“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, April 9 (Reporter Wu Xuguang) On the evening of April 8, Mingguan New Materials, a leading solar panel company, released its 2023 annual performance report.

During the reporting period, Mingguan New Materials achieved operating income of 1,396 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.82%; net profit to mother was -024 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 122.76%, changing from profit to loss year-on-year.

Regarding the conversion of the company's net profit into loss, Mingguan New Materials indicated that there were four main reasons: first, the share of single-glass photovoltaic modules in the global photovoltaic module market declined, leading to a decline in demand for solar cell backpanels, and product prices continued to fall; second, the solar cell packaging film business was in a period of rapid growth, but due to increased competition, product prices declined, and losses were still lost during the reporting period; third, due to the decline in sales prices, sales volume and sales prices have declined to varying degrees, and losses in the aluminum-plastic film business have increased; fourth, due to the decline in sales prices, to raw materials, semi-finished products and finished products Wait for the inventory to calculate the corresponding inventory impairment Caused by loss.

The main products of Mingguan New Materials include solar cell backpanels, solar packaging films, aluminum-plastic films, special protective films, etc., which can be used in new energy fields such as photovoltaic power generation and lithium batteries.

By product, in the company's main business in 2023, solar cell backpanel revenue was 751 million yuan, down 31.27% year on year, accounting for 53.78% of revenue; solar cell packaging film revenue was 544 million yuan, up 97.41% year on year, accounting for 38.98% of revenue; and aluminum-plastic film revenue was 58 million yuan, down 46.73% year on year, accounting for 4.15% of revenue.

Despite the decline in sales of core products, expanding production is the main theme of Mingguan New Materials in 2023.

According to the annual report, the 2023 Mingguan New Materials solar cell backpanel expansion project with an annual output of 30 million square meters, the lithium battery aluminum-plastic film expansion project with an annual output of 10 million square meters, and the POE film expansion project for PV module packaging with an annual output of 120 million square meters have reached the scheduled state of use.

According to the company's development plan: continue to consolidate the dominant position in the existing photovoltaic backpanel market, expand the product market for aluminum-plastic film and special protective film, enhance the comprehensive R&D capabilities of composite film materials, and develop new products and markets based on existing film material-related technology.

Regarding the core logic behind the company's declining operations and continuing large-scale production expansion, someone close to Mingguan New Materials told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter, “I am optimistic about the growth in market demand for differentiated products such as HJT and grid-printed backboards for high-efficiency battery packaging.”

According to the company's 2023 annual report, Mingguan New Material's solar cell packaging film expanded in scale, with production volume up 172.47% year on year and sales volume up 174.49% year on year; production volume of other photovoltaic products increased 785.52% year on year, and sales volume increased 319.03% year on year, mainly due to an increase in grid grid film production.

It is worth mentioning that recent news about solid-state batteries has continued. On the evening of April 8, the new car announced by Zhiji Auto will be equipped with a solid state battery and mass-produced, which has also drawn the market's attention to the demand for upstream aluminum-plastic film materials.

Regarding the market demand for aluminum-plastic film, the person close to Mingguan New Materials said that Mingguan New Material aluminum-plastic film products can be used to package pure solid and semi-solid lithium batteries, and promptly investigate the changing market share trends of soft-pack lithium batteries, pure solid state and semi-solid lithium batteries, and effectively arrange investment and construction progress in related projects.

However, at this stage, due to a decrease in customer demand, during the reporting period, Mingguan New Material's aluminum-plastic film production volume fell 44.64% year on year, sales volume fell 35.54% year on year, and inventory volume fell 28.49% year on year.

In terms of profitability, in 2023, the gross margin of Mingguan New Materials was 6.49%, down 12.64 percentage points from the previous year; the net interest rate was -1.75%, down 9.09 percentage points from the same period last year. In response, Mingguan New Materials said that during the reporting period, the overall production capacity of the photovoltaic industry expanded and industry competition intensified. Prices of the company's main PV backpanel products continued to drop, and gross margin dropped sharply.

Looking at single-quarter indicators, the company's gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2023 was -9.29%, down 21.59 percentage points year on year and 10.33 percentage points month on month; net interest rate was -30.07%, down 22.47 percentage points from the same period last year and 27.80 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The person close to Mingguan New Materials mentioned above said that this year should be an adjustment year for the photovoltaic accessories industry, and it is a stage where production capacity is cleared.

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that in response to the intensification of internal pressure in the photovoltaic industry, Mingguan New Materials said that through measures such as improving product yield, strengthening inventory management of raw materials and finished products, and optimizing operating cash flow, the company's operating management goals will improve the quality of the company's operating assets and ability to withstand industry risks.

Specifically, in terms of cost control, in 2023, the company's expenses for the period were around 92.72 million yuan, down 6.64% from the same period last year. Among them, sales expenses decreased by 1.94%, management expenses decreased by 4.34%, R&D expenses decreased by 3.94%, and financial expenses increased by 3.58%.