text | Jinwei
Following NIO , Xiaopeng , and Ideal, another new car-making force has entered the capital market.
htmlOn September 29, LePa Motor was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a trading code of 0986, becoming the fourth new car company in China to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.The final issue price of LePan Automobile IPO was HK$48, but its performance was not good on the first day of listing. It opened lower by 14.58% in the early trading and broke the issue. It then opened lower and closed lower all the way, falling below 30% at one point. As of press time, LePan Automobile fell by 36%, with a total market value of HK$35 billion.
Based on the net fundraising amount of HK$6.06 billion, the subscriber lost HK$2.2 billion in one day.
Regarding the stock price breaking the issue price on the first day, Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Leapmoto Auto, said: "This is indeed a not a good time period, because the global situation is turbulent and is in a downward channel, but we chose to go public (market). The main reason is that we don't care about the current time period, which is a long-distance race. What we care more about is the real quality and get our market share as soon as possible."
sells one and loses one
Leapmoto Auto was established in December 2015 with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan.
Compared with the "nine-death" of NIO , Leapmotor is relatively "rich" in terms of funds. It is backed by the security giant Dahua shares . It has completed seven rounds of financing since its establishment, and the amount of financing disclosed by the public has reached 12.06 billion yuan. Investors include Sequoia China, Hangzhou State-owned Assets, Shanghai Electric , etc.
The models of Leapmotor are mainly mid- and low-end. Since its establishment, Leapmotor has launched three mass-produced models and one pre-sale model, namely the medium and large pure electric sedan C01, the medium-sized pure electric SUV C11, the pure electric coupe S01 and the mini electric sedan T03. The cheapest T03 starts at 79,500 yuan, and the most expensive C01 starts at 180,000 yuan.
According to the prospectus data, Leapmotor delivered a total of 8,050 new cars in 2020. By 2021, Leapmotor's annual delivery volume reached 43,700 units, an increase of 443.5% year-on-year.
This year, Leapmotor Automobile's sales have achieved a leap in sales. In August this year, Leapmotor Automobile delivered 12,525 units, a year-on-year increase of more than 180%, and its delivery has reached a new high for four consecutive months. The delivery volume in August ranks second among new car manufacturers.
cumulative delivery volume in the first eight months of this year is 76,563 vehicles, surpassing leading new car companies such as NIO and Ideal. Leapmotor has gradually gained a foothold in the domestic new energy vehicle market with its entry-level products.
According to Frost & Sullivan's calculations, Leapmotor has become the company with the fastest growth in delivery among the new car-making forces in my country.
As sales increase, Leapmotor's revenue has also achieved significant growth.
prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, Leapmotor's revenue was 117 million yuan, 631 million yuan and 3.132 billion yuan. However, like other new car-making forces, LePan Automobile also suffered huge losses, and it was "selling one car and losing one car."
Prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, Leapmotor suffered losses of 730 million yuan, 870 million yuan and 2.87 billion yuan respectively, with a total loss of 4.47 billion yuan in three years. In the first quarter of 2022, Leapmotor's net loss reached 1.042 billion yuan, an increase of 162.47% year-on-year from the loss of 397 million yuan in the same period last year.
continues to lose money, which is also testing Leapmotor's cash reserves. According to the prospectus book: From 2019 to the first quarter of 2022, Leapmotor's operating net cash flow was -675 million yuan, -732 million yuan, -1.018 billion yuan and -385 million yuan, respectively. During the same period, Zero-Player's cash and cash equivalents were 246 million yuan, 542 million yuan, 5.713 billion yuan and 5.231 billion yuan, respectively.
Since the main sales models of Leapmotor are mainly concentrated in the entry-level market of around 100,000, although the delivery volume is rising steadily, both cash flow and losses are serious.
From the perspective of gross profit margin, Leapmotor's gross profit margin level is relatively low. From 2019 to 2021, Leapmotor's gross profit margins were -95.7%, -50.6% and -44.3% respectively. Taking 2021 as an example, NIO's gross profit margin reached 18.9%, Xiaopeng Motors' was 12%, and Ideal Auto exceeded 21%.
Prospectus shows that the cost of raw materials and consumables in Leapmotor in 2020 and 2021 was 740 million yuan and 4.12 billion yuan respectively. According to sales estimates, the cost of raw materials and consumables for each car of Leapmotor is about 92,000 yuan and 94,000 yuan. The T03, which is responsible for sales of Leapmotor, starts at 79,500 yuan, and its car manufacturing cost is much higher than the selling price, making it difficult to balance the cost.
Double blow to the primary and secondary markets
In addition, Leapmotor's R&D investment has been less common doubts from the outside world. The prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, Leapmotor's R&D investment was 358 million yuan, 289 million yuan and 740 million yuan respectively, with the total R&D expenses in three years being less than 1.4 billion yuan.
Leapmotor's funds raised this time will be mainly used for three parts: R&D, production increase and expansion promotion. According to LePan Motor, about 40% of the raised funds will be invested in R&D, about 25% will be used to increase production capacity, about 25% will be used to expand sales and service networks and enhance brand awareness, and the remaining about 10% will be used for operating funds and general corporate purposes.
Although Leapmotor claims to invest 40% of the raised funds in R&D, compared with the mainstream new power brands maintaining R&D expenses of 3 billion to 4 billion yuan or even higher each year, Leapmotor's R&D expenses appear to be low.
Leapmotor's road to listing is full of twists and turns.
As early as August 19, the official website of the CSRC showed that the CSRC had approved Zhejiang Lingpao Technology Co., Ltd. to issue overseas listed foreign shares and domestic unlisted shares to list overseas.
htmlOn August 29, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange issued an announcement stating that LePan Automobile has submitted an IPO application to it and passed the listing hearing. CICC, Citigroup , JPMorgan and CCB International are its joint sponsors.However, on September 9, media reported that LePan Auto suspended its IPO for some reason, and LePan Auto then responded that the rumors were false news. Subsequently, some media reported that Leapmotor originally planned to raise $1.5 billion, but it cut its IPO size due to cold investors' reactions. In addition, global financial market turmoil has caused potential investors to reduce orders.
htmlOn September 20, Leapmotor issued an announcement stating that it is expected to be listed on the Stock Exchange on September 29, 2022. The number of shares issued by Hong Kong IPO globally is 130.8 million shares, with an offer price per share in the range of HK$48-62. The maximum fundraising through this IPO is 8.1 billion.However, the final issue price of Leapmotor is HK$48 per share, which means the IPO pricing is set at the lower limit of the IPO price. Leapmotor previously planned to raise US$1.5 billion, but the final financing amount is less than US$800 million, making it difficult to raise funds.
plus the direct break of the issue price today, Leapmotor suffered a double blow from the primary market to the secondary market.
At present, the market value of NIO Hong Kong stock has reached HK$225.2 billion, Xiaopeng has reached HK$84.1 billion, Ideal Auto's market value is HK$199.4 billion, and Leapmotor has only HK$35 billion. From the perspective of market value comparison, there is a clear gap between LePhantom and the new car-making forces. On the one hand, there are factors such as the global market sluggishness. On the other hand, capital is also more cautious about the second echelon of the new car-making forces and has not given too high valuations. We will further pay attention to the performance of
against Leapmotor.
