Yifei Laser IPO rings the bell, and the revenue from automated production lines accounts for more than 60%

On July 28, Wuhan Yifei Laser Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yifei Laser") was officially listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Science and Technology Innovation Board. Yifei Laser's issue price was 46.80 yuan per share , with an issue price-earnings ratio of 65.40 times ; the closing price was 56.50 yuan per share , with a first-day increase of 20.73% .

It is publicly shown that Yifei Laser is a company specializing in the research and development, design, production and sales of precision laser processing intelligent equipment.

In this IPO, Yifei Laser issued a total of 23.7907 million shares, intending to raise 467 million yuan, but actually raised 1.113 billion yuan, exceeding the target by 646 million yuan . The prospectus shows that Yifei Laser plans to use the raised funds for the Yifei Laser Lithium Battery Laser Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment Phase III Base Project, the Precision Laser Welding and Chemical Equipment Engineering Research Center Construction Project, and to supplement working capital.

Among them, the third phase base project of Yifei Laser Lithium Battery Laser Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment plans to invest 272 million yuan in raised funds, and the construction project of Precision Laser Welding and Intelligent Equipment Engineering Research Center plans to invest 95 million yuan in raised funds.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

Among them, the implementing entities of the Yifei Laser Lithium Battery Laser Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment Phase III Base Project and the Precision Laser Welding and Intelligent Equipment Engineering Research Center Construction Project are both Yifei. The prospectus shows that Yifei Technology's full name is Wuhan Yifei Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary established by Yifei Laser in 2021.

The prospectus shows that the Phase III base project of Yifei Laser's lithium-ion laser intelligent manufacturing equipment is an expansion of Yifei Laser's existing business capacity, mainly used to increase the production capacity of lithium-ion equipment to meet the order needs of customers in the field.

After the project is put into production, Yifei Laser's production capacity, including intelligent special machines for precision laser processing, automatic assembly lines for battery cells, and automatic assembly lines for battery modules/PACKs, will be significantly improved.

2023Q1 revenue increased by 219.31%

In 2020-2022, Yifei Laser's operating income was RMB 206 million, RMB 397 million, and RMB 539 million , respectively ; net profit attributable to the parent company was RMB 11.8762 million, RMB 42.1934 million, and RMB 93.8942 million , respectively; net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring items was RMB 8.2341 million, RMB 36.0540 million, and RMB 68.0972 million , respectively. It is not difficult to find that Yifei Laser's performance has been rising year by year.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

The prospectus shows that after review by the reporting accountant, from January to March 2023, Yifei Laser's operating income was 114 million yuan, an increase of 219.31% over the same period last year ; the net profit attributable to the parent was 8.6759 million yuan, an increase of 409.89% over the same period last year; the non-net profit attributable to the parent was 6.0326 million yuan, an increase of 184.00% over the same period last year.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

Regarding the performance changes in the first quarter of 2023, Yifei Laser stated that with the rapid development of automobiles, energy storage and markets, downstream power battery, energy storage battery and consumer battery manufacturers are constantly expanding production, and the demand for lithium battery equipment is strong.

Yifei Laser's products are mainly used in downstream lithium battery manufacturing and other industries. Benefiting from the rapid development of downstream lithium battery manufacturing and other industries, its business development is good, its customer structure is continuously optimized, and the number of well-known customers is increasing.

In addition to the good sales of cylindrical battery cell assembly equipment, a core product of Yifei Laser, square battery cell assembly equipment and module/PACK assembly equipment have also achieved a good growth trend and become an important part of revenue. Therefore, from January to March 2023, Yifei Laser's operating income maintained a good growth trend.

Preliminary estimated data of Yifei Laser (not audited or reviewed by a certified public accountant) show that from January to June 2023, the operating income was 280 million to 320 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.63% to 73.30% ; the net profit attributable to the parent company's owners was 32 million to 36 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.11% to 16.00%; the net profit attributable to the parent company's owners after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 27 million to 31 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.05% to 74.57%.

In terms of customers, in 2022, the top five customers of Yifei Laser were Guoxuan High-tech Co., Ltd., Guangxi Ningfu New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Guangdong Kexin Technology Co., Ltd., Tata Autocomp Systems Ltd, and Guangzhou Penghui Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and their sales revenue accounted for 57.67% of the current operating income . Yifei Laser said that the customer concentration is relatively high, mainly due to the high concentration of the downstream lithium battery industry.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

In 2022, the revenue from automated production lines will account for 66.97%

In terms of products, Yifei Laser's main products include automated production lines such as lithium battery cell automatic assembly lines, module/PACK automatic assembly lines, and various types of intelligent special machines for precision laser processing.

According to the application fields, Yifei Laser's main products can be divided into lithium battery manufacturing equipment and manufacturing equipment in other fields, among which lithium battery equipment accounts for a relatively high proportion of revenue.

The production of lithium batteries can be divided into two major links: cell manufacturing and module/PACK. Cell manufacturing includes three major processes: pole piece production (front stage), cell assembly (middle stage) and cell activation (back stage) . Yifei Laser's lithium battery equipment products are mainly used in the cell assembly stage and module/PACK stage.

In terms of the proportion of business revenue, in 2022, Yifei Laser's automated production line business revenue totaled 358 million yuan, accounting for 66.97%; the total revenue of intelligent special machines was 152 million yuan, accounting for 28.37%.

The prospectus shows that as the market trend of large cylindrical full-pole-ear lithium batteries gradually becomes clear, downstream lithium batteries are gradually increasing their investment in large cylindrical full-pole-ear batteries. The issuer's cylindrical full-pole-ear battery cell automatic assembly line and cylindrical full-pole-ear battery cell assembly machine are mainly used for the assembly of large cylindrical full-pole-ear lithium batteries, and sales revenue has increased accordingly.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

According to the application field, in 2022, the vast majority of Yifei Laser's revenue came from the lithium battery manufacturing field, accounting for 97.60% of its revenue.

Source: Yifei Laser's Prospectus

It is worth noting that Yifei Laser has built a laser welding station . This product is based on medium and high power fiber laser welding system, supports multiple laser output modes such as collimation, galvanometer, and swing, and combines multi-axis motion system, welding protection system, etc. to achieve precise control of laser and high-quality welding.

The prospectus shows that Yifei Laser's robotic laser welding station products support functions such as workpiece identification, weld addressing, autonomy, multi-station continuous operation, and smoke purification. It can achieve efficient welding of various medium and large workpieces and has the characteristics of high flexibility, high environmental adaptability, high reliability, and intelligence.

In addition, according to Gaogong Robotics' observation, in terms of robot procurement, Yifei Laser's average purchase price has risen rapidly . In 2022, Yifei Laser's average purchase price of industrial robots increased from 68,325.54 yuan/unit in 2021 to 108,459.31 yuan/unit.

Yifei Laser said that this was mainly affected by two aspects.

On the one hand, in 2022, the industrial robots purchased by Yifei Laser mainly include ABB, Yamaha, etc. Among them, the amount of ABB industrial robots purchased from outside accounts for 35.53% of the total industrial robot purchase amount, up from 18.41% in 2021. In addition, as a well-known manufacturer in the field of global power and automation technology, the price of ABB's similar products is generally higher than that of Yamaha.

On the other hand, the industrial robot supply chain is a global supply chain. Due to the rise in global prices of core components and international logistics costs in 2022, the prices of industrial robots around the world have generally risen.

Review editor: Liu Qing