- Leapmotor's founder and his concert parties increased their stake in the company by HK$316 million ($40.7 million) in April.
- Leapmotor has risen about 70 percent in Hong Kong so far this year.
The founder of Leapmotor (HKG: 9863) has once again increased his stake in the company as a sign of confidence in its growth, despite the fact that its shares traded in Hong Kong are already at an all-time high level.
Zhu Jiangming, Leapmotor's founder, chairman and CEO, and his concert party, Fu Liquan, and his wife, increased their stake in the company again in April, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange announcement yesterday.
The new purchase was 6.81 million shares for HK$316 million (US$40.7 million), adding to last year's more than HK$300 million.
Following the increase, Leapmotor's single largest shareholder group, which includes Zhu and Fu, owns a total of 205,546,438 H shares and 128,517,839 domestic shares in the company, representing 24.99 percent of the total shares in issue.
The move is based on strong confidence in Leapmotor's future development and aims to promote the company's sustainable, stable and healthy development and safeguard the interests of public investors, it said in the announcement.
Leapmotor is a Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker backed by Stellantis NV. On October 26, 2023, Leapmotor said that Stellantis would invest 1.5 billion euros in it to acquire about 20 percent of its equity stake, making it the largest external shareholder in the EV maker.
In August 2024, Leapmotor said in an announcement that Zhu and the Fu family, planned to increase their holdings of Leapmotor's Hong Kong-traded shares by up to RMB 300 million over a six-month period.
As of press time, Leapmotor's Hong Kong-traded shares were up 7.88 percent to HK$54.75, slightly below its all-time high of HK$58.45.
Leapmotor has risen about 70 percent in Hong Kong so far this year.
Leapmotor is one of the new Chinese car-making forces with solid financials, realizing a net income of RMB 80.9 million ($11.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2024, its first quarterly earnings turnaround since its inception in 2015.
For the full year of 2024, the company delivered 293,724 vehicles, up 103.76 percent from 2023. It is targeting 500,000 to 600,000 vehicles sales in 2025.
In the first quarter, Leapmotor delivered 87,552 vehicles, up 162.05 percent year-on-year, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
($1 = HK$ 7.7572, $1 = RMB 7.2747)
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