Actblue Co.,Ltd. (300816.SZ) released its interim report for the first half of 2026 on August 25. The financial data shows that the company posted revenue of 706 million yuan for the period, a year-on-year increase of 35.99%, while net profit attributable to shareholders was only 39.17 million yuan, down 11.51% from the same period last year. After deducting non-recurring gains and losses, net profit came in at 29.19 million yuan, a decrease of 14.94%.
Beyond the narrowing profit margins, the company's operating cash flow has also flipped from positive to negative. Combined with major shareholders reducing their stakes at elevated price levels, the company's fundamentals reveal signs of underlying concern. Notably, on the same day the interim report was disclosed, the company also announced a long-term contract for computing power resource services, with a total contract value reaching 1.109 billion yuan, in an attempt to ride the AI computing power wave and open a second growth curve. However, given the reality of a pressured core business and high debt levels, the market still has considerable doubts about whether the "environmental protection plus smart computing" dual-engine transformation story can truly resolve the company's current operational difficulties.
Revenue Expands, but Gross Margin Declines
Actblue's history is rooted in the research, development, and manufacturing of engine exhaust after-treatment systems and atmospheric environmental protection equipment. The company has long served engine manufacturers and complete vehicle makers, extending its reach into the tail gas treatment and retrofitting market for in-use vehicles and ships. This business framework constitutes the company's stable foundation. However, the latest interim report shows that this enterprise, known for its environmental technology, is facing the awkward situation of "expanding scale with shrinking profits."
In the first half of 2026, the company's overall gross margin fell to 20.27%, a notable decline compared to the same period last year. In the second quarter, operational pressure became more apparent: single-quarter gross margin slid to 19.52%, a year-on-year decline of over 11 percentage points, and it also continued to fall by 1.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. The company attributes this situation to two main factors. On one hand, revenue expansion is primarily driven by businesses such as the assembly and sale of customized smart computing servers, which have grown rapidly in scale and provided a clear boost to total revenue. On the other hand, the traditional exhaust after-treatment core business is being squeezed from both ends by rising raw material costs and downward price pressure from downstream customers, causing product profit margins to shrink continuously. At the same time, the newly established smart computing assembly business is still in its early introduction phase, with low gross margins. The incremental revenue has not been translated into incremental profit, resulting in an overall profitability decline rather than an improvement.
The exhaust after-treatment segment, which serves as the company's ballast, generated 566 million yuan in revenue in the first half, accounting for as much as 80.15% of total revenue. Its dominant position remains unchallenged. However, its gross margin dropped by 2.96 percentage points year-on-year to 20.82%, indicating that the earning power of this core business is weakening and the supporting effect of the company's "ballast" is not as strong as before. The pressure from declining profits is now being transmitted to the cash flow front. In the first half, the net cash flow from operating activities was -147 million yuan, compared to a net inflow of 49.66 million yuan in the same period last year, a significant decrease of 395.53%. The company explains that this is mainly due to the expansion of receivables financing scale, coupled with increased inventory procurement to match business expansion, leading to a substantial rise in working capital requirements.
Costs are also adding pressure simultaneously. Specifically, administrative expenses saw the most significant increase, rising 31.27% year-on-year to 41.07 million yuan. Research and development expenses grew 21.93% to 27.87 million yuan, while financial expenses rose slightly by 6.56%. With multiple cost pressures stacked together, the company's net margin was compressed to 7.0%, a decline of approximately 3.44 percentage points year-on-year.
Betting on Computing Power: Transformation and Funding Pressure Coexist
Facing the decline in core business profitability, Actblue has pinned its hopes for a breakthrough on the AI computing power business. On the same day the interim report was released, the company separately announced the signing of a computing power resource service contract with a leading AI customer, referred to as Customer A. The total contract value, including taxes, is 1.109 billion yuan, with a service period of up to 60 months. In terms of contribution to performance, this large long-term contract needs to be fulfilled gradually over five years, translating to an average annual revenue of approximately 220 million yuan. The pulling effect on overall revenue will be released progressively, making it difficult to reverse the company's performance downturn in the short term.
More critically, the company acknowledged in its financial report that the customized smart computing server assembly business currently has a low gross margin. The new business is still in the stage of scaling up, and its profitability is yet to be proven. Looking back, this is not Actblue's first attempt to seek breakthroughs through expansion into outside sectors. In 2021, the company acquired France's ActBlue France SAS, intending to quickly enter the European commercial vehicle after-treatment market through overseas mergers and acquisitions to complete its globalization layout. However, due to multiple practical obstacles, including changes in the geopolitical environment and slower-than-expected overseas customer expansion, the acquired entity's earnings performance fell short of expectations. The company subsequently recorded goodwill impairment on the related assets, and this round of overseas expansion ultimately failed to deliver on initial expectations.
The computing power trend has also fueled activity in the secondary market. The company's stock price has been on an upward trajectory since starting the year at 48.03 yuan, reaching a segment high of 102.81 yuan in intraday trading on May 28. The significant rise in the share price has also created a window for shareholder reductions. On March 20, the company disclosed a shareholder reduction pre-announcement. Shareholder ZHU QING, holding more than 5% of the shares, planned to reduce holdings by up to 2.36 million shares through centralized bidding and block trades within the designated period. This reduction plan was completed in May, with the shareholder's stake falling from 10.88% at the beginning of the year to 9.84%.
To support the implementation of the new computing power business, the company plans to procure high-performance computing server hardware, with the total contract value, including taxes, estimated at no more than 1 billion yuan. However, its book cash position is not comfortable. As of the end of the first half, monetary funds stood at 695 million yuan, which may appear to be a certain reserve, but during the same period, short-term borrowings had already reached 1.162 billion yuan. Additionally, there are 52.75 million yuan in non-current liabilities due within one year. The existing short-term debt alone already exceeds the book cash, underscoring the funding pressure brought by new procurement. On one side, there is a computing power long-term contract full of imagination for the future; on the other side, there is the reality of a weakening core business, cash flow depletion, and rising debt. Actblue's transformation story will still need time to be tested. Whether the new business can truly realize profit contribution or further amplify funding pressure is a question worth continuous observation in its future operational performance.