Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the CBAK Energy Technology's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Currently, all participants are in listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, we are recording today's call. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at any time. Now I'll turn the call over to Thierry Li, Investor Relations Director of CBAK Energy. Mr. Li, please proceed.
Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. Welcome to CBAK Energy's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Joining us today are Mr. Yunfei Li, our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Xiangyu Pei, our Interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Xiujun Tian, our General Engineer, and Jennifer, our interpreter. We released results earlier today. The press release is available on the company's IR website at ir.cbak.com.cn as well as from Newswire Services. A relay of this call will also be available in a few hours on our IR website. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the expectations expressed today.
Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's public filings with the SEC. The company doesn't assume any obligations to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable laws. Please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during the conference call are in U.S. dollars. With that, let me now turn the call over to our CEO, Mr. Yunfei Li. Mr. Li will speak in Chinese and I will translate his comments into English. Go ahead, Mr. Li. Thank you, hello everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings conference call today. We have just released our financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Regrettably, our total revenues have declined as a result of reduced revenues from our materials division, stemming from a significant fall in the price of raw materials.
Despite the current market conditions, we have achieved satisfactory results in our primary business, which involves selling lithium batteries. In particular, our battery business generated revenues of $29.6 million, representing a 97.1% increase from the same period last year. Among these revenues, $25.82 million came from batteries used in energy storage applications, which is a 72.9% increase, while $1.97 million came from batteries used in light electric vehicles, reflecting an impressive growth of 2,117.2%. Moreover, revenues from batteries used in electric vehicles reached $1.82 million, marking a remarkable increase of 5,818 and 89.8 times compared to the same period last year.
In addition to achieving significant revenue growth, we have also witnessed a significant improvement in our gross profit margin. For our battery business, the gross profit margin in the first quarter reached 10.85%, representing an increase of 4.31 percentage points from the previous year. We are confident that our gross profit margin will continue to improve in the future as our capacity gradually releases and production efficiency continuously gets improved.
这 一 数 字 比 起 我 们 上 一 次 电 话 会 中 所 披 露 的 数 字 又 有 所 增 加 。 新 客 户 的 开 拓 和 老 客 户 的 新 订 单 情 况 都 较 为 顺 利 。 我 们 将 继 续 对 2023 年 在 市 场 营 收 方 面 的 情 况 。 尤 其 是 我 们 主 营 业 务 方 面 的 营 收 情 况 持 有 高 度 乐 观 的 预 测 。
As usual, I would like to begin by providing an update on the total value of orders that we have received but are yet to fulfill. As of April 30th, 2023, the combined value of pending orders across our three main production facilities situated in Dalian, Nanjing and Shaoxing has reached roughly $187 million. This figure has risen since our previous earnings call, suggesting a favorable development in our efforts to acquire new customers and secure new orders from existing ones. We maintain a high level of optimism regarding our market revenue prospects for 2023, particularly with respect to the revenue generated from our primary business operations, which is the sales of lithium batteries. 请 继 续.
在 过 去 披 露 过 的 客 户 订 单 方 面 ， 金 鹏 集 团 及 其 关 联 方 吉 麦 新 能 源 与 我 们 进 一 步 的 合 作 ， 使 得 我 们 在 LEV 和 EV 方 面 的 营 收 进 一 步 增 长 。 截 至 2023 年 4 月 30 日 ， 金 鹏 集 团 及 其 关 联 方 在 2023 年 已 经 下 了 有 两 千 零 三 十 一 万 元 的 订 单 。 根 据 公 开 信 息 ， 在 中 国 用 于 动 力 电 池 的 磷 酸 铁 锂 电 池 装 机 量 数 据 ， 我 们 连 续 在 一 至 二 月 份 进 入 了 前 十 五 名 。 我 们 希 望 在 储 能 领 域 巩 固 现 有 基 础 后 ， 继 续 朝 着 LEV 和 EV 市 场 发 力 。 阿 之 巴 以 及 大 发 汽 车 的 合 作 方 面 ， 截 至 4 月 30 日 ， 我 们 在 今 年 共 收 到 约 三 百 五 十 八 万 元 的 订 单 ， 我 们 预 计 后 续 将 和 大 发 汽 车 方 面 进 一 步 推 动 合 作 。
Our revenues from the LEV and EV sectors has continued to grow as a result of further collaboration with Jinpeng Group and its affiliate Jemmell. As of April 30th, 2023, Jinpeng Group and its affiliates had placed orders worth RMB 20.31 million since 2023. As the result, we had consecutively ranked among the top 15 LFP lithium battery suppliers in China in terms of installed capacity for EV and LEV applications in January and February, according to publicly available data. After consolidating our existing foundation in the energy storage field, our aim is to continue our efforts towards the LEV and EV markets.
As of April 30th, we had also received orders totaling approximately RMB 3.58 million this year from our cooperation with AZAPA and Daihatsu Motors. We expect to further promote the cooperation with Daihatsu Motors in the future. 请 继 续.
关 于 我 们 此 前 披 露 过 的 欧 洲 大 客 户 的 合 作 方 面 ， 双 方 已 经 完 成 了 关 于 本 年 度 进 一 步 合 作 的 深 入 讨 论 。 基 于 双 方 持 续 合 作 的 强 烈 意 愿 ， 我 们 预 计 将 会 很 快 公 布 本 次 商 定 的 合 作 细 节 。 随 着 双 方 合 作 关 系 的 深 化 和 进 一 步 稳 定 ， 我 们 预 计 从 本 次 该 欧 洲 大 客 户 收 货 的 订 单 的 金 额 将 会 比 往 更 大 。
We have had in-depth discussions with our major European clients as we previously disclosed to further our collaboration for this year. Both parties have expressed a strong willingness to continue working together and we expect to announce details of the agreed deal soon. As our cooperative relationship deepens and becomes more stable, we anticipate receiving larger orders from this European client than we have in the past. 请 继 续.
此 外 ， 我 们 在 四 月 份 的 时 候 也 披 露 了 我 们 和 新明海 之 间 的 合 作 。 新明海 及 其 旗 下 品 牌 BLUETTI 是 目 前 全 球 移 动 储 能 市 场 排 名 前 三 的 公 司 。 我 们 与 新明海 及 BLUETTI 的 合 作 开 始 于 2022 年 3 月 。 迄 今 为 止 ， 我 们 已 经 收 到 了 约 RMB 36.85 million 的 订 单 。 新明海 未 来 将 会 按 月 按 期 下 订 单 ， 意 味 着 我 们 与 新明海 合 作 的 订 单 金 额 将 会 持 续 攀 升 。
Additionally, we announced in April our collaboration with PowerOak, a company that ranks among the top three global players in the portable power supply market through its subsidiary brand, BLUETTI. Our partnership with PowerOak and BLUETTI started in March 2022, and we have received orders worth approximately $5.35 million so far. PowerOak is expected to place orders on a monthly basis, indicating that order volume of our collaboration with PowerOak is expected to continue increasing. 请 继 续 。
与 新 明 海 的 合 作 帮 我 们 顺 利 地 开 拓 全 球 移 动 储 能 市 场 ， 这 个 市 场 也 是 公 司 目 前 非 常 关 注 的 重 点 市 场 之 一 。 目 前 公 司 正 在 积 极 接 触 该 市 场 排 名 前 列 的 客 户 ， 并 有 望 为 各 位 投 资 人 和 股 东 带 来 更 好 的 合 作 项 目 及 订 单 信 息 。
We have been able to enter and expand in the global market for portable power supplies, mostly through our collaboration with PowerOak, which is also one of the key markets that the company is paying close attention to. At present, we are actively reaching out to the top clients in this market and are hopeful to present our investors and shareholders with better cooperation projects and order information. We have received inquiries from several institutional investors and potential clients about the status of our sodium-ion batteries. In the near future, we plan to hold a product launch event for our sodium-ion batteries and hope that our investors and shareholders will stay tuned for our announcement. As we mentioned in our previous earnings call, sodium-ion batteries are currently a major focus for many battery companies.
Once produced on a large scale, sodium-ion batteries are expected to replace lead-acid batteries that are widely used in light electric vehicles, which have a negative environmental impact. Our development of sodium-ion batteries not only positions us to enter the market worth about tens of billions of dollars, but also reflects our commitment to environmental responsibility. In terms of the progress of our Nanjing phase two project, we have completed the roof sealing of some of our factories and expect them to be operational by the end of this year at the earliest. We are also making active preparations for an investor day, and we invite all investors and shareholders to visit our company at an appropriate time to walk through our Nanjing project. Once we are ready, we will release relevant information about the investor day.
Let me turn the call over to our Interim CFO, Xiangyu Pei, who will provide details on our financial performance.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Li. Thank you everyone for joining our call today. I will now go over our key financial results for the first quarter 2023. For the full details of our financial results, please refer to our earnings press release. We have maintained a strong momentum in the sales of our battery products. We are optimistic for this year, given that we have reached an agreement with our major European client and made progress in developing clients in the global portable power supply market. Our growth margin from our primary business, lithium battery sales, has also recovered to 10.85% as our new capacity releases and our production efficiency have improved. We are confident that the growth margin for our battery business will continue to grow. Moving on to our financial performance.
We experienced a 47% decrease in net revenue in the first quarter, dropping to $42 million from the same period in 2022. The main cause of this decline is the drop in our materials business, which has been negatively impacted by fluctuating price of materials. On the other hand, we had a strong performance in our business of lithium battery sales, achieving revenues of $29 million, which represent a substantial increase of 97%. Among this revenue, $25.8 million were from batteries used in energy storage applications, representing a growth of 72.9%.
$1.97 million came from batteries used in light electric vehicles, showing an impressive increase of 2,117%. Our revenues from battery used in electric vehicles were $1.28 million, which is an exceptional growth of 5,889 times compared to the same period last year. This significant improvements in our primary business are very encouraging. We expect that the positive momentum to continue, and we are confident that we will achieve better results this year. The cost of revenues in the first quarter was $39.25 million, which represent a decrease of 47% from the same period in the previous year. The reduction in cost of revenues was consistent with the decline in net revenues.
In the first quarter, our gross profit decreased by 45% year-on-year to $2.9 million, while the growth margin slightly increased to 6.8% from 6.6% in the same period last year. This was largely due to the significant increase in gross profit margin of our battery business. The growth margin for our battery business was 10.8%, up by 4.3 percentage points compared to the prior year. We are optimistic that the gross margin for our battery business will continue to grow as lower share will participate. During the first quarter, our operating expenses declined by 13% to $5.7 million, mainly due to a reduction in research and development expenses, which decreased by 75.9% to $2.6 million.
Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 13% to $0.7 million. However, our general and administrative expenses slightly increased by 5% to $3.48 million. In the first quarter, we reported a net profit of $2.88 million, which was increased by 130.8% from the same period in 2022. The change in fair value of warrants in the first quarter was $85,000, a decrease of 994.8% from the same period in 2022.
As a result of the net loss attributable to shareholders of CBAK Energy for the first quarter was $1.38 million, compared to the net income attributable to shareholders of CBAK Energy of $0.4 million in the same period of the previous year. Excluding the change in fair value of warrants, we had a net loss attributable to shareholders of CBAK Energy of $1.47 million for the first quarter, compared to the net loss attributable to shareholders of CBAK Energy of $1.59 million in the first quarter of 2022. That concludes my prepared remarks. I'll now open the floor for questions. Operator, please go ahead. Thank you.
Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Again, to ask a question, press star one one. Our first question comes from Hui Fan from TPG. Your line is open.
Uh,
First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking my question and I also want to congratulate you for your strong performance in the first quarter of the year. I have 2 questions. The first one is that it seems that sodium-ion battery is about to be put into production. Can you tell us what benefits sodium-ion batteries as a replacement of lead-acid batteries can bring to the environmental protection? My second question is that you just mentioned the company has the plan to launch an investor day at an appropriate time. Are investors all welcome to visit the company on this investor day? What's the progress of the construction and equipment installation in the Nanjing phase 2 project? If we pay a visit to the production facility on the investor day, what can we see on site? Thank you.
这 个 问 题 ， 第 一 个 问 题 请 让 那 个 田 总 回 答 一 下 ， 第 二 个 问 题 让 费 总 回 答 一 下 。
好 的 ， 那 第 一 个 问 题 我 来 回 答 一 下 。 呃 ， 首 先 呢 ， 这 个 铅 酸 电 池 属 于 液 态 电 池 ， 呃 ， 液 态 的 这 个 铅 酸 电 池 相 对 于 这 个 瓶 液 态 的 钠 电 池 而 言 的 话 呢 ， 它 的 这 个 液 态 更 容 易 扩 散 。 呃 ， 还 有 就 是 铅 它 属 于 贵 ， 那 个 重 金 属 ， 它 对 土 壤 和 水 源 的 话 呢 ， 都 有 很 强 的 一 个 污 染 。 呃 ， 铅 进 入 到 人 体 之 后 的 话 呢 ， 会 引 起 这 个 血 铅 中 毒 事 件 ， 呃 ， 而 且 会 引 起 这 个 人 体 的 这 个 佝 偻 病 ， 影 响 人 体 的 健 康 ， 严 重 的 会 危 害 这 个 ， 到 人 体 的 生 命 。 那 么 钠 元 素 的 话 呢 ， 在 大 自 然 界 中 呢 ， 储 量 是 非 常 庞 大 的 ， 同 时 分 布 也 非 常 广 的 。 我 们 日 常 生 活 中 很 多 的 这 个 食 品 中 有 大 量 的 这 个 钠 元 素 的 存 在 ， 那 么 钠 它 本 身 就 是 人 体 中 不 可 缺 少 的 这 个 一 种 元 素 ， 所 以 说 钠 对 人 体 以 及 大 自 然 的 话 呢 ， 都 是 非 常 友 好 的 这 样 一 个 元 素 。 呃 ， 所 以 说 这 个 ， 呃 ， 钠 电 的 话 呢 ， 应 该 说 是 我 们 迄 今 为 止 发 现 的 就 是 说 它 是 绿 色 环 保 的 这 个 二 次 电 源 的 这 个 不 二 选 择 。 所 以 我 们 相 信 钠 的 这 个 推 广 的 话 呢 ， 将 是 化 学 储 能 真 正 意 义 上 走 上 这 个 绿 色 新 动 能 的 征 程 一 步 。 呃 ， 所 以 说 这 里 头 不 言 而 喻 ， 钠 电 替 代 铅 酸 的 话 呢 ， 是 一 个 ， 呃 ， 不 管 是 从 这 个 环 保 角 度 来 说 ， 还 是 从 它 的 这 个 ， 这 个 经 济 性 各 方 面 而 言 的 话 呢 ， 将 是 ， 呃 ， 非 常 重 要 的 一 个 这 么 一 个 环 节 。 好 ， 以 上 就 是 我 的 回 答 。
Okay. Mr. Tian is going to address the first question. If let's have a look at the difference between lead-acid battery and sodium-ion battery. For lead-acid batteries, they are liquid state battery. Compared with sodium-ion battery, liquid battery is easier to spread, and it is as a heavy metal, it can cause pollution through soil and water. If lead enter into human body, it may cause poisoners. It can also lead to some diseases in human beings. If a human being intake a large amount of lead, it may even pose a threat to the life, to the safety of this person. However, if we have a look at sodium-ion battery, there is a large storage of sodium in our nature.
