[年报]容百科技(688005):2022年年度报告简版（英文版）
原标题:容百科技:2022年年度报告简版（英文版） Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. Annual Report 2022 (Abridged English Version) Contents Section I Important Notes ........................................................................................................................... 3 Section II Definitions .................................................................................................................................. 3 Section III Basic Information and Main Financial Data of the Company ................................................... 6 Section IV Management Discussion and Analysis ...................................................................................... 8 Section V Corporate Governance .............................................................................................................. 30 Section VI Important Matters .................................................................................................................... 36 Section VII Changes in Shares and Shareholders ..................................................................................... 38 Section I Important Notes 1 The Board of Directors, the Board of Supervisors, the directors, supervisors, and senior managers of the Company shall guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness of the contents of the Annual Report, which is free of any false records, misleading statements, or major omissions, and shall bear joint and several liability. 2 All directors of the company attend the Board of Directors meetings. 3 Pan-China Certified Public Accountants (Special General Partnership) issued a standard unqualified audit report for the Company. 4 Profit distribution plan or accumulation fund to increase capital stock plan approved by the Board of Directors during the reporting period. As audited by Pan-China Certified Public Accountants (Special General Partnership), as of December 31, 2022, the profit available for distribution of the parent company at the end of the period had reached RMB 181,965,693.74. As decided by the Board of Directors, the Company intends to distribute the profit in 2022 on the basis of the total share capital registered on the registration date of the implementation of equity allocation. The profit distribution plan is as follows: The listed company intends to pay cash dividend of RMB 3.02 (tax included) for every 10 shares to all shareholders. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had had a total share capital of 450,883,265 shares, based on which the proposed total cash dividends were RMB 136,166,746.03 (tax included). This year’s cash dividends account for 10.06% of the Company’s 2022 net profit attributable to the parent company. The Company’s 2022 annual profit st distribution plan has been deliberated and approved at the 21 meeting of the second Board of Directors of the Company, and it needs to be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders for deliberation. Section II Definitions Unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings in this Report:
Section III Basic Information and Main Financial Data of the Company 1 Company Profile Company Stock Profile √Applicable ?Not applicable
Contact Person and Contact Information
2 Main accounting data and financial indicators of the Company 2.1 Main accounting data and financial indicators in the past three years Unit: RMB Currency: RMB
2.2 Main quarterly accounting data in the reporting period Unit: RMB Currency: RMB
Notes on differences between quarterly data and disclosed periodic report data ?Applicable √Not applicable Section IV Management Discussion and Analysis 1 Main Business, Main Products or Services The Company is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and marketing of ternary cathode material for lithium batteries and their precursors. The products are mainly used in the manufacturing of lithium batteries, and are mainly applied in the new energy vehicle power batteries, energy storage equipment and electronic products. The leading products are NCM811 series, NCA series, Ni90 series and above ultra- high nickel cathode materials and precursors. As the first cathode material manufacturer in China to realize the mass production of NCM811 series products and apply them to the international mainstream terminal automobile enterprises, the Company is a world leader in NCM811 series product technology and production scale. The Company has set up a number of advanced production bases in East China, Central China, Southwest China and South Korea, and built the industry chain focusing on the recycling and reusing of cathode materials. In the future, cathode materials will be developed in the direction of high energy density, safety and low cost. Lithium ferromanganese phosphate and sodium cathode materials will be widely used in low-end power market and energy storage market due to their high cost performance. While further strengthening the competitive advantage of high-nickel materials, the Company will also accelerate the layout of lithium ferromanganese phosphate and sodium cathode materials, and continue to maintain its leading position in market share. 2 Main Business Models The Company has put in place an independent R&D, procurement, production and marketing system, mainly through the R&D, manufacturing and marketing of ternary cathode materials and their precursors to achieve profitability. (1) R&D model The Company has developed a customer-centered, market-oriented R&D system and continued to optimize it. It has further formed a three-level R&D organization of “group level—business level—factory level”, and established a R&D model centered on customer requirements by the business units and combining the R&D of forward-looking new industries and high-end products by the research institute. Through the form of integrated product development (IPD), the Company has established a cross-departmental product development team. The Central Research Institute of the Company has put in place a “horizontal + vertical” all-round R&D system through the integration of the R&D resources of China, Japan and South Korea, and the fusion of resources and capabilities of cutting-edge research, technological innovation, evaluation and testing, resource recovery and engineering development, so as to support the R&D capacity building from original innovation to mass production transformation and process improvement. In terms of product development and industrialization, the Company has trained a large number of R&D technicians, formed a systematic training mode for new R&D personnel, carried out R&D system training and knowledge sharing to continuously empower technical personnel and provide a steady stream of reserve talents for business expansion. In addition to providing material samples, the Company will recommend the working conditions according to the customers’ battery product development, assist the customers in finalizing the battery system, and jointly promote the development of the product application market. (2) Procurement model The procurement model of the Company mainly consists of procurement strategy and supplier and lithium, the Company has established long-term partnerships with Ganfeng Lithium, Albemarle, GEI, Tianqi Lithium, Huayou Cobalt, Lygend and other domestically and internationally well-known raw material suppliers. A list of relatively stable, properly competing and dynamically adjusted qualified suppliers has been formed to ensure the continuous supply of raw materials of good quality at a reasonable price. In terms of supplier management, the Company has kept procurement under strict control by promoting standardized bidding process, systematic supplier evaluation and other ways to guarantee the reliability of raw materials or equipment and cost competitiveness. (3) Production model The Company mainly adopts the production model based on sales, developing a sound production process control procedure, and establishing a set of rapid and effective customer order processes centered on and oriented towards customer orders and medium- and long-term requirements. After signing an order with the customer, the Company carries out production plan preparation, quality control, shipment, and other whole-process production organization management according to the product technical indicators, quantity and delivery time required by the customer, so as to ensure the consistency of delivery on time and product quality. It helps reduce the inventory levels, so as to keep the costs under reasonable control and improve the efficiency of the use of funds. The Company has also set certain safety stock levels according to market forecast, production capacity and inventory situation to improve delivery speed and maintain balanced production. For the production of some new materials, the Engineering Department will optimize the layout of production lines and equipment structures according to the special requirements of new products. In terms of quality control, the Production Department has established critical control points according to product performance requirements and related processes, and formulated control items and target values. (4) Marketing model The Company mainly adopts the direct sales model, selling the products in both domestic and international markets to downstream customers, mainly large and well-known domestic and international lithium battery manufacturers and other end customers. Due to the complex material system of lithium- ion batteries, the power lithium-ion battery has undergo extensive research and development, and requires high precision control in the manufacturing process. Cathode material suppliers are required to provide supporting technical solutions and professional and timely technical support and services under different material systems and control systems, so as to ensure the excellent quality of lithium-ion battery products. In order to solve the problems of wide distribution of customers, high development speed and large scale differences, the Company adopts the parallel model of regional management and large project management in management. Four production bases have been established in Hubei, Guizhou, Zhejiang and South Korea, and offices in Ningde, Shenzhen and South Korea have been set up, so as to maximize the use of market resources, realize the rapid response of product technology, product quality and logistics transportation, and quickly respond to customer requirements. For strategic customers, customized production can be further provided according to their specific requirements for product technical parameters, in order to meet their requirements for stable product supply and high performance. 