The world’s largest electric-vehicle battery manufacturer, Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), posted a full-year profit that exceeded expectations and has revealed plans to build a new factory in China worth RMB 13 billion ($2 billion), reports Caixin. Net income for 2021 more than doubled to RMB 15.93 billion, the company said late Thursday, beating analyst estimates of RMB 13.51 billion. Still, the manufacturer scrapped its dividend and reported weaker profitability at its key power battery systems division as it warned of surging raw-materials costs.
CATL, as the company is better known, is contending with a raft of challenges from Covid-19 lockdowns in China that are hurting supply chains to inflated costs stemming from spiraling prices for materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt.
Its production base at Ningde in northeastern Fujian province has moved to a so-called closed-loop operation to shield workers and production from a Covid-induced shutdown. Its Shanghai factory reopened April 18, local media reported. CATL plans to add another facility in the southeastern port city of Xiamen, it said Thursday. The company cited growing demand from the new-energy industry for the investment.
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