Financial Services Association, April 17 (Reporter Hu Haoqiong) In the context of the recent introduction of the new “National Nine Rules”, investors are very concerned about shareholder returns of listed companies and the management of the company's market value. At the China Merchants Group's collective performance briefing held yesterday, several listed companies of the Group responded to related questions.

“With the introduction of the New National Article 9 (), the sustainability of performance and dividends has received more attention. How can China Merchants Shipping balance the subsequent development of the company's five major sectors?” “What impact does China Merchants Securities think the nine regulations have on capital markets and securities companies?” In response to investors' questions, Wang Yongxin, general manager of China Merchants Shipping (601872.SH), responded, “Since China Merchants Shipping's many mergers and acquisitions, it has formed a structure that is different from the two main businesses of China Merchants Shipping at the time of the IPO. I've also heard that current investors like companies that 'don't have any mess'. 'Your company is all waste', and everything (business) is in one basket. However, with global changes, including increasing uncertainty and instability in various aspects, the corporate structure reflects the predictability of the Group's strategy.”

Wang Yongxin further said that judging from the layout, oil dispersion is still the company's traditional advantage. The VLCC tanker fleet is leading the world in size. In addition to maintaining a certain VLCC size recently, the company also needs to strengthen and improve the small ship structure, and work hard on the Afula tanker layout in the future. In the future, the bulk carrier fleet will increase investment in the Cape of Good Hope type and Panamanian type in accordance with China's cargo flow demand and the future demand situation of the entire market. With the construction of the LNG fleet, the target company will form 40% of stable creative assets in the future. Furthermore, in terms of the PCTC fleet, it will target markets such as Europe, America, Australia, and South America in the future.

“Overall, I think listed companies need to be both rigid and resilient, and stable. As long as the market has an opportunity, we can seize it, let our performance shine for the summer, and bring a little excitement to investors. I think it's very important for our listed companies.” Wang Yongxin said.

Lou Dongyang, financial director of China Merchants Shipping, added, “Regarding the subsequent dividend policy, we have two aspects to consider. The first is the current financial situation. The company's annual report shows that the balance ratio fell to 40.16% at the end of the year, the company's lowest level in the past 5 years. It can guarantee that the company has the ability to further give back to investors, and the company will maintain a relatively stable dividend policy in the future. Second, the dividend policy still needs to take into account the company's investment and development. All sectors of the company (five major fleets) have significant capital expenses, and there is still some uncertainty about future development, so it is necessary to maintain the healthy and sustainable development of the company. The company will actively give back to investors in the future based on the company's development status.”

Wu Zongmin, president of China Merchants Securities (600999.SH), said that the Central Financial Work Conference proposed building a strong financial country and building first-class investment banks and investment institutions, which actually provided a clear direction for the high-quality development of securities companies. The new “National Nine Rules” put forward clear requirements for promoting the high-quality development of securities fund institutions, further compacting the “gatekeeper” responsibilities of intermediaries, and actively cultivating a good industry culture and investment culture, opening up a major window of opportunity for the high-quality development of the securities industry and providing scientific action guidelines.

Tang Ming, financial director of Liaogang Co., Ltd. (601880.SH), responded: “Since the beginning of its listing, the company promised to distribute no less than 40% of the profit distributed to shareholders in each fiscal year if profits and cash flow meet the normal operation and long-term development of the company. The company's cash distribution profit for the last three years is no less than 30% of the average distributable profit for the last three years.” Up to now, Liaogang Co., Ltd. has implemented cash dividends 17 times in a row. In the past three years, the company has implemented a total of 1,744 billion yuan in cash dividends.

Song Rong, executive director and general manager of Sinotrans (601598.SH), said that in 2023, the company's annual dividend payout rate was over 50%, a record high. In the future, the company will continue to consider dividend payments in an integrated manner based on business conditions, funding arrangements, etc., and share the company's operating results with shareholders.

On the side of China Merchants South Oil (601975.SH), an online investor mentioned, “Has the company solved the historical problem of the company headquarters's cumulative undistributed profit of -2.4 billion yuan in order to return reasonable dividends to investors?” Wang Xiaodong, director and general manager of the company, confessed that the company was delisted in 2014. At that time, due to accumulated huge losses and significant impairment of ship assets during the restructuring, undistributed profit was -7.5 billion yuan. After 9 years of continuous profit, the negative undistributed profit situation improved greatly, but as of the end of December 2023, there was still no correction, and the parent company's undistributed profit - 2.48 billion yuan. The company has replaced dividends by repurchasing shares and cancelling shares three times in 2020, 2021, and 2024. A total of 222 million shares have been repurchased, with a repurchase capital of 550 million yuan.

Wang Xiaodong also revealed that the company has been studying and promoting the correction of undistributed profits. At present, there have been some changes at the policy level. Section 214 of the new “Company Law” says, “To make up for the company's losses, any provident fund or statutory provident fund shall be used first; if it still cannot be covered, the capital reserve fund may be used in accordance with the regulations.” The parent company's capital reserve is 4.2 billion yuan. If the implementation rules allow capital reserves to cover losses, with the support of the policy, the problem can be solved. The new “Company Law” will be implemented on July 1 this year. The company will closely follow the specific rules of the competent authorities on capital reserve funds to cover losses after entry into force, actively communicate and coordinate with relevant departments, formulate feasible loss compensation plans, and strive for early implementation of dividends.

As for China Southern Oil's business development prospects, Rong Xiaolin, the company's deputy general manager, said at the performance meeting that his personal opinion on the 2024 refined oil market is that in terms of demand, the overall trend is rising. Currently, global energy refining is growing by about 3%, and company demand is growing by about 4%. The Red Sea situation (ship circumnavigation) brought about an 8% tonnautical mile increase, and the company's refined oil transportation business will continue to increase in the future. On the supply side of capacity, tanker capacity will still be scarce this year and next. Judging from the overall performance in the first quarter of 2024, it is relatively stable. It is expected that in 2024, the refined oil and crude oil sector business will also remain relatively stable, and gas and chemicals can also provide stable market profits.