Chinese battery maker CATL posts faster profit growth in third quarter

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese electric vehicle battery giant CATL saw net profit growth accelerate in the third quarter, even as it faced increased competition from smaller rivals. Net profit rose 41.2% to 18.5 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in the July-September period from a year earlier, picking up from a 33.7% increase in the second quarter, according to a stock filing on Monday. Revenue rose 12.9% year on year to 104.2 billion yuan, up from a 8.3% gain in the second quarter. CATL still leads the pack in global EV battery usage, though its share fell to 36.8% in the first eight months from 37.7% in the year-ago period, according to SNE Research. By comparison, Chinese EV maker BYD which also manufactures batteries in-house, took up 18% share of the global market versus 16.2% a year earlier, buoyed by an expansion in the European market. CATL, which supplies automakers including Tesla, Volkswagen and Xiaomi has also continued overseas expansion, with its new plant in Hungary expected to start production by early next year. However, Beijing issued new export controls on lithium battery parts that will require exporters to seek permits from November, casting uncertainty over CATL's future efforts to venture into overseas markets. ($1 = 7.1230 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Toby Chopra)

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