CATL, the world’s biggest battery manufacturer, released its strongest financial report in recent years on March 9, 2025. The company reported a net profit of 72.2 billion yuan (10.46 billion USD) for 2025, representing a 42.28% year-on-year increase. From a production standpoint, CATL reached new heights in 2025, with lithium battery capacity reaching 772GWh and shipments totalling 661GWh. The annual report reveals four key signals about CATL’s position and strategy: CATL continues to expand its scale, with sales, revenue, and overseas market share all increasing Profit growth outpaces revenue growth, indicating stronger profit elasticity CATL’s globalisation and capital operations have entered an “acceleration phase” The solid-state battery business is progressing steadily, though the company remains cautious about revealing details CATL achieved annual revenue of 423.7 billion yuan (61.41 billion USD) in 2025, up 17.04% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders reaching 72.2 billion yuan (10.46 billion USD), a 42.28% increase. CATL’s non-recurring net profit reached 64.51 billion yuan (9.34 billion USD), up 43.37% year-on-year. The company showed stronger performance in the later quarters of 2025. Fourth quarter revenue reached 140.63 billion yuan (20.38 billion USD) with net profit of 23.17 billion yuan (3.36 billion USD), higher than earlier quarters. First quarter revenue was 84.7 billion yuan (12.28 billion USD) with 13.96 billion yuan (2.02 billion USD) in profit, second quarter revenue was 94.18 billion yuan (13.65 billion USD) with 16.52 billion yuan (2.39 billion USD) in profit, and third quarter revenue was 104.19 billion yuan (15.1 billion USD) with 18.55 billion yuan (2.69 billion USD) in profit, demonstrating quarterly growth throughout the year. CATL — 2025 Full-year Financial Data Item2025 Full Year (billion USD)Change Total revenue61.4117.04% Net profit attributable to parent company10.4642.28% Net profit excluding non-recurring items9.3443.37% Domestic business gross margin24%1.75% Overseas business gross margin31.44%1.99% R&D investment221.519.02% Compiled by CarNewsChina In R&D, CATL’s 2025 R&D expenses were 22.15 billion yuan (3.21 billion USD), up 19.02% year-on-year, accounting for 5.23% of revenue. The company currently employs 22,901 R&D personnel. Breaking down revenue by business segment, power batteries remain CATL’s main business in 2025, while energy storage has become the fastest-growing segment outside of power batteries. In the power battery system segment, CATL achieved annual revenue of 316.51 billion yuan (45.87 billion USD), a 25.08% increase, representing 74.70% of total revenue with a gross profit margin of 23.84%. For energy storage battery systems, CATL reported revenue of 62.44 billion yuan (9.05 billion USD), up 8.99% and accounting for 14.74% of total revenue with a gross profit margin of 26.71%. In battery materials and recycling, CATL’s annual revenue was 21.86 billion yuan (3.17 billion USD), a 23.83% decrease, representing 5.16% of total revenue with a gross profit margin of 27.27%. From a profitability perspective, CATL’s energy storage business achieved a 26.71% gross margin, higher than the 23.84% for power batteries. Regarding international revenue, CATL’s overseas revenue in 2025 continued to hold steady at over 30%. Specifically, domestic revenue reached 294.06 billion yuan (42.62 billion USD), accounting for 69.40% with a gross margin of 24.00%, while overseas revenue reached 129.64 billion yuan (18.79 billion USD), representing 30.60% with a gross margin of 31.44%. In the global market, according to SNE Research, CATL’s global power battery market share increased by 1.2 percentage points to 39.2% in 2025, ranking first globally for the ninth consecutive year, with overseas market share increasing to 30%. In energy storage, CATL’s market share ranked first globally for the fifth consecutive year. Production capacity and global expansion In terms of shipments and production capacity, CATL remained strong in 2025, with lithium-ion battery sales of 661GWh, a 39.16% increase. By specific business: power battery sales reached 541GWh, up 41.85%; energy storage battery sales reached 121GWh, up 29.13%. On the production side, CATL’s lithium battery capacity reached 772GWh in 2025, with 321GWh under construction, and a capacity utilisation rate of 96.9%. For investor returns, the annual report disclosed that CATL will continue its high dividend payout ratio, proposing a cash dividend of 69.57 yuan (10 USD) for every 10 shares based on 4,531,886,650 shares, emphasising “cash dividends at 50% of net profit for three consecutive years.” Editor’s comment The sheer numbers might not immediately convey the full impact; a 10 billion USD profit is set to surpass the combined annual profits of all Chinese automakers, including major players like BYD, Geely, SAIC, Changan, and GWM. To put this into perspective, Leapmotor’s current market capitalisation stands at 57.8 billion HKD, equivalent to 7.37 billion USD. This means that CATL’s projected net profit for 2025 would be sufficient to acquire Leapmotor outright.
Liked by Alexander Morgan, Emily Tremblay
Liked by Alexander Morgan, Emily Tremblay
Liked by Alexander Morgan, Emily Tremblay
