EV battery maker CATL H1 profit surges on booming NEV market

SHENZHEN - Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker, forecast a 120 percent to 150 percent annual profit growth in the first half of 2019 amid a booming new energy vehicle (NEV) market.

Net profit in the Jan-June period rose to between 2 billion yuan ($290 million) and 2.28 billion yuan, CATL said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Saturday.

CATL said the strong profit growth came after it attracted more customers, strengthened cost control and the NEV market boom resulted in a bigger demand for its lithium-ion batteries.

Despite sluggish sales of gasoline-powered vehicles, China's NEV market has experienced a boom.

NEV sales surged 80 percent year-on-year in June, while sales in the first half of the year rose 49.6 percent, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

In contrast, car sales remained sluggish in the first half of this year after a weak performance in 2018, dropping 12.4 percent year-on-year.

With a market share of 41 percent, the company's total capacity of NEV lithium-ion batteries reached 23.4 GWh in 2018.