Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese EV battery giant CATL said its net profit attributable to shareholders in the third quarter of 2019 (Q3) slid 7.2% year on year to around RMB1.362 billion despite a double-digit increase in revenue.

According to the announcement released on October 26, CATL's Q3 revenue reached roughly RMB12.592 billion, leaping 28.8% over the previous year.

In spite of the opposite momentum in quarterly index, the company still got substantial growth in both year-to-date revenue and profit. For the first nine months, CATL's revenue soared 71.7% from a year ago to RMB32.856 billion. Meanwhile, the net profit surged 45.65% to RMB3.464 billion.

(CATL's headquarters, photo source: CATL's WeChat account)

The financial performance forecast released much earlier disclosed the reasons for Q3 revenue growth and profit drop. The revenue was climbing mainly thanks to the growth in power battery demands, outputs and sales, which were part of positive fruits from the fast-growing NEV industry and increasing capacity. Nevertheless, the rising costs in R&D and administration and the contracted gross margin led by products' decreased price partially gave rise to the final profit decline. 

Raking in $512 million in 2018 profits, CATL was ranked fourth on US business magazine Fortune's latest Future 50 list, the highest ranking for a Chinese firm. The Ningde-based battery giant supplies batteries to such global automakers as Volkswagen, BMW and Honda, as well as a number of major Chinese OEMs. It is also partnering with Toyota to co-develop technology.

The extensive partnership requires more capacity, so that CATL keeps expanding production facilities and channels to get material resources. In September, the company announced its plan to invest no more than RMB10 billion in a battery production base in Yibin, Sichuan province. In addition, two joint ventures focusing on cathode material and magnesium respectively were launched in recent two months as well.

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