Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1698
Weilai does not burn oil, but burns money.
In the first three months of this year, Weilai’s car sales revenue fell by 0.22% year-on-year, but costs increased by 15.71%, resulting in a drop in the gross profit margin of the vehicle for the quarter to 5.06%, the lowest point since the indicator became positive in the second quarter of 2020. The management expects the vehicle gross profit margin to return to double digits in the third quarter of this year and rise to more than 15% in the fourth quarter.
Counting administrative, sales and other operating expenses, NIO’s comprehensive pre-tax loss for the quarter was as high as 4.731 billion yuan, which was spread to 31,041 vehicles delivered in the same period, equivalent to a net loss of 152,400 yuan per vehicle. At that time, Weilai “only” had a net loss of about 68,000 yuan per car. This means that larger scale does not produce more economic benefits.
Last month, Weilai’s new car deliveries fell by 12.37% year-on-year, and management expects deliveries in the entire second quarter to drop by at most 8.2%. Moreover, due to the battery replacement strategy and the increasingly fierce competition in the entire industry, the sales price of Weilai bicycles has also fallen all the way, and it was less than 300,000 yuan in the first quarter of this year.
We have noticed in the last quarter that the decline in revenue and the intensification of losses have put pressure on NIO’s cash flow management. Another three months passed and things got trickier for them. Management also pushed back its break-even forecast. As of the end of the first quarter:
- Weilai has 14.7 billion yuan in pure cash and long-term and short-term investments worth 23.2 billion yuan, totaling 38 billion yuan.
- But at the same time, short-term loans, long-term loans due within one year, long-term loans, accounts payable, accrued expenses and other current liabilities, and other non-current liabilities totaled 55.6 billion yuan.
- Subtracting the two, the cash gap is 17.6 billion yuan. Under the same calculation caliber, the gap at the end of 2019 was 15.7 billion yuan.
Credit Suisse analysts asked management’s views on the rapid decline in cash and whether they would consider financing at the performance meeting. Li Bin, chairman of NIO, does not think cash will be a problem. He believes that with the recovery of delivery in the third quarter, operating cash flow will definitely improve. The current cash (scale) can support NIO’s business development in the foreseeable future. For example, the new brand “Alps” will still According to the original plan, it will be delivered in the second half of next year.
But at the same time, he said that he “will be very careful” in managing cash, has postponed some fixed asset investment and research and development, and will focus more on the markets he has already entered in terms of developing overseas markets. As for financing, Li Bin said that regardless of US dollars or RMB financing, the channels are smooth, and if there is a suitable demand, he will communicate with the market.
Another analyst asked Li Bin whether he would consider launching a low-priced version (budget version) or a model with reduced configuration, so as to sell more cars. Li Bin said that Weilai “will definitely not adjust by reducing configuration”, because “high-value” components such as dual motors, sensors, and computing power are very meaningful to long-term user value, and will study other ways to meet user needs, including The needs of old customers.
In fact, Tesla’s cash situation was once very tight. Our opening sentence borrowed Bloomberg Business Week’s evaluation of Tesla in 2018. At that time, Musk was struggling to make the Model 3, the production capacity was not increasing, and the quality often had problems. Although the orders were piling up, the company’s cash level was also declining. continue life.
We all know what happened afterwards. During this period, many of Musk’s practices have been praised by his peers. Volkswagen wants to learn from Tesla and put all the production workshops from batteries to vehicle assembly under the same roof to reduce additional logistics and transportation links. Because it can improve production efficiency, thereby reducing costs. In other visible and invisible places, Musk and engineers are trying to reduce costs.
In fact, I believe no one understands all these reasons better than Li Bin, who has experienced 2019.
He said at the beginning of that year that in order to optimize the budget and usage rhythm of each project, unnecessary money should not be spent. A Weilai Hefei factory executive later told us that at the most difficult time in 2019, the allocation of funds needs to be accurate in units of 10,000 yuan, “even the order of payment must be carefully determined.”
Perhaps, now is the time for him to make a more careful decision. (Gong Fangyi)
Tech Weekly丨Which Apple products does the technology used in Vision Pro come from?
