Kandi Technologies Group Inc (KNDI) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Kandi Technologies Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kewa Luo. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. Thank you all for joining us on today's conference call to discuss Kandi's results for the third quarter of year 2021. Earlier today, we issued a press release covering the results. You can find the press release on the company's website as well as from newswire services.

On the call with me today are Mr. Hu Xiaoming, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Alan Lim, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Hu will deliver prepared remarks in Chinese, which I will then translate. After that, we will have a Q&A session.

Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Form Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's actual results may be materially different from the expectations expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's public filings with the SEC. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.

Please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during the conference call are in U.S. dollars. With that, let me now turn the call over to our CEO, Hu Xiaoming. Go ahead, Mr. Hu.

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[Interpreted] Thank you, Kewa. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our conference call today. I'm happy to share our business and the financial results for the third quarter.

The most important highlight of the quarter was the impressive growth of revenue in the electric scooter, electric self-balancing scooter and associated parts line of business. This segment accounted for nearly 40% of total quarterly sales, growing approximately 600% over the same period last year. These strong results reflect the strategic initiatives we undertook a year ago when COVID was depressing the EV market.

We looked for opportunities with big addressable markets in which we could leverage our core capabilities. The scooter business was a great fit, and we directed substantial resources to quickly pursue it. Our results today testify to the wisdom of this approach.

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[Interpreted] Leading consultants Mckinsey & Company estimate that by 2030, the micromobility market, including e-scooters and electric self-balancing scooters, will reach annual sales of USD 200 billion to USD 300 billion in the United States alone. Entering this segment was always in our strategic plan, but the COVID crisis accelerated both our entry and the growth of the industry because they reduce contact points and encourage social distancing. Micromobility vehicles such as e-scooters and electric self-balancing scooters are a natural and less risky alternative to the public transportation such as local buses and subways. Amid public transportation shutdowns during COVID, demand became urgent for micromobility vehicles and associated parts.

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[Interpreted] Moreover, the flexibility and simplicity of micromobility vehicles means that this mode of transportation can rebound faster than others. In the third quarter, when Delta variant regional outbreaks were occurring around the world, we saw the strategic advantage of pursuing this opportunity in e-scooters and electric self-balancing scooters and associated parts.

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[Interpreted] Looking at other lines of business, battery pack sales decreased, which impacted overall sales of electric vehicle parts. We were constrained by supply chain tension affecting the whole industry and by the restructuring of our offshore EV business.

Off-road vehicle sales declined versus last year but were up 25% sequentially, accounting for more than 40% of total revenue. Consumer demand for off-road vehicles, including ATV, UTV and other models, is increasing. We mentioned last quarter that our analysis of market interest in high-performance electric [cars] which drive UTVs led us to develop the model K32. The K32 is an intelligent, fully enclosed, pure electric 4-wheel drive multipurpose UTV. Prototypes of the K32 was delivered to the U.S. for display last month, and initial feedback from dealers was positive. We plan to formally launch the K32 soon.

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[Interpreted] Looking at our financial position. In the third quarter, we received the final payment from Geely of our sale of 22% position in the Fengsheng joint venture. At the end of the quarter, we had working capital of about $289 million, the best liquidity status in our history. This level of liquidity capital opens many new opportunities for us. So we boosted our R&D spending in the third quarter.

Restructuring and recovery of our pure EV and related businesses will take time. But we believe that as we finish the reset of these businesses, our electric vehicles and EV-associated product line will again achieve solid growth. A recovery in EV combined with the strong growth of e-scooters and huge potential for off-road vehicles makes us excited and confident about our future.

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[Interpreted] Let's now start the Q&A session. Kewa will take any English questions and translate for me. And our CFO, Alan, will answer in English.

Operator, please go ahead.

(Operator Instructions) First question today comes from [Frank Blatterman], who is a private investor.

