Chinese lithium battery giant CATL reported a revenue 362.01 billion yuan for 2024, sliding 9.7% year-over-year, while net profit reached 50.75 billion yuan, rising by 15.01% year-over-year.
These figures came in line with CATL’s earlier earnings forecast which had projected revenue to decline between 8.7% and 11.2% and net profit to rise between 11% and 20%.
Notably, CATL’s revenue and net profit grew sequentially throughout the year. Despite the lithium battery industry’s traditionally slow season, the company achieved its highest performance in the fourth quarter, with revenue and net profit increasing about 12% quarter-over-quarter.
CATL’s R&D investment reached a record high of 18.6 billion yuan in 2024, bringing its total R&D spending over the past decade to more than 70 billion yuan. Its operational cash flow remained strong at about 97 billion yuan for the year, while cash reserves exceeded 300 billion yuan, ensuring sufficient funding for continued investment in R&D and capacity expansion.
Maintaining Global Market Leadership
CATL’s lithium-ion battery sales reached 475GWh in 2024, rising by 21.8% year-over-year, with battery system sales of 381GWh for electric vehicles, up 18.8%, and 93GWh for energy storage, up 34.3%.
According to South Korean market research house SNE Research, CATL ranked as the world’s top supplier of EV batteries for the eighth consecutive year in 2024, with a 37.9% global market share, and it also led the energy storage battery sector for the fourth year in a row.
By the end of 2024, CATL’s total battery system production capacity stood at 676GWh, up 22% year-over-year, and its annual capacity utilization rate reached 76%, increasing by 6 percentage points from 2023 and 11 percentage points higher than in the first half of 2024.
Soochow Securities estimates that CATL’s Q4 capacity utilization rate approached 90%, with newly shipped products adding over 10GWh, which is expected to boost Q1 2025 profitability.
The company also has 219GWh of capacity under construction. Globally, battery capacity expansion remains a top priority for CATL. In China, the company is advancing construction on key bases in Zhongzhou, Guiyang, Xiamen, and Jining, with some production lines already operational and ramping up output. Internationally, its German plant is scaling up production, while it actively progresses with projects such as the Hungary factory, a joint venture in Spain with Stellantis, and its battery supply chain initiative in Indonesia.
Major Dividend Distribution
CATL announced another substantial dividend payout for 2024, committing 50% of its net profit to cash dividends, amounting to a total of 25.37 billion yuan.
Since the company had already distributed 5.4 billion yuan in special dividends on January 24, it will pay out the remaining 20 billion yuan following this earnings release, distributing 45.53 yuan (pre-tax) per 10 shares to all shareholders.
For both 2023 and 2024, CATL maintained a 50% dividend payout ratio, with cumulative dividends and share buybacks nearing 60 billion yuan.
Positive Market Outlook
Looking ahead, CATL plans to expand the application of its innovative technologies and products across sectors such as construction machinery, ships, and aircraft while launching battery swap solutions like Chocolate Swap and Qiji Swap.
It also aims to accelerate the rollout of zero-carbon technology solutions through regional pilot projects, contributing to green and low-carbon transitions.
In addition, CATL submitted an application for a Hong Kong listing on February 11, further advancing its global expansion strategy and enhancing its international capital market presence.
