(Yicai) Oct. 21 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology reported a 26 percent increase in net profit in the third quarter of the year, mainly because the Chinese power battery giant lowered production costs more than prices.

Net profit widened 26 percent to CNY13.1 billion (USD1.8 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, the Ningde-based company announced on Oct. 18. Revenue fell 12 percent to CNY92.3 billion.

The widening net profit was mainly because CATL’s cost reduction exceeded the product price cuts, executives said during the earnings conference call. The company’s gross profit margin reached 31.2 percent in the third quarter, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2018.

In the first three quarters of the year, CATL logged CNY36 billion in net profit and CNY259.1 billion (USD36.5 billion) in revenue, up 16 percent and down 12 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

Operating costs narrowed more than 19 percent to CNY186 billion in the period, with research and development expenses shrinking 12 percent to CNY13.1 billion.

CATL’s global installed power battery capacity surged 27 percent to 189.2 gigawatt-hours in the first eight months of the year from a year earlier, ranking first with a market share of over 37 percent, according to data from South Korean research institute SNE Research. It has ranked first for the past seven years.

CATL’s shares [SHE: 300750] were trading up 1.3 percent at CNY253.07 (USD35.58) as of 2.40 p.m. in Shenzhen today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione