Efort (埃夫特, 688165.SH), a top domestic industrial robot producer, experienced a spike in its revenue in the first half of this year as pandemic-induced woes subsided and global demand rebounded.
The company, headquartered in the eastern province of Anhui, recorded revenue of 893.48 million yuan (US$123.12 million) in the first six months ended June 30, up a whopping 46.90% year on year.
Net losses attributable to shareholders also narrowed somewhat compared to a year earlier to 58.33 million yuan, the company said.
As a bright spot of Efort’s financial performance during the reporting period, the sales volume of its industrial robots shot up 96.54% and translated into an 89.39% jump in revenue from industrial robot.
As fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war wanes, Efort’s integration business outside of China has bounced back, expanding 22.40% from the same period last year.
Intensifying competition and falling prices
The company’s gross margin slipped from 14.45% to 12.33% this year, attributable mainly to plummeting gross margin of the integration business overseas, the financial statement says.
Nonetheless, despite intensifying competition in the industrial robot market and falling unit prices, Efort explained that its measures to concentrate resources and reduce costs have taken effect.
This appears to be borne out by the numbers. Efort’s industrial robot portfolio generated a gross margin of 18.32%, up 0.45 percentage point from the same period last year.
By contrast, its integration business slid by 5.9 percentage points year on year amid more stringent requirements on cost reduction from automakers, a major client.
According to MIR databank, a robot and automation-focused data service provider, China’s industrial robot sales in H1 totaled 134,000 units, which is only 1% higher than the previous year.
This puts Efort, whose sales volume surged 96.54% and revenue soared 89.39%, far ahead of the industry average.
As China’s efforts to supplant imports with homegrown technologies gather momentum, Efort is poised to consolidate its position in the domestic market.
It has ranked among the top three players in domestic industrial robot sales and is also placed among the top 10 companies by sales.
