Caixin News on September 28 (Editor: Li Chen). This week (September 23 to September 27), the repurchase trend of A-share listed companies continued. According to incomplete statistics from Caixin, including Muyuan Foods, Meihua Holdings Group, Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium, Beijing Lirr High Temperature Materials, Weimes Technologies, Suzhou Jinhong Gas Co.,Ltd., Zhenxin Technology, Jiangsu Yawei Machine Tool, Opt Machine Vision Tech Co., Ltd., Guangdong Rifeng Electric Cable, Clenergy Technology, Zhejiang Changsheng Sliding Bearings, PaiNuo Technology, Jinan Deda Protein, Zhuhai Winbase International Chemical Tank Terminal, and Cigu Technology, a total of 16 listed companies disclosed their buyback share proposal this week, details as shown below:

Among them, Muyuan Foods, the hog farming leader with a total market value exceeding 230 billion yuan, announced on September 26 that it plans to repurchase company shares worth 3 billion to 4 billion yuan for employee shareholding plans or stock-based incentives, with a repurchase price not exceeding 58.60 yuan/share. As of June 30, 2024, Muyuan Foods' total assets were approximately 191.6 billion yuan, with cash totaling 20.36 billion yuan. The net profit attributable to the company's shareholders in the first half of 2024 was 0.829 billion yuan. Muyuan Foods stated that if the maximum repurchase amount of 4 billion yuan is fully utilized, the repurchase funds will account for approximately 2.09% of the total assets of the company, and about 6.24% of the equity attributable to the company's shareholders. Dongguan Securities Wei Hongmei stated in a research report released on September 27 that Muyuan Foods is a leading integrated hog farming enterprise in China, continuously expanding its industry chain, demonstrating significant competitive advantages, and continuously improving its core competitiveness. Looking ahead to Q4 and Q1 of the next year, the profitability of China's hog farming is expected to maintain a good level. There is still considerable room for long-term scale and concentration improvement in the hog farming industry. Analysts predict that Muyuan Foods' EPS for 2024 and 2025 will be 3.16 yuan and 4.43 yuan respectively, corresponding to P/E ratios of 13 times and 9 times.

It is worth noting that Muyuan Foods has implemented multiple stake increase repurchase plans before. On October 24, 2023, Muyuan Foods announced that certain directors, supervisors, and senior management planned to increase their stake by 1 billion to 1.2 billion yuan. On October 19, 2023, Muyuan Foods announced that the son of the controlling shareholder and the actual controller planned to collectively increase their stake by 0.5 billion to 1 billion yuan. On December 12, 2022, Muyuan Foods announced a plan to repurchase company shares totaling no less than 1 billion yuan and no more than 2 billion yuan, with a repurchase price not exceeding 72.24 yuan/share, all intended for employee shareholding plans or stock-based incentive plans. Similarly, another A-share listed company, Kweichow Moutai, also launched a large-scale buyback plan last week. On September 20, Kweichow Moutai announced that it plans to use not less than 3 billion yuan (inclusive) and not more than 6 billion yuan (inclusive) of own funds to repurchase company shares. The repurchased shares will be used for cancellation and reduction of registered capital, with a repurchase price not exceeding 1795.78 yuan/share. Looking further back, Tongwei Co., Ltd. announced in April of this year that it plans to use not less than 2 billion yuan (inclusive) and not more than 4 billion yuan (inclusive) of its own funds to repurchase company shares through centralized bidding trading for the implementation of employee shareholding plans or stock-based incentives.

Meihua Holdings Group, mainly engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of amino acid products, announced on September 23 that it plans to repurchase company shares through centralized bidding trading with self-owned funds ranging from 0.3 billion to 0.5 billion yuan, at a repurchase price not exceeding 12 yuan/share. The repurchased shares will be used for cancellation and reduction of registered capital. Haitong International's Sun Xiaohan stated in a research report released on September 24 that Meihua Holdings Group plans to implement midterm dividends, distributing approximately 0.5 billion yuan in cash dividends (tax included). According to Zhuochuang Information's market flash on September 23, Meihua Group's threonine tax-inclusive spot price is currently quoted at 11800 yuan/ton, mainly for long-term stable customers, this price is higher than the threonine price in Hebei on September 23 (950 yuan/ton) and in Shandong on September 23 (1050 yuan/ton). Analysts believe that this price adjustment will help enhance Meihua Holdings Group's profit potential.

