Incidents:
According to the company's results for the year ended March 31, 2023, revenue was about HK$91,988 billion, up 4.3% year on year; profit due to company owners was about HK$4.293 billion, down 44% year on year; profit of HK$0.8 per share, proposed final dividend of HK$0.4 per share, and proposed annual dividend of HK$50 cents, with a payout rate of 62.5%.
Comments and opinions:
Profit growth guideline for FY2023/24 +30%:
In the 2022/23 fiscal year, the company's natural gas sales volume increased 6.9% year on year to 39.25 billion yuan; 2,299 million residential users of pipeline gas and 33,971 industrial and commercial users were added. The company's sales target for the 2023/24 fiscal year is to increase by 10%, add 1.8 to 2 million new connected users, and increase profit by +30% for the 2023/24 fiscal year.
The gross margin target for the 2023/24 fiscal year increased to 0.56 yuan/cubic meter:
The average gross margin of the company's urban projects in the 2022/23 fiscal year fell 8 points year on year to 0.42 yuan/cubic meter. The decline in gross margin is mainly due to insufficient gas volume under residents' contracts, especially the “gas instead of coal” residents' contract gas volume in rural areas, and the high price of LNG purchased during the heating season. Coupled with residents' difficulties and delays in getting ahead of prices, the overall gross margin narrowed. Recently, the national upstream and downstream price linkage mechanism for natural gas is being actively promoted, which is conducive to the recovery of the company's gross margin. The company's gross margin guideline will increase to 0.56 yuan/cubic meter.
The spin-off and independent listing of the value-added business is progressing smoothly:
The company's value-added business focuses on the rapidly growing family life scenario, providing users with products and services from the kitchen to the whole family scenario. Currently, the spin-off and independent listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is progressing smoothly, and the spin-off listing is beneficial to the company's overall valuation increase.
Overall, the return to growth in the 2023/24 fiscal year results is worth looking forward to.