automobile consumption, the consumption potential of the automobile market is expected to be further released. The competition in the second half has begun. Who can maintain the advantage and who can reverse the trend?

BYD's half year profit exceeded that of last year

BYD, the vehicle manufacturer with the highest market value in China, became the "most profitable" vehicle manufacturer in the first half of this year. The financial report shows that BYD achieved an operating income of about 150.607 billion yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of 65.71% year-on-year; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 3.595 billion yuan, an increase of 206.35% year-on-year. It is worth noting that BYD's net profit in the first half of this year has exceeded that of last year by 3.045 billion yuan.

Behind the bright performance is the excellent performance of BYD's terminal sales. In the first half of this year, BYD's cumulative sales volume was about 641400, while last year's annual sales volume was 603800. According to the latest data, in the first eight months of this year, BYD's cumulative sales of new energy passenger vehicles was about 974300, and it will soon enter the "million club". BYD's sales target this year is 1.5 million vehicles. Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, disclosed in a recent conference call that BYD currently has 700000 orders in hand.

Great Wall Motor (sh601633, stock price: 31.84 yuan, market value: 291.6 billion yuan), Chang'an Motor (sz000625, stock price: 14.55 yuan, market value: 144.4 billion yuan), GAC group (sh601238, stock price: 13.98 yuan, market value: 146.3 billion yuan) and so on are also "bulging their pockets". Specifically, the net profit of Chang'an Automobile in the first half of this year was about 5.858 billion yuan, of which the transfer of part of avita technology contributed 2.13 billion yuan to the net profit of Chang'an automobile. Judging from the recent actions of Chang'an Automobile, the new car will become the focus of its next work. A few days ago, the new pickup model of Chang'an was unveiled, carrying the new generation of 2.0T powered pickup version of blue whale. In the next three years, Chang'an Automobile will also launch a number of pickup products based on new energy; Great Wall Motor's net profit attributable to the parent company in the first half of the year was 5.6 billion yuan, an increase of 58.72% year-on-year; GAC group's total operating income in the first half of the year was 48.689 billion yuan, an increase of about 40.83% year-on-year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 5.751 billion yuan, an increase of 32.61% year-on-year.

It is worth noting that in the first half of this year, affected by the epidemic, SAIC Group (sh600104, stock price: 15.42 yuan, market value: 180.2 billion yuan) experienced a year-on-year decline of 13.69% in total revenue and a year-on-year decline of 48.1% in net profit. SAIC explained that the rebound of the epidemic had a serious impact on the automobile industry chain and supply chain, resulting in a decrease in the company's sales revenue. At the same time, the tight supply of chips and the sharp rise in the price of raw materials such as power batteries have adversely affected the gross profit margin of products. In the second half of the year, we will do our best to make up for the losses caused by the epidemic and spare no effort to complete the annual business objectives and tasks.

However, the new forces of automobile manufacturing are still in a state of "loss" that is difficult to self generate. At present, Xiaopeng automobile (hk09868, stock price of HK $64.85, market value of HK $111.7 billion) and ideal automobile (hk02015, stock price of HK $105.2, market value of HK $219.3 billion) that have disclosed their semi annual reports have achieved a revenue of 14.891 billion yuan and 18.295 billion yuan respectively in the first half of this year, both of which have doubled, but the net loss of the former has further expanded to 4.402 billion yuan, Compared with the same period last year, the loss of the latter expanded to 629 million yuan.

The upstream supply chain is "full", and Tianqi lithium's profit soared by 11937%

"At present, the cost of power batteries accounts for 40% to 60% of the total cost of cars. Don't I work for Ningde times now?" At the 2022 World Power Battery Conference, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group, once raised such a question.

In fact, in the first half of this year, the whole upstream supply chain of new energy really made a lot of money. Ningde times (sz300750, stock price 455.2 yuan, market value 1.11 trillion yuan) has become the most profitable enterprise in the downstream of the automobile industry chain. In the first half of the year, Ningde times achieved an operating income of 112.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 156.32%. The net profit attributable to the listed company was 8.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 82.17%. After deducting non recurring profits and losses, the net profit was 7.051 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 79.95%. However, the profit of Ningde times in the first quarter of this year fell by 23.62% year-on-year. It was not until the net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 16.3% year-on-year to 6.675 billion yuan in the second quarter that the decline was reversed. As for the reasons for the sharp increase in profits in the second quarter, Ningde Times said that the company overcame the challenges of repeated COVID-19 epidemic and tight supply of raw materials. By strengthening organizational construction and optimizing operational arrangements, it continued to give play to its competitive advantages in technology research and development, extreme manufacturing, and in-depth layout of the industrial chain.

