By Jiahui Huang


Zeekr Intelligent Technology's net loss narrowed in the first quarter, thanks to sharply higher sales of cars and batteries, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker said in its first earnings report as a public company.

The company, which is backed by Geely Automobile, on Tuesday reported a quarterly net loss of 2.01 billion yuan ($277.3 million), narrowing from CNY2.39 billion a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 71% to CNY14.74 billion, which the EV maker attributed to higher sales volume.

Zeekr delivered 33,059 vehicles in the first quarter, more than doubling from a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs analysts in a note said they expect the EV maker to deliver 215,000 units this year, citing the successful relaunch of the Zeekr 001 in February with lower prices and the start of deliveries for the 007 model. That is slightly lower than the company's goal of 230,000 units.

Zeekr has witnessed strong sales momentum in China this year, with deliveries roughly doubling in April and May from a year earlier.

For the first quarter, the company's gross margin rose to 11.8% from 7.9%, while its vehicle margin increased by 3.9 percentage points due to effective procurement cost control, it said.

Sequentially, however, its gross margin was weaker than 14.2% in the previous quarter, dragged by lower vehicle sales and a change in product mix, as well as lower gross margin of sales from batteries and other components, the company said.

By comparison, rivals XPeng and NIO reported gross margins of 12.9% and 4.9%, respectively, in the first quarter.

"Our successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in May significantly strengthened our balance sheet, setting the stage for our long-term development," Chief Financial Officer Jing Yuan said.

Shares of Zeekr, which have been trading below their IPO price, rose 7.40% in premarket trading.


Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-11-24 0709ET