(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Annual profit at Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, jumped about 29 percent from a year earlier as the new energy vehicle sector quickly expands.

Net profit was CNY4.4 billion (USD622 million) in the 12 months ended December, according to the earnings report the Ningde-based company published yesterday. Revenue soared nearly 54 percent to CNY45.5 billion (USD6.5 billion). Per-share profit was about CNY2 (28.40 US cents).

Against a backdrop of dramatic growth in the new energy vehicle sector, CATL put its strong performance down to greater efforts to tap new markets, a production capacity increase, a surge in sales, along with rational and optimal management of corporate expenses and their declining proportion to total income.

The amount of installed power batteries hit 62.2 gigawatt hours in the country last year, and CATL topped the list of suppliers, claiming 31.46 GWh of that total for a market share of about 51 percent, statistics from China's Industrial and Innovative Alliance of Power Batteries for Vehicles show.

CATL's shares have plunged since yesterday after the company said on Feb. 26 that it plans to raise CNY20 billion in a private placement of shares to finance an increase in capacity at its three plants in China. A private placement is a standard way for businesses to raise capital, but for a publicly traded firm it can spell a drop in the stock price since a private placement dilutes existing shares.

CATL's stock price [SHE:300750] dropped 9.2 percent today to close at CNY135.67 (USD19.41), extending yesterday's decline of 2.2 percent.

Investors may also have balked at a plunge in passenger car sales in China this month as the ongoing coronavirus epidemic kept potential buyers at home. Earlier this week, the China Passenger Car Association said sales slid 92 percent in the first two weeks of this month.

Meanwhile, registrations of Tesla's electric vehicles in China fell to 3,563 last month from 6,613 in December, according to figures from LMC Automotive. Last month, the US electric carmaker said that it would join CATL's list of clients, a group that already includes Germany's BMW and Daimler.

Editor: Ben Armour