The global competition in the lithium battery industry is intensifying. Recently, Putailai, a versatile player originating from anode materials, submitted an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to establish a dual capital platform with both A-shares and H-shares. After nearly nine years listed on the A-share market, this move to Hong Kong is seen as a critical step in Putailai's global strategy. However, while the company has built a strong moat through vertical integration, it also faces challenges such as high customer concentration and sluggish growth in certain business segments. With an urgent need to expand production capacity overseas, can this materials giant successfully navigate global waters?
Performance Shows Strong Rebound and Profit Recovery
Putailai's predecessor was established in Shanghai's Pudong district in 2012. In December of the same year, it set up Jiangxi Zichen, officially entering the anode materials sector for lithium-ion batteries, which marked the beginning of its materials business. Between 2013 and 2016, through several mergers and acquisitions, the company expanded into lithium battery automation equipment and coated separator fields, forming the initial framework of an integrated industrial chain. Putailai successfully listed on the A-share market in 2017 and completed the vertical integration layout of anode materials and national capacity distribution between 2018 and 2020, capitalizing on the new energy boom.
However, starting around 2023, with explosive planning and commissioning of anode material capacity nationwide, industry consolidation began, significantly impacting the company's performance. Concurrently, a planned 100,000-ton integrated anode material project in Sweden was terminated due to failed local regulatory approval, hindering overseas expansion. Despite these challenges, Putailai has demonstrated a notable performance recovery and profit margin improvement following the industry's cyclical adjustment.
From 2023 to 2025 (the reporting period), the company's revenue was 152.93 billion yuan, 133.99 billion yuan, and 156.56 billion yuan, respectively, with corresponding net profits of 21.53 billion yuan, 13.87 billion yuan, and 26.14 billion yuan. In 2025, revenue increased by 16.84% year-over-year, returning to a growth trajectory, while net profit nearly doubled. The introduction of new products, processes, and high-end capacity effectively captured incremental demand in the energy storage market, leading to a significant improvement in the company's comprehensive gross margin. It rose from 22.1% in 2024 to 29.7% in 2025, the best level in nearly three years and close to the 2022 figure.
Business Model Innovation: Integration Builds a Moat
The strong performance rebound is not accidental; it is supported by the unique "integrated" competitive advantage Putailai has established across multiple sub-markets. In 2025, the company's coated separator shipment volume reached 10.9 billion square meters, capturing a 35.3% global market share and ranking first in the industry for seven consecutive years. Additionally, Putailai maintained its position as the global leader in PVDF shipments for three years, achieving a 27.6% market share in 2025. The rapid growth of these high-margin businesses has been the primary driver of profit recovery.
Starting with anode materials, Putailai horizontally expanded into functional materials like coated separators, PVDF, and boehmite. Vertically, through in-house R&D and acquisitions, it entered the core production equipment sector and further extended downstream to CAAS (electrode sheet OEM) services. This formed a unique integrated platform business model combining "materials + equipment + process," building a deep moat. For instance, by self-supplying base film, coating materials, and equipment, Putailai achieved significant synergistic cost reduction and rapid response advantages in the coated separator field. Competitors like Enjie and Xingyuan Material may lead in base film scale but lack deep integration in the coating segment. In equipment, leveraging its expertise in coating—a key process—Putailai expanded from coating machines to mid- and back-end equipment (winding, stacking, electrolyte filling), differentiating itself from competitors like Lead Intelligent's "whole-line" model and WinHop's "specialized machine" approach.
This integrated platform model has reshaped Putailai's relationship with downstream customers. While traditional material suppliers often engage in price-based negotiations with battery manufacturers, Putailai's comprehensive solutions are deeply embedded in clients' R&D and production processes. For example, its CAAS electrode sheet OEM service provides customized manufacturing based on customer battery designs, helping clients reduce capital expenditure and accelerate time-to-market. This deep integration significantly increases customer switching costs, elevating Putailai from a replaceable supplier to an indispensable manufacturing partner, thereby enhancing its bargaining power and business stability.
Anode Business Growth Lags; High Customer Concentration Poses Risks
Despite the impressive performance recovery and clear integrated advantages, a deeper analysis of its business structure and customer composition reveals significant structural concerns. The growth of its foundational anode materials business is notably sluggish, and reliance on a few major battery manufacturers remains excessively high, posing dual challenges to sustained and stable future growth.
In 2025, Putailai's anode material shipment volume was 143,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of approximately 8.1%. This growth rate is significantly lower than the national average of 38.1% during the same period, indicating pressure from market share erosion. Competitors such as Shangtai Technology and Zhongke Electric are rapidly gaining share. Anode materials are the cornerstone of Putailai's integrated moat, making this segment critically important. Although the company has effectively reduced costs through integrated process optimization and increased self-sufficiency in graphitization, and has made breakthroughs in new products like high-end silicon-carbon anodes, standard graphite anode products still suffer from industry price wars. The average selling price dropped from 40.5 yuan per kilogram in 2023 to 24.5 yuan per kilogram in 2025, a decline of nearly 40%. Consequently, mass production capability for advanced technologies, stringent cost control (graphitization self-sufficiency), and global capacity layout become increasingly vital.
A deeper concern lies in the persistently high customer concentration risk. According to the prospectus, revenue from the top five customers accounted for 70.4%, 66.1%, and 58.4% of total revenue during the reporting period. Although showing a positive declining trend, this concentration remains much higher than many peers. Revenue from the largest customer consistently hovered around 39%. While this deep binding ensures stable orders, it also tightly links Putailai's operational performance to the strategic plans, procurement strategies, and even the operational status of individual key clients. Should a major client reduce purchases due to changes in its technology roadmap, supply chain diversification strategy, or market position, Putailai's revenue could face immediate and significant impact. Management emphasizes in the prospectus that continuous R&D investment, new customer expansion, and product portfolio optimization have gradually reduced reliance on any single customer, and believes the key client relationship is stable long-term. However, this structural risk cannot be entirely eliminated.
Substantial Cash Holdings; H-Share Listing Primarily Aims to Boost Globalization
To consolidate its core business and mitigate structural risks, establishing a dual "A+H" capital platform is a crucial step. This move is far from a simple secondary financing exercise. As of the end of 2025, the company held approximately 5.19 billion yuan in cash and equivalents, with annual operating activities generating nearly 3 billion yuan in net cash inflow, indicating the company is not financially strained.
The primary strategic motive for pursuing an H-share listing despite holding 5 billion yuan in cash is to provide solid capital and platform support for its ambitious global capacity expansion. In recent years, leading global battery manufacturers like CATL, EVE Energy, Samsung SDI, and LG Energy Solution have been establishing production bases in Southeast Asia to be closer to end markets and mitigate trade risks. As a key link in the supply chain, Putailai must achieve "close proximity support" by building capacity near client factories to ensure timely response and stable supply, thereby consolidating and deepening customer relationships. Funds raised from the Hong Kong listing will be directly used for such overseas capacity construction and R&D investment, providing vital "fuel" for the company's global expansion. Simultaneously, the dual "A+H" platform will provide access to a broader international investor base, reducing reliance on a single capital market and enhancing risk resilience.
Despite the strong performance recovery in 2025, Putailai's overseas revenue contribution declined from 14.9% in 2023 to only about 6% in 2025, indicating that international revenue remains a weak spot. The concurrent pursuit of listing fundraising and overseas factory construction clearly aims to reverse this trend, expanding the company's market boundaries from a heavy reliance on the domestic Chinese market to the broader global arena. As globalization competition in the new energy industry chain enters a deeper phase, further consolidating foundations and expanding global competitiveness is both crucial and urgent for Putailai.