NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Bin Wang: Okay, great. My second question about, any further fundraising demands are needed, because right now people worry about your net cash position, which declined quite fast. And so, can you just provide some update about your potential fundraising, especially on NIO China IPO? [Foreign Language]

William Li: [Foreign Language] [Interpreted] Thank you, Bin, for your question. Yes, for this year, if we look at the first quarter and the second quarter, because of the delivery performance, which is actually lesser than that of the fourth quarter last year, so this has affected our operating cash flow. But together with over delivery volume ramp-up in the third quarter, we believe that the operating cash flow will also improve. Currently, we believe our cash is sufficient to support the company’s business development. As a public listed company, we make very prudent management of our cash positions and at the same time, we do have all the different channels to do the fundraising in different markets. But this year, we have made some adjustments in terms of our cash spending.

For example, we have delayed our CapEx investment and we have also delayed some R&D projects. At the same time, in terms of global market expansion, we believe it’s more important for us to focus on the markets that we have already entered, for example, for those countries where we have already entered in Europe. So, if we have any kind of plans in the capital markets, we will, of course, let everyone know. Thank you, Wang Bin.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Ming-Hsun Lee from BofA. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Ming-Hsun Lee: Thank you, William and Steven. So, I also have two questions. My first question is, what is the battery price decline in the first quarter? And how much does the battery price to — help gross margin in the first quarter? And also, could you also comment the second quarter and the third quarter’s battery price trend? That’s my first question. Thank you.

Stanley Qu: Hi, Ming. Generally, the price of lithium carbonate decreased a little bit from Q1. So this led to certainly increase of our gross profit margin. Regarding the amount wise, I think [indiscernible] per car. But recently, I think we can also see the lithium carbonate price also recovered a little bit to RMB310,000 per ton. So, well, the change of lithium price will bring uncertainty to our gross profit margin, yes. Generally — that’s generally the impact of lithium.

Ming-Hsun Lee: Thank you, Stanley. And my question is regarding your latest CapEx and the operating expense guidance, because I think William just mentioned that you are starting to control certain investments, especially for some long-term investments, but are you able to give some new guidance, if there is any? I remember last year, the CapEx is around RMB10 billion. Yes, so, I want to know your guidance for this year for CapEx and OpEx. Thank you.

Stanley Qu: Yes, Ming. Our CapEx will still concentrate on the construction of Power Swap stations, charging networks, so it’s network and also tooling and production facilities for our new models. We will well control the cadence of those investments. But at this moment, I don’t think we can give clear guidance of CapEx investment for this year. Yes, we will make adjustments dynamically in line with the spending and also the status, yes.

Ming-Hsun Lee: Yes. Also any guidance on operating expense? Sorry.