(Bloomberg) -- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. posted full-year net income that beat estimates as the world’s biggest battery maker for electric vehicles successfully fended off rivals while benefiting from a slump in input costs.

Net income for 2023 was 44.12 billion yuan ($6.13 billion), up 44% year-on-year, against estimates of 43.7 billion yuan. The Chinese juggernaut reported fourth-quarter earnings of 13 billion yuan and revenue of 106.2 billion yuan.

Revenue for the full 12-month period came in at 400.9 billion yuan, short of estimates of 411.1 billion yuan. The company also plans to distribute cash dividend of about 22.1 billion yuan, as to the filing. 

CATL, as the company is better known, in January gave guidance that its annual net income would be between 42.5 billion yuan and 45.5 billion yuan. CATL shares fell 1.53% as market closed on Friday. The stock gained 10.9% year to date. 

Ningde, Fujian-based CATL has managed to keep a tight grip on market share at home, the world’s biggest EV market. It’s also grown steadily into a leading supplier of cells outside China, jostling with LG Energy Solution Ltd. for the top spot.

China’s battery-making giant attributed its earnings growth to the continued — albeit slower — expansion of sales of electric cars in China. 

Sales of EVs and hybrids in China expanded by 36.3% in 2023, a slowdown that threatens to hit battery makers banking on more rapid growth.

CATL, which counts Tesla Inc. as its top customer and serves automakers such as BMW AG, Merecedes-Benz Group AG and Nio Inc., is best known for producing lower-cost but durable cells that contain lithium-iron-phosphate. 

Its operations are also deeply integrated with the upstream supply chain making it slightly more immune to spikes in raw materials prices. Last June, CATL signed a $1.4 billion deal to develop Bolivia’s huge but largely untapped reserves of lithium.

The spot price of lithium carbonate in China — a key material used to power EVs — has fallen around 70% over the past 12 months. Nickel has also been on a wild ride thanks to an oversupply, leading to a decline in prices of more than 60% from their peak in March 2022.

--With assistance from Evelyn Yu.

(Updates with stock price; A previous version corrected fourth-quarter earnings.)

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