176 million yuan out of the 500 million yuan dividend was distributed to Li Xinfu and Li Guomei, and Ailo Energy's 800 million yuan commitment has encountered a loss-making quarter.

Airo Energy still implements rigid dividend distribution despite losses, drawing public attention to its actual controllers' huge dividend payout.

Energy Insight learned that on November 9, Airo Energy (688717.SH) announced a proposed cash distribution of 500 million yuan, or 3.125 yuan per share. At this point, the company's attributable net profit for the first three quarters was a loss of 60.32 million yuan, and its operating cash flow reversed from a net inflow of 96.86 million yuan in the same period of the previous year to a net outflow of 69.06 million yuan. Based on a total shareholding ratio of 35.25%, the couple of Li Xinfu and Li Guomei, the actual controllers, will receive a pre-tax dividend of approximately 176 million yuan.

An enterprise that distributes 500 million yuan in cash in a loss-making quarter, with the actual controller couple taking more than one-third of it during the share lock-up period. On the surface, this incident looks like a sudden cash-out, but when viewed over a longer timeline, it is more like a commitment finalized at the time of its 2024 listing, which collided with an operating cycle of simultaneous weakening of profits and cash flow right before the deadline.

The distributed amount is not current profit, while the loss is recorded in current period profit

First, clarify a fact that is easily confused: this 500 million yuan distribution was not a last-minute decision by the management after reviewing the third quarterly report.

It is reported that when Airo Energy was listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board in January 2024, it promised in its prospectus that the cumulative cash dividend distribution would not be less than 800 million yuan by December 31, 2026. The previous two distributions were 150 million yuan each in the first three quarters, and this 500 million yuan exactly fills the remaining gap.

Procedurally, the "legitimacy" of the dividend comes from the accumulated undistributed profits over the years. As of the end of September, the consolidated undistributed profit stood at 2.034 billion yuan, which is more than enough to cover the 500 million yuan distribution.

However, "affording to distribute" and "distributing appropriately" are two different things. In the first three quarters, the net outflow of operating cash flow was 69.06 million yuan, inventory increased by nearly 1.2 billion yuan from the end of last year to 2.616 billion yuan, and accounts receivable increased by nearly 490 million yuan to 1.27 billion yuan.

The company explained the inventory growth as concentrated production and delivery before the cancellation of export tax rebates, plus raw material stockpiling. This explanation makes sense in terms of industrial rhythm, but it cannot avoid a more plain judgment: The main business did not generate distributable cash in the first three quarters of 2026, and the dividend distribution uses the existing funds on the books, while inventory and accounts receivable have eaten into future liquidity. Implementing a rigid dividend in a quarter with negative operating cash flow has indeed thinned the financial safety buffer.

From hospitals to photovoltaics, Airo is never the first platform for Li Xinfu and his wife

Li Xinfu's starting point had nothing to do with new energy. He graduated in pharmacy assistant, worked as the director of the pharmacy department at Fuyang Second People's Hospital, went into business in 2000 to establish Zheda Bokang to produce home medical devices, and took over "Zheda-affiliated" Sunny Energy in 2007, officially stepping into the photovoltaic industry.

Sunny Energy was listed on the New Third Board in 2015, with a market value of about 2.9 billion yuan when it delisted in 2018. Airo Energy's predecessor, "Airo Co., Ltd.", was founded in 2012 and was originally a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunny Energy, until it was spun off from the Sunny system in October 2020, with equity transferred to 47 transferees including Li Xinfu and Li Guomei, to independently sprint for Sci-Tech Innovation Board listing.

This spin-off path explains a detail that is easily overlooked: When the IPO was approved in 2023, the listing committee specifically inquired that the actual controllers and the enterprises they controlled had large liabilities, and they planned to use the dividend proceeds to repay debts, so whether the 800 million yuan dividend arrangement was reasonable.

In other words, the logic of "dividends from listed companies flowing back to the actual controllers" had been put on the table for review long before Airo Energy went public.

The 176 million yuan flowing to Li Xinfu and his wife today is a continuation of this structure. The couple also control new energy project companies outside the listed company system such as Sunny Energy and Jinbei Energy, and most of their shares in Airo are locked up until July 2027. Dividend distribution is one of the few compliant channels for actual controllers to obtain cash during the lock-up period.

This does not constitute a negation of the dividend itself, but it means that to evaluate where this money goes, we cannot only look at the listed company's statements, but also the capital arrangements at the actual controller level.

Airo in the residential energy storage track: profits fail to keep up

Airo Energy's situation can be summed up in one sentence: it has not fallen behind, but it has also not kept up with the profit growth pace.

The company sells residential energy storage systems, industrial and commercial energy storage products and grid-tied inverters overseas under the SolaX Power brand, with overseas revenue accounting for more than 98%, and Europe as its core market. In the first half of 2026, global residential energy storage shipments increased by 137% year-on-year, and the industry prosperity is the best in the past three years.

In comparison, Deye Co., Ltd. made a net profit of 2.717 billion yuan in the first half of the year, Sigem New Energy made a net profit of 2.428 billion yuan, while Airo Energy achieved revenue of 3.154 billion yuan, up 74.59% year-on-year, but its net profit was -35 million yuan, making it the only loss-making one among the five residential energy storage listed companies counted by Jiemian News.

The problem is not on the demand side. Its revenue in the first three quarters reached 4.734 billion yuan, up 56.34% year-on-year, and the sales scale is still expanding. Profits were intercepted at the gross profit link, with the comprehensive gross profit margin standing at 27.57%, down nearly 5 percentage points year-on-year.

The company attributed the reasons to three points in its performance briefing: the pricing in new markets such as Australia and Southeast Asia is lower than that in mature European markets, raw materials such as energy storage cells have risen in price, and the export tax rebate rate has been lowered. These three are all structural issues, not short-term fluctuations.

The logic that Deye and Sigem take the bulk of the industry's profits relies on the synergy between inverters and battery packs, lower unit costs and stronger channel turnover; Airo has kept up with the revenue growth rate, but failed to keep up with the unit economic model.

When an enterprise is in a position of "having market share but no profit" in an industry with highly concentrated profits, what it needs most is cash to improve gross profit and cover working capital, rather than drawing out 500 million yuan in a loss-making quarter.

The actual controller couple promised that they will return the after-tax dividends to the listed company within three years in the form of interest-free loans or share increase, and the market responded with a 3.25% increase on the same day. But there is a ready reference for the credibility of this promise: in April 2025, Li Xinfu disclosed a share increase plan of 20 million to 30 million yuan, but did not make any purchase when half of the six-month implementation period passed due to "fund arrangement", and finally only completed the lower limit amount near the end of the period.

The amount of this promise is nearly nine times the lower limit of the previous share increase.

What is really worth watching next is not whether the shareholders' meeting will pass the dividend plan, but whether there is a corresponding increase in "other payables" in the next regular report, or whether there is a compliant change in Li Xinfu's shareholding during the lock-up period.

An enterprise distributes 500 million yuan in a loss-making quarter, and then expects the actual controllers to send it back in three years. The last part of this closed loop is not in the announcement, but in the notes to the subsequent financial reports.