The company disclosed 23 years of results. In '23, the company achieved operating income of 7.221 billion yuan, an increase of 15.23% over the previous year; achieved net profit of 804 million yuan, an increase of 78.21% over the previous year; realized net profit of 866 million yuan without return to mother, an increase of 115.97% over the previous year. Looking at a single quarter, the company achieved net profit of 284 million yuan in Q23, an increase of 36.63% over the previous month; net profit withheld from non-return to mother was 305 million yuan, an increase of 58.53% over the previous quarter.
The company's 23-year profit distribution plan is to distribute cash dividends of 0.5 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares, with a total distribution of 82 million yuan, with a dividend distribution ratio of 10.25%.
The planned gold production in '24 is 16.02 tons. In '23, the company completed 14.35 tons of mineral gold, up 5.79% year on year. Among them, domestic gold mines produced 3.32 tons of gold, up 43.1% year on year; overseas gold mine production was 11.03 tons, a decrease of 2.0% year on year. Mainly in Q3, Venus was hit by massive floods, which had a big impact on high-grade mining production, and production was lower than planned at the beginning of the year. Judging from the scale of mining, the processing capacity of domestic gold mines and the Jinxingwasa processing plant both increased by 24% and 20.5%, respectively; Vientiane mining's gold ore processing volume decreased by 18.8% over the same period last year. In 2024, within the consolidated budget of the company, we will produce and sell 16.02 tons of gold, 5,300 tons of electrolytic copper, 35,800 tons of copper, lead and zinc powder, 600 tons of molybdenum powder, and 3,700 tons of rare earth oxides.
Overall maintenance costs have declined. In '23, the company's sales cost was 280.20 yuan/gram, an increase of 1%; the cash cost was 210.75 yuan/gram, an increase of 2%; and the total maintenance cost was 267.17 yuan/gram, a decrease of 12%. Among them, domestic mine sales costs/cash costs/full maintenance costs were -17%/-16%/-27% year-on-year, respectively; Vientiane Mining changed -2%/-6%/-10% year over year, respectively; and Venus Vasa changed 17%/19%/-13% year over year, respectively.
From the perspective of subsidiary cash flow, Vientiane Mining and Jinxing Resources had net cash flows of 649 million yuan and 645 million yuan respectively, which may indicate that the company's cash cost pressure is light and has strong operating capacity; from a subsidiary's profit perspective, the net profit of Vientiane Mining and Venus Resources was 287 million yuan and 12 million yuan, respectively, or indicates that the non-cash cost pressure of Venus Resources is high.
Continued exploration to increase reserves. The company continued to step up its geological prospecting efforts. In '23, domestic mining subsidiaries estimated that 996,000 tons of geological gold ore resources were added; the Saipan mine added 5.3 million tons of gold ore resources. By the end of '23, according to our calculations, the company had 127 million tons of gold ore resources, with an average grade of 3.46 g/ton, corresponding to 440 tons of gold metal.
Profit forecasting and valuation. The company's mineral gold production is growing strongly. We expect that in the next three years, with the continuous expansion of the company's existing projects and the expansion of overseas layout, the company's net profit will usher in a period of rapid growth. We expect the company's EPS for 24-26 to be 0.78, 1.11, and 1.41 yuan/share, respectively. Referring to the valuation level of comparable companies, a PE valuation of 26-28 times 2024 was given, corresponding to a reasonable value range of 20.26-21.82 yuan/share, giving a “superior to the market” rating.
Risk warning. Production expansion fell short of expectations; the Federal Reserve raised interest rates beyond expectations; raw material costs rose.