Event: when the company released its semi-annual report for 2023, 2023H1 achieved revenue of 191 million yuan, an increase of 36.94% over the same period last year, and a net profit of 23 million yuan, an increase of 232.53% over the same period last year. Among them, 2023Q2, the company achieved revenue of 102 million yuan, an increase of 46.77% over the same period last year, and the net profit of its mother was 16 million yuan, an increase of 122.98% over the same period last year.
The business grew steadily and the gross profit margin improved significantly. 2023H1, thanks to the improvement of the macro environment and the recovery of downstream demand, the company's orders have grown steadily, capacity utilization has rebounded rapidly, and revenue has increased by 36.94% compared with the same period last year. At the same time, thanks to the increase in the scale of sales, the company's economies of scale advantage gradually revealed, the first half of the gross profit margin reached 31.0%, an increase of 2.7pct over the same period last year, the overall profit increased significantly.
We increased research and development of lithium extraction from salt lakes, and R & D costs increased by 43.2% compared with the same period last year. 2023H1, the company increased R & D investment, made a breakthrough in the application field of nanofiltration membrane, and further improved the performance index of industrial reverse osmosis membrane, while continuing R & D and innovation in the field of composite pressure vessels, R & D costs increased by 43.20% compared with the same period last year. In the field of lithium extraction from salt lakes, the company plans to invest 15 million yuan to build a membrane system for lithium extraction from salt lakes in Tibet, including pretreatment, multi-stage nanofiltration and concentrated membrane systems, through field testing and actual operation, to form customized products and product application solutions that are more suitable for different salt lakes.
Actively layout the salt lake lithium extraction business and create the second growth curve. As the manufacturer of nanofiltration membrane, which is the main component of lithium extraction system in salt lake, the company has independently developed core components such as low temperature pretreatment nanofiltration membrane, high salt concentration membrane, self-made fresh water equipment and so on. Among them, the low-temperature nanofiltration membrane has been tested in a number of salt lakes in Tibet, raising the rejection rate of impurities such as sulfate and carbonate to more than 90%. We believe that with the company's continued investment in the field of lithium extraction from salt lake, it is expected to create a new growth curve.
Investment suggestion and valuation: according to the company's semi-annual report, we adjusted our profit forecast for 23-25 years. It is estimated that the company's operating income from 2023 to 2025 will be 421 million yuan, 639 million yuan and 768 million yuan respectively, with a growth rate of 36.5%, 51.9% and 20.2%, respectively. The net profit of returning to the mother was 53 million yuan, 106 million yuan and 140 million yuan, respectively, with an increase of 70.1%, 98.5% and 32.4% respectively. Maintain the "overweight" rating.
Risk tips: higher risk of overseas sales revenue, lower-than-expected risk of project construction, risk of cross-border supply of raw materials, etc.