The gross profit margin was 61.2%, with a year-on-year increase of 347.8% in revenue. The delivery volume of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) increased by 384.6% year-on-year. On November 18th, eVTOL technology company Yihang Intelligence announced its third quarter performance report for 2024, with both revenue and eVTOL delivery reaching historic highs.
In addition, Yihang Intelligent has achieved positive operating cash flow for four consecutive quarters, with a total financing of nearly $100 million during the year. Yihang Intelligence expects to continue its quarterly growth trend in the fourth quarter of 2024, with an expected annual revenue of 427 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 263.5%.
Revenue and delivery both hit new highs
According to financial report data, Yihang Intelligence's third quarter revenue was 128 million yuan, a significant increase of 347.8% year-on-year and 25.6% month on month. The quarterly revenue continued to reach a historical high, exceeding Bloomberg's market expectation of 119 million yuan.
The main source of revenue for Yihang Intelligent is the sales revenue of the company's flagship product EH216-S, and the company's revenue growth is due to the continuous increase in demand and delivery volume of EH216-S eVTOL products. In the third quarter, Yihang Intelligent delivered a total of 63 EH216-S aircraft, a year-on-year increase of 384.6% compared to the same period last year's 13 aircraft.
Yihang Intelligent Official WeChat
It is worth noting that the adjusted net profit of Yihang Intelligence in the third quarter was 15.7 million yuan, more than 10 times the adjusted net profit of 1.15 million yuan in the second quarter, significantly exceeding market expectations.
Yihang Intelligent's profit margin continues to increase after adjustment, due to its first mover advantage in the industry. As the only eVTOL enterprise that has obtained three airworthiness certificates, the company has pricing power in the market. With a gross profit margin of over 60%, the adjusted profit margin tends to stabilize, and there is still room for improvement compared to the previous period.
Yihang Intelligence expects that its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 will continue to maintain a quarterly growth trend, driven by the company's increasing orders and rapid development in the low altitude economy industry. It is reported that since the third quarter of last year, the EH216 series has received over 1100 orders and intended orders in China. It is worth mentioning that there are numerous favorable policies for low altitude economy in various regions of China, and bidding projects and the construction of low altitude economy demonstration sites continue to be announced, resulting in a surge in demand for new aircraft eVTOL. For example, Hefei, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Taiyuan, and Wencheng County in Wenzhou have all reached strategic cooperation with Yihang Intelligence to purchase eVTOL from Yihang Intelligence.
According to a report by Huaxing Capital, with the growth of the eVTOL market size, it is expected that the demand in the Chinese market will exceed 100000 aircraft by 2050, and the market size will reach over 200 billion yuan.
Significant increase during flight
At present, eVTOL batteries need to have higher energy density, charge discharge rate, and safety, and the common energy density is between 200Wh/kg and 300Wh/kg. Compared with the national proposed 400Wh/kg and 500Wh/kg aviation lithium battery products, there is still room for improvement.
It is reported that Yihang Intelligence is investing in cooperation and joint research and development through a supply chain collaboration model to enhance the safety and reliability of its products.
Recently, under the incubation of the International Advanced Technology Application Promotion Center (Hefei), Yihang Intelligent EH216-S, equipped with high-energy solid-state lithium batteries jointly developed with Xinjie Energy, completed its first eVTOL flight with solid-state batteries, significantly increasing the flight time to 48 minutes and 10 seconds.
Yihang Intelligent Official WeChat
Longer endurance and range mean that eVTOL will open up more application scenarios for urban air traffic. It is reported that Yihang Intelligence will further test and optimize the performance and stability of EH216-S with Xinjie Energy, with the goal of achieving certification and mass production of solid-state batteries in EH216-S by the end of 2025.
In addition, in the eVTOL motor industry chain, Yihang Intelligent and Yingbo have reached a cooperation agreement to jointly develop high-performance motors and motor controller products suitable for Yihang Intelligent's electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft series products.
Looking ahead to the future, Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman, and CEO of Yihang Intelligence, stated that they will continue to promote technological progress, including continuous research and development of solid-state batteries to enhance endurance, as well as long-range eVTOL models to expand business operations, support intercity and intercity UAM application scenarios, and meet the growing demands of the industry and stakeholders.
In the third quarter, multiple European and American institutions increased their holdings
It is worth mentioning that Yihang Intelligent's overseas expansion continues to advance. In November of this year, EH216-S completed its first manned flight in Thailand and plans to conduct commercial flight operations in some regions of Thailand such as Phuket and Koh Samui by 2025. In the same month, EH216-L completed its first cross sea platform cargo flight in Abu Dhabi. At present, the flight footprint of Yihang's intelligent unmanned eVTOL aircraft products has expanded to 18 countries and regions.
In addition, Yihang Intelligence stated that the company's application for an Operational Certificate (OC) has been accepted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and is currently in the approval process. It is expected that the first OC will be approved within 2024, and future operational services are expected to become a new source of revenue and performance contribution.
In August 2024, UBS research report covered Yihang Intelligence for the first time, giving a buy rating and a target price of $22. The report suggests that as the commercialization of the eVTOL industry begins, Yihang Intelligence, as the world's first company to obtain the eVTOL airworthiness certification, is expected to maintain a leading edge in technology and cost, leading peer companies by 2 to 3 years. The report predicts that Yihang Intelligence may maintain a market share of about 50% from 2025 to 2030.
According to public information, multiple European and American institutions continued to increase their holdings of Yihang Intelligence in the third quarter, with institutional shareholding reaching 31%. Institutions that have significantly increased their holdings of Yihang Intelligence include Millennium Management LLC, a multi strategy investment management company based in the United States. This company has increased its holdings for two consecutive quarters and increased its holdings by 570000 shares in the third quarter; At the same time, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings by 160000 shares and Nomura increased its holdings by 176000 shares.
Author: He Zhimin