Apple’s release of Vision Pro is the most watched technology event this week. While Apple has a brand new product line, it also dwarfs its peers, especially Meta, which spent $2 billion to acquire a VR company in 2014 and changed its name for the Metaverse.
On June 9, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who became the subject of social media attention along with Apple’s Vision Pro release, told employees at an all-hands meeting that Apple’s Vision Pro “doesn’t have any magic solutions.” , The technologies used are all explored by them. He said it was “good news”.
At about the same time, American investment bank Jefferies mentioned in a report that since Apple released Vision Pro, investors have asked them many times: Why doesn’t Sony’s PSVR or Meta’s Quest have these technologies? The reply they gave was: “Only Apple can manufacture such a product.” Apple’s accumulation in chips, audio, and screen technology exceeds all other companies.
We pointed out in the report of “LatePost” that Vision Pro is a brave attempt that relies extremely on technology and supply chain accumulation, and it can only come from Apple at present. Because Apple has invested years of decisions, resources, and control over the supply chain for a technology.
Equally important, Apple’s increasingly large business lines ensure that the technologies they develop can be used in different devices to realize commercial value, which will reduce the risk of developing new technologies and magnify returns. For example, the M2 chip equipped with Vision Pro was used in Apple’s new MacBook last year, and the spatial audio and other technologies used in Vision Pro have long appeared in AirPods Pro, HomePod and other products. This is also an advantage that other companies hardly have.
In addition to technology, Zuckerberg also mentioned the essential difference between them and Apple’s Vision Pro in terms of product vision-the starting point of Meta’s universe is social, which is related to people interacting and feeling each other in a new way, while “everything of Apple A demo is all about sitting alone on the couch”, which may be the future of computing, but it’s not what Meta wants. He thinks this difference makes him more excited and optimistic about what Meta is doing.
Analyst Ben Thompson made a similar point: “Vision Pro is a lonely experience”. He sees this as a trend in computing devices over the past few decades—desktop computers are also called “PCs,” and iPhones are more personal than PCs, and now the Vision Pro just goes a step further. (He Qianming)
China’s CPI has been below 1% for three consecutive months
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in May the national consumer price (CPI) rose by 0.2% year-on-year, the previous value was 0.1%, and it was below 1% for three consecutive months. According to the official interpretation, consumer demand continued to recover in May, and the market operation was generally stable.
If you only look at the core CPI (excluding food and energy), it rose by 0.6% year-on-year, and the previous value was 0.7%; the chain was flat, and the previous value was 0.1%. It is generally believed that the core CPI is less affected by factors such as climate and seasons, and can better reflect changes in long-term consumer demand.
Durable goods in the CPI sub-category continued to decline. Household appliances such as furniture, home appliances, and home decoration decreased by 0.6% month-on-month, communication tools such as mobile phones decreased by 0.8% month-on-month, and vehicles such as vehicles decreased by 0.4% month-on-month. It is consistent with the recent market observations that property market transactions have slowed down again, auto companies are still facing pressure to destock, and electronic consumption is still in a downward cycle.
Clothing is the bright spot, up 0.4% month-on-month, the previous value fell 0.1%. According to the official interpretation, it is the launch of new products in summer, which drives up the price. However, referring to the data of previous years, the performance of clothing prices is still better than seasonality, which may be related to the fact that companies have gradually cleared their inventories. Last month, JD.com said that merchants had a strong need to clear inventory this year, and Yuanqi Forest also said that it had completely digested the inventory recently. Some users reported that the discounted cosmetics bought on Tmall during the “618” this year were produced a year ago.
Services continued to underpin the CPI. Tourism products dropped 0.6% MoM in May after surging 4.6% MoM in April. Over the years, tourism prices have dropped month-on-month in May (before the epidemic), but the drop this year has been much smaller, reflecting that the popularity of tourism is still there. Yesterday, Ctrip announced that its first-quarter results exceeded expectations, and the management said it is optimistic about the summer market.
