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Shares in CATL, the world's largest battery maker, fell nearly 4% on Wednesday after the company warned that its annual revenue decreased for the first time last year, with profit growth at its slowest pace since 2019.

CATL disclosed in a securities filing on Tuesday that its revenue dropped between 8.7% and 11.2% last year due to adjusting product prices to align with lower raw material costs, which resulted in reduced operating income despite increased sales volumes.

This marks the first decline in annual revenue since CATL began reporting operating figures in 2015. Net profit, however, increased by 11.1% to 20.1% in 2024 compared to the previous year, representing the slowest profit growth since 2019.

CATL is set to release its full-year results on March 15 but sometimes Chinese companies proactively provide earnings estimates in cases of significant changes.

Yesterday, the company's shares dropped 3.8% in the morning session, marking the most significant intraday decrease since October 11, while the ChiNext market in Shenzhen was down by 0.6%.

In 2022, CATL ventured into the lithium market to counter skyrocketing prices by establishing a large lithium facility in Jiangxi, southern China. Lithium prices have since plummeted by almost 86% over the past two years, prompting CATL's founder, Robin Zeng, to announce a halt in mine production in November.

Expanding beyond batteries, CATL introduced a new product in December while strategizing a shift toward other ventures. The company is investing globally, including in a 100 GWh battery factory in Hungary to supply names like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, alongside a new battery plant with Stellantis in Spain.

During the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, CATL's co-chairman, Pan Jian, expressed plans for significant joint venture collaborations in Europe with other automakers. In January, it was reported that CATL has enlisted to facilitate a Hong Kong initial public offering, potentially one of the city's largest in 2025.

With a 45.1% market share in batteries for Chinese-made EVs last year, CATL gained 1.9 percentage points, while competitors like BYD and CALB saw a combined decrease of 4.3 points to 31.4%, as per data from the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance.