image credit: Bamboo Works
Key Takeaways:
HSC has applied to list in Hong Kong, saying it's the world's largest supplier of lithium-ion battery electrolyte additives with 15.2% of the global market
The company returned to the black last year with a recovery in prices for its products, reporting a profit of 13.25 million yuan
In theory, being the world's top manufacturer for any established product should make profits come easy. But for Jiangsu HSC New Energy Materials Co. Ltd. (688353.SH), which filed last week for a Hong Kong IPO, that logic doesn't quite hold.
Founded in the 1990s when electric vehicles (EVs) were mostly an unproven concept, HSC moved into the business of making lithium battery electrolyte additives that are a key component for EV batteries in the early 2000s. It was one of China's first companies to achieve mass production of vinylene carbonate (VC) and later developed a differentiated process for fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), which are both used in lithium batteries.
After nearly two decades of building its expertise, the company has secured a leading position in this small but important upstream segment of the lithium battery supply chain. It became the world's largest lithium-ion battery electrolyte additives supplier by volume last year, commanding 15.2% of the market, according to third-party market data in its listing application.
However, the company's financial results over the past three years show this leading position has yet to translate to stable profits. Its revenue fell slightly from 525 million yuan ($77 million) in 2023 to 505 million yuan in 2024, before rebounding sharply to 869 million yuan in 2025, a yearly increase of 72.2%. But recovery for its profits lagged considerably. The company lost 23.91 million yuan and 174 million yuan in 2023 and 2024, respectively, before returning to a modest net profit of 13.25 million yuan last year. Despite that return to the black, the size of the profit was hardly impressive.
The problem hasn't been demand. Sales volume for HSC's two core products, VC and FEC, has been rising steadily over the last ...
