Financial Services Association, March 20 (Reporter Wu Weiling) The increase in raw material prices combined with additional production capacity was not fully released as a drag, and the increase in revenue for peach and plum bread (603866.SH) in 2023 did not increase profit.

This evening, Peach and Plum Bread revealed its 2023 annual report. During the reporting period, it achieved operating income of 6.759 billion yuan, an increase of 1.08% over the previous year; realized net profit of 574 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10.29%; and net profit after deduction of 552 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.31%. This is the third year in a row that the company's net profit to mother has declined.

Looking at the revenue side split, the East China and South China regions where the company has vigorously developed have had little effect. Among them, East China achieved revenue of 2,094 billion yuan, up 6.63% year on year; South China achieved revenue of 457 million yuan, down 14.61% year on year; Northeast China achieved revenue of 2,828 billion yuan, down 2.25% year on year; in addition, Southwest China and Northwest China achieved revenue of 763 million yuan and 443 million yuan respectively, with year-on-year changes of -2.97% and 1.31%, respectively; North China and Central China achieved revenue of 1,522 million yuan and 206 million yuan respectively.

Regarding changes in performance, Peach and Plum Bread explained that, first, production costs increased due to the year-on-year increase in the prices of some raw materials, and second, production capacity was not fully released after some new construction projects were put into operation, and upfront costs were high.

However, judging from cost changes, the company's operating costs in 2023 increased only slightly by 2.72% year-on-year.

Judging from the capacity utilization rate, by the end of 2023, a total of 22 production bases for peach and plum bread had been put into use, with a total production capacity of about 502,700 tons. During the reporting period, the company's overall capacity utilization rate was 74.32%, down 7.07 percentage points from 2022. Among them, the capacity utilization rate in East China and South China was less than 70%, down 15.13 and 4.72 percentage points, respectively, from the previous year. Corresponsively, the gross margin of the two regions declined by 2.09 and 2.13 percentage points, respectively. Of these, the gross margin in East China was 8.41%, and the gross margin in South China was only 1.53%.

Meanwhile, production capacity for peach and plum bread is still expanding. As of December 31, 2023, the company is building production bases in Guangxi, Changchun, Henan, Shanghai and Foshan, respectively, with a total design capacity of 224,300 tons.

Peach and Plum Bread said that with the continuous development of the economy and the continuous upgrading of consumption concepts, consumers are no longer limited to traditional bread products, but are paying more attention to the safety, nutrition, taste and function characteristics of bread. Bread products are more diverse and have more complete functions, and products are becoming more diversified, which will further stimulate the growth of consumer demand and expand market capacity.

“The industry will face good development opportunities for a long time to come. The company needs to seize the opportunity at this stage to expand production scale through the implementation of project construction. On the one hand, match the growing demand of the market, maintain and expand market share, and on the other hand, expand production to form a scale effect, effectively reduce costs, raise the company's profit level, promote the company's rapid development, and further consolidate the company's position in the industry.” That's what peach and plum bread said.