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ubtech has lost 3.9 billion yuan in the past four years, and is still losing money in the first half of 2024. looking to the future, ubtech's "dream" is great, but when will ubtech become profitable in reality? this is the question that everyone is concerned about. it seems unnecessary to make a profit while losing money.

text｜han xiang

ubtech robotics, the “first humanoid robot stock”, released its first semi-annual report after its listing.

data shows that ubtech achieved revenue of 487 million yuan in the first half of the year, up 86.6% from the same period last year, and suffered a loss of 540 million yuan in the first half of the year. obviously, ubtech's losses exceeded its revenue.

it is worth noting that although ubtech is known as the "first humanoid robot stock", the revenue contributed by its humanoid robot business, which includes customized intelligent robots for other industries and its intelligent robot solutions, is less than 20%. the revenue contributed by the two major businesses of educational intelligent robots and solutions and consumer intelligent robot-related solutions is close to 70%.

among the four major business segments, the revenue of logistics intelligent robots and solutions fell by 22.4% in the first half of the year, and the proportion of revenue fell to 12.2%, which to some extent dragged down the company's performance.

most importantly, the problem of not being able to make a profit still plagues ubtech. from 2020 to 2023, ubtech lost 707 million yuan, 918 million yuan, 987 million yuan and 1.265 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of nearly 4 billion yuan in four years. by the first half of 2024, ubtech continued to lose 540 million yuan.

however, the only thing that is gratifying is that the loss has narrowed. the loss of 540 million yuan accounted for 110.9% of the revenue in the first half of the year, while the loss ratio in the same period last year was as high as 210%.

"digital intelligence research society" found that although ubtech robotics chairman zhou jian revealed in a conference call that there would be orders for nearly 2,000 humanoid robots next year, he did not mention a word about the profit dilemma.

in the capital market, ubtech's stock price soared in march 2024 due to its inclusion in the hang seng composite index and the hang seng shanghai-hong kong stock connect greater bay area index, but in less than half a year, its market value has evaporated by hk$92 billion from its peak.

the name of “the first stock of humanoid robots” is not worthy of its name

on december 29, 2023, ubtech robotics was listed on the hong kong stock exchange, filling the gap in the humanoid robot track in the capital market and becoming the "first humanoid robot stock."

ubtech's 2024 semi-annual report recently disclosed that ubtech achieved revenue of 487 million yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 86.6%. ubtech attributed the revenue growth to the company's enhanced business expansion, new product launches, and the delivery of signed projects.

in terms of revenue structure, ubtech's current business is mainly divided into four major segments, namely consumer robots, educational intelligent robots, logistics intelligent robots, and customized intelligent robots for other industries and related solutions.in the first half of 2024, the above four major businesses contributed revenues of rmb 175 million, rmb 161 million, rmb 60 million and rmb 91 million, respectively, accounting for 35.8%, 33.1%, 12.2% and 18.7% of the revenue, respectively.

separately, consumer robots and educational intelligent robots have contributed nearly 70% of ubtech's revenue, which is definitely its core business. the customized intelligent robots and solutions for other industries that have always been in the spotlight of "the first humanoid robot stock" only contributed 18.7% of the revenue in the first half of the year.

but even this 18.7% revenue was achieved by a leapfrog growth of 309.5% in the first half of the year, which far exceeded the corresponding year-on-year growth rates of 113% and 105.5% for educational intelligent robots and consumer robots and solutions.

the only thing that is lagging behind is the logistics intelligent robot and solution business. after the release of the first half of 2024 results, the revenue contribution of the logistics intelligent robot and solution business dropped sharply from 29.4% in the first half of 2023 to 12.2%. in this regard, ubtech said that some projects will be delivered and accepted in the second half of 2024. by then, "digital intelligence research society" will continue to pay attention to the changes in ubtech's logistics intelligent robot business.

zhou jian mentioned the customized intelligent robot business several times at the earnings conference. "humanoid robots are not very common at present, but as time goes by, the learning ability of humanoid robots may not need to be trained for as long as humans." at the same time, zhou jian also said, "in the future, the number of humanoid robots will far exceed that of humans, and the number of humanoid robots around each person may be far more than one."

the future is bright, but the road is full of bumps.

in a profit dilemma

ubtech is still mired in losses.

from 2020 to 2023, ubtech's cumulative losses exceeded 3.9 billion yuan. in the first half of 2024, ubtech suffered another loss of 540 million yuan. although the loss narrowed year-on-year, the loss exceeded the revenue of 487 million yuan in the same period.

"digital intelligence research society" found that behind ubtech's revenue growth of 88.6%, its costs also rose. in the first half of 2024, ubtech's revenue cost was 302 million yuan, an increase of nearly 50% compared with 202 million yuan in the same period last year. however, because the growth rate of operating costs was lower than the growth rate of revenue, ubtech achieved a 214% increase in gross profit.

in addition to the increase in operating costs, ubtech's various expenses also increased. among them, sales expenses increased by 25.9% year-on-year to 234 million yuan, and management expenses increased by 17.5% year-on-year to 215 million yuan. it is worth noting that ubtech's r&d expenses only increased by 1.4%.

in the view of "digital intelligence research society", ubtech's strict control of r&d expenses is currently pinned on business expansion and payment from contracted project delivery. because of the delayed payment of accounts receivable from some government-related customers in the first half of the year, ubtech recorded a credit impairment loss of 74 million yuan in the first half of the year.

it is worth mentioning that although ubtech is still mired in losses, it had cash and cash equivalents of 755 million yuan on its account at the end of the first half of the year, while the cash equivalents on its account at the end of last year were 520 million yuan.from the current perspective, ubtech's losses will continue, but the amount and time left for them to suffer losses are running short.

at the same time, "digital intelligence research society" also noticed that in july this year, ubtech was absent from the world artificial intelligence conference. as soon as the news of its absence came out, ubtech's market value quickly evaporated by more than 10 billion yuan. ubtech did not give a specific explanation for its absence at the time. fortunately, at the global robotics conference held on august 21, ubtech brought its humanoid robot industrial scenario solutions to the stage in time, thus avoiding misunderstandings.