The company announced that it achieved revenue, net profit, and deducted non-net profit of 722.51, 94.40, and 9.216 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 79.5%, 162.7%, and 172.2% year-on-year. Among them, Q4 revenue for the single quarter, net profit, and non-net profit was 258.36, 22.17, and 2.141 billion yuan, an increase of 43.3%, 44.6%, and 44.3% year-on-year. The first quarter of 2024 achieved revenue, net profit, and deducted non-net profit of 12.614, 20.96, and 2,083 billion yuan, an increase of 0.3%, 39.0%, and 42.8% year-on-year.
Performance continued to grow at a high rate, and operating performance exceeded expectations. In 2023, the company achieved revenue of 72.25 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 79.5%. The business growth was still mainly contributed by photovoltaic inverters, energy storage, power plants, etc., with a comprehensive gross profit margin of 30.36%, a significant increase of 5.8 pcts over the previous year. With the expansion of the company's business scale, management efficiency continued to be optimized. Sales, management, and R&D expenses decreased by 0.72, 0.31, and 0.82 pcts year-on-year respectively, and the overall cost control results were remarkable. During the reporting period, the company calculated a total of 1.3 billion yuan in asset impairment, including 775 million yuan for Vietnam's power plant project, and the impact of subsequent related matters weakened. After considering the above factors, the company's overall net interest rate in 2023 was 13.1%, up 4.1 pcts year-on-year. Furthermore, the company's receivables and inventory turnover ratio was also clearly optimized compared to '22. The net operating cash inflow for the whole year was 6.98 billion yuan, a significant improvement. The company's profit performance further improved in the first quarter, and gross margin increased to 36.7%, or was mainly due to factors such as changes in the revenue confirmation structure.
Inverter shipments are growing at a high rate, and profitability has increased. In 2023, the company shipped about 130 GW of inverters, an increase of 69% over the previous year, and achieved revenue of 27.6 billion yuan, an increase of about 61% over the previous year. After supply restrictions were broken through, the company's advantages on the brand channel side were more fully reflected, the price competitiveness was stronger than most comparable companies, and the proportion of overseas shipments from Shanghai was high. Combined with factors such as material costs, freight, and exchange rates, the company's gross margin further increased to 37.9%.
During the reporting period, the company increased its channel layout in overseas and domestic markets such as Europe, America, and Australia. The production capacity of India and Thailand reached 25 GW, and built more than 20 subsidiaries and 490+ service outlets overseas. The products covered more than 170+ countries and regions around the world, while continuously improving product capabilities. At the end of the period, the company's “1+X” modular order volume exceeded 45 GW, maintaining its dominant position in the inverter field.
Energy storage contributed to significant growth. The company's energy storage systems are widely used in mature electricity markets such as the US, Britain, and Germany. In 2023, the global delivery was 10.5 GWh, confirming revenue of 17.8 billion yuan, an increase of 75.8% over the previous year. Benefiting from changes in market structure and material prices, the gross margin increased to 37.5%. During the reporting period, the company launched PowerTitan 2.0 with embedded PCS and released a 10MWh fully liquid-cooled energy storage system. It is expected that in 2024, the company's energy storage shipments will continue to increase rapidly, and its contribution will further increase.
New energy development is growing at a high rate. In 2023, the company's new energy investment and development business increased sharply by 113% to 24.7 billion. In particular, in the distributed household scenario, growth was strong, and the household photovoltaic business grew by about 200% year-on-year. Taking into account price reductions for upstream materials such as components, gross margin increased from 11.7% to 16.4% in 2023.
Investment advice: The company is predicted to achieve a net profit of 10.8 billion dollars in 2024, maintaining a “Highly Recommended” rating.
Risk warning: Increased market competition, insufficient installed capacity than expected, risk of policy adjustments.