Performance growth in the first half of the year exceeded expectations: in the first half of 2023, the company achieved revenue of 10.75 billion yuan, up 20.2% year on year, net profit increased 25.7% year on year to 570 million yuan, core profit increased 17.7% year on year to 626 million yuan, and the company's comprehensive gross margin increased 0.6 percentage points year on year to 16.5% year on year. Clean energy revenue for the first half of the year increased 34.4% year on year to 6.29 billion yuan, of which revenue from hydrogen energy-related business increased 59.1% to 270 million yuan; chemical environmental revenue fell slightly by 3.9% to 2.45 billion yuan; and revenue from liquid food equipment increased 17.3% to 20.01 billion yuan.
Strong order growth: in the first half of the year, the company's new orders increased 17.9% year on year to 12.67 billion yuan, of which clean energy increased 47.6% year on year, hydrogen energy increased 50% year on year to 345 million yuan, chemical environment and food decreased 8.6% and 14.5% year on year respectively to 23.1 billion yuan and 2.45 billion yuan; orders on hand as of June 30 increased 18.8% year on year to 20.6 billion yuan. Of these, orders for clean energy and hydrogen energy increased 39.3% year on year and 116.9% year on year to 13.44,373 billion yuan, chemical environment and liquid Food orders on hand fell 19.1% and 0.8% year on year to 20.01 billion 50.07 billion yuan.
Clean energy has returned to a rapid growth channel: global LNG trade volume increased by 6.8% in 2022, reaching a new record of 401.5 million tons. It is expected that the scale of global LNG trade will continue to grow in 2023; domestically, due to the economic situation and domestic and foreign gas price trends, demand for natural gas will continue to pick up. It is initially estimated that in 2023, the country's natural gas consumption will be 385 billion to 390 billion cubic meters, an increase of 5.5% to 7% over the previous year; in addition, the stricter national 6B environmental standards have been fully implemented since July 1 this year The cost advantage of heavy natural gas trucks may be further revealed. It is expected that the automotive bottle market will continue to grow in the second half of the year; the peak of the last wave of ship deliveries was from 2005 to 2012. Based on the life cycle of ships of about 20 years, the shipping industry will face huge demand for replacement, and clean energy ships will be the main replacement direction. Due to strong domestic and international demand, we expect the company's clean energy to return to a rapid growth channel.
Investment advice: We expect the company's revenue for 2023, 2024, and 2025 to be $22.5, 26.6 billion yuan, and 29.8 billion yuan, respectively, up 15.0%, 17.7%, and 12.2% year on year. Total net profit will be $12.4, 14.7, and $17.01 billion respectively, up 14.4%, 22.9% and 15.5% year on year, with a target price of HK$9.31.
Risk warning: Global energy prices have risen sharply, demand for chemical tankers has fallen beyond expectations, and shipyard production capacity investment has fallen short of expectations.