Financial Highlights
(Hong Kong, 27 March 2023) – Intron Technology Holdings Limited ("Intron Technology" or the "Group"; HKEX: 1760), a fast-growing automotive electronics solutions provider in China, recorded a net profit of RMB411.1 million with a year-on-year growth of 105%, and continued to report excellent business performance in 2022. In particular, the new energy vehicle (NEV) solutions business recorded robust growth, increasing 91% year-on-year, and the automated & connected vehicles solutions business grew rapidly by 151% year-on-year.
For the year ended 31 December 2022 (the "Year"), Intron Technology’s revenue rose significantly by 52% year-on-year to RMB4,829.9 million. The Group benefited from a surge in demand, which was mainly contributed by increased sales volume in China’s new energy vehicles market, and promising results from the automated and connected vehicles business that the Group has invested in for many years, as well as gains from the continued growth of the other automotive solutions segments. Gross profit of the Group was RMB1,040.6 million, up by 66%. Net profit amounted to RMB411.1 million with a sharp rise of 105%. Gross profit margin of the Group increased steadily to 21.5% from 19.7% last year. Net profit margin also rose by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year to 8.5%. The Board has resolved to recommend the payment of a final dividend of HK13.1 cents per share for 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 93%. Dividend payout ratio remained at 30%.
Mr Davy Luk, Chairman, Co-CEO and Executive Director of Intron Technology, said, "The vital trend of new energy vehicles replacing fossil fuel ones has been continuing. The sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China last year increased by 90% year-on-year, whose market share rose to 26%. Intron Technology seized the opportunities and took a head start to establish R&D technology and industrialization platforms, hence the growth and performance of our major businesses have outperformed the market. Moreover, with our extensive offering, we are able to leverage the early mover advantage to occupy a fair share of the market, enabling the Group to enter a new stage of development."
New energy vehicle solutions business continued to be the Group’s main growth driver during the Year, with revenue up by 91% year-on-year to RMB2,066.8 million. The strong momentum is a fruit of the Group’s investment in new energy sector over the years. The Group’s mature technical solutions and industrialization platform have been widely accepted and adopted by customers, therefore the batch deliveries has continued to expand this year. In addition, the Group provided advanced mass production solution services and developed different core technologies of the Electronic Control Unit (ECU), including power electronics, embedded software, functional safety and system integration, allowing it to stand out in the rapidly changing market environment and meet different needs of customers in an all-round manner. The Group also continued to optimise and improve the core electric vehicle-related three electronic control solutions (Battery Management System (“BMS”), Motor Control Unit, Vehicle Control Unit) and thermal management system to further increase market penetration.
Revenue from body control, safety and powertrain solutions continued to grow steadily, increasing by 50%、34% and 40% year-on-year, respectively. The growth from body control system was mainly attributable to the mass production from new projects, stronger demand from key customers and the enlarged automotive lighting solutions; increase in safety system was attribuitable to the expansion in customer base and higher unit price, especially for braking and steering applications; while growth in powertrain system was supported by the increase in orders of diesel and gasoline Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) solutions.
Since 2022, the Group has reclassified the automated & connected vehicles solutions business to a stand-alone category in order to present a clearer picture on the growth and business performance of this sector, also to reflect the opportunities for the Group in automated driving, intelligent driving and connected vehicles. During the Year, revenue of this sector recorded a growth of 151% to RMB254.8, mainly due to the significant increase in installation and penetration rates.
Revenue from the Group’s cloud server related electronics solutions (formerly known as “Industrial Solutions”) dropped by 24% to RMB420.5 million, mainly due to the significant growth and completion of the global server market during the earlier pandemic period and the slowdown in new projects over the past year.
R&D has always been an crucial part of the Group’s business model. During the Year, the Group continued to increase its investment in R&D to further consolidate its R&D capabilities. Consequently, R&D expenses increased by 61% year-on-year to RMB332.5 million, accounting for 6.9% of total revenue. As at the end of 2022, the Group had 916 full-time R&D-related professionals, representing 67% of its total employees. The Group has also secured 235 patents and 187 software copyrights, representing an increase of 64 patents and 45 software copyrights respectively, as compared with last year.
In terms of R&D, the Group has achieved a number of achievements, including the development of an 800V high-voltage BMS platform solution certified as a functional safety product, the automated driving domain controller unit technology platform solution developed based on the Journey®5 of Horizon Robotics, and 59 intellectual property rights that contain six invention patents.
In terms of hydrogen energy development, the Group’s subsidiary Shanghai Qingheng Automotive Electronics Co., Limited, as the technical service platform for hydrogen energy research and development of the Group, took the lead in completing the development and validation of air compressor controllers in China, and also realised the batch delivery of two heavyweight controllers to leading domestic hydrogen fuel cell system companies.
Mr Eddie Chan, Co-CEO and Executive Director of Intron Technology, said, “The supporting policies launched by the Chinese government will further stimulate consumption in the automobile market. We will continue to prioritize R&D, pay close attention to the latest market development, develop key technologies and deepen business cooperation with various automobile manufacturers to better prepare for future market opportunities. Meanwhile, we will proactively seek opportunities for acquisitions and strategic alliances to expand our business footprint, strive for a dominant share fo the market, promote the long-term growth of the Group’s overall business and bring satisfactory returns to shareholders."
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About Intron Technology Holdings Limited (英恒科技控股有限公司)
Intron Technology Holdings Limited is a fast-growing automotive electronics solutions provider in China focuses on providing solutions targeting critical automotive electronic components applied in New Energy, Automated Driving, Connectivity, Body Control, Safety and Powertrain systems. The Group utilises its research and development and engineering capabilities to provide solutions incorporating advanced semiconductor devices to help OEMs achieve industry leading performance. Intron Technology has been included in the MSCI China Index from 30 November 2022.
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