① Based on the “one, two wings” strategic layout, China Tower's performance remained steady last year. ② Last year, operator business revenue was the same as the previous year. The “two wings” business increased by about 30% year-on-year, and completed 586,000 5G construction requirements throughout the year. ③ Last year, capital expenditure increased 21.0% year on year, of which site construction and shared renovation expenses accounted for more than 50%.
Financial Services Association, March 18 (Reporter Fu Jing) Based on the “one, two wings” strategic layout, China Tower (00788.HK), the world's largest telecommunications tower supplier, maintained steady performance last year. Last year, the company's operator business revenue was the same as the previous year, while the “two wings” business increased by about 30% year over year.
According to financial data disclosed by the company today, it achieved revenue of 94.09 billion yuan last year, an increase of 2.0%; EBITDA of 63.551 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1%, with an EBITDA rate of 67.6%; and net profit to mother of 9.750 billion yuan, an increase of 11.0% year on year.
A Financial Services Association reporter learned from China Tower that the company is currently furthering the implementation of the “one two wings” strategy, that is, the operator business for the communications industry is “integrated”, and the smart connectivity business and energy business for the community are the “two wings”.
According to financial data, the operator business achieved revenue of 82.163 billion yuan last year, a slight decrease of 1.0% over the previous year. In this business, which dominates the company's revenue, the tower business achieved revenue of 75.023 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year decrease of 2.8%; indoor distributed antenna systems achieved revenue of 7.140 billion yuan, an increase of 22.5% over the previous year.
Meanwhile, the two wings continued to grow rapidly, achieving annual revenue of 11.497 billion yuan, accounting for 12.2% of overall revenue, an increase of 2.5 percentage points over the previous year. Zhilian's business achieved revenue of 7.283 billion yuan, an increase of 27.7% over the previous year. Among them, Tower Vision achieved revenue of 4.727 billion yuan, accounting for 64.9% of Zhilian's business revenue. By the end of last year, about 217,000 communication towers had been upgraded to “digital towers”, covering more than 40 fields such as forestry, environmental protection, water conservancy, agriculture, transportation, land, and emergency. In addition, the energy business achieved revenue of 4.214 billion yuan, an increase of 31.7% over the previous year. Among them, the tower power exchange business achieved revenue of 2,067 billion yuan, accounting for 49.1% of the energy business revenue.
According to the annual report, by the end of last year, the number of the company's tower sites was 2,046 million, and the number of operator tower tenants reached 3.424 million, an increase of 62,000 over the end of 2022. The average number of tenants at operator tower stations increased from 1.65 at the end of 2022 to 1.68, further improving the level of sharing.
The reporter learned that last year, China Tower continued to support the acceleration of 5G network coverage, and completed about 586,000 5G construction requirements throughout the year. Of these, more than 95% were achieved by sharing existing resources, and the level of sharing was further improved. The average number of tenants at the station rose from 1.74 at the end of 2022 to 1.79; at the same time, it effectively solved 8,610 problem sites.
In terms of capital expenditure, China Tower's capital expenditure last year was 31,715 billion yuan, an increase of 21.0% over the previous year. Also, according to the 2022 report, its capital expenditure in 2022 was 26.207 billion yuan, an increase of 4.0% over the previous year. According to the reporter's analysis, site construction and shared renovation expenses increased 16.3% year on year, accounting for more than 50% of the overall capital expenditure; capital expenditure for site renewal and renovation was 8.534 billion yuan, an increase of 41.1% year on year. The company said, “As the life span of assets increases, focus on the usage status of life extension assets and the need for safety remediation.”
However, according to some analysts, as the peak of domestic 5G construction investment passes, the company's future capital expenditure is expected to remain stable.
Furthermore, the board of directors of the company recommended the payment of a final dividend of 0.03739 yuan per share (before tax) for the year ended December 31 of last year. The total annual dividend payout accounted for 75% of the company's distributable profit for the year.