3 Industry conditions (1) The development stage, basic characteristics and main technical thresholds of the industry Thanks to the Peak Carbon and Carbon Neutrality policies, new energy is developing rapidly worldwide. The lithium-ion battery cathode material industry in which the Company engaged is a key material industry in the new energy, new material and new energy vehicle segments. The explosion of the new energy vehicle market drives the rapid expansion of the lithium battery industry. The cathode material development, featuring robust demand in the current and future downstream and terminal markets. In 2022, the increasing heat of LFP batteries and high-nickel ternary batteries was seen in the global installed capacity of power batteries, and LMFP and sodium cathode materials started to show an emerging edge. Driven by low cost, high safety and the growth of the energy storage market, the installed capacity of LFP batteries has increased significantly year-on-year. Due to the price restriction of lithium and nickel, high-nickel ternary batteries have a slowdown in permeability growth, but secure a stable position as one of the mainstream technologies thanks to high density energy. LMFP has excellent comprehensive properties and is expected to replace medium- and low-nickel ternary materials and part of lithium iron; sodium cathode materials have been preliminarily applied in energy storage and low-speed power fields, and are expected to replace LFP and lead-acid batteries in some fields by virtue of their low cost, high safety and excellent low-temperature performance. In the long run, the development of power batteries needs to take into accountcost and energy density goals, and the two technical paths represented by LMFP and high-nickel ternary batteries are the most clear. Compared with LFP batteries, LMFP batteries have higher density energy, and retain the safety and low cost properties of LFP cells. The high-nickel battery path can significantly reduce the material cost and ensure high specific capacity. Thanks to the more competitive per-watt-hour cost and the continuous emergence of innovative technology in lithium battery structure, high-nickel batteries, as the mainstream choice of high-end models and long-endurance models of domestic and foreign OEMs, undoubtedly have a trend of long-term expansion in market application. At present, the high-nickel ternary cathode material industry has a high technical threshold, mainly reflected in the development technical barriers, production technical barriers and quality certification barriers. The high R&D technical threshold requires not only technical modification such as doping and cladding, but also calcination under oxygen, which puts forward increasingly higher requirements on production line design ability, personalized product development ability, technical service ability, and more stringent requirements on humidity control of the production environment, corrosion resistance and automation level of equipment. Furthermore, high-nickel ternary cathode material is one of the most important raw materials in power batteries, which has a great impact on the core performance and safety performance of power batteries. Considering product stability and safety, automobile enterprises and power battery enterprises have more complex certification and testing procedures for NCM811, NCA and other products. Not only long-term product performance testing is required, the comprehensive supply ability, automatic production management level, low cost, quality stability and consistency of mass production of manufacturers must be assessed in detail. The overall certification cycle will last more than 2 years. (2) Analysis of the Company’s position in the industry and its changes During the reporting period, based on the new integration strategy, the Company transformed and upgraded into a comprehensive cathode material supplier covering the whole market. While firmly following the high-nickel route, the Company has actively built its presence in LMFP and sodium battery materials, and expanded their application fields to the high-, medium - and low-end power, small power, energy storage and digital markets, growing into the fastest transforming cathode material company. According to the statistics of ICC, the cumulative output of domestic ternary materials in 2022 was 602,300 tons, up by 51.3% year on year; the cumulative output of domestic high-nickel materials (series 8 and above) was 269,400 tons, up by 76.9% year on year; and the permeability reached 44.7%. The data of ICC further shows that in 2022, the domestic market share of the Company’s high-nickel ternary cathode material reached 33%, ranking first in the industry for three consecutive years, and maintaining period, the Company built a high nickel production capacity of 250,000 tons, leading the world in production capacity, and completed and put into operation the first overseas high-nickel cathode production capacity project in China’s cathode industry—the base in South Korea, advancing the production capacity globalization process of China’s cathode industry. The leading customers of the Company’s