According to a report published by UBS, Tsingtao Brewery's revenue in 2023 reached 33.937 billion yuan, in line with expectations, while profit before interest and tax and net profit reached 4.806 billion yuan and 4.268 billion yuan respectively, slightly lower than expected, mainly due to higher sales and distribution expenses during the period than expected. Sales volume in the second half of last year was 2.98 million tons, down 11% year-on-year. The downward trend is in line with the third quarter of last year. The annual sales volume fell slightly to 8.01 million tons, which is a relative loss compared to the overall growth of the industry of about 0.3%. However, improvements in the product portfolio during the period drove average price growth to 6.4%, up 4.8% compared to 2022.
UBS pointed out that management has not set specific guidelines for the future; it only emphasizes that high-end is the mainstream trend in the future of the Chinese beer industry. Taking into account the increase in sales and marketing expenses, the target price was slightly reduced from HK$62.75 to HK$62.12, and the earnings forecast per share for 2024 to 2026 was lowered by 1%, and the rating was “buy”.