China Automotive Systems, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to China Automotive Systems' second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during today's conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn this conference over to your host, Mr. Kevin Thies, Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Welcome to China Automotive Systems 2021 Second Quarter Conference Call. Joining us today are Mr. Kui-Zhu Wu, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Jay Lee, Chief Financial Officer of China Automotive Systems. They will be available to answer questions later in the conference call with the assistance of translations. Before we begin, I will remind all listeners that throughout this call, we may make statements that may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements represent the company's estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this call. As a result, the company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those described under the setting risk factors in the company's Form 10-K Annual Report, for the year end of December 31, 2020, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in other documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the outbreak of COVID-19 is not effectively and timely controlled, our business operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected as a result of the deteriorating market outlook for automobile sales, the slowdown in regional and national economic growth, weakened liquidity and financial condition of our customers, or other factors that we cannot foresee. Any of these factors and other factors beyond our control could have an adverse effect on the overall business environment, cause uncertainties in the regions where we conduct business, cause our business to suffer in ways that we cannot predict, and materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operation. A prolonged disruption or any further unforeseen delay in our operation of the manufacturing delivery, and assembly process within any of our production facilities could continue to result in delays in the shipment of products to our customers, increased costs, and reduced revenue. Company Express disclaims any duty to provide updates to any forward-looking statements made in this call, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. On this call, I will provide a brief overview and summary of the second quarter and first six-month results of the period ended June 30, 2021. Management will conduct a question and answer session. The following 2021 second quarter and first six months financial results are unaudited and are reported using U.S. GAAP accounting. For the purposes of our call today, I'll review the financial results in U.S. dollars. We will begin with a review of the recent dynamics of the Chinese economy, automobile industry, and China Automotive's market position. Our net sales rose by 45% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2021, following a year-over-year 77% rise in the first quarter of 2021. For the six months of 2021, our net sales increased by 60.1% year-over-year to $250.9 million. Our advanced hydraulic steering products and products grew by 43.9% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2021, to $97.4 million. Net sales in electric power steering, ETS, increased almost 50% year-over-year to $23.2 million and represented 19.2% for total sales. The Chinese economy continues to expand from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. GDP grew by 7.9% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2021. down from the 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021, but still solid economic growth. GDP for the first half of 2021 was 12.7% higher than a year ago. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, CAAM, Chinese automobile sales in annual rose by 8.6% year-over-year, led by a 10.8% increase in passenger views. In May, automobile sales declined by 3.1%, with a 12.4% decrease in June. When six months ended June 30, 2021, CAM reported that Chinese automobile sales grew 25.6% year-over-year, with passenger vehicle sales from approximately 10 million units, representing a 27% gain ahead of last year. As sedan sales increased 26.2%, MPV unit sales were up 25.2%, and SUV sales grew by 28.6%. In the first six months of 2021, new energy vehicles, NEV, sales were approximately 1.2 million units, representing a 201.5% year-over-year growth. The sale of NEV passenger vehicles increased by 217.4%, to 1.1 million units, and NEV commercial vehicle unit sales reached 66,000 units, up 61.5%, in the first six months of 2021. In the first six months of 2021, the sales of Chinese domestic branded vehicles, our main market, increased by 46.8% year-over-year to 4.2 million units, taking a 42% market share up 5.7%. For the first six months of 2021, commercial vehicle sales in China increased by 20.9% year-over-year, with bus sales rising by 39.7%, and the much larger truck market up 19.4%, according to CAAM statistics. The traditional bus market benefited from the phasing out of generous EV subsidies, and truck growth was partially generated by a significant pre-buy of National 5 emission-compliant vehicles before the stricter National 6 emission standards are nationally mandated in July 2021 for diesel engines. Additionally, truck sales benefited by stronger anti-overloading enforcement and new infrastructure projects. These growth percentages partially reflect comparisons to the lower than normal sales in the first half of 2020, caused by the COVID-19 disruption in China and abroad. Each of our operating units achieved double-digit growth, except our sales to the commercial vehicle market, which had a slight downturn in the second quarter of 2021. Exports to our Tier 1 customers in North America grew by 179.8% as the auto market there rebounded and pandemic closed. As previously announced, we have been selling more EPS products into the electric vehicle producers, including Great Wall, Cherry Auto, Beijing Auto, and JAC Motors. The outlook continues for approximately 200,000 of our EPS units to be supplied to the EV market alone in 2021. Our gross profit increased by 102.6% year over year to $15.8 million with a gross margin of 13.1%, higher than the 9.4% reported for the second quarter of 2020. Total operating expenses increased 18.9% year over year. Income from operations was $119,000 compared to a loss of $5.2 million in the second quarter of 2020. A combination of net other income, financial income, and equity in the income of affiliated companies helped generate net income attributable to parent companies' common shareholders of $3.2 million, compared with a loss of $4.1 million in the second quarter of 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, we introduced our new proprietary EPS system, which integrates and communicates with the vehicle's main data to create lane keeping assist, automatic parking assist, lane centering, and traffic jam assist functions as part of the company's advanced driver assistance system, known as ADAS, or more commonly referred to as autonomous driving system. To further our ADAS capabilities, in June 2021, we also announced our plan to purchase the 40% interest and sentient ad a swedish automotive technology company specializing in software development and hardware design for advanced steering functions vehicle motion control and autonomous drive sentient currently holds 10 patents and the software functions for steering vehicle motion control and autonomous driving can be integrated with its