Company overview

Londian Wason makes the thin copper sheets that collect current inside lithium-ion batteries and conduct electricity in printed circuit boards. Battery foil supplies the vast majority of its revenue, serving electric vehicles, energy storage and consumer electronics; circuit-board foil is a smaller business. Customers include LG Energy Solution, CATL, BYD and Panasonic Industrial Materials. Manufacturing and customer sales are concentrated in China, although it also exports.

The company buys and owns the copper it processes. Its selling prices combine copper costs with a processing fee that covers manufacturing costs and margin. It has historically passed substantially all copper costs to customers, so earnings depend more on processing fees, production efficiency and the types of foil sold than on copper prices alone. Technically demanding products such as ultra-thin foil generally command higher fees. Its five largest customers provide most revenue, with one unnamed customer accounting for a substantial share. Orders depend heavily on demand for batteries, electric vehicles and energy storage.

Production and construction require environmental and safety approvals. Some production lines are still undergoing required inspections, and some construction projects have outstanding approval procedures; failure to complete them could force production or construction to stop. Chinese profit-distribution and foreign-exchange rules also limit how operating subsidiaries can send cash to the offshore holding company.