(Yicai) July 7 -- Shares of Ronbay New Energy Technology advanced after the Chinese lithium battery cathode material supplier said it likely turned a loss into a net profit in the first half of this year, buoyed by the recovery of the new energy industry.

Ronbay [SHA: 688005] closed up 5.1 percent at CNY28.56 (USD4.20) in Shanghai today, after earlier gaining as much as 12.7 percent.

Net profit likely reached CNY100 million to CNY120 million (USD14.7 million to USD17.7 million) in the six months ended June 30, compared with a net loss of CNY68.4 million (USD10.1 million) a year earlier, the Ningbo-based company announced yesterday.

Affected by the price war in China’s new energy vehicle industry last year, Ronbay suffered losses in the first three quarters and did not regain profitability until the fourth quarter, when it reported a net profit of CNY16.2 million. For the whole year, it racked in a net loss of CNY187 million.

In the first quarter of this year, Ronbay reported a net profit of CNY11.6 million. Therefore, based on the data released yesterday, the firm achieved a net profit of between CNY88.4 million and CNY108.4 million in the second quarter, up 662 percent to 834 percent from the first quarter.

The improvement in Ronbay’s performance was mainly attributed to the sustained prosperity of the new energy industry in the first half, the company noted, adding that the profitability of its ternary lithium battery positive electrode business steadily improved in the period, and its overseas shipments grew significantly.

Ronbay also disclosed that its lithium iron phosphate cathode project are progressing according to plans, its lithium manganese iron phosphate business is producing at full capacity, and related products are all sold out, and its sodium ion battery cathode business has entered the large-scale shipment stage, with the effectiveness of the platform strategy gradually emerging.

Founded in 2014, Ronbay supplies positive electrode materials to leading global battery manufacturers, such as Contemporary Amperex Technology, BYD, and LG Chem.

Ronbay announced in January that it had penned a six-year procurement contract for lithium iron phosphate cathode materials with CATL, claiming that the total order value would exceed CNY120 billion (USD17.7 billion). As concerns arose about the amount, the China Securities Regulatory Commission launched an investigation and administered penalties to the company’s management for inaccurate information disclosure.

Editor: Futura Costaglione