Shanghai (ZXZC)- Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL)'s first-half net profit attributable to shareholders dropped 7.86% from a year ago to 1.937 billion yuan ($280,233,328), the battery giant announced on August 26.

During the same period, the Ningde-based battery supplier saw its total revenue fall 7.08% year on year to 18.829 billion yuan ($2,723,735,000). Excluding the impact of certain non-recurring gains and losses, CATL's net profit slumped 24.3% over the previous year to 1.377 billion yuan ($199,134,538).

The company said the downturn in its first-half revenue and net profit primarily proceeded from the decrease in the power battery income, which was caused by the plunge in domestic NEV outputs and sales as the coronavirus pandemic hit the market demands.

For the first half of 2020, China's NEV outputs and sales amounted to 350,000 units and 336,000 units, tumbling 42% and 44% over the prior-year period respectively, according to the China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC). The installed capacity of power batteries also plummeted 42% year over year to 17.5GWh. Amid the overall market downturn, CATL gained 13.478 billion yuan ($1,949,562,772) of revenue by selling power battery system, representing a steep decline of 20.21% compared to the year-ago period. 

Moreover, due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, the procurement demands of lithium battery materials have been whittled down correspondingly. Besides, the prices of some lithium battery materials declined due to the fluctuation in metal prices. Given the two factors, CATL’s lithium battery material arm saw its first-half revenue collapse 46.53% to 1.235 billion yuan ($178,579,545).

As the pandemic has been ebbing and the macro economy is resilient, CATL is posting a solid rebound in its power battery system shipments. According to the financial results, CATL's second-quarter revenue climbed 8.5% from the first quarter to 9.799 billion yuan ($1,417,453,767) and the net profit attributable to shareholders soared 61.07% quarter over quarter to 1.195 billion yuan ($172,860,215) (photo source: CATL's WeChat account).