high-nickel products are CATL, Farasis, SVOLT, SK on, EVE and other well-known lithium-ion battery manufacturers at home and abroad. As the major high-nickle cathode supplier of CATL and Farasis, the Company has made its high-nickle products into the international mainstream customer supply system, taking the lead in the large-scale application of new energy vehicle power batteries in the world. In 2022, the Company realized the rapid entry into the LFP track through the acquisition of Skyland. As the only enterprise in the world to achieve mass production of LMFP, the Company is a leader in the development and certification of existing products for many mainstream customers at home and abroad. The background of high lithium price provides a strategic opportunity for the industrialization of sodium- ion batteries. Through self-research, the Company has comprehensively laid out three technical focuses of layered oxide, Prussian blue/white and polyanion, and completed submitted sample verification with dozens of downstream customers. With industry-leading comprehensive development capability and a mass production schedule, the Company has a commanding lead in the fastest commercialization of layered oxide technology route. In 2023, the Company's production capacity layout in China and Korea will be gradually implemented, and the strategic planning research in Europe and America will be gradually carried out. The Company will continue to promote technology upgrading and new product development and application, firmly implement the new integration strategy, closely follow the industry trend, and consolidate its position as the world’s leading cathode material supplier. (3) The developments and future trends of new technologies, new industries, new business forms and new models during the reporting period During the reporting period, the new energy vehicle market developed rapidly, and the performance requirements of power batteries and energy storage batteries continued to improve. As one of the cores of new energy power batteries, cathode material directly affects the energy density, cycle, rate, internal resistance and other performance indicators of the batteries, which is a high cost part of lithium/sodium batteries. The following are the developments and future trends of new technologies during the reporting period: 4680 tabless cylindrical battery The 4680 battery is a new cylindrical battery with a diameter of 46mm and a height of 80mm. It is suitable for medium- and high-end passenger cars. The battery adopts the tabless, large cell design and dry battery technology to improve work efficiency and safety, and offers the advantages of high energy density, low cost, high safety and long life. According to public market data, the single cell capacity and power of the 4680 battery have been increased by 5and 6 times, respectively, and the driving range has been increased by 16% and the cost has been reduced by 14% at the vehicle level. The large-scale process improvement has achieved efficiency and cost reduction. The core difficulties of this technical path are mainly reflected in the welding process, dry battery electrode technology and yield. In 2022, Tesla 4680 battery increased the product yield from 20% at the beginning to 92% through technological improvement, and the weekly production capacity of 4680 battery reached 868,000, breaking through the bottleneck of yield. The year 2023 is expected to be the first year of mass production. The high safety 4680 cylindrical battery is adapted to the high density system, its packaging structure features high thermal safety and mechanical properties, greatly reducing the risk of high-nickel ternary high nickel Ni90 in replacement of NCM811 can also achieve cost reduction and efficiency. With 4680 battery to achieve mass production and production line expansion, high-nickel ternary material will be the first to benefit. As China’s first cathode material manufacturer realizing NCM811 series product mass production and application in the international mainstream terminal carmakers, the Company will embrace broad market opportunities from 4680 battery mass production and application. Sodium-ion battery The sodium-ion battery is a secondary battery with a cost reduction of 30% to 40% compared with the LFP battery. It also offers excellent low temperature performance by a capacity retention rate of more than 88% at the -20℃ low temperature test, much higher than that of the LFP battery. In the future, it is expected to be widely used in energy storage, low-speed electric vehicles, two-wheeled electric vehicles, electric boats and other fields with low energy density requirements but strong cost sensitivity. In the context of high-priced lithium and the outburst of key energy storage scenarios in 2022, sodium-ion batteries with similar working principles to lithium-ion batteries flourished. Demand pull and technical thrust have become the key points of sodium-ion battery industrialization from 0 to 1. The current mainstream cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries are layered oxides, Prussian blue analogues, polyanionic compounds, etc. With its simple preparation method, easy mass production and conversion, high energy density and high rate performance, layered oxide is the main layout focus of