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On October 27, Estun released its 2022 third quarter report. During the period, it achieved operating income of 887 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.83%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 43.9522 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76.13%.

From January to September 2022, the company achieved operating income of 2.542 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.45%, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 120 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.89%.

Eston said that the company’s revenue accelerated in the third quarter of 2022, mainly due to the company’srobotGrowth in domestic business and sales of core automation components accelerated.

Rapid growth of domestic robot business

The financial report shows that the sales revenue of Estun’s robot business from January to September increased by more than 50% year-on-year. In the third quarter, the domestic robot business increased by 69.95% year-on-year, far exceeding the average growth rate, mainly benefiting from the demand growth in downstream new energy and other industries.

At the beginning of this year, Estun specially established the Lixin Energy Division, and built a six-joint robot covering the front, middle and rear sections of lithium batteries, including baking, capacity separation, detection/sorting, cell stacking, module PACK and other processes. The chain application has been applied in batches in many leading lithium battery companies so far. In addition, the company has carried out in-depth cooperation with hundreds of enterprises in the photovoltaic industry, and the robot body has been applied in the fields of components, flower basket handling, inserts and silicon wafer production.

In the third quarter, Estun’s gross profit margin was 33.81%, which was basically the same as last year, but slightly decreased from the previous quarter. In the first and second quarters of this year, Estun’s gross profit margin was 32.6% and 34.8%, respectively.

Estun said that the gross profit margin of overseas business declined in the third quarter, but the gross profit margin of domestic business continued to increase. At the same time, important raw materials such as chips are still in shortage in the market and prices are rising, which puts pressure on the company’s supply guarantee and cost reduction. .

In terms of research and development, Estun invested about 270 million yuan in research and development in the three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 24.5%, accounting for about 10% of sales revenue. , lithium batteries, semiconductors and other advanced manufacturing industries have soared,Industrial robotNew requirements have also been put forward. At this time, it is necessary to increase investment in R&D to maintain market competitiveness.

In 2022Q1-Q3, Estun’s net operating cash flow was a net outflow of 188 million yuan, a decrease from the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in the reserves of important raw materials in response to the supply chain problem of shortage of raw materials such as chips. In addition, overseas subsidiaries have slowed down shipments due to the energy crisis and increased inventories, which has an impact on the company’s operating cash flow.

Today, driven by labor shortages, technological progress, and improved cost-effectiveness, the global demand for Industrial Robots has grown substantially. The Wall Street Journal in the United States and Handelsblatt in Germany have also reported that the prosperity of the Robot Industry has made people in the industry all over the world. surprised.

However, since the beginning of 2022, while demand has grown, the Industrial Robot industry has also seen a surge in prices. Just a few days ago,automated industryThe giant Mitsubishi Electric can’t hold on anymore, and announced that it will increase the price of its products from February 1, 2023, with an increase of 10-20%, including industrial robots and industrial robots.servo motor15% price increase.

Previously, leading companies such as ABB and Yaskawa have already adjusted their prices, and domestic leading companies such as Inovance Technology, Eston, Eft, and Peitian Robot have also publicly announced price increases. Mitsubishi Electric is already too late.

The reason is that, on the one hand, the prices of bulk materials such as copper, rare earth, silicon steel, and aluminum continue to rise, keeping the prices of raw materials high and raising the manufacturing cost of industrial robots; on the other hand, the supply chain is under pressure and logistics costs are rising. , the supply of overseas parts and chips has fallen sharply this year, affecting the stability and continuity of domestic robot production.

Raising prices is a means for companies to hedge their costs, but its impact is determined by market competition. Comparing the price increases of domestic and foreign industrial robot manufacturers this year, it can be found that the price increases of foreign robot brands are mostly around 10%, while the price increases of domestic companies are mostly 2%-8%. In addition, the price of domestic robots is lower. , which means that this wave of price increases has made domestic robots more cost-effective.

In fact, after years of development, my country’s domestic industrial robot technology has made significant progress. Whether it is core components or body manufacturing, it has the ability to substitute locally, and domestic robots have become more cost-effective under the impetus of price increases. , the future growth space has been opened.

In the ranking of industrial robot shipments in the Chinese market in the first half of the year, domestic brands made great progress. Estun and Inovance Technology all made further progress in the top ten, ranking fifth and seventh respectively. If you dare to believe, there are also Jieka, Aobo, Luoshi, etc.collaborative robotHead companies have also entered the top 20. In the emerging category of collaborative robots, domestic brands have taken a dominant position.