SERES Returns to Profit With Net Income of 1.42 Billion Yuan in Third Quarter of 2026
Key Facts
SERES reported a return to profitability in the third quarter of 2026, posting net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 1.42 billion yuan and revenue of 28.08 billion yuan. In its results announcement, the company said the result marked a return to profitability, without attributing it to the performance of any particular model. The announcement said the AITO M9 topped sales among models priced above 500,000 yuan for four consecutive months, a separate point from its explanation of the quarter's result. By contrast, the quarterly report said revenue fell 41.66% year on year, attributing the decline mainly to lower sales of new energy vehicles. It also said higher prices for core components temporarily pressured vehicle costs, while research and development spending weighed on profitability.
The company's monthly data for September show that sales remained weak at the end of the quarter. New energy vehicle sales totaled 32,218, down 33.28% from the same period a year earlier, while SERES car sales fell to 25,370, a decline of 38.50%. In its first-half report, SERES said sales had been affected by the transition of its main models between product generations. At the same time, it reported that AITO deliveries rose 10.2% year on year in the first half. These figures highlight a contrast between growth in the brand's first-half deliveries and the decline in September sales, while the results announcement did not provide a breakdown linking individual model performance to quarterly profit.
On its models, SERES said cumulative deliveries of the AITO M6 had exceeded 60,000 units by October 30, and deliveries of the M9 Ultimate version had begun. In its first-half update, the company had said cumulative M9 deliveries had surpassed 300,000 units by then. It said at the time that the model had topped the category of vehicles priced above 500,000 yuan for two consecutive months, before the October announcement reported that it had topped the same category for four consecutive months. The announced starting price for the M9 Ultimate version was also 600,000 yuan, according to the first-half update, which said deliveries would begin soon. These figures describe the model range and delivery stages, while the results announcement did not specify any model's contribution to quarterly net profit.
Looking ahead, SERES set November 13, 2026, as the start of sales for the new AITO M8. The company said the vehicle had been updated across six aspects of the ownership experience, without providing sales forecasts or the model's financial impact. AITO also announced plans to enter the European market in autumn 2027, a geographic expansion extending beyond the domestic launch of the M8. The announcement gave no details on the target European countries, investment size or timing for the start of deliveries there. The company is scheduled to hold an online meeting on November 6, 2026, to discuss its third-quarter results and answer investor questions. The meeting comes one week before the scheduled start of M8 sales, according to the dates announced by the company.
SERES also reported measures related to its shares, saying it had repurchased 17.5357 million shares since the start of 2026, for a total of about 983 million yuan as of the October 30 announcement. It added that directors, senior executives and core team members had completed a plan to buy A- and H-shares worth 148 million yuan. By contrast, a share purchase plan by the controlling shareholder was still under way, according to the announcement. The measures place the buybacks and management participation among the information the company provided to investors alongside its quarterly results, without the announcement linking them to the return to profitability.