The performance was in line with expectations, and copper and gold production increased dramatically: throughout 2023, the company achieved total revenue of 293.403 billion yuan, an increase of 8.54% year on year; net profit to mother was 21.119 billion yuan, an increase of 5.38% year on year, and various results reached a record high. The increase in the company's revenue was mainly due to an increase in the production of copper and gold, the main mineral. The company's comprehensive gross margin was 15.81%, a slight increase compared with the same period last year; the gross margin of mineral products was 49.09%, down about 5 percentage points from the previous year. The company's mineral copper and mineral gold production increased significantly. The company's annual mineral copper production in 2023 was 1.073 million tons, up 11.13% year on year, making it the only mining enterprise in China and Asia that produced more than one million tons of copper concentrate. The average annual copper concentrate sales price was 49,406 yuan/ton, up 3.95% year on year; the company's mineral gold production for the whole year of 2023 was 67.73 tons, up 20.17% year on year. The average price of mineral gold ingots was 433 yuan/gram, up 12.28% year on year, and the average price of mineral gold concentrate was 378 Yuan/gram, up 6.76% year over year.
Copper and gold prices continue to rise: as expectations of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut ferment, the price of non-ferrous metals has increased dramatically. Up to now, the international spot price of gold is 2328.10 US dollars/ounce, an increase of more than 15% compared to the beginning of the year, breaking through the 2,300 US dollars/ounce mark and reaching a record high. The average price of Changjiang non-ferrous copper has now reached 75,570 yuan/ton, and is operating at a historically high level. Mainly due to the tightening of supply-side expectations and a recovery in demand, we expect copper and gold prices to continue to rise, which will strongly support the company's profit level.
There is huge room for future production growth: The company announced production plans for the main mineral products in 2024:1.11 million tons of mineral copper, 73.5 tons of mineral gold, 470,000 tons of zinc (lead), 25,000 tons of lithium carbonate, 420 tons of mineral silver, and 90,000 tons of mineral molybdenum. According to the plan, the company's major mineral products will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend in the future, and we expect this trend to continue in the future.
Target price of HK$20.67, maintaining the purchase rating: Based on the continued progress of the company's mine construction and the gradual release of mineral production, we adjusted our 24/25/26 revenue forecast to 328.411 billion/ 362,298 billion/ 377.532 billion yuan, respectively; adjusted the net profit forecast to mother to 27.748 billion/ 34.80 billion/ 38.681 billion yuan, giving a target price of HK$20.67 for the next 12 months, corresponding to 18 times PE in 2024.