In April this year, the net decrease of household loans was 0.24 trillion yuan, and the net decrease of deposits was 1.2 trillion yuan, which was the first decrease since November last year. The market believes that due to the large net decrease in deposits (the highest in the past one and a half years), at least some of them will go into wealth management and consumption.
Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase, mentioned at the end of last month that in the case of insufficient external demand, if domestic consumption is also weak, companies will be less willing to invest, suggesting that more stimulus should be given to the consumer side. In April this year, non-financial enterprises had a net increase of 555.1 billion yuan in time deposits, a net increase of 5.94 trillion yuan in the past year.
The National Standing Committee held at the beginning of this month also mentioned that the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid. We must put the creation of a market-oriented, rule-of-law, and internationalized business environment in an important position, and we must further stabilize social expectations, boost development confidence, and stimulate the market. vitality and promote the continuous recovery of economic operation. (Lin Guangying)
What we know about GM’s access to Tesla’s charging network
On June 8, GM CEO Mary Barra and Tesla CEO Elon Musk jointly announced on Twitter that GM North America will provide car owners with adapters to connect to Tesla’s charging network starting next year, and the year after that. Fully adopt Tesla’s charging standard. Prior to this, Ford had just announced that it would connect to Tesla’s network in a similar way. These three companies together account for nearly 70% of the current sales of electric vehicles in the United States, and they all expressed their hope to promote Tesla’s charging standard to become a unified industry standard in North America.
Currently, there are two main standards for charging piles in North America. One is Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), which has the advantages of a more compact design, higher speed and stability, and accounts for 60% of the number of chargers in the United States. Another combined charging system standard (CSS) that the US government has subsidized $7.5 billion to promote, but the amount is much lower than NACS. Tesla’s charging network was just opened to other manufacturers at the end of last year. Previously, most manufacturers, including GM and Ford, generally used third-party or public charging stations.
One of the reasons GM is turning to Tesla’s vast network is to make it easier for owners to charge their vehicles, which would drive sales of electric vehicles. GM’s CEO said, “This will almost double the chances (owners) of using a charger…which will help our customers make the transition to electric vehicles more seamlessly.” GM has also integrated a mobile app to make it easy for owners to find charging stations and pay quickly. Ford also said “reliable, widespread public charging is a key driver of expanded EV adoption” when announcing the deal with Tesla.
Another benefit is saving money. GM announced at the end of 2021 that it would spend $750 million to build charging infrastructure. But on Thursday the CEO said “we could save as much as $400 million in previously allocated funds, and we can do it faster and more efficiently”.
For Tesla, one of the most immediate benefits of an open charging network is increased charging fee revenue. Tesla’s service division brought in $1.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter of last year, with charging fees coming from Tesla owners. Although the business is still small at present, other car owners can increase the utilization rate of charging piles after joining, and there may be more room for growth in the future.
Investors are generally optimistic about this cooperation. Shares of GM and Tesla both rose about 4% in after-hours trading that day, while shares of third-party charging pile companies EVgo and ChargePoint fell nearly 4% in early trading the next day. But there is also CharIN, an association dedicated to unifying charging standards, condemning this cooperation as a hindrance to global unification. “CCS is a global standard, so it focuses on international interoperability. Unlike NACS, CCS is future-proof and can support public DC fast charging. and many other use cases.” (Intern Meng Xiaohan)
OTHER NEWS
The vaccine against the mutant strain of the second round of the new crown epidemic has been approved for emergency use.
This Thursday, according to China’s National Health and Medical Commission, China’s first COVID-19 vaccine against mutated strains such as Omicron XBB was approved for emergency use and is expected to be available to the public in the next 1-2 months. The vaccine was jointly developed by Wesker Biotech and West China Hospital of Sichuan University. It is the first COVID-19 vaccine approved for emergency use in the world against mutant strains such as XBB. In May of this year, academician Zhong Nanshan said that the current round of the epidemic was mainly caused by this mutant strain.
Last year, Mihayou’s game revenue was second only to Tencent and NetEase, with a net profit margin of about 60%.
