On the evening of November 24, Zhongzi Technology (688737) announced that it recently received a fixed-point notice for the development of Chengdu Xinyan Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinyan Hydrogen Energy") and became a designated catalyst development supplier for the latter's three fuel cell engines. Subsequently, the company will complete the development, test verification, production preparation and delivery of the specified model products within the specified time.

Zhongzi Technology said that this designation is conducive to the expansion of hydrogen fuel cell catalyst business and may have a positive impact on the company's future performance. However, the development of the fixed-point notice does not constitute an order or sales contract, and is not expected to have a material impact on the operating results of the current year.

According to public information, Xinyan Hydrogen Energy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xinyan Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in 2017, and its core products include metal bipolar plates, fuel cell stacks, modules and fuel cell engine systems, fuel cell related testing equipment, etc., with an annual production capacity of 1,500 sets of 100 kilowatt metal plate stacks and 1,000 sets of fuel cell systems.

In recent years, relying on its advantages in environmental protection catalyst technology, the company has actively expanded to the market of energy storage and energy storage + business, industrial catalysts and hydrogen fuel cell electric catalysts.

It is reported that the hydrogen fuel cell catalyst is the core component of the hydrogen fuel cell stack, which is mainly composed of carbon carrier and platinum or platinum alloy, which plays a role in catalyzing the chemical reaction in the battery. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, when the annual shipment of hydrogen fuel cell stacks is 500,000 units, the cost of electrocatalysts will account for 41% of the production cost of the stack, which is significantly higher than other components of the stack. At present, China's hydrogen fuel cell electrocatalyst mainly relies on imports, and there is a broad space for domestic substitution.

In 2018, Zhongzi Technology began to lay out the hydrogen energy industry chain, undertook the national key R&D projects related to hydrogen fuel cell electrocatalysts, and completed the final defense of the project in May 2024. At present, the company has developed two products, platinum-carbon catalyst and platinum-alloy catalyst, and achieved kilogram-level batch sales of hydrogen fuel cell electrocatalyst in 2023, with a revenue of 533,100 yuan and a gross profit margin of 28.53% in hydrogen energy-related businesses that year.

In addition to the hydrogen energy business, Zhongzi Technology has also accelerated its layout in the field of energy storage business. In the first half of this year, the company successfully developed domestic and overseas dual-version industrial and commercial energy storage systems and obtained third-party certification for corresponding standards, and developed a series of home storage batteries such as rack, wall-mounted, and floor-mounted for the overseas home storage market. At the same time, the sodium-ion battery product was successfully finalized and verified in multiple batches, and the 150kWh scale trial production was completed. In the first half of this year, the company's energy storage and energy storage + business achieved revenue of 13.4968 million yuan.

In terms of R&D investment, Zhongzi Technology has maintained a high intensity. In the first half of 2024, the company's R&D investment will be 47.7457 million yuan, accounting for 6.46% of revenue, and there will be 212 R&D personnel, accounting for 31.59% of the total number of employees.

However, the cultivation of new business sectors requires a certain period of time, and the main revenue of Zhongzi Technology still comes from tail gas treatment catalysts. In the first three quarters of this year, affected by the price reduction of major products and the increase in new business technology development and market development expenditures, the company's performance was under pressure, achieving revenue of 1.057 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.93%; Net profit -14.0909 million yuan, a year-on-year change from profit to loss.

In June this year, Zhongzi Technology issued a repurchase plan, planning to repurchase shares for 20 million yuan to 40 million yuan. As of the end of October, the company has repurchased 2,062,200 shares of the company through the Shanghai Stock Exchange trading system through centralized bidding, and the total amount of funds paid is 29,989,800 yuan.