New Stock Preview | Oudong New Energy: Three-year revenue dropped by 35%, "the third largest in the battery swap sector" with cumulative losses of 1.382 billion.

On July 19, 2026, the official website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange showed that AD New Energy Co., Ltd. had once again submitted an application for listing, with sole sponsor being CMB International. This is the second attempt after the initial submission expired after 6 months in December 2025. If successfully listed, AD New Energy will become the "first stock in the Hong Kong stock market for electric vehicle swapping." The company was founded by "Father of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" Cai Dongqing and swapping technology expert Zhang Jianping in 2016. In 1986, Cai Dongqing bought an old-fashioned injection molding machine for 800 yuan to produce plastic toy horns, and later created a business model combining animation with toys, creating phenomena like "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf." In 2009, he led Alpha Group to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. From animation toys to the swapping track, Cai Dongqing's cross-domain span is jaw-dropping. From the initial failed submission to the second attempt, the path to the IPO of AD New Energy is also full of variables. However, while the title of being the "first stock for electric vehicle swapping" in the Hong Kong stock market is tempting, the market needs to first understand the weight of this crown. With accumulated losses of 1.382 billion yuan, the narrowing losses are unable to catch up with the decline in revenue. According to information, AD New Energy is a mature participant in the Chinese swapping industry, dedicated to creating a comprehensive product and service portfolio covering the swapping ecosystem. Through its self-developed smart energy service platform, the company can efficiently manage swapping equipment, vehicles, and batteries to better meet user needs. According to data from Zhishi Consulting, based on revenue generated from swapping station operation services in 2025, AD New Energy ranked third in China. As of April 30, 2026, the smart energy service platform of AD New Energy has connected 531 swapping stations, covering 214 self-owned swapping stations and 317 third-party sites, with over 130,000 registered electric vehicles and more than 160,000 managed batteries. Looking at the operating performance, the marginal improvement of AD New Energy is gradually appearing, but there are still structural weaknesses in the fundamentals. According to the prospectus, AD New Energy achieved revenues of 1.155 billion yuan, 926 million yuan, and 677 million yuan in 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively. There was a year-on-year decrease of 19.8% in 2024 and a further decrease of 26.9% in 2025, with a cumulative decrease of 35.2% over three years. The direct reason for the revenue contraction is the drastic change in business structure - the company is transitioning from being a "Swapping equipment seller" to a "Swapping service provider". Equipment sales used to be the company's core source of revenue. In 2022, this business generated 731 million yuan in revenue, accounting for 66.9% of total revenue. As the pain points of the swapping industry become more prominent, such as non-uniform battery pack specifications among different carmakers, poor cross-platform compatibility, and high customization costs, the equipment sales business continues to shrink. From 2023 to 2025, equipment sales revenue decreased each year to 519 million yuan, 268 million yuan, and 150 million yuan respectively. This was accompanied by the rise of the swapping service business at self-owned swapping stations. From 2023 to 2025, the revenue from this business amounted to 529 million yuan, 547 million yuan, and 440 million yuan, becoming the new revenue support. Despite the continuous decline in revenue, the losses of AD New Energy are narrowing. From 2023 to 2025, the company's net losses were 655 million yuan, 419 million yuan, and 307 million yuan respectively. The net loss in 2025 decreased by over 53% compared to 2023. However, the three-year accumulated loss still reached 1.382 billion yuan. In the first four months of 2026, the company incurred a loss of 91.43 million yuan, a 11.5% decrease from the same period last year. With the narrowing of losses, AD New Energy also reached a key point of turning gross losses into gross profits: from 2023 to 2025, the company incurred gross losses of 39.85 million yuan, 34.10 million yuan, and 33.89 million yuan respectively; and gross loss rates were 3.4%, 3.7%, and 5.0% respectively. In the first four months of 2026, a key breakthrough occurred - the company achieved a gross profit of 4.12 million yuan, with a gross profit margin of 1.8%, turning positive for the first time. Operating cash flow in the same period also improved from a net outflow of 55.20 million yuan to a net inflow of 10.90 million yuan compared to the same period in 2025. However, the structural contradictions of the company still remain, with self-owned swapping stations being a "bleeding point." In 2025, the gross margin for swapping services at self-owned stations was -21.4%, meaning a loss of 0.21 yuan for every 1 yuan of swapping service provided. In contrast, the gross profit margins for swapping operation services (including equipment sales and operation services) for third-party clients have always been positive, with the gross profit margin for equipment sales reaching 12.9% in 2025, and the operation service gross profit margin reaching a high of 61.4%. While the 1.8% gross profit margin may seem minimal, it is a struggle to break free from the -21.4% trap of self-owned stations - this turnaround is more of a signal to stop the bleeding rather than a declaration of profitability. At the same time, the rate of narrowing losses is not catching up with the speed of revenue decline, illustrating the most brutal aspect of AD New Energy's financial data. In a "fast-paced" industry, the company is still "bleeding." From the industry perspective, the swapping track where AD New Energy operates is undoubtedly a "sunrise track." According to data cited in the prospectus, the market size of the domestic swapping industry increased from 1.5 billion yuan in 2020 to 18.5 billion yuan in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 64.5% over five years. The industry is expected to surpass 76.5 billion yuan in scale by 2030, maintaining a high growth rate with a compound annual growth rate of 32.9% from 2025 to 2030, indicating clear growth potential. The structural dividend of demand is concentrated on operational vehicles: taxis, ride-hailing cars, urban distribution logistics, and heavy trucks have high daily mileage, and fast charging is time-consuming and severely reduces operational efficiency, making swapping with 20-40 minutes of rapid energy replenishment invaluable. According to the prospectus, swapping vehicles accounted for only 4.8% of total sales of new energy vehicles in China in 2025; by 2030, the penetration rate is expected to increase to 6.6%, with the penetration rate of operational swapping vehicles soaring to 19.7%, with the B-end being the core fundamental market of the swapping industry. On the policy front, national medium and long-term plans for the new energy automobile industry, special support plans for heavy-duty swapping, and county-level charging and swapping subsidies have been successively implemented, clearly encouraging the large-scale implementation of multi-technology swapping models, providing policy support for the continued expansion of the industry. In this highly growth-oriented swapping track, AD New Energy, as one of the industry's leading companies, faces both opportunities and challenges. According to Zhishi Consulting data, based on revenue generated from swapping station operation services in 2025, AD New Energy ranked third in China. The company holds a leading position among independent third-party swapping solution providers. However, the competitive landscape shows a trend of "one dominant, multiple strong followers". According to data from the China Industry Research Institute, as of October 2025, there were 5,036 swapping stations nationwide, with NIO occupying 3,572 stations, accounting for 71% of the total, while AD New Energy had 785 stations and Easy Link had 389 stations, with the CR3 exceeding 90%. Contemporary Amperex Technology, relying on its "Chocolate Swapping Block" technology to promote battery standardization, completed 1,020 and 305 swapping stations for Chocolate Swapping and Qijia Swapping at the end of 2025, exceeding the annual targets. In the swapping track, AD New Energy is in third place - with car manufacturers with their own traffic and giants controlling the battery market in the lead, and eager pursuers behind. Third place is both a position and a dilemma. In addition, it is important to note that the core pain points of the swapping industry are also putting pressure on AD New Energy's growth path. On one hand, the lack of unified swapping and battery standards across the country, the incompatibility of different companies' technological routes, and the risk of large-scale elimination and devaluation of existing devices; on the other hand, swapping is a capital-intensive industry, with high investment in single station construction and battery procurement, where the daily utilization rate of stations directly determines profit and loss, and long-term losses are common throughout the industry. Furthermore, the rapid iteration of high-power ultra-fast charging technology continues to divert the swapping needs of short and medium-distance operational vehicles. Despite the promising prospects of the swapping track, AD New Energy has not yet broken free from the dilemma of "industry making money, companies not making money." In conclusion, it is evident that although AD New Energy has accurately positioned itself in the long-term expansion trend of the swapping industry, with its exclusive swapping technology and differentiated positioning across all brands, securing a strong position as a third-party leading player in the operational vehicle segment. However, with three consecutive years of shrinking revenue, accumulated losses exceeding 1.3 billion yuan, and pressure from both the vehicle and battery giants squeezing the industry landscape, the decision for the company to list in Hong Kong only holds long-term value in the game, with short-term stable profits needing further validation over time.