In the first half of the year, the company's total revenue reached 6.543 billion yuan, of which the revenue from the medical and health business reached 3.888 billion yuan, accounting for an increased proportion of 59.4% of the total revenue; achieving a net profit of 0.271 billion yuan, also increasing the proportion of total net income to 21%.
Over the past three years, the Hang Seng Healthcare Index in Hong Kong has experienced a significant period of deep adjustment, with intensified market fluctuations. Against this background, a group of state-owned listed companies, represented by Uni Medical, with steady earnings growth and sustained high dividends, has gradually gained more attention from investors.
On August 28, 2024, Uni Medical officially released its mid-year performance for 2024: the company's total revenue reached 6.543 billion yuan in the first half of the year, of which the medical and health business achieved revenue of 3.888 billion yuan, further increasing its proportion to 59.4% of the total revenue; achieving a net profit of 0.271 billion yuan, also increasing its proportion to 21% of the total net income.
According to the company's performance data, starting from September 9th, the company's industry classification in the Hang Seng Index will also be adjusted to healthcare. The company stated that in the future, with the vigorous development of its medical business, the proportion of income and profits will continue to rise.
Based on Uni Medical's development strategy of "core medical services, supported by financial services, driven by health technology, fully leveraging the advantages of integrating industry and finance, and building a shared and win-win ecosystem for a comprehensive health system", the Zhitong Finance APP will now detail the company's mid-term performance from the three aspects of comprehensive medical, specialized medical and health technology, and financial business.
1. Comprehensive Medical: State-owned enterprises providing medical care, achieving stable and high-quality development
Since June 2021, when the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Public Hospitals", public hospitals have entered a new stage of high-quality development. They have shifted from scale expansion to improving quality and efficiency, from extensive management to refined management, and from focusing on material elements to focusing more on talent and technology. Public hospitals are striving to promote the improvement of the quality and efficiency of medical services through the "three transformations" and the "three improvements". The recently held Third Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) also made a comprehensive and systematic deployment of reforms in the field of health. The pace of reform has never stopped, and the reform and high-quality development of public hospitals continue to deepen, placing higher demands on the level of service and management of medical institutions.
Currently, actively exploring new paths for the high-quality development of state-owned enterprise-run medical care and continuously promoting the high-quality development of medical institutions are the changes that uni medical must adapt to.
In the comprehensive medical business sector, uni medical continues to build core capabilities, promote digital empowerment, differentiated layout, and collaborative development, deepen the construction of a hospital group that is "comfortable environment, first-class service, excellent technology, and efficient operation", and create a new model of high-quality state-owned enterprise-run medical care.
In the first half of 2024, the company's comprehensive medical business segment focused on improving quality and efficiency, and the overall operational performance of medical institutions steadily improved: revenue of 3.645 billion yuan, a 2.0% decrease compared to the same period last year; achieving a net profit of 0.243 billion yuan, a 9.9% increase compared to the same period last year.
From an operational perspective, in the first half of 2024, uni medical has significantly improved the income structure of consolidated medical institutions. Through measures such as improving diagnosis and treatment technology, increasing treatment options, and optimizing the structure of diseases, medical institutions have increased their overall effective medical revenue by 3 percentage points to effectively cope with policy adjustments such as the expansion of drug procurement scope and reforms in medical insurance payment methods.
As a centrally-owned listed company with 72 medical institutions and a main business focus on medical health, uni medical is committed to making the comprehensive medical business segment the core support and strategic resource for building the medical health industry ecosystem and serving the health needs of the people. It aims to become the basic customer of industrial units and the base for co-creation of industrial innovation.
As the "second national team" of China's public health system, state-owned enterprise-run medical institutions play an important role in increasing the supply of high-quality medical resources and deepening the structural reform of the supply side of the medical and health industry. In the future, we believe that uni medical will continue to give full play to the advantages of centrally-owned enterprise-run medical care and group development, strive to create differentiated competitive capabilities, serve the "Health China" strategy, and create greater social value.