proprietarily designed hardware solutions including power facts that's the sw ECU, motor, and housing, and complete steering gear systems. Sentient's motion control technology has been tested and demonstrated on EPS, angle overlay systems, steer-by-wire, and fully autonomous vehicles at NHTSA level 3 to 5. Sentient's products have been in production since 2013 to provide drivers a superior steering experience. In July of 2021, we announced that we entered into the OTOP, which is off-tool, off-process phase for a new steering system developed for Alfa Romeo, a leading European brand. This new steering system will be for Alfa Romeo's first luxury compact plug-in hybrid SUV model, the 2021 Tonnelli, which features the company's first plug-in hybrid powertrain. Approximately 100,000 annual units are expected to be ordered for this new CAAF steering system. The OTOP and Alfa Romeo is CAAF's second project in Europe, and also the first project with a high-end brand under the Stellantis Group of Vehicles. Also, we are proud that our wholly-owned subsidiary, Hubie Henlong Automotive Systems Group Limited, received the ISO 26262 colon 2018 ASIL-D certification. This is automotive safety integrity level from SGS TUV. SGS is recognized as the world's leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company, classifying both software and hardware components with different safety risks. ISO 26262-2018 ASIL features safety standards from A to D. with D being the highest and most stringent safety standard. Our D certification distinguishes us from many other peer companies. Our strong financial strength provides the resources to support the development of new technologies to enhance future growth and shareholder value. Our total cash and cash equivalents and pledge cash was $117.3 million as of June 30, 2021. Total parent company stockholders' equity rose to $312.2 million at June 30, 2021 from $303.2 million at the end of 2020. We have financial strength, a large customer base, and a growing portfolio of advanced technology to further build our company and shareholder value. Now let me review the financial results in the second quarter of 2021. Net sales increased by 45% to $120.6 million in the second quarter of 2021. compared to $83.2 million in the second quarter of 2020. Net sales of traditional steering products and parts increased by 43.9% to $97.4 million for the second quarter of 2021, compared to $67.7 million for the same period in 2020. Net sales of electric power steering EPS products rose 49.7% to $23.2 million from $15.5 million for the same period in 2020. EPS product sales were 19.2% of the total net sales for the second quarter of 2021 compared with 18.6% for the same period in 2020. Export sales to North American customers rose 179.8% to 31.9 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared with 114.4 million, I'm sorry, compared with $11.4 million in the second quarter of 2020. Gross profit rose by 102.6% to $15.8 million compared to $7.8 million in the second quarter of 2020. Gross margin in the second quarter of 2021 was 13.1% compared with 9.4% in the second quarter of 2020. The increase in gross margin was mainly due to higher net sales and increased gross profit in the company's two-by-headlong operations. Gain on other sales was $0.7 million compared to $0.8 million in the second quarter of 2020. Selling expenses increased by 46.7% to $4.4 million compared to $3 million in the second quarter of 2020. The increase in selling expenses was primarily due to higher personnel expenses. Selling expenses represented 3.6% of net sales in the second quarter of 2021, also compared to 3.6% in the second quarter of 2020. General administrative expenses, G&A, were $6.1 million compared to $4.8 million in the second quarter of 2020. G&A expenses represented 5.1% of net sales in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 5.8% of net sales in the second quarter of 2020. Research and development expenses, R&D, were $5.9 million compared to $6.1 million in the second quarter of 2020. R&D expenses represented 4.9% of net sales in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 7.3% in the second quarter of 2020. Excuse me. Our other income net was $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to $1.3 million for the three months into June 3, 2020. Income from operations was $0.1 million second quarter of 2021 compared to a loss of 5.2 million dollars in the second quarter of 2020. Interest expense was 0.3 million dollars in the second quarter of 2020, substantially consistent with 0.4 million dollars in the second quarter of 2020. Net financial income was 0.2 million dollars in the second quarter of 2021 compared to net financial expense of 0.06 million in the second quarter of 2020. The change in net financial expense was primarily due to achieving a foreign exchange benefit in the second quarter of 2021 compared with a foreign exchange expense in the second quarter of 2020. Income before income tax expense and equity in earnings of affiliated companies was $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to a loss before income tax expense and equity in the earnings of affiliated companies of $4.4 million in the second quarter of 2020. That income attributable to parent company's common shareholders was $3.2 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to a net loss attributable to the parent company's shareholders of $4.1 million in the second quarter of 2020. Diluted earnings per share was 10 cents in the second quarter of 2021 compared to diluted net loss per share of 13 cents in the second quarter of 2020. The weighted average number of diluted Common shares outstanding was 30,855,406 in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 31,174,045 shares in the second quarter of 2020. Now let's go over some six-month financial highlights. Net income increased 60.1% to $250.9 million in the first six months of 2021 compared to $156.7 million in the first six months of 2020. Six-month growth profit was $35.6 million compared to $19 million in the corresponding period last year. Six-month growth margin was 14.1% compared with 12.1% in the first six months of 2020. The gain on other sales was $2 million in the first six months of 2021 compared to $1.4 million in the corresponding period last year. Income from operations was $4.3 million in the first six months of 2021 compared with the loss from operations of $4.2 million in the first six months of 2020. Net income attributed to a parent company's common shareholders was $6.4 million in the first six months of 2021 compared to net loss attributed to a parent company's common shareholders of $4.1 million in the corresponding period in 2020. Diluted earnings per share was 21 cents in the first six months of 2021 compared to a diluted loss per share of 13 cents in the first six months of 2020. Now we'll review a few balance sheet items. As of June 30, 2021, total cash and cash equivalents and pledged cash was $117.3 million. Total accounts receivable, including notes receivable, was $228.5 million. Accounts payable, including notes payable, were $220.4 million. And short-term loans were $36.4 million. Total parent company stockholders' equity was $312.2 million, as of June 30, 2021, compared to $303.2 million as of December 31, 2020. The business outlook. Management has raised revenue guidance from the full year 2021 to $495 million from $485 million. This target is based on the company's current views on operating and marketing conditions, which are subject to change. With that operator, we're ready to begin the Q&A.

At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation film will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary for you to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. One moment while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from the line of William Regozeski with Green Ridge Global. You may proceed with your question.

Hey, guys. Great quarter. With the EPS sales jumping, can we expect to see EPS sales growth outperform traditional hearing products going forward?

Okay. This is our analyst, Bill. His first question is, first of all, thank you for your excellent performance on this issue. He said that the growth of EPS is very surprising. His question is, can we expect EPS sales to exceed traditional industry products in the future? Last quarter, our EPS performance was indeed relatively bright.

The growth rate of EPS reached 49.7% this quarter, which is faster than the traditional growth rate. Currently, EPS is at a level of 49.2%. Overall, the growth rate of EPS is faster than the traditional growth rate. In terms of the growth rate, the EPS growth is now, sales growth is now pacing at 49.7%.

It's clearly faster than hydraulic steering systems. But in terms of revenue, EPS still only accounts for 19.2% total revenue. Longer run, we do see EPS will account for more revenue than the traditional hydraulic products. But it will take some time. We see probably in the next, within the next three years.

Okay. All right. What was the reason for the commercial sales being down in this order?

The main reason is that the sales of domestic commercial vehicles have dropped in the second quarter. Because of the impact of the epidemic in the second quarter last year, the national government has a lot of stimulus policies and encouragement policies. So last year's results were very high. Then this year, for the whole second quarter, Okay. It comes down to the year-over-year sales of the commercial vehicle. The second quarter 2020, coming off the tail of 2020,

the recovery of COVID, the Chinese government issued a number of stimulus packages which propel a very robust sales second quarter last year. That built a very high base for the second quarter this year to compare with. So for that reason, the In terms of sales units, year-over-year comparison, it seems to have down, but still running at a very high rate in terms of overall commercial vehicle sales. As you know, most of our commercial vehicle steering systems are selling in the domestic market, so that's the main reason being affected.

Okay. All right. Are you guys... or having any issues or seeing concerns with the chip shortage?

Uh, it should be said that if there is no chip shortage, our EPS level should be higher than the current one. Because of the shortage of chips, at least the delivery amount is reduced by 20% to 30%. Uh, many manufacturers are waiting for our goods, but due to the shortage of chip supply, we can't meet all of them. From this From the beginning of July, some large chip factories have started to increase their supply. We feel that the pressure of chip supply short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term short-term Okay.

Yeah, we do see, we do experience some impact from chip shortage. During the second quarter, we are, you know, we saw about 20% to 30% shortage on the supply side. which are affecting our sales. Otherwise, our sales would have been even faster than the current growth rate on the year-over-year basis. Many OEM automakers are waiting for our EPS product, but because of this gap on the supply side due to the chip supplier, chip shortage and we had we had to let them wait so that's affecting somewhat affecting our EPS cells in the second quarter this year but starting July we see some of the large chip producers are have increased their production So we expect in the Q3 and Q4, coming up Q3, Q4, the pressure will be lessened. And we are still seeing overall probably would be 10% chip shortage than what we would have sold to the EPS market. But overall, we'll see EPS. sales is going to be very, very strong this year.

Okay. Can you provide a quick update on how things are going in Brazil? Okay.

$6.3 million. Last year, the impact of the pandemic was estimated to be $500,000 or $800,000. In the first half of the year, Brazil has achieved a revenue of almost $10 million. Last year, it was only $2.5 million. We're seeing a very strong growth in Brazil.

in the second quarter of this year, our sales from Brazil market was 6.2 million compared with half million U.S. dollars in the same quarter last year, mainly due to the COVID impact in that market. And in the first half of this year, our total revenue from Brazil has already exceeded $10 million compared with $2.5 million last year. And for that reason, in our overall order book, we expect full year 2020, our Brazil sales will be around $23 to $25 million. That compared with $6 or $7 million in 2020, so that's a major increase. And we already expected a high growth, but now we're seeing the growth is outpacing our initial estimate.

All right, great. That's great. Last question is on Centene. Can you talk a little bit more about that and what your plans are for it?

Okay. The last question is about Centene. Can you talk about our next plan and how we're going to develop it?

For Centene, we're going to focus on In terms of software control for the transition of the car, the transition of the car, the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of the transition of Using its advantages in the European market, we will provide hardware and software integrated solutions, and we may provide more hardware, and it will provide some software, and then jointly develop the European market. At the same time, we will also put some of its higher-end software, for example, the L3 and L4-level transfer software that has been made to the automatic driver. It has already come to the Chinese market and is being promoted in the Chinese market. So in general, we are in a state of mutual advantage at present. We have also signed some development agreements and are preparing to carry out simultaneous promotion on both sides.

Okay. So as we, um, uh, as we discussed in the past, uh, sent it, uh, is, uh, um, the company we acquired, uh, is the software and hardware leader, uh, specialized in, uh, steering functions and vehicle motion controls. Um, and, and it's a, it's a, um, integral part of autonomous driving. Um, So we're very, very excited about it. And in terms of the areas we'll be working with, there are two areas. One is in European market. We're going to work together from hardware perspective. CAS will, from hardware perspective, will support the best-in-class hardware and custom-made for their softwares. And so our engineering team will be working closely with Sentinel team to integrate their software into our hardware and help them to win more. Our goal is to help them to win more contracts in the European market. In China, we are... Since Centail has the L3, L4 product software designs and some of the hardware solutions, so we are marketing this product to the Chinese OEMs. We are aggressively marketing this. So we're looking to expand it in the Chinese market now with this technology. And we really see some interest from OEM. So this is going to be the future of our company.

All right. Great. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. One moment while we poll for questions. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. One moment while we poll for questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of today's question and answer session. I would like to turn this call back over to Mr. Kevin Feese for closing remarks.

We thank you for joining us in today's conference call. Please be safe, and we look forward to speaking with you again. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us today. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.