Chihong Zinc & Germanium, primarily engaged in the selection, smelting, deep processing, sales, and trading of zinc, lead, and germanium products, announced on September 23 that it plans to repurchase shares worth 0.145 billion to 0.29 billion yuan, for cancellation and reduction of the company's registered capital. The repurchase price will not exceed 5.70 yuan/share (including). Haitong Securities' Chen Xianlong and others stated in a research report released on September 3 that Chihong Zinc & Germanium's main business includes lead-zinc selection, smelting, processing, and trading. According to the announcement, in 2024, Chihong Zinc & Germanium plans to accelerate exploration, aiming for a metal quantity increase of not less than 0.35 million tons for lead and zinc, exceeding the planned extraction quantity of 0.33 million tons, achieving further resource increase. Since its listing 20 years ago, Chihong Zinc & Germanium has accumulated dividends of 6.686 billion yuan, with a dividend payout ratio of 70.6%. From 2018 to 2022, the dividend payout ratio has been over 50% for five consecutive years. According to Chihong Zinc & Germanium's dividend plan, cash dividends from 2024 to 2026 shall not be less than 30% of the annual distributable profits; the cumulative cash dividends shall not be less than 40% of the most recent three years' average distributable profits. Combining profit forecasts, analysts believe that Chihong Zinc & Germanium's per-share dividends in 2024 will remain stable or show an increase.

In addition to Meihua Holdings Group and Chihong Zinc & Germanium, according to incomplete statistics from Caixin, this week (September 23 to September 27) Weimes Technologies and Jian'an Protein announced their intention to repurchase company shares and reduce the company's registered capital. Weimes Technologies, engaged in the research and development, production, sales, and technical services of new energy vehicle power domain products, announced on September 24 that it plans to repurchase shares worth 50 million to 0.1 billion yuan. The shares repurchased this time are intended for employee shareholding plans or stock-based incentives, as well as for reducing the registered capital. Kaiyuan Securities' Yin Shenglu and others stated in a research report released on September 25 that Weimes Technologies is the leading third-party supplier of on-board power. Weimes Technologies actively rewards shareholders through dividends, repurchases, and other means, implements the company's 2024 "enhancing quality, increasing efficiency, and rewarding shareholders" action plan, and analysts expect Weimes Technologies' net profit attributable to mother for the years 2024 to 2026 to be 0.608 billion, 0.742 billion, and 0.908 billion yuan, respectively.

The main business of the company is the research and development, production, and sales of target and indicator proteins, recombinant antibodies, enzymes, and reagents. On September 27, an announcement was made to repurchase shares for 10 million yuan to 20 million yuan, canceling and reducing the registered capital. On August 29, Nearshore Protein released its semi-annual report, reporting a net loss attributable to the owners of the parent company of 8.9058 million yuan in the first half of the year, compared to a net profit of 12.3603 million yuan in the same period last year, resulting in a loss. The semi-annual report of Nearshore Protein disclosed that during the reporting period, the company fully leveraged the synergies of multiple technological platforms, actively responded to market and industry changes, integrated technology, products, and services, and provided a comprehensive and multi-faceted solution to customer needs throughout the entire process. In the target and indicator protein product line, the company continues to enrich the multi-transmembrane target protein products, strengthen products related to cell or tissue culture such as stem cells/immune cells/organoids, and add new series of disease-related antigen products. In the enzyme and reagent product line, the company continues to enrich molecular diagnostic raw materials, develop applications such as tumor early screening, genetic disease diagnosis, pathogenic tNGS, animal disease diagnosis, and POCT, to meet diverse customer requirements.