Performance reviews:

Core profit increased by 57.5% in mid-2024:

Overall turnover increased 6.3% to HK$10.501 billion compared to the same period last year. The core profit of the business rose sharply by 57.5% to HK$0.707 billion. After deducting non-operating profit and loss, the profit attributable to the company's shareholders was HK$0.743 billion, down 33.4% from the same period last year. The increase in the company's core profit was mainly due to a sharp rise in renewable energy business profits and a steady increase in gas business profits, as well as a decrease in financing costs due to strict control of capital expenditure and successful acquisition of low-interest loans.

The renewable energy business grew strongly, and the new PV installed capacity was adjusted to 0.5 GW:

The net profit of 2024H1's renewable energy business increased significantly to HK$0.164 billion (HK$1:3 million in 2023H). During the period, the company has implemented the development of 128 zero-carbon smart parks, with a total of 3.3 gigawatts of PV contracts and 2.1 gigawatts connected to the grid. The business covers various integrated energy service fields such as photovoltaics, energy storage, charging and switching, power trading, carbon trading, engineering services, digitalization, etc., and adopts cooperative investment methods with domestic strategic investment, which can achieve rolling cash flow investment, which not only reduces pressure on capital expenditure, but also helps to take advantage of the advantages of low domestic interest rates to increase overall project return.

The company will bring new impetus to profit growth through the development of an asset-light model. Considering the overall domestic economic situation, the company adopted a steady cash flow strategy and adjusted the new PV installed capacity from 1 GW at the beginning of the year to 0.5 GW.

The urban gas business grew steadily, and the gas sales spread increased by 0.02 yuan/square meter to 0.56 yuan/square meter:

The company's overall gas sales volume in the first half of 2024 was 8.741 billion cubic meters, an increase of 6%. Among them, industrial gas sales increased 4.6% year on year, and commercial gas sales increased 9.4% year on year. In terms of urban gas projects, 3 new projects were added during the period, with a total of 190 projects. The company's gas volume growth mainly benefits from the rapid growth in gas consumption in three new industries, namely electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products. Furthermore, due to the smooth implementation of the favorable price policy, the average price difference of the company's urban gas in the first half of the year was RMB 0.56 per cubic meter, an increase of RMB 0.02 per cubic meter over the first half of 2023.

Based on the company's current good prospects for renewable energy, the company expects the future dividend rate to be no less than 15% in 2023, and will remain at a level comparable to that of comparable city gas companies.