Recently, Weilai officially announced that it had obtained about 15.7 billion yuan in financing, which seemed to dilute the unfavorable information about the company's layoffs last month, and the capital market also responded positively for the first time, and the company's stock price ushered in a significant **.
In the third quarter, NIO's revenue achieved rapid growth, but the loss has intensified, and the loss in the first three quarters has exceeded that of the whole of 2022, which is also an important reason why the company chose to lay off employees. Now the company has ushered in a large amount of financing, supplemented the "ammunition", and greatly alleviated the financial pressure, but the early realization of self-hematopoiesis is the king.
The major shareholder changed hands, and Li Bin is still the actual controller
On December 18, NIO officially announced that it had received a new round of financing, and Abu Dhabi investment institution CYVN will make a total strategic investment of about 2.2 billion US dollars (equivalent to about 15.7 billion yuan) in cash to NIO through its subsidiary CYVN Investments, so as to obtain NIO 29.4 billion newly issued Class A ordinary shares, at a price of 7.** per share$5.
Prior to July, the CYLVN ended with 7It became a strategic shareholder of NIO at a consideration of RMB38.5 billion, and also purchased Class A ordinary shares of NIO through a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings for a total consideration of 3$500 million. The investment is expected to be finalized in the last week of this month, when CYVN's stake in NIO will be as high as 201%。
According to the 2022 annual report, Li Bin, the founder of NIO, holds 105%, which means that CYVN will surpass Li Bin to become the company's largest shareholder, however, Li Bin is still the absolute controller of NIO, mainly because NIO adopts a weighted voting rights structure.
Specifically, the company's share capital includes Class A ordinary shares and Class C ordinary shares, of which Class A shares can vote for one vote each, and Class C shares can vote for 8 votes per share, and most of the shares held by Li Bin are Class C shares, even if his shareholding ratio is only 105%, but the voting power is as high as 442%, which is also the equity structure designed by Li Bin in order to maintain the absolute right to speak.
Although it failed to control NIO, with the continuous increase in investment, CYLVN has become one of the most important shareholders of the company, and its voice has also been strengthened, and it has the right to nominate two directors to the company, provided that the shareholding ratio is not less than 15%, and if the shareholding ratio is between 5% and 15%, the number of nominee directors will be reduced to one.
Our increased investment in NIO is in line with our strategy to continue to build a world-leading portfolio in the mobility sector," said Jassemalzaabi, Chairman and Managing Director of CYVNHOLDINGS. This investment demonstrates our confidence in NIO's unique positioning and competitiveness in the global smart electric vehicle industry." We are excited to be a long-term strategic partner of NIO and support its efforts in product innovation, technological breakthroughs and international market expansion."
Invested in NIO many times, with an amount of up to 3288.5 billion US dollars, equivalent to about 23.5 billion yuan, why does CYVN favor NIO so much?
Weilai, once the first brother of the new domestic car-making force, although the market value is now surpassed by Li Auto, and Xiaopeng Motors is not far behind, but its own heritage is still relatively strong, CYVN invests at the time of its stock price downturn, can get the maximum benefit at the least cost, and is looking at the long-term future.
Of course, this is a big gamble belonging to the Middle East tycoons, and ordinary investment institutions do not have this kind of courage.
In the secondary market, NIO's U.S. stock price once exceeded 7%, and finally rose by 464%**Total market capitalization 143500 million US dollars, obviously the company's financing from local tyrants is equivalent to giving investors a boost.
According to the short flat quick interpretation, NIO won a number of financings during the year, in addition to the strategic investment of CYVN, the company successfully issued 8Asset-backed of RMB5.9 billion**, and the issuance of US$1 billion of convertible senior bonds in September, raising a total of more than RMB29.2 billion during the year.
In contrast, Xpeng Motors received a capital increase of 700 million US dollars from Volkswagen in July and August, and issued its first ABN, with a total scale of 97.5 billion yuan, financing nearly 6 billion yuan;At the end of October, Leapmotor received an investment of 1.5 billion euros from the Stellantis Group, raising nearly 11.8 billion yuan.
From the point of view of the total amount of financing, Weilai is still far ahead, of course, the early realization of self-hematopoiesis is the king, which many new car-making forces need to "learn from" the ideal car, has initially achieved self-hematopoiesis, the latter in the first three quarters to achieve a turnaround, net profit attributable to the parent is as high as 604.6 billion yuan.
Layoffs, acquisitions and losses
Prior to this financing, NIO was facing certain financial pressure, and the company also ushered in a large-scale layoff in November.
According to an internal letter released by Li Bin, the company's layoff rate was about 10%, and the adjustment was completed that month. Specifically, the company merges duplicate departments and positions, and eliminates inefficient positions;Postponement and reduction of project investments that do not improve financial performance for 3 years.
In December, there was news in the market that NIO's layoff ratio would be further expanded, and the company said that this was false news and there were no further layoff plans.
In addition, Li Bin also said that a new round of layoffs is not a thing, but NIO will continue to optimize the organization and efficiency, which is something that will continue to be done. He revealed that in the previous adjustments, intelligent driving, operating systems and other intelligence-related departments were not affected by layoffs;The battery manufacturing department was downsized, and other businesses were consolidated with duplicate departments and positions.
Obviously, NIO is pursuing to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but the company is not stingy with the necessary expenses.
Among the many new car-making forces, NIO does not have its own factory, and all vehicles are manufactured by JAC, with the words "JAC" on the rear of the vehicle.
