The interim report of Leoch Battery, the Singapore-based technology company, reveals a notable growth across several key regions, driven by diverse applications and increased demands for products such as SLI and reserve power batteries.
The automotive industry continues to be the major consumer for Leoch batteries, particularly for combustion engine vehicles, where the demand for lead-acid batteries is described as robust. The reserve power battery business accounted for 41.6% of the total sales of the Group during the period, ¥3,135.4 million ($444.5 million), representing a 9.9% year-on-year growth. The sales revenue of the SLI battery business was the second largest revenue contributor with 37.7% of the total sales. The year-on-year growth was 93.4%.
Leoch has a good position in the motive power business, which corresponded to 9.1% of total sales, up 10.5% year-on-year. Its motive power batteries, both lead-acid and lithium, are widely used in forklifts, material handling equipment and other heavy machineries.
The company increased sales in the America region by 67.6% thanks to a new production plant in Mexico. The development in the Chinese mainland market saw growth of 19.2%, driven by a robust demand in the automotive sector. In Europe, Leoch has put investment plans in place in battery recycling and management.
For the coming period, Leoch foresees a rapid development of the global digital economy and an increase in demand for data centres. Based on the above market development, Leoch said the reserve power battery business is expected to usher in continued growth.
The group has already begun to lay out lithium battery production capacity globally to meet the needs of various customers including communications, data centres, energy storage and low-speed vehicles for lithium battery products.
Net profit for the group in the first half was ¥241.7 million ($34.3 million), down from ¥255.3 million a year before. Turnover was up 25.6% to ¥7.5 billion ($1.1 billion). Profit was impacted by supply chain challenges related to raw material supply, particularly lead, it said.
At the ELBC conference, Leoch executive chairman Dong Li (pictured) said lead-acid batteries will have a very stable future in the market, with SLI segment in the leading position. The lithium battery segment is anticipated to experience rapid growth.