Actually it is also a very common ingredient or a very common element in our food. It is even be regarded as an indispensable elements to human being. We can say sodium-ion battery is as or we can say sodium is very friendly to human being and sodium-ion battery is very friendly for to the nature. If we can use sodium-ion battery, then we can really embark on a journey towards green development. We believe that it is a very good supplement to the lead-acid battery. It is not only environmental friendly, but also it is economically competitive in the industry. That's it for the answer for the first one.
费 总 ， 您 回 答 一 下 第 二 个 问 题 吧 。
刚 才 在 那 个 介 绍 的 时 候 说 到 了 ， 因 为 我 们 可 能 是 近 期 啊 ， 要 那 个 ， 那 个 对 投 资 者 呃 ， 开 放 日 啊 ， 欢 迎 ， 我 们 这 边 非 常 欢 迎 啊 ， 股 东 嗯 ， 和 投 资 者 来 参 加 我 们 这 个 ， 那 个 到 现 场 来 去 参 观 。 我 们 也 会 通 过 媒 体 ， 呃 ， 这 个 宣 传 ， 也 更 那 个 ， 那 个 欢 迎 那 个 ， 通 - 通 知 各 位 投 资 者 或 股 东 来 到 我 们 的 现 场 来 参 观 。 至 于 南 京 二 期 的 建 设 的 情 况 呢 ， 我 做 一 点 简 单 的 汇 报 。 南 京 的 二 期 建 设 我 们 是 二 期 的 一 期 ， 我 们 是 有 一 栋 是 八 个 G 瓦 的 厂 房 ， 呃 ， 预 计 在 六 月 ， 六 月 份 会 建 成 。 还 有 整 个 全 部 厂 区 的
18 GW 的 配 套 ， 配 套 的 那 个 附 属 的 配 套 的 厂 房 也 会 全 部 建 成 。 我 们 现 在 那 个 设 备 的 情 况 ， 那 个 正 在 把 已 经 把 设 备 方 案 发 给 那 个 各 个 供 应 商 ， 现 在 我 们 近 期 呢 ， 就 是 准 备 要 是 就 是 给 供 ， 向 供 应 商 发 放 那 个 投 标 书 ， 招 标 文 件 。 我 们 那 个 ， 这 个 到 现 场 呢 都 能 看 到 我 们 现 在 的 情 况 是 啥 样 ， 等 如 果 是 在 ， 我 们 会 在 合 适 的 时 候 会 看 到 一 个 现 场 ， 那 个 整 个 都 具 备 设 备 安 装 啊 和 那 个 ， 那 个 能 力 。 我 们 也 欢 迎 那 个 各 位 投 资 者 和 股 东 到 我 们 的 second floor ， second phase 的 现 场 去 参 观 。 谢 谢 。
Okay. With regard to the second question concerning Investors Day, well, we do have the plan to organize an Investors Day event in the near future, and we extend a sincere welcome to all the shareholders and investors to pay a visit to our production facility and to join us on the Investors Day. On that day, we'll also invite the media to do the publicity and to do a media campaign for us. If you would like to know the progress for the construction of Nanjing second phase project, I will be very happy to give you more update. There will be a building that is designated to be an eight kilowatt battery production facility, and the construction will be finished by June this year. By then, the 18 gigawatt-hour supporting factories will also be completed at the time. We already sent specification of our equipment to the suppliers, and we are about to send them the bidding documents very soon. If you pay a visit to our production facilities on the Investors Day, we believe that you will see our factories are all ready for the installation of equipment by then. Once again, we would like to extend an invitation to all the shareholders and investors. You are more than welcome to visit us.
One moment for our next question. We have a question from Feko Wu from TPG. Your line is open.
呃 ， 你 好 ， 谢 谢 公 司 管 理 层 。 呃 ， 我 这 边 的 问 题 是 ， 呃 ， 就 是 公 司 近 些 年 来 的 电 池 业 务 增 长 非 常 迅 速 ， 然 后 目 前 从 结 构 来 看 还 是 储 能 领 域 增 长 得 比 较 快 ， 那 咱 们 公 司 这 边 对 未 来 的 ， 呃 ， 电 池 业 务 营 收 组 成 结 构 会 有 什 么 预 测 吗 ？ 然 后 就 是 以 后 LEV 和 EV 的 营 收 占 比 会 增 长 到 什 么 程 度 呢 ？ 谢 谢 。
Okay. We notice that the battery business of the company has grown very rapidly in recent years, especially the energy storage segment. How do you see the composition of revenue from the battery business in the future? To what extent can the share of revenue from LEV and EV business increase?
这 个 问 题 让 裴 总 来 回 答 吧 。
嗯 ， 好 的 ， 呃 ， 谢 谢 您 的 提 问 。 呃 ， 那 么 从 我 们 一 季 度 的 经 营 结 果 来 看 呢 ， 我 们 目 前 的 销 售 收 入 结 构 ， 呃 ， 仍 然 保 持 着 以 ， 呃 ， 储 能 领 域 为 主 ， 车 用 领 域 为 辅 的 这 样 一 个 状 态 。 呃 ， 那 么 储 能 领 域 的 销 售 收 入 占 我 们 总 销 售 收 入 的 百 分 之 八 十 以 上 。 呃 ， 那 我 们 根 据 现 有 的 在 手 订 单 及 目 前 的 产 能 ， 呃 ， 我 们 预 计 今 年 的 销 售 结 构 ， 呃 ， 仍 将 继 续 保 持 这 一 状 态 。 呃 ， 但 是 呢 ， 根 据 我 们 一 季 度 的 结 果 来 看 ， 我 们 车 用 领 域 的 销 售 收 入 增 长 的 表 现 也 是 十 分 的 亮 眼 。 那 我 们 在 EV 及 LEV 领 域 的 销 售 收 入 ， 啊 ， 在 一 季 度 已 经 达 到 了 三 百 七 十 万 美 金 。 呃 ， 那 随 着 我 们 南 京 工 厂 新 的 产 能 的 释 放 ， 呃 ， 以 及 我 们 ， 啊 ， 今 年 继 续 在 车 用 领 域 的 这 个 深 - 深 入 的 布 局 ， 我 们 预 计 ， 啊 ， 车 用 领 域 将 在 明 年 会 呈 现 一 个 爆 发 式 的 一 个 增 长 。 谢 谢 。
Yes, you're right. From the sales revenue of the first quarter, we can see that energy storage business segment does occupy a big proportion of our sales revenue. The revenue from the EV and LEV occupies a secondary position. If we have a look at the revenue composition, we can see that the revenue from storage, energy storage takes up about or more than 80% of our total revenue. Based on the orders that we have in hand and as well as the production capacity, it is estimated that this year we are still going to maintain similar revenue composition, just similar to the first quarter. If we have a deep...
A deeper dig, or if we dive deep, deeper into the figure of the first quarter, we are also very happy to see that the sales revenue of the LEV, from the LEV and EV also witnessed a substantial growth. If we compared with the previous year, we achieved a $3.7 million sales value in EV and LEV. We believe that with the increase of the production capacity in our Nanjing production facility next year, as well as the continuous efforts that we're going to put in the EV and LEV markets, we predict that next year we're going to see an explosive growth in our LEV and EV revenue.
Thank you. Seeing no more questions in the queue, let me turn the call back to Mr. Yunfei Li for closing remarks.
Thank you, operator, and thank you all for participating in today's call and for your support. We appreciate your interest and look forward to reporting to you again next quarter on our progress.
Thank you all again. This concludes the call. You may now disconnect.