According to the short flat fast interpretation, on December 6, Weilai won 31The transaction consideration of 5.8 billion yuan auctioned off the relevant passenger car inventory, fixed assets, projects under construction, buildings and land use rights of JAC, as well as the structures and equipment assets of the passenger car company's Xinqiao plant, officially obtained production assets, owned its own car-making plant, and also got rid of the label of "JAC" with the vehicle.
Li Bin said at the earnings conference, if we make it entirely ourselves, the manufacturing cost of a unit vehicle will drop by 10%.
However, the high transaction consideration also put further pressure on NIO's cash flow.
In the third quarter of this year, NIO achieved revenue of 1906.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 466%, of which automobile sales increased by 45% year-on-year9% to 1740.9 billion yuan, mainly due to the increase in vehicle deliveries.
Specifically, the company's deliveries in the third quarter were 55,432 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 754%, including 37,585 SUVs and 17,847 sedans.
Although the company's automobile sales increased significantly, the corresponding automotive gross profit margin declined, 11% in the third quarter, and 16 percent year-on-year4% down 54 percentage points, which also exacerbated the company's loss, with an operating loss of 484.4 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 38 in the same period last year700 million yuan.
The good news is that gross margin and operating loss improved sequentially, after only 62%, and the operating loss is as high as 607.4 billion yuan.
In terms of cash flow, as of the end of September, NIO's cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments and long-term time deposits amounted to RMB45.2 billion, up from RMB31.5 billion at the end of June, mainly due to the company's successful issuance of US$1 billion of convertible bonds during the quarter and strategic financing from CYVN.
In the first three quarters, NIO's net profit loss attributable to the parent company was as high as 1555.5 billion yuan, more than 145 percent of the annual loss in 20225.9 billion yuan, with an average quarterly loss of more than 5.1 billion yuan, based on this calculation, the company's loss in 2023 is expected to hit a new high, but it still depends on the company's operating performance in the fourth quarter.
After the latest round of financing, NIO's ammunition is more sufficient, there is no financial trouble in the short term, and the company can better focus on products and operations.
Can the battery swap mode be played?
As mentioned above, NIO is pursuing cost reduction and efficiency improvement, which is directly reflected in the reduction of employees, so how can the company increase efficiency?This is to mention the company's long-term charging and swapping layout.
In the third quarter, NIO's other sales were 16RMB5.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 55%, mainly due to the increase in the sales of accessories, second-hand vehicles and the provision of energy solutions.
In the past November, NIO officially announced that it had reached strategic cooperation with Changan Automobile and Geely Holding to carry out battery swap business.
Specifically, NIO will cooperate with Changan Automobile and Geely Holding in promoting the establishment of battery swap standards, the construction and sharing of battery swap networks, the research and development of battery swap models, and the establishment of an efficient battery asset management mechanism.
Li Bin said that from the first day of the charging and swapping business, NIO decided to open up to the whole industry. Like the Internet cloud service infrastructure, NIO's battery swap network and NIO Energy Cloud have also taken a path of infrastructure first, internal closed-loop, full-scenario verification, and opening to the outside world. After five years of development, NIO's battery swap network and NIO Energy Cloud have accumulated rich experience in R&D, construction, and operation, and NIO's battery swap business is ready to open up to the industry.
According to the official disclosure, NIO is the world's largest operator of the battery swap network for smart electric vehicles, building and operating more than 2,100 battery swap stations in the global market, and as of November 20, NIO has provided users with more than 32 million battery swap services and has more than 1,600 battery swap-related patents.
According to the interpretation of short flat fast, for electric vehicles, consumers are most concerned about range anxiety, so in addition to continuously improving the range of products (including plug-in hybrid, extended range), manufacturers also solve the problems that consumers are concerned about through fast charging and battery swapping, such as Tesla, Xiaopeng launched fast charging, and Weilai and Geely launched battery swaps.
However, the battery swap mode means a high investment. China Post** has analyzed the investment cost of NIO battery swap station, of which the comprehensive cost of the first and second generation battery swap stations is 3.46 million yuan and 3.5 million yuan respectively, of which equipment investment and battery investment are the majority, for example, the cost of the second-generation battery swap station is 1.5 million yuan and 1 million yuan respectively.
According to the cost of 3.46 million yuan of battery swap stations, the corresponding comprehensive cost of 2,100 battery swap stations is as high as 726.6 billion yuan, which also means that the company's fixed assets will be much higher than other new car-making forces.
As of the end of September, NIO's real estate, plant and equipment were 2074.1 billion yuan, while Li Auto and Xiaopeng Motors were 1366.8 billion yuan, 1091.1 billion yuan, which is still the condition that the latter two car companies have their own car manufacturers.
In addition, the amount of depreciation generated by the large amount of fixed assets will erode the company's profits, which may also be an important factor in NIO's losses.
CITIC pointed out that there are many constraints in the battery swap station, including 1) the low degree of standardization of power battery specifications, materials and technologies, which is not conducive to the circulation of the battery swap system2) The agreement between OEMs is difficult to communicate, resulting in battery swapping can only be circulated within the brand3) There are differences in battery swapping methods;4) The construction and operation costs of battery swap stations are high.
The agency also noted that the above-mentioned factors are gradually being eliminated. First of all, car companies and battery manufacturers are leading the battery standardization process to reduce production costs, which will effectively promote the feasibility of battery swapping.
If more new energy vehicle companies choose to join in the future, the battery swap station may also become another growth pole for NIO, or even a cash cow, but in the short term, the contribution of this business to the company's revenue will not be greatly improved, and it is estimated that it will be in a state of loss.
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