Clarifying rumors of BYD cooperation, Black Sesame Intelligent’s share price has fluctuated sharply after lifting the ban

Photo source: Visual China

Blue Whale News, February 10 (Reporter Xu Xiaochun)At the opening of the market on February 10, Black Sesame Intelligent’s share price collapsed, with the biggest intraday decline reaching 50.93%. The company’s share price dropped to a minimum of HK$19.04/share. At the close, Black Sesame Intelligence still fell by 39.56%, its share price closed at HK$23.45/share, and the company’s market value was approximately HK$13.347 billion.

On the evening of February 10, BYD is expected to hold an intelligent strategy conference. It is expected that BYD ‘s Eye of God high-end smart driving system will be officially launched. Previously, there was market news that BYD would use Black Sesame Intelligent’s vehicle-level autonomous driving computing chip. Currently, the chip has been shipped in mass production and will be installed on the models of BYD’s brand Tengshi.

At that time, Black Sesame Intelligent responded to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that Black Sesame Intelligent’s chips had been adopted by BYD and had been mass-produced and shipped, and the specific details were inconvenient to disclose. On February 6 and 7, Black Sesame Intelligent’s share price rose rapidly, with a cumulative increase of 54.58% in two trading days. On February 7, Black Sesame Intelligent’s share price reached a maximum of HK$43.85 per share, the highest price since the company’s listing. At the close, the company’s market value was approximately HK$22.1 billion.

In recent years, BYD has made frequent efforts in the direction of intelligence. In January 2024, BYD released a vehicle intelligence strategy. According to the plan, BYD will invest 100 billion yuan in the field of intelligence in the future to provide high-end intelligent driving system options for models with more than 200,000 yuan, and high-end intelligent driving systems will be standard on models with more than 300,000 yuan.

In mid-2024, BYD will separate its self-research team from the Intelligent Driving R & D Center of the Planning Institute and establish a separate Tianxuan Development Department. Xu Lingyun, former head of intelligent driving at Gaohe Automobile, is in charge of developing his own high-level intelligent driving solutions; BYD veteran Li Feng has established the Tianlang Development Department to develop low-level intelligent driving solutions. In October, the two teams completed the integration to form a unified self-developed intelligent driving department.

On February 10, BYD is expected to also present the latest achievements in intelligence at the press conference, attracting the attention of a large number of market investors. However, before the market on February 10, Black Sesame Intelligent issued a clarification announcement, responding that the company has long-term cooperative relationships with automotive original equipment manufacturers, including but not limited to BYD. This is the company’s daily and general business process. As of the announcement disclosure date, There are no major changes in the cooperation that need to be disclosed.

Affected by this, on the morning of February 10, Black Sesame Intelligent’s share price opened lower. After the opening, the company’s share price quickly dropped, and the decline quickly exceeded 50%.

It is understood that Black Sesame Intelligent was established in 2016. The company is positioned as a supplier of vehicle-level smart car computing SoCs and SoC-based smart car solutions. The company has successively launched Huashan series of high-computing power chips and Wudang series of cross-domain computing chips for autonomous driving. In August 2024, the first halo of Black Sesame Smart ‘s head-on smart driving chips officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

As of the end of June 2024, Black Sesame Intelligent has received intended orders for 23 models from 16 automobile OEMs and first-tier suppliers, including FAW Group, Dongfeng Group, Jiangqi Group, etc.

In the first half of 2024, Black Sesame Intelligent achieved overall operating income of approximately 180 million yuan, an increase of 69.2% over the same period last year. Among them, smart driving chips contributed most of Black Sesame Intelligent’s revenue. During the same period, Black Sesame Intelligence’s adjusted net profit still lost 602 million yuan.

Regarding the increase in revenue, the company explained that it was due to the gradual increase in mass production models. Mass production of autonomous driving navigation has begun in some models and some cities. Black Sesame Intelligent A1000 series chips have been launched in mass production of Link08 and Dongfeng series models. On board, the gross profit margin of Black Sesame Intelligent has also been significantly increased to 50%.

From its establishment in 2016 to before its IPO, Black Sesame Intelligent completed 10 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of approximately US$695 million, or approximately RMB 5 billion. Among them, investors include venture capital institutions such as Northern Light Venture Capital, China Merchants Venture Capital, and Haisong Capital, as well as industrial capital such as Dongfeng Motor, NIO Capital, Xiaomi, Geely, and GAC.

On February 8, Black Sesame Intelligent ushered in the first wave of lifting the ban after its listing, which may be one of the reasons affecting the fluctuations of the company’s share price. According to Wind statistics, Black Sesame Intelligence lifted the ban on about 110 million shares on February 8, accounting for 19.34% of the company’s total share capital. Among them, the next three funds of Northern Lights Venture Capital have lifted the ban on approximately 55.7008 million shares, with a market value of approximately 2.161 billion yuan. In addition, Haisong Capital, Qicheng Development Co., Ltd., Joyson Electronic USA LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Joyson Electronics, and other capital are all on the list of lifting the ban.