Last June, we had the rare opportunity to visit a facility that produces electric cars. @ Core Power's plant in Yongan City (Fujian): Light electric cars being produced. The annual production capacity is massive: 100,000 cars.NextInsight file photo.It is owned by Core Power (Fujian) New Energy Automobile Co. in which SGX-listed Miyoshi Limited had bought a 15% stake for S$8.8 million in Aug 2016. Located in Fujian province, the Core Power operation had not turned in a profit at that time but, it stands to reason, that when it does, or is about to do so, Miyoshi would increase its stake in the company. Core Power is on the verge of a step-up in its business growth, going by an announcement by Miyoshi on 2 April. |
Core Power has just inked an agreement with Jiangxi Changhe Automotive Co., Ltd (江西昌河汽 车有限责任公司), a subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd (北汽集团) to jointly develop a new all-electric vehicle.
Core Power and Jiangxi Changhe will develop a new 5-door, 4-seater all-electric passenger vehicle. This will add to the range of models that Beijing Automotive Group (acronym: BAIC) already offers.
Production schedule and volumes have not been announced yet.
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BAIC may not be as familiar a name as BYD is to Singaporeans -- but BAIC ranks up there with BYD as an electric car producer. |
Watch Wall Street Journal video "Electric Cars Are a Hit With Chinese Consumers" -->
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Miyoshi |
7.1 c |
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52-week range |
6.3 – 8.9 c |
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PE (ttm) |
12 |
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Market cap |
S$35 m |
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Shares outstanding |
494 m |
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Dividend |
5.6% |
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Price-to-book |
0.6 |
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Source: Yahoo! |
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Under a MOU, Miyoshi -- which is probably the only SGX-listco to have a direct exposure to China's electric car sales -- has the option to increase its stake in Core Power to 49%.
Miyoshi -- whose current core business is precision engineering for the automotive and consumer electronics sectors -- saw a future where electric vehicles would enjoy mass adoption in a country which has already sold more electric cars than anywhere else in the world.
In 1Q this year, China's production and sales of electric vehicles continued to boom, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers:
♦ Production: 149,998 new energy vehicles (NEVs) units, including pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, up 156.9% year-on-year.
♦ Sales: 142,577 units, up 154.3% year-on-year.
Watch video of a Core Power electric car -->
Watch video from our visit to Core Power which is majority owned by Chen Yuming who made his wealth through property development -->