domestic enterprises and is expected to be the first to realize industrialization. Prussian compounds have the advantages of low cost and high specific mass energy density. Polyanionic compounds offer the main advantages of low cost of raw materials, stable structure and good cycling performance. At present, the sodium-ion battery cathode material presents the situation of co-existence of multiple routes. Now the Company is comprehensively laying out three technical focuses of layered oxide, Prussian blue/white and polyanion, and has completed submitted sample verification with dozens of downstream customers, showing industry-leading comprehensive development capability and mass production schedule. LMFP battery The LMFP battery is an upgrade of the LFP battery, and a new type of phosphate lithium-ion battery cathode material formed by doping a certain proportion of manganese on the basis of lithium iron phosphate. High energy density is a core strength of the LMFP battery compared with the LFP battery. The LMFP battery has an energy density of about 15% higher, offering a higher voltage platform and retaining the safety and low-cost properties of LFP cells. With the progress of modification technologies such as carbon coating, nanocrystallization and lithium supplement technology, the conductive properties that restricted the development of LMFP in the past have been improved, and the industrialization process has been accelerated. According to market estimates, LMFP will be stably mass produced in China in 2023, and extensively applied to electric vehicles. The Company has realized the mass production of LMP through the acquisition of Skyland, and is actively working with downstream customers on certification, topping the list in development progress. Lithium-rich manganese-based cathode material The lithium-rich manganese-based material features cheap manganese as the main transition metal element, with a discharge specific capacity up to 250 mAh/g or above,and a higher mass energy density compared with LFP, NCM and NCA. With a current actual capacity of about 1.5 times of that of currently commercialized cathode materials, the lithium-rich manganese-based material can improve the power battery’s life. With a nickel content only about 30% of that of the ternary materials and no cobalt element, it requires low cost. At present, the lithium-rich manganese-based material is still in the research and development stage, the cycle and storage process are yet to be addressed. If technical bottlenecks are solved, the lithium-rich manganese-based material will become the next generation lithium-ion battery cathode material with great potential, to be widely used in automobiles, energy storage, small power and digital fields. Solid-state battery The biggest difference between solid state lithium batteries and traditional lithium batteries is the electrolytes. While traditional lithium batteries use a diaphragm and electrolyte with a liquid substance in between, solid-state batteries utilize solid electrolyte. Solid-state lithium batteries are safer and have a higher energy density than traditional lithium batteries. Solid-state battery electrolytes in use or close to commercial use include polymers, sulfides and oxides. Among them, the oxide electrolyte has the best air stability and is widely used in solid-state batteries with a solid-liquid mixed system, requiring low cost. The main drawback is that the interface contact problem has not been solved perfectly. Oxide electrolytes are more suitable for power batteries. Now most of the domestic enterprises choose the technical route of the oxide system, with steadily improved manufacturing processes and modification levels. Furthermore, sulfide system electrolytes with ionic conductivity comparable to liquid electrolytes solution shows higher rate performance in the all- solid-state system. The leading cell and carmakers in Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States are actively rolling out the sulfide all-solid-state battery business. Due to the narrow electrochemical window based on sulfide electrolyte and poor stability of electrolyte and cathode and anode interfaces, further improvements are required to realize industrialization. Based on the intrinsic defects of electrolytes, the Company has prepared solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity, developed the ternary cathode material suitable for solid-state batteries, improved the compatibility of the ternary cathode and solid-state electrolyte interface, which has been highly recognized by downstream customers at home and abroad. 