Shanghai STEP Electric Corporation released its semi-annual report for 2025: Revenue reached 1.644 billion yuan, turning losses into profits, and the net cash flow soared by 911.15% year-on-year.

The net profit was 1.8654 million yuan, and the shipment volume of the robot business soared.

On August 29, STEP Electric released its performance report for the first half of 2025. The operating revenue reached 1.644 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.45%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 1.8654 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 109.95%, achieving a turnaround from losses; the net profit after deducting non-operating gains and losses was -15.6881 million yuan, a year-on-year reduction in losses of 51.47%; the net cash flow from operating activities was 43.9907 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 911.15%; the R & D investment was 98.2688 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.52%.

Overall, STEP Electric showed a positive business trend in the first half of 2025.

In terms of product structure, the performance of its three core business segments was differentiated:

For the general control and drive products and systems business, the operating revenue in the first half of the year was 886 million yuan, accounting for 53.91% of the operating revenue, a year-on-year increase of 10.11%. The gross profit margin was 19.05%, a year-on-year increase of 1.25 percentage points. The financial report showed that the growth of this business was mainly benefited from the increasing automation demand driven by the new energy vehicle, energy storage and other fields.

For the robot products and systems business, the operating revenue in the first half of the year was 318 million yuan, accounting for 19.35% of the operating revenue, a year-on-year increase of 4.57%. The gross profit margin was 15.66%, a year-on-year increase of 0.93 percentage points.

It is worth noting that the shipment volume of this business increased significantly. In the first quarter, it increased by 25.7% year-on-year, and in the second quarter, it increased by 52.4% year-on-year. The financial report stated that this was mainly because the semiconductor robots successfully obtained bulk orders from leading domestic semiconductor process equipment manufacturers, and the scenario layout of embodied intelligent robots was also advancing, laying a foundation for growth.

For the elevator control products and systems business, the operating revenue in the first half of the year was 301 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.01%. The gross profit margin was 24.75%, a slight year-on-year decrease of 0.42 percentage points. The financial report explained that the decline in the operating revenue of this business was mainly affected by a 14.8% decrease in the completed floor area of real estate.

For other businesses, the operating revenue in the first half of the year was 139 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 43.59%, but the gross profit margin was only 6.50%, a year-on-year decrease of 2.63 percentage points. This was mainly contributed by non-main businesses such as rental income and income from selling properties, which had limited impact on the overall profitability.

In terms of regional layout, the domestic market remained the main source of revenue. The operating revenue in the first half of the year was 1.514 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.23%, accounting for 92.09% of the operating revenue. The gross profit margin was 17.23%, a year-on-year increase of 0.30 percentage points.

The operating revenue from the overseas market was 130 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.08%, accounting for 7.91% of the operating revenue. The gross profit margin was 31.75%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.75 percentage points, but it was still significantly higher than that of the domestic market. This was mainly benefited from the growth of global elevator exports and the expansion of the overseas robot market. In the first half of 2025, the export volume of passenger elevators in China increased by 22.5% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, STEP Electric significantly optimized its cash flow. The net cash flow from operating activities during the reporting period was 43.9907 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 911.15%, mainly due to the improvement of the cash collection ratio and the strengthening of accounts receivable collection.

The net cash flow from investing activities was 32.3341 million yuan, compared with -249 million yuan in the same period of the previous year, mainly because of the recovery of structured deposits. The net cash flow from financing activities was -193 million yuan, mainly due to the repayment of bank loans. While optimizing the debt structure, the health of the cash flow was significantly improved.

In terms of cost control, the effectiveness of expense control began to show. In the first half of 2025, the operating cost was 1.342 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.12%, with the growth rate lower than the 8.45% growth rate of the operating revenue. The cost control basically kept pace with the revenue growth.

The sales expenses were 103 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.26%, with the growth rate higher than that of the operating revenue. This was mainly due to the strengthening of market development efforts, especially the sales investment in home elevators, overseas markets and the robot business.

The management expenses were 81.8789 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.00%, mainly due to the optimization of internal management processes and the reduction of non-essential expenses.

The R & D expenses were 98.2688 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.51%, basically remaining stable. The investment was mainly in the iteration of robot controllers, the optimization of semiconductor robot technology and the R & D related to embodied intelligence, providing support for consolidating the core technological advantages.

The financial expenses were 12.1726 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36.90%, mainly due to the simultaneous decrease of the loan scale and interest rate, resulting in a reduction of interest expenses and a lightened financial burden.

Overall, in the first half of 2025, STEP Electric achieved good results in terms of revenue, profitability and cash flow. The R & D investment also ensured the long - term development of the company within a reasonable range. However, the company still needs to continuously pay attention to the improvement of the net profit after deducting non - operating gains and losses and further enhance the profitability of the main business to achieve more stable and sustainable development.

This article is from the WeChat official account “iyiou.com” (ID: i - yiou). Author: Lu Yongli. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.