On March 13th, the latest announcement released by NASDAQ: NAAS showed that the company had reached a final investment agreement with a well-known American investment institution and completed a new round of issuance. The institution will subscribe to 4761905 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of Nenglian Zhidian, valued at approximately RMB 43 million, and can conditionally subscribe to an equal number of ADSs in the future, with a total amount of nearly RMB 100 million.
Industry insiders in the investment industry have stated that American institutional investors are discerning, but once they place bets, they often hold them for a long time or even increase their holdings multiple times. This time, Nenglian Smart Electric has received investment from well-known institutional investors in the United States, which is not only optimistic about the growth potential of China's new energy vehicles and charging service track, but also recognition of the "quality" of the investment target.
The latest disclosed business data shows that Nenglian's intelligent electric interconnection business has expanded the number of car owners and users, improved the coverage of charging stations, and achieved high-speed growth in charging service business. In January 2024, it achieved order side profitability, and the profit level has maintained positive growth for five consecutive months, continuing to expand in February. According to the announcement, Nenglian Smart Electric is expected to see a year-on-year increase of 80% or 5 billion kilowatt hours in charging volume in 2023, far exceeding the year-on-year growth rate of 55.8% in China's new energy vehicle ownership in 2023, equivalent to 3.3 times the public charging volume in the United States and 60% in Europe in 2023.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, as of the end of 2023, the total number of new energy vehicles in China was 20.41 million, accounting for more than half of the world's total. The corresponding charging service market and targets have received attention from internationally renowned institutional investors. In 2023, Nenglian Zhidian received attention and increased holdings from several top investment institutions, including ELEC ETF under global asset management giant Envestnet, active climate change ETF CCSO, and Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) under Jingshun.
Previously, Nenglian Zhidian estimated that its annual revenue for 2023 would be between RMB 310 million (44 million US dollars) and RMB 330 million (46 million US dollars), with a year-on-year increase of 234% to 256%. And Nenglian Zhidian's parent company, Nenglian Holdings, also announced in February this year that its refined oil business has achieved overall profitability. With the continuous improvement of profitability and financial situation, the position of Nenglian Smart Electric in the field of new energy vehicles and charging services is expected to continue to rise, and it is expected to gain more favor from investment institutions. (Li Huiping)