On August 22nd, Cailian Press (Reporter Luo Yichen) when the market is bullish on the refrigerant market, it may overlook the drag from the overall weakness of the fluoride chemical industry on the company's performance. This year is a big year for refrigerant production, and the market generally expects listed companies to achieve breakthroughs in performance. However, leading company Zhejiang Juahua (600160.SH) Q2 net profit did not reach the high point of the same period in 2022. The company stated that besides the price increase of refrigerants, the prices of fluoropolymer materials, food packaging materials, basic chemical products, and other products all declined, dragging down performance.

Tonight, Zhejiang Juahua announced that in the first half of the year, the company achieved revenue of 12.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.65%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 0.834 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.31%.

Looking at the performance quarter by quarter, the company's performance has been increasing, but the growth rate of profit year-on-year has slowed down. Among them, the net profit attributable to shareholders in the first quarter was 0.31 billion yuan, an increase of 103.35% year-on-year; in the second quarter, the net profit was 0.524 billion yuan, which did not reach the high point of the same period in 2022, and the year-on-year growth rate decreased to 55.35%.

This year is the first year after the determination of the third-generation refrigerant quota. Zhejiang Juahua holds nearly 45% of the quota for the core variety HFC-32. The market has high expectations for its performance, and many brokerage firms predict that Zhejiang Juahua's full-year revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders will increase by about 15.60% and 176.21% year-on-year in 2024. Considering the performance in the first half of the year, the profit growth rate in the second half of the year undoubtedly faces greater pressure.

As the company's growth driver, the volume and price of refrigerant products in the first half of the year have both increased. Among them, the refrigerant products achieved revenue of 3.925 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.59%, accounting for approximately 32% of the total revenue and contributing 0.64 billion yuan in profit, accounting for approximately 61% of the total profit. In contrast, the prices of basic chemical products, fluoropolymer products, food packaging materials, and fluoride chemical raw materials have all declined year-on-year. According to the company's statistics, the profit loss due to the price decline of these products in the first half of the year reached 0.413 billion yuan.

Cailian Press noticed that as the leader in refrigerants, Zhejiang Juahua has adopted a diversified operation strategy and has made a series of layouts around various aspects of the fluoride chemical industry, possessing a complete fluoride chemical industry chain. However, in the context of the overall weakness of the fluoride chemical industry this year and the outstanding performance of refrigerants, the diversified layout has instead dragged down the performance of the company's refrigerant segment.

In contrast, Zhejiang Sanmei Chemical Industry (603379.SH), also located in Zhejiang, focuses on refrigerants as its core product. The company's product structure is relatively single, and it is estimated that its net profit attributable to shareholders in the first half of the year can achieve a year-on-year growth rate of 157.19% to 234.35%. Based on this performance forecast, its Q2 net profit is expected to be between 0.176 billion yuan and 0.276 billion yuan, far exceeding the 0.151 billion yuan in the same period of 2022.