① Eston's 2023 and 2024 Q1 continued to experience no increase in revenue and profit, and last year's Q4 and this year's Q1 also experienced the first loss of non-net profit deduction since listing. ② The company explained that competition in the industry market intensified, and the company expanded to undertake intelligent production line business, resulting in a certain decline in gross margin. ③ In terms of business development, the company is speeding up the deployment of segments such as photovoltaics, power batteries, energy storage, and new energy vehicles.
Financial Services Association, April 29 (Reporter Wu Chao) As the “leader” of domestic robots, Eston (002747.SZ), while robot sales and share increased, Q1 in 2023 and 2024 continued to fall into the dilemma of increasing revenue without increasing profit, and last year's Q4 and this year's Q1 also experienced rare losses in the main business. Judging from financial reports, gross margin declined mainly due to increased competition in the industry and the company's expansion of business.
According to MIR Rui industrial data, sales of domestic robot manufacturers increased by more than 28% in 2023, and the localization rate of the Chinese industrial robot market further increased to 45.1%. Meanwhile, Eston sold more than 24,000 robots in 2023, and its domestic share accelerated to 8.5%. Once again, it became the domestic brand with the highest domestic industrial robot shipment volume. For five consecutive years, it ranked first among domestic brands in the Chinese market, second only to Fanuc among international manufacturers.
Despite the increase in market share, the annual report released by Eston this evening shows that in 2023, the company achieved operating income of 4.652 billion yuan, an increase of 19.87% year on year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 135 million yuan, a decrease of 18.8% year on year.
A CFA reporter noticed that the overall gross margin of Eston in 2023 was 31.93%, down 1.92 percentage points from the previous year. Among them, the gross margin of the industrial robot and intelligent manufacturing business was 31.28%, down 2.09 percentage points from the previous year; the gross margin of the automation core components business was 34.19%, down 0.99 percentage points from the previous year.
In response, Eston explained that market competition in the industry has intensified, and the company has further increased the penetration rate of industrial robots and core component products in the segment by undertaking intelligent production line business, causing a certain decline in gross margin, but the company is offsetting the impact of market expansion on gross margin by optimizing the supply chain, improving domestic substitution, and implementing cost reduction and efficiency measures such as lean manufacturing management.
On a quarterly basis, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Eston achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of a listed company - RMB 5,2274 million, after deducting non-net profit of RMB 2.6412 million. This is the first loss in a single quarter since the company went public in 2015.
Entering 2024, the profit pressure situation did not improve. The quarterly report released by Eston on the same day showed that in the first quarter of 2024, it achieved operating income of 1,003 billion yuan, an increase of 1.73%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 6.5294 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 84.83%; after deducting non-net profit - 129.409 million yuan, which turned into a year-on-year loss. As a non-net profit indicator reflecting the actual operating conditions of the company, it has been losing money for two consecutive quarters.
Looking at the quarterly report data, sales expenses, management expenses, R&D expenses, and financial expenses in Eston's operating costs all increased compared to the same period last year. In addition, software tax rebates received by the company decreased in the first quarter, the increase in accounts receivable led to an increase in bad debt accruals, and there were also situations where losses from participating companies increased due to loss of investment income and increased preparation for impairment of assets.
It is worth mentioning that in terms of business development, Eston has responded positively to the “dual carbon” goal and accelerated the layout of new energy segments such as photovoltaics, power batteries, energy storage, and new energy vehicles. According to the company's disclosure, at present, the company's photovoltaic robots have carried out in-depth cooperation with hundreds of companies in the photovoltaic industry and accumulated supporting experience in more than 100 photovoltaic production lines; production lines built for the power battery/energy storage battery new energy industry have been used in the production lines of many leading domestic lithium battery companies.
In addition, Eston also revealed its 2023 equity distribution plan, which plans to distribute 0.6 yuan for every 10 shares to all shareholders, for a total cash dividend of 52.011,000 yuan.