As Skyworth Group (00751) entered its 36th year of development, the market also focused on the “butterfly transformation” of this established home appliance company. In recent years, after integrating and optimizing the “four major sectors” of the smart home appliance business, intelligent system technology business, new energy business, and modern service industry, Skyworth has gradually transformed into a large-scale comprehensive technology enterprise.

On May 22, Skyworth Group Chairman Lin Jin, Skyworth Group Chairman, Wu Qinan, Director and Vice President of Skyworth Group Co., Ltd., Fan Ruiwu, Chairman of Skyworth Photovoltaics, and Tao Shuanghua, Skyworth Group press spokesperson and head of the brand management department, and other company management introduced and exchanged views on the company's business history and the development of the entire industry.

Previously, Skyworth Group released its 2023 financial report. During the period, the Group achieved a turnover of 69.031 billion yuan (RMB, same unit), an increase of 29.1% over the previous year; profit attributable to the company's equity holders was 1,069 billion yuan, an increase of 29.3% over the previous year. In 2023, the Group's television business revenue was 19.08 billion yuan, and the new energy business revenue was 23.396 billion yuan. The new energy business represented by photovoltaics later took the lead and jumped into an important revenue source for Skyworth Group.

It is easy to see that under the guidance of the “dual carbon” goal, new energy businesses such as photovoltaics have become Skyworth Group's new business growth poles, contributing a major increase to the company's scale growth. Therefore, during the event, the development of the new energy business also became the topic that everyone paid the most attention to.

Judging from the data, in 2023, the Group's new energy business revenue was 23.396 billion yuan, an increase of 95.9% over the previous year. More than 233,000 new household photovoltaic power plants have been put into operation and connected to the grid to generate electricity, and more than 442,000 grid-connected household photovoltaic power plants have been built and operated. At present, Skyworth Group has successfully entered the household photovoltaic circuit and entered the first tier, and continues to expand to industrial and commercial users.

According to Fan Ruiwu's sharing of the Zhitong Finance App, now that household photovoltaics is gradually entering maturity, Skyworth PV will actively explore two major directions: industrial and commercial photovoltaics and overseas markets. At this stage, Skyworth's strategy for the new energy business is still mainly “inclusiveness” and “expansion.”

Fan Ruiwu confessed at the event: “Judging from the data, in China's photovoltaic industry, household use has already entered a mature period, and industry and commerce may still be growing rapidly. It is a blue ocean market. In the future, the photovoltaic industry may be similar to color TV in previous years, forming 3-4 leading companies, accounting for 70 to 80 percent of the Chinese household market. Last year, Skyworth's market share was about 17% to 18%. Apart from increasing the market share, the real growth came from the expansion of the industrial and commercial categories.”

He added that the second direction is to go overseas. In addition to seizing more share, Skyworth's future growth is more about expanding categories and markets. The focus of this year's overseas trip is to extend to Europe and the “Belt and Road” region. Currently, Skyworth mainly uses the EPC model to directly face users and deliver a complete set of new energy solutions. As a result, Skyworth naturally began to set up its own components business. Currently, it has a layout for all of the key core components of photovoltaics. Components, inverters, brackets, and energy storage cover the four major directions of photovoltaics. Overseas inverter R&D certification can be completed in May as soon as possible. The modules are scheduled to be completed in June, and energy storage has already been certified and sold in Africa.

Moreover, Skyworth also achieved impressive results in terms of white power in 2023. Smart home appliance revenue reached 30.592 billion yuan, an increase of 11% year on year, of which the white power business increased 61% year on year to 7.088 billion yuan. However, Wu Qinan pointed out that white electricity sales will be under pressure in the second half of the year. Copper and aluminum prices will rise sharply during the year, the exchange rate is about the same as last year, and shipping costs have increased exponentially. Europe tends to purchase white electricity from Turkey; China is not necessarily very optimistic in the second half of the year. In addition, the increase in the cost of copper and aluminum raw materials may also cause Skyworth air conditioners to increase prices.

However, Wu Qinan is still optimistic about Skyworth's overall development. Facing Skyworth's future 100 billion target, he revealed that every industrial company has its own direction and goals. Looking at home appliances, Skyworth Color TV is already ahead in the domestic market. White goods have a lot of room for growth, and the base is relatively small. Overseas, including Skyworth's color TVs, Skyworth refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners, it is hoped that there will be more room for growth through the promotion of all categories.

Furthermore, while sharing a blueprint for future development at the event, Lin Jin said that Skyworth is a brand that has been in continuous operation for more than 30 years. First, we need to do our internal work well. As long as products bearing the Skyworth trademark, Skyworth's technology content, and even Skyworth's cost performance ratio, these must first be adjusted internally. The second is to consider how to achieve some synergetic effects in channel collaboration, brand collaboration, and industry collaboration. Ultimately, I want consumers to see that products bearing the Skyworth trademark all have the same meaning and give everyone the same impression. They are all reliable and technologically advanced products.

Also faced with the company's long-term repurchase of Hong Kong stocks, Lin Jin also explained the reason to the Zhitong Finance App. “Taking the opportunity to carry out a repurchase operation when the stock price is at a low level is not only a positive response to the market, but also a sign of confidence in the company's future development.”