① Sunshine Power's photovoltaic and energy storage business is booming, with both revenue and net profit reaching new highs in 2023, and plans to distribute cash dividends of about 1,417 billion yuan; ② Revenue declined sequentially in the first quarter of this year, which analysts believe may be related to the slowdown in the growth rate of PV installed capacity.
Finance Association, April 22 (Reporter Liu Mengran) Sunshine Power (300274.SZ) disclosed its 2023 financial report this evening. The company's revenue reached 70 billion yuan last year, with net profit exceeding 9 billion yuan, a record high. A CFA reporter learned from industry insiders that under the impetus of falling prices in the photovoltaic and energy storage industry chain, many places will increase the distribution and storage coefficient, which is expected to further increase the scale of distribution and storage, which will drive the company's shipments to increase.
Financial reports show that in 2023, the company achieved operating income of about 72.51 billion yuan, an increase of 79.47%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about 9.44 billion yuan, an increase of 162.69% over the previous year, achieving a gross profit margin of 30.36%, an increase of 5.81 percentage points over the previous year, mainly due to the impact of the company's brand premium, product innovation, scale effect, freight decline, and exchange earnings.
By business, investment and development of photovoltaic inverters, energy storage systems, and new energy sources are the main sources of the company's revenue, accounting for 38.27%, 25.64%, and 34.23%, respectively. Among them, revenue from new energy investment and development increased by 113.15%, the fastest growth rate.
Energy storage is the fastest growing gross margin business of Sunshine Power. Last year, the gross margin of this business was 37.47%, an increase of 14.23 percentage points over the previous year. In terms of shipments, energy storage systems were shipped 10.5 GWh globally last year, ranking first among Chinese companies for eight consecutive years in terms of delivery volume. Some agencies predict that the year-on-year growth rate of China's energy storage market may exceed 70% this year. Prices of key raw materials have all fallen to their lowest levels since 2021, and fluctuations are slowing down, and project returns for downstream owners are gradually becoming clear.
With a sharp increase in performance, Sunshine Power plans to distribute “red envelopes” to shareholders. According to the annual profit distribution and capital transfer plan from the capital reserve fund, the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 9.65 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares to all shareholders, with a total cash dividend of about 1,417 billion yuan (tax included), and at the same time transfer 4 shares for every 10 shares from the capital reserve fund to all shareholders.
The company also released its report for the first quarter of this year. The quarter achieved operating income of 12.614 billion yuan, an increase of 0.26% over the previous year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 2,096 billion yuan, an increase of 39.05% over the previous year.
A Financial Services Association reporter noticed that the company's revenue had obvious seasonal fluctuations, but the revenue for the first quarter of this year “stepped back” and fell 51.58% month-on-month, the biggest decline in the past three years.
In March of this year, China experienced a sharp drop in the number of new PV installations due to a “sharp brake”. According to data released by the National Energy Administration today, 9.02 GW of new PV installations were added in March, a year-on-year decrease of 32.13%. This is a rare decline in recent years. Meanwhile, in January-February, 36.72 GW of PV installed capacity was added, which is still an 80% increase over the same period last year.
Industry analysts told the Financial Federation reporter that at present, the price of polysilicon has fallen below the cost line, and the price of components is also in the low price range, which is conducive to increasing profits from power plant development. However, the market still has bearish expectations for the future market. The psychological expectation of “buying up, not buying down” has increased, and this may be an important reason for the drastic reduction in new installed capacity in March, and new PV installations may pick up after the supply and demand relationship returns to balance.