(Yicai Global) April 22 -- Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology rose after the Chinese power battery giant reported higher-than-expected profit for last year, almost tripling its earnings thanks to robust sales.

CATL [SHE: 300750] closed 1.5 percent higher today at CNY415.34 (USD64), after earlier climbing as much as 3.5 percent.

Net profit soared 185 percent to CNY15.9 billion (USD2.5 billion) in the year ended Dec. 31, according to the Ningde-based company’s earnings report released yesterday. That topped forecasts for about CNY11.2 billion. Revenue jumped 159 percent to CNY130.4 billion (USD20.2 billion).

Income from power battery sales rose 132 percent to CNY91.5 billion, contributing to 70 percent of total revenue. But because of surging raw material costs, gross profit margin shrank 4.6 percentage points to 22 percent. Revenue from CATL’s energy storage business was CNY13.6 billion, up over seven times, with the gross profit margin widening 7.5 points to 28.5 percent.

Revenue from overseas business surged 253 percent to CNY27.9 billion and its contribution to total income rose to 21.4 percent from 15.7 percent. Foreign carmakers such as Tesla, Hyundai Motor, Ford Motor, and Daimler are among CATL’s customers. Tesla was the largest, as it paid the battery maker about CNY13 billion last year.

CATL’s power batteries ranked first in the world by use for the fifth consecutive year, achieving a market share of 32.6 percent, the biggest globally, according to market researcher SNE Research.

Hillhouse Capital Group, which was CATL’s eighth-largest investor, withdrew from the firm’s top 10 shareholders last year, CATL noted, adding that at the end of the third quarter, the firm held 42.6 million shares, equal to 1.8 percent of the total equity.

On the same day, CATL also announced it intends to invest up to CNY13 billion to build a new power battery production base at its unit Xiamen Time New Technology. CATL’s capacity rose to 170.4 gigawatt-hours last year from from 69.1 GWh in 2020, and plans to expand that further.

Editor: Futura Costaglione