Financial Services Association, March 28 (Reporter Huang Lu) Domestic market revenue remained stable, and overseas market revenue rapidly increased. The net profit of Zoomlion Heavy Industries (000157.SZ) increased by more than 50% year on year last year. The annual report shows that, on the one hand, there is an increase in the share of overseas businesses with high gross margins, the second is the expansion of emerging business sectors, and third, internal cost reduction and efficiency.

Tonight, Zoomlion Heavy Industries released its 2023 annual report. The company achieved operating revenue of 47.075 billion yuan, an increase of 13.08% over the previous year; net profit attributable to the parent company was 3,506 billion yuan, an increase of 52.04% over the previous year. The company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 3.20 yuan (tax included) for 10 shares. The total dividend amount exceeds 2.7 billion yuan, and the dividend rate is about 80%.

Affected by factors such as the continued downturn in the real estate market, the domestic construction machinery industry is still bottoming out in 2023. Financial reports show that Zoomlion Heavy Industry's domestic revenue fell 7.81% year on year, but the increase in the share of overseas revenue allowed the company's overall revenue to grow by double digits. The company's overseas revenue in 2023 was 17.905 billion yuan, up 79.2% year on year, and the share of overseas revenue further increased to 38.04% (the share of overseas revenue in 2022 was 24%).

According to a relevant person in the company, “From a regional perspective, the regions along the Belt and Road” are still the main contributors to exports.” The company's main export revenue includes regions such as the Middle East and Russian-speaking regions. Overseas demand is growing rapidly in the context of oil producers such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates vigorously promoting infrastructure construction.

Facing strong demand from overseas, Zoomlion Heavy Industries's global market layout is also accelerating. By the end of 2023, the company had built more than 30 first-level business airports and more than 350 second-level outlets around the world, and network construction had sunk from regional centers to important cities. The total number of overseas localized employees worldwide exceeds 3,000, and the products cover more than 140 countries and regions. According to information, in the future, the company will strive to achieve the goal of accounting for more than 50% of overseas business.

Looking at changes in gross margin, in 2023, the company's gross margin was 27.54%, an increase of 5.7 percentage points over the previous year. By market, the gross margins of the company's products in overseas and domestic markets were 32.23% and 24.66%, respectively.

Looking at the product structure, crane machinery, which accounts for the largest share of the company's business, achieved revenue of 19.29 billion yuan, an increase of 1.63% over the previous year; concrete machinery achieved revenue of 8.6 billion yuan, an increase of 1.64% over the previous year. The revenue of these two major sectors increased slightly, but operating costs decreased by 9.08% and 0.8%, respectively. In addition, the company's emerging business segment is quite impressive. Among them, earthmoving machinery's revenue was 6.65 billion yuan, an increase of 89.3% year on year; aerial machinery achieved revenue of 5.71 billion yuan, an increase of 24.2% year on year.

The annual report revealed that by the end of 2023, Zoomlion Heavy Industries had built and put into operation a total of 11 smart factories, and is speeding up the construction of 8 smart factories, including engineering hoisting machinery, infrastructure construction machinery, truck-mounted cranes, engineering axles, and high-end hydraulic cylinders.