Domestic electronic bulk gas leading, early-stage order investment led to an increase in performance. On March 25, 2024, the company released its 2023 annual report. The announcement shows that in 2023, the company achieved operating income of 1,835 million yuan, an increase of 19.20% over the previous year; realized net profit of 320 million yuan, an increase of 35.73% over the previous year; and realized net profit of 309 million yuan after deduction, an increase of 39.09% over the previous year. Among them, Q4 2023 achieved operating income of 480 million yuan, an increase of 4.4% over the previous month, and realized net profit of 90 million yuan to mother, an increase of 35.6% over the previous month.
As of December 31, 2023, the company's total assets reached 7.253 billion yuan, and net assets belonging to shareholders of listed companies reached 5.730 billion yuan.
Develop more first-hand helium sources and build a domestic helium supply chain leader. The company continues to develop new Changxie gas sources, strives to independently develop more international supply channels and obtain more first-hand helium gas sources. Currently, it has directly signed long-term procurement agreements with gas source manufacturers such as the United States and Russia. It is estimated that the proportion of gas source purchases developed independently by the company will reach 64% in 2025. Furthermore, the company continues to consolidate its advantages in the field of helium by purchasing liquid helium cold boxes in large quantities, developing core technologies in the liquid helium supply chain, such as ultra-low temperature storage and transportation in the 4K temperature zone, cooling liquid helium cold boxes, and recycling and purification of helium gas. It is estimated that by 2025, the company will have a helium capacity of 8-9 million m3/year, making it the largest domestic helium importer.
Focus on pan-semiconductor customers and develop specialty electronic products. There is a high degree of convergence between the customer groups of electronic bulk gas and electronic specialty gas. The company lays the brand foundation for the client through its advantageous business, Electronic Bulk Gas, and provides product endorsements for the subsequent introduction of electronic specialty gas products, thus meeting the diverse needs of customers and enhancing the overall competitiveness of the company's products. At present, the company has partial products such as nitrogen trifluoride, hexafluorobutadiene, electronic grade hydrogen bromide, alkane mixed gas, and high-purity hydrogen, which will have a good synergy effect with the company's electronics bulk business.
Risk warning: the risk that helium prices will continue to decline; the risk of delays in order investment; the risk that downstream capital expenditure falls short of expectations, and the company's new orders will be limited.
Investment advice:
Considering that downstream capital expenditure was weak in 2023, the company's new orders were affected to a certain extent, and the growth rate of performance will slow down in 2025 in response to the new orders. We carefully lowered the company's net profit to mother in 2025 to 492 million yuan (previous value was 540 million yuan, down 8.89% year on year) to maintain the net profit level of 410 million yuan in 2024. The estimated net profit for 2024-2026 is RMB 4.10/492/612 million, and the diluted EPS is RMB 0.31/0.37/0.46, respectively. The PE corresponding to the current stock price is 33/27/22x, respectively. Maintain an “Overweight” rating.