Not long ago, Vantone real estate announcement, decided to terminate the acquisition of lithium battery enterprise star constant power supply limited company (star constant power) 78.28% shares, and the counterparty will be in the agreed period of time to return to the company has paid all the money RMB300 million. According to the disclosure, the valuation of 100% of the equity of Xingheng Power is about 4.05 billion yuan, and the total transaction price of the equity acquired by Vantone Real Estate is about 3.17 billion yuan.

Before, Vantone real estate had sworn to say, will give full play to the star constant power supply in the field of new energy battery product advantage, brand advantage and channel advantage, speed up to promote the company in the field of new energy battery business development, for the long term development of the company to provide new profit growth point. And now Vantone has eaten its own words.

Gross profit margin of power battery enterprises is less than 10%

According to industry analysis, Vantone real estate terminated the acquisition of star constant power behind a complex industry background, with the power battery capacity structural overcapacity aggravated and the impact of subsidy slopes, many power battery suppliers are facing the plight of shrinking profits. From a number of new energy vehicle industry chain companies released results, the chain reaction triggered by the subsidy slopes in the industry chain between the upstream and downstream continued to ferment, the industry pain effect is still continuing.

Even the leading enterprises, although the gross profit margin is much higher than the industry average, but there is also a general downward trend. Data show that Ningde era's sales gross profit margin fell from 43.70% in 2016 to 36.29% in 2017; and as of the third quarter of 2018, Ningde era's sales gross profit margin has further declined to 31.27%. The gross profit margin of Yiwei lithium energy in the first three quarters of 2018 was 23.57%, down 7.73% year-on-year; Guoxuan Gaoke's gross profit margin in the third quarter of 2018 was 32.08%, a drop of 2.24% from the previous quarter, and a drop of 5.92% year-on-year.

Industry experts generally believe that the power battery industry reshuffle is accelerating, competition is intensifying, and subsidies will lead to a significant decline in battery prices, and the gross profit of enterprises is declining. The purchase price, material costs, equipment depreciation, etc. is also an important factor affecting the gross profit rate of battery enterprises, from a variety of feedback information shows that in 2018, the gross profit rate of power battery enterprises generally declined sharply, and even some enterprises have an average gross profit rate of less than 10% in the power battery business.

The profit margins of power battery enterprises are being gradually swallowed, battery companies in the short term to compress the cost of a very strong will. China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association Secretary General Liu Yanlong predicted that battery companies will try to make up for it through the upstream diaphragm, electrolyte enterprise price pressure and other cost reduction measures, as well as improve standardization, scale production and other efficiency measures.

The end of the "lying down and making money" era

From the industry background, the current power battery industry is moving from the blue sea to the red sea, the competition is becoming increasingly white-hot, like the Ningde era, lithium-ion lithium, Guoxuan Gaoke, such as "dedicated" to the battery's leading enterprises gross margins are declining, not to mention those who are "halfway out of the house! "The transformation of the enterprise.

Reminiscent of 2016, Gree "iron lady" chairman Dong Mingzhu spirited, spent 1 billion yuan in Zhuhai Yinlong, and this year was exposed to financial constraints, business stagnation and delinquent suppliers nearly 30 billion yuan of payments and other issues. It is reported that some suppliers said to the media, now in contact with Yinlong's production, technology, procurement staff are mostly air conditioning industry "layman" origin, it is difficult to understand the characteristics of electric vehicles and power battery industry in a short period of time.

The parent company of the industry's dark horse Watermax, Jianrui Woerner, is an uncompromising "slash youth", with a surprisingly long-distance cross-industry "talent". 2016 July, Jianrui fire to 5.2 billion yuan to buy Watermax, and then renamed Jianrui Woerner. In July 2016, Jianrui Firefighting acquired Watermaster with 5.2 billion yuan, and then changed its name to Jianrui Wolong, and its main business shifted from the original firefighting equipment and firefighting engineering business to new energy vehicles and power batteries. However, since 2018, Jianrui Woerner has had a continuous debt crisis and operational difficulties, and its major shareholder Li Yao has also been listed by the court on the list of executives in breach of trust.

Industry analysts believe that, from the perspective of profitability expectations, asset size, now "amateur" want to develop new energy vehicles and power batteries through the possibility of short-term returns is very small. Power battery industry "lying down to make money" era has long since passed, and now has come to the stage where we must come up with real skills to survive.

Increased risk of "outsiders" entering the game

"Before the battery industry investment fever is very serious, it is widely believed that the battery is an important investment opportunity, so they are all buying equipment, building factories, but only a few companies really master the battery technology, many companies lack of understanding of the battery, quality control, battery R & D level is very poor." The former director of the China Automotive Technology Research Center, China's new energy vehicle well-known expert Wang Binggang said. Currently too many battery companies, too saturated, the quality of the battery is uneven, the battery industry reshuffle is an inevitable trend.

And Tianjin Li Shen Battery Research Institute President Zhou Jiang believes that "with China's new energy vehicle market in the past two years, the power battery market with the rising tide, there is a constant influx of capital. However, the current new energy vehicle market in China is still a policy city, the power battery industry is also affected by policy uncertainty." He said, "in a mature market, capital will also be relatively rational; on the contrary, blind investment will bring great risks."

Since 2018, in the "layman" investors, only the real estate field of enterprises, involving new energy vehicles and power battery industry chain investment, its scale has exceeded 10 billion yuan. However, there are also many cases of failure. It is reported that the actual controller of Huaxia Happiness, Wang Wen, has also withdrawn from the field of new energy power battery manufacturing.

The former is not forgotten, the latter is the master. With the abolition of domestic new energy vehicle subsidies in 2020, the future of power battery companies will face a greater reshuffle. The development of the market is changing rapidly, the process of survival of the fittest, many companies have been exposed to crisis, the investment risk of the power battery industry will further increase, which is particularly important for the "amateur" companies.