The company announced that it achieved revenue, net profit, and net profit of 6.668, 505 million yuan, and 481 million yuan in 2023, an increase of 40.5%, 78.2%, and 104.9% year-on-year. Among them, Q4 revenue for the single quarter, net profit, and net profit of 18.95, 1.71, and 159 million yuan, increased 21.6%, 48.8%, and 129.7% year-on-year.
The scale of operations has expanded, profits have improved, and performance has increased. In 2023, the company completed transformer sales of 43.2 GW, an increase of 14.76% over the previous year. The sales volume of complete equipment was 14,600 units, an increase of 11.62% over the previous year, and the business scale continued to expand. Structurally, domestic sales revenue was 5.45 billion, an increase of 34.5%, and export sales revenue was 1.18 billion yuan, a significant increase of 79.5%. Benefiting from the increase in the share of the high-profit market and the decline in material costs, the annual comprehensive gross margin reached 22.8%, an increase of 2.5 pcts over the previous year (of which the gross margin of the transformer business increased by 5.25 pcts to 27%), and the Q4 gross profit margin was 24.4%, a new high in a single quarter in the past two years. At the same time, during the reporting period, the company completed the construction of digital factories in the three regions. Operational efficiency was further optimized, inventory turnover efficiency improved, management expenses declined slightly, net interest rate was 7.53%, and increased 1.6 pcts. The company achieved a net operating cash inflow of 200 million dollars throughout the year, a marked improvement over 2022.
Ongoing orders are plentiful, and overseas expansion has achieved remarkable results. The overseas market expansion of the company's transformers achieved remarkable results during the reporting period, adding nearly 100 new customers, and rapidly expanding the downstream market from the field of new energy advantages to various fields such as power generation and power supply, electrical support for industrial enterprises, and infrastructure. In 2023, the Group received 7.83 billion yuan in sales orders, an increase of 35.1% over the same period in '22, including export orders of 1,991 billion yuan (excluding long orders), a significant increase of 119.2%. Currently, demand for transformers in markets such as the US and Europe is strong, and the profit performance is better than domestic profit performance. The company has accumulated a long-term layout in overseas markets, and the export business is expected to continue to drive performance growth.
The new energy storage business is gradually reaping dividends. After entering the field of energy storage, the company quickly formed a complete power generation side, grid side, and electricity consumption side energy storage supporting solutions, covering high, high and low voltage levels. In addition to hardware equipment such as PCS and SVG, it was deeply integrated in control dimensions such as power grid support and power electronics. In 2023, the company's energy storage business achieved revenue of 414 million, more than 5 times that of 22 years, and added 641 million new orders, an increase of 144.87% over the previous year, and the contribution is expected to continue to increase.
Digital solutions have created new growth points. The company began digital transformation in 2019, and has now completed the digital construction of its own factory, showing economic benefits and demonstration effects. At the same time, it is actively cooperating with external customers. Recently, 229 million new digital projects have been disclosed, and the cumulative number of orders received has exceeded 600 million, which is expected to become a new growth point.
Investment advice: The company's transformer business is full of orders, overseas expansion has achieved remarkable results, energy storage and digitalization have contributed to new growth. It is predicted that the company will achieve net profit of 796 million in 2024, maintaining strong recommendations.
Risk warning: Industry demand falls short of expectations, fluctuating raw material prices, overseas market trade risks.