On June 8, according to Guangming Daily, Mihayou’s revenue last year was 27.3 billion yuan, with a net profit rate of 59%. As of the end of last year, its net assets were 37.4 billion yuan. Compared with the performance of listed game companies last year, Mihayou ranks third in terms of revenue after Tencent and NetEase, and its net profit rate far exceeds that of NetEase, 37 Interactive Entertainment, and Perfect World. Since the launch of “Yuan Shen” in 2020, Mihayou’s annual revenue has more than doubled. In April this year, after the public beta test of the new work “Honkai: Interstellar Railway”, it occupied the top three on the iOS bestseller list for one month in a row.
Ctrip’s revenue in the first quarter was 113% of 2019.
Ctrip’s revenue in the first quarter of this year was 9.2 billion yuan, of which accommodation booking and transportation ticketing revenue were 3.5 billion yuan and 4.2 billion yuan respectively, 15% and 24% higher than before the epidemic. During the reporting period, hotel bookings for Ctrip’s local tours increased by 1.5 times compared with the same period in 2019. Due to continuous cost control, Ctrip’s operating profit margin reached a new high of 28.5%, and its operating profit was 2.6 billion yuan, 90% higher than the same period in 2019. At the financial report meeting, the management stated that the first quarter had a strong start, and the early reservations for the summer vacation were also strong, and they were optimistic about the upcoming summer.
The “Artificial Intelligence Law” has been included in the State Council’s legislative plan for this year.
The General Office of the State Council recently issued the 2023 legislative work plan, including the “Artificial Intelligence Law”, and the draft will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for deliberation within this year. Previously, the State Cyberspace Administration of China released the “Administrative Measures for Generative Artificial Intelligence Services” in April this year to solicit opinions from the public.
Carrefour China’s assets of 500 million yuan were frozen by the judiciary.
Recently, the property preservation rulings in the arbitration proceedings between three companies in Beijing and Carrefour (China) Holdings Co., Ltd. of the Netherlands were made public, and the court ruled to seize and freeze properties worth 500 million yuan under their names. Among the three companies, Beijing Ershang Group Co., Ltd. owns time-honored Chinese brands such as Wangzhihe and Liubiju, and the other two companies are Beijing Yishang Group Co., Ltd. and Beijing Zhongshang Jinhe Investment Management Co., Ltd. In February this year, Want Want Foods and Haoliyou Foods also applied to freeze Carrefour’s assets exceeding 46 million yuan.
In 2019, after two consecutive years of losses, Carrefour China sold 80% of its shares to Suning for 5 billion yuan, officially withdrawing from the Chinese market. But Suning failed to save Carrefour. In the past two years, a large number of Carrefour stores have begun to close or operate abnormally. Since the end of last year, there have been many reports of rent arrears, card refunds, and supplier arrears.
Victoria’s Secret’s largest store in Beijing has closed, no longer trying to maintain a high-end image.
On June 8, according to Jiemian News, the reporter discovered that the store of the American underwear brand Victoria’s Secret (Victoria’s Secret) located in Beijing Wangfu Central Shopping Center had been closed. The store is the largest in Beijing, covering an area of three floors. It opened when Victoria’s Secret officially entered the Chinese market in 2017. The public relations team of Victoria’s Secret said that it is strategically adjusting offline channels in the near future. While deeply cultivating first-tier cities, it will accelerate the deployment of second- and third-tier cities and airport channels. At the same time, Victoria’s Secret will focus on opening light-weight stores (300-400 square meters) in the future, with the goal of opening 100 new stores by 2025.
It is reported that Apple has significantly reduced the Vision Pro order to 150,000 units.
According to the media citing component suppliers, before the release of the Vision Pro, Apple only placed an order for 150,000 units. According to reports, Apple usually places orders based on the full life cycle of the product, rather than the annual sales target, but subsequent orders may be added according to the sales progress. Vision Pro is expected to be mass-produced in September or October this year and to be available in the US early next year. Apple will also open “Vision Pro Developer Labs” in Shanghai, London, Tokyo and other places this summer, allowing developers to experience and test applications in advance.
Standard Chartered plans to cut 100 jobs and cut costs by $1.3 billion by 2024.
According to media reports, several people familiar with the matter said that Standard Chartered Bank is conducting selective layoffs in Singapore, London and Hong Kong, and the total number may exceed 100. The positions of the laid-off employees include junior employees and senior managers, covering human resources, digital transformation, financial markets and other departments. A company spokesman said “continuous review of job requirements is part of our normal business activities”.
In the first quarter of this year, the company’s financial markets and commodities division revenues both fell year-on-year. Standard Chartered had previously said it aimed to save $1.3 billion by 2024 and sold its Jordan business in March to exit the African and Middle Eastern markets. Goldman Sachs also planned a new round of layoffs last week.
Tesla is planning to invest in a factory in Spain.
According to media reports, multiple sources said that Tesla is negotiating with the Spanish government of Valencia (Valencia) on an investment in a car factory, which may reach 4.5 billion euros. The local government confirmed it was in talks with a company about a “major automotive investment”, but declined to give details of the company and denied that an agreement had been signed with Tesla. Neither Tesla nor the Spanish government commented.
Spain is the second largest car producer in Europe, and Valencia is its third largest city and second largest port. Volkswagen said last year it would invest 10 billion yuan to build a battery factory in the region, and Ford also plans to produce electric vehicles locally. Tesla has announced the construction of its fifth factory in Mexico this year and encouraged Chinese suppliers to go there. It will also announce the location of the sixth factory before the end of the year. The company currently has only one German factory in Europe.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection continues to pursue the officials involved in the Henan village bank case.
According to a report on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Committee on June 7, Li Huanting, the former first-level inspector of the Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, was suspected of accepting bribes, concealing problems, interfering with regulatory performance in violation of regulations, and failing to implement the Party Central Committee’s decision-making and deployment on preventing and resolving major financial risks. etc., were expelled from the party and public office, their illegal gains were confiscated, and they were transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution. The main responsibility of the first-level inspector is to inspect and supervise the work of various departments, and the level is equivalent to the “department level”.
Respond to the “problem pen” incident in the college entrance examination in Zhengzhou, Henan.
On June 7th, the first day of the college entrance examination, candidates in Zhengzhou, Henan reported that the gel pens uniformly distributed in the examination room had ink leakage, ink jams, and no ink. Some candidates said that a lot of ink was on their hands and the answer sheet was dirty. Yes, some candidates said that after changing 5 pens in a row, they barely wrote on the last one. According to Peng Mei News, the staff of the local admissions office confirmed that the allotted “hobby” brand gel pens were issued through public bidding; the staff of the hobby pen industry said that they did not know whether they were purchased from their company and needed to consult relevant departments and dealer.
According to public bidding information, the Zhengzhou Admissions and Examination Center purchased 142,400 sets of stationery under the name of “2023 College Entrance Examination Stationery” at a unit price of 8.28 yuan. 10 samples of stationery, the brand is “hobby”, the winning bidder is Henan Xinhua Bookstore Cultural Development Co., Ltd.
The Korean mobile game invested by Tencent has been re-launched in India with a trial period of three months.
In July last year, BGMI, a shooting game released by Krafton, a South Korean company in which Tencent holds more than 10% of its shares, was removed from the shelves in India due to data security concerns, and was relaunched last week. India had said in May that BGMI could run on a trial basis for three months after addressing server location and data security concerns. Last month, SHEIN also reported that it would cooperate with India’s largest retail giant and return to the local market. It is said that the plan has been approved by the Indian government.
Cirrus Aircraft, a private aircraft manufacturer under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, applied for listing in Hong Kong.
Cirrus Aircraft recently applied for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to the prospectus, the company has delivered more than 9,000 SR2X series aircraft and more than 400 vision jets. The latter has been the best-selling jet under $7 million for five consecutive years since its delivery in 2016. From 2020 to 2022, the company’s revenue will be 586 million, 738 million, and 894 million US dollars respectively, and its operating profit will be 52.78 million, 89.71 million, and 112 million US dollars. Established in 1984, Cirrus Aircraft was indirectly wholly owned by AVIC General Aviation in 2011, with AVIC holding 70% of the latter.
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