Tianqi lithium has become the automobile industry chain related enterprise with the largest profit increase in the first half of this year. In the first half of this year, the company achieved a revenue of about 14.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 508%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 10.3 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 11937%. Minsheng securities research reported that Tianqi lithium's bright performance benefited from the sharp rise in lithium price. In the first half of the year, the gross profit margin of its lithium salt segment was as high as 87%.

As a supplier of lithium battery positive electrode materials, dangsheng Technology (sz300073, stock price 77.82 yuan, market value 39.42 billion yuan) also tasted the "sweetness". In the first half of the year, the revenue was about 9.113 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 204.92%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was about 912 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 104.06%. This also confirms the remarks of Chen Shihua, Deputy Secretary General of China Association of automobile industry, "in the field of new energy vehicles, the profits of upstream enterprises have soared, but downstream enterprises can't even drink soup".

However, Yiwei lithium energy (sz300014, stock price: 94.8 yuan, market value: 180 billion yuan) has "increased revenue but not profit". In the first half of this year, its total revenue was about 14.926 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 127.54%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was about 1.359 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.08%.

There is a view that the performance of parts enterprises meets or slightly exceeds expectations, but the market is still worried about the growth of demand in the third quarter and the industry in the future. At present, the lithium mining enterprises in the upper reaches of the new energy automobile industry have obtained most of the profits, forcing the middle and lower reaches enterprises to carry out reform and innovation. On the one hand, the profits of battery enterprises and vehicle enterprises in the middle and lower reaches are under pressure; On the other hand, the upstream lithium mining enterprises also have uncertainty about the future technological development and replacement.

"Loss" of many dealers

Dealers located downstream of the automobile industry chain had a hard time in the first half of this year. Only Zhengtong automobile (hk01728, stock price of HK $0.51, market value of HK $1.4 billion) achieved double growth in revenue and net profit in the first half of this year, Meidong automobile (hk01268, stock price of HK $14.54, market value of HK $18.54 billion) increased revenue without increasing profits, Zhongsheng Holdings (hk00881, stock price of HK $34.5, market value of HK $83.27 billion) New Fengtai group (hk01771, stock price: HK $1.42, market value: HK $852 million) and other dealer groups experienced a double drop in revenue and net profit.

Specifically, the revenue of Zhengtong automobile further recovered to 11.069 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company was 8 million yuan; In the first half of the year, Meidong automobile realized an operating income of 12.658 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.20%, but the net profit attributable to the parent company was 343 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36.03%; The operating income of Zhongsheng holdings in the first half of this year was 86.029 billion yuan, down 1.5% from the same period in 2021; The operating revenue of xinfengtai group in the first half of this year was 5.156 billion yuan, down 15.8% from the same period in 2021.

According to the survey report on the survival of dealers recently released by the China Automobile Circulation Association, the overall profits of automobile dealers in the first half of this year showed a downward trend, with only 27.3% of automobile dealers achieving profits, 53.6% of dealers with the same profit status, and 19.1% of dealers with losses.

The industry believes that since the beginning of this year, factors such as the epidemic closure, supply chain disruption, and soaring freight rates have impacted on automobile sales and after-sales. However, with the continuous recovery of the industrial chain and supply chain and the favorable factors such as the vehicle purchase tax reduction and exemption policy, the downstream of automobiles has gradually recovered.

According to the news released by Guotai Junan Research Institute, combined with the sales flexibility brought by previous policy cycles, the growth rate of automobile sales is expected to be 13% to 19% in the second half of the year, of which the growth rate in the third quarter of this year is expected to reach 20%. With the arrival of the "golden nine silver ten" traditional automobile sales peak season, the automobile terminal market may usher in a new inflection point in the second half of the year.