My 2 questions involve the EV part of Kandi's business. Number one, is the factory on Hainan Island presently active in making cars? And if so, how many employees are actually making cars there?

Question #2, the K23 and K27 were originally introduced to the United States over a year ago, but personally, can only be sold as neighborhood electric vehicles with a reduced maximum speed. Have they been upgraded and approved for highway travel in the U.S. at this time? Are they presently in production? When do you expect them to be shipped? Will it be before the end of the year?

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[Interpreted] So first of all, thank you so much for your questions. As for the first question, at present, the production of the EV product is still being adjusted and fine-tuned in our factory. As you may know, in the past few years, the electric vehicles produced by Kandi, we have used Geely's production qualification. Since this year, we completely withdrew from the cooperation with Geely, and we tried looking for other partnerships in our production. Currently, we are filing the product announcement to the state government for those EV products, and we can only go into the mass production after development, product announcements and qualifications are in place.

As for the second question regarding the K23 and K27, at the moment, the regular models have not yet the DOT requirements for the safety standards. We are still working on the improvement. And however, currently, we cannot really provide a very accurate estimate of when the requirements would be met. As you may know, such requirements for the safety standards in U.S. is much higher -- for like the airbag safety and other standards, much higher than those in China and European countries. Currently, there is not any Chinese company that have their EV meeting such safety standards in U.S. We are working very hard to achieve this goal. And thank you.

Our next question comes from [Ratna Vajra] with [Rengrig Consulting].

I was wondering, since it has been brought up before, are you still contemplating a share buyback? And since I understand there was a Board resolution to authorize this, what share price would be inducing such a buyback?

Thank you for your question. (foreign language)

(foreign language)

[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. Yes, we are considering such process. And based on the market development and condition, we will execute the share buyback at the appropriate moment, condition.

So adding on to [Frank Blatterman's] question. By what time do you expect to have a production license for EVs?

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[Interpreted] So as for your question, we expect that until March or April of next year 2022, we will kick off the mass production and sales of our EV models for the domestic market.

Our next question comes from [George Kyriakos], who's a private investor.

You can correct me if I'm wrong. I see the focus in Kandi is shifting to the sports equipment as an EV. Nevertheless, there's heavy competition coming from inside China and outside China for the EV sector. My question is what appropriate focus or ways can be taken in advance to eliminate this competition or to be one of the competitors with a heavy competition coming in the market for the EV? Or is your focus is -- go towards the sports models?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the first part?

Yes. Is your focus the sports equipment for the EV since I see most of the revenue coming from the EV equipment -- sports equipment, more than 40%, or your focus is the car? And what appropriate steps are you taking to eliminate the competition or the heavy competition coming in the market?

Okay. (foreign language)

(foreign language)

[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. It's a really great one for us. So first of all, as for the scooters, it, I think, acts like a supplemental to our business. However, our focus is always on the EV and related products. So in the EV market, we are trying to divide into 2 streams.

One is, in such a competitive market, we try to focus in the car-hailing platform, especially for the domestic market. With our advanced battery swap technology, you definitely are facilitating the market and meeting order demand from the car-hailing platform users. So we expect there will be mass production from such models that facilitate the car-hailing platform with the battery swap in next April or May -- I mean March or April in 2022.

Apart from our focus on the car-hailing platform, we also try to enter the market for the electronic UTV and ATV. As you may know, currently, primarily those models for the UTV and ATV are using gasoline. Because of the upcoming requirement and standard for the emission limit, most of the models will shift to electronic mode. With our technologies, we try to enter this market and try to be one of the pioneer and advanced market supplier in a couple of years. So that's our plan and goal. And thank you again for your question.

(Operator Instructions) There being no questions at this time, this will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Xiaoming Hu for any closing remarks.

(foreign language)

[Interpreted] Thank you again for attending today's conference call. We are confident that we are going closer to the multiple targets spreading over EV products that is through our business e-scooter and market expansion. Look forward to sharing with you more positive news in our next call.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.