Shanghai (ZXZC)- BYD Company Limited ("BYD" or "the Group") announced its semi-annual financial results for 2024, reporting revenue of 301.127 billion yuan, a 15.76% increase year-on-year. Among which, the revenue generated from the automobiles and related products, and other products amounted to around 228.317 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of 9.33% and accounting for 75.82% of the Group's total revenue.

BYD's net profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2024 reached 13.631 billion yuan, up 24.44% compared to the same period last year, with earnings per share standing at 4.68 yuan.

Photo credit: BYD

The Group attributed its revenue growth primarily to the expansion of its new energy vehicle (NEV) and mobile components businesses. The increase in profit attributable to shareholders was also largely driven by growth in the NEV sector.

Gross profit for the first half of 2024 rose by approximately 26.42% to 60.27 billion yuan, with the gross profit margin improving from 18.33% in the first half of 2023 to 20.01% this year. The announcement highlighted that this increase in gross margin was also mainly due to the growth of the NEV business.

For the first half of 2024, BYD sold a total of 1,612,983 vehicles, which jumped 28.46% from a year ago. Of those, passenger vehicles (PVs) accounted for 99.64% of the Group's semi-annual sales, representing a 28.76% year-on-year growth. In the PV sector, the battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) arms recorded a respective sales volume of 726,153 units and 990,992 units, growing 17.73% and 39.54% over the previous year.

As a leading player in the NEV industry, BYD's mid-year performance has been remarkable, but also underscored the intense competition within the sector. This competition is particularly evident in cash flow and inventory turnover metrics. The financial report revealed that BYD's operating cash inflow for the first half of 2024 was approximately 14.178 billion yuan, a sharp decline from 81.971 billion yuan recorded in the same period last year. The company attributed the decrease in cash inflow mainly to increased cash payments for goods and services. Nevertheless, BYD maintains that it has sufficient liquidity to meet its daily working capital management and capital expenditure needs while continuing to control internal operating cash flow.

Moreover, BYD experienced a lengthening of its inventory turnover period, primarily due to a larger year-on-year increase in average inventory balances compared to the growth in operating costs.