China Finance News reported on October 22nd (by reporters Liu Jian and Wang Ping'an), the dividends of rising pig prices are reflected in the third-quarter financial reports of major pig companies. Following the happy financial reports of many pig companies earlier, tonight, Wens Foodstuff Group (300498.SZ) released its third-quarter report and profit distribution plan, showing that the Q3 net profit soared by over 30 times year-on-year, and planned to distribute a large cash dividend of 0.995 billion yuan.

Specifically, the company achieved operating income of 75.384 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 16.53%; Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 6.408 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 241.47%. In the third quarter alone, the company achieved operating income of 28.644 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.89%; Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 5.081 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3097.03%.

Sales briefings show that Wens Foodstuff Group sold 21.56 million meat pigs in the first three quarters of this year, compared to 18.33 million in the same period last year, an increase of 17.62%; Sold 0.871 billion poultry, up from 0.862 billion in the same period last year, an increase of 1.04%.

Against the backdrop of double-digit growth in pig and poultry sales, pig prices have been rising continuously since May and reached a peak in the third quarter, becoming the main factor driving the company's performance growth. In addition, the decrease in pig and poultry farming costs further expands the profit margin. Public information shows that the comprehensive cost of pig farming in August was about 6.9 yuan/jin, and the total cost of broiler chickens at slaughter in July was about 5.9-6 yuan/jin, down by about 1.25 yuan/jin and 0.6 yuan/jin respectively from the fourth quarter of last year.

Against a backdrop of improved performance, the company has shown a significant acceleration in the inflow speed of cash flow. The financial report shows that the net cash flow from operating activities in the first three quarters of the company was 12.79 billion yuan, an increase of 126.74% year-on-year. Wens Foodstuff Group stated, 'Due to the increase in meat pig sales and prices, the increase in cash inflow has occurred.'

In addition, the accelerated inflow of cash flow has further contributed to the significant repair of the company's balance sheet. As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, the company's asset-liability ratio had decreased to 54.86%, a decrease of 6.55 percentage points from the end of the previous year, and a decrease of 4.09 percentage points from the end of the first half of the year.

Of note, the company also announced the profit distribution plan for the first three quarters on the same day. In the profit distribution plan, the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.5 yuan (tax included) per 10 shares to all shareholders, totaling a cash distribution of 0.995 billion yuan (tax included). Wens Foodstuff Group stated, 'This profit distribution plan matches the company's performance growth. The board of directors is full of confidence in the company's prospects and future development, and this measure is also beneficial for all shareholders to share the company's operational achievements and safeguard the long-term interests of shareholders.'

According to the statistics of the financial联社 journalist, this profit distribution is Wens Foodstuff Group's second cash dividend of the year and the 13th cash dividend since its listing at the end of 2015. Including this cash dividend, the total amount of cash dividends to shareholders will reach 26.796 billion yuan.

Looking ahead, Yang Zhiyuan, a Shanghi Ganglian E-commerce Holdings agricultural products division pig analyst, told the financial联社 journalist, "According to the data of sows, the supply of pigs in 2025 is expected to be between the supply in 2023 and 2024, so the price may be higher than in 2023 but lower than in 2024. Due to the continuous decline in breeding costs, it is expected that there will still be profits in the breeding sector next year."