4 Business situation analysis and discussion During the reporting period, the global new energy vehicle market demand maintained a rapid growth trend. According to the data in the White Paper on the Development of China’s New Energy Vehicle Industry (2023), global sales of new energy vehicles reached 10.824 million vehicles in 2022, up by 61.6% year on year. According to statistics from GGII and other organizations, the global shipments of ternary cathode materials in 2022 were about 980,000 tons, with a year-on-year growth of 55%. The global shipments of high-nickel cathode materials were about 328,000 tons, with a year-on-year growth of 64%. The market of the ternary cathode materials continues the trend of high-nickel cathode materials, and the product upgrading keeps accelerating. Benefiting from the robust demand from downstream battery enterprises, the accelerated launch of high energy density models by mainstream carmakers in Europe and the United States, as well as the continuous improvement of profitability through technological progress and supply chain optimization, the Company achieved a significant improvement in performance in 2022. During the reporting period, the Company realized the operating revenue of RMB 30.123 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 193.62%; the net profit attributable to listed companies reached RMB 1.353 billion, up by 48.54% year on year. (1) Ranked first in the global market share of ternary materials, constantly optimizing the product and customer structure In 2022, the total sales volume of the Company’s high-nickel series 8 and above ternary cathode products came up to nearly 90,000 tons, with a year-on-year growth of 70.13%. Among them, cutting-edge materials such as high-nickel, low-cobalt and ultra-high nickel materials had achieved a 1,000-ton high-nickel ternary cathode material reached 33%, ranking first in the industry for three consecutive years, and maintaining the first global market share for two consecutive years, taking an expanding lead. During the reporting period, the Company built a high nickel production capacity of 250,000 tons, and four cathode material bases in Ezhou and Xiantao of Hubei Province, Zunyi of Guizhou Province and Chungju in South Korea. During the reporting period, the Company actively expanded the customer base, and established partnerships with domestic new-energy vehicle enterprises and mainstream European and American carmakers to develop cutting-edge products. (2) Merged and conducted an integrated layout of LMFP enterprises, taking an industry-leading position in product technology, market development, production and marketing scale. During the reporting period, the Company formally built its presence in LMFP through the acquisition of Skyland and its subsidiaries. With an existing production capacity of 6200 tons/year, the Company is the only enterprise to achieve mass production of LMFP, producing 3C digital, power batteries and other products in the market, and taking a leading position in product development for many well-known battery customers at home and abroad. (3) Launched the pioneering new strategic product—sodium-ion battery cathode material, showing industry-leading comprehensive development capability and a mass production schedule. As a new battery material, the sodium-ion battery cathode material has significantly improved product competitiveness compared with traditional materials, and is expected to be extensively applied in the low-end power battery market, energy storage market, 3C and small power market in the future. Now the Company has comprehensively laid out three technical focuses of layered oxide, Prussian blue/white and polyanion, and has completed submitted sample verification with dozens of downstream customers, with a sodium-ion battery cathode material capacity of about 1.5 tons/year. During the reporting period, the Company cumulatively sold dozens of tons of sodium-ion battery cathode materials, showing industry- leading comprehensive development capability and a mass production schedule. (4) Advanced the strategic layout of globalization rapidly, and made remarkable progress in the development of production capacity and customers in South Korea. The Company’s Chungju Base in South Korea is the first high-nickel cathode production capacity project built by Chinese enterprises overseas, and South Korea’s production capacity is obviously scarce. On the one hand, Chinese exports to the United States will be subject to a 25% tariff, while exports to Europe will be subject to a 6% tariff. South Korean products exported to European and American markets are entitled to the zero tariff policy. On the other hand, under the Inflation Reduction Act announced in August 2022, the United States plans to invest 370 billion U.S. dollars in the climate and clean energy sectors, and some 20 countries, including South Korea and Australia, that have signed free trade agreements with the U.S. will receive a certain percentage of subsidies for their products. Compared with those produced by the China precursor material production base, the precursors produced by the Chungju Base in South Korea meet the requirements of the Act on qualified key minerals, and can receive a tax credit of 3,750 U.S. dollars/vehicle. Compared with the cathode materials produced by the China cathode material production base, the cathode materials produced by the Chungju Base in South Korea do not fall under the prohibitions stipulated in the Act and are expected to receive a tax credit of U.S. dollars/vehicle for battery packs under the Act. Therefore, the production capacity layout of the Chungju Base in South Korea is of strategic significance. During the reporting period, the Chungju Base in South Korea has built a production capacity of 20,000 tons/year of high-nickel cathode materials, and the production line has completed the audit and verification by mainstream customers in Japan, South Korea and the United States, which has the basis （未完）  |