2. Specialized medical care + health technology: connotation-driven dual-wheel drive, accelerating layout.
Currently, the number of specialized hospitals continues to grow. Influenced by factors such as technology, medical insurance, investment, and market demand, the development of different types of specialized hospitals varies. In this context, the chain operation model has gradually become a major trend in the industry.
The company's specialized medical business takes the fundamental starting point of the needs and pain points of the people, adheres to the development direction of specialization, chain operation, and industrialization, and focuses on building flagship hospitals. It expands its business layout around specialized medical fields such as tumors, kidney diseases, ophthalmology, traditional Chinese medicine, and ethnic medicine. In the first half of 2024, the layout of specialized medical care has been further consolidated and improved.
Next, we will turn our attention to the rapidly growing health technology sector in the past two years. The health technology business mainly focuses on expanding its business layout in the medical equipment full life cycle management, smart medical care and health care technology fields, introducing cutting-edge technology and innovative methods, cultivating distinctive business and core capabilities, and striving to create the second growth curve for the listed company. The full life cycle management of medical equipment has seen a significant increase in size of existing business, as well as the addition of consolidated subsidiaries. In the first half of the year, the consolidated revenue on the financial statements was 0.264 billion yuan, an increase of 423.4%, and the net income was 0.033 billion yuan, an increase of 208.5%. According to the management's explanation at the company's performance conference on August 28, this will continue to be a new business sector with sustained rapid growth in the future.
Recently, Futu Securities' APP noticed that the Uni Medical Services, in collaboration with the China Association of Medical Industry, released the enterprise standard "Service Specification for Maintenance of Medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Equipment", marking industry recognition of its technical strength and professional level. The company also stated that it will continue to leverage its corporate advantages to promote high-quality development of the medical equipment management industry through standardization.
As the saying goes, 'First-class enterprises set standards'. First-class enterprises not only pursue excellence in products and services, but also focus on establishing and leading industry standards, shaping market benchmarks with innovation and quality.
3. Financial business: stabilize the 'foundation' and enter a new direction of innovative transformation.
The financial business is the starting business of Uni Medical, and the company has now developed into a leading enterprise in China's financing leasing industry.
According to the Uni Medical performance materials, the company has provided customized financial solutions to more than 2,000 customers, with a cumulative fund investment of over 200 billion yuan, and has 2 AAA credit-rated companies, with a total credit limit of over 100 billion yuan for financial institutions.
The company's financial business revenue for the first half of the year was 2.667 billion yuan, a decrease of 10.7%. However, the cost side and financial management level have been continuously improved, resulting in a net income of 0.981 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2%, demonstrating good stability and profitability.
In fact, faced with the unfavorable external impact of the overall downturn in the industry, intensified competition, stricter regulation, and narrowing profit margins, every financing leasing institution needs to consider whether to stick to the original strategy or seek higher quality development and business transformation.
Uni Medical has chosen the latter. According to the management's statement at the earnings conference, the company's financial business has gradually entered a new stage of structural adjustment and innovative transformation. In the future, the company plans to focus more on its main responsibilities, based on the real economy, continuously innovate the service system, and build new advantages in technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, retirement finance, and digital finance.
This strategic choice of Uni Medical reflects the company's keen insight into market changes and active grasp of future development opportunities. Seeking changes in the existing business and seizing opportunities in the changing market, the transformation and upgrade of the Uni Medical financial business is worth looking forward to.
Summary: Uni Medical - state-owned enterprise medical treatment + low valuation + high dividends + high stock yield
The management stated at the earnings conference that the company's goal is to become a leading international and first-class domestic medical and health technology enterprise with comprehensive medical treatment as its core, financial service capabilities, special medical characteristics, and health technology advantages.
With the continuous improvement of Uni Medical's business map of "financial + comprehensive medical + specialized medical + health technology", and its solid fundamentals, strong development resilience, and clear development path, it will continue to accumulate high-quality development momentum.
Currently, Uni Medical's P/E ratio is less than 4 times, P/B ratio is less than 0.5 times, and the company's dividend ratio has been maintained at 30% for many years, with a dividend yield of over 8%. It is a solid undervalued, high dividend, high dividend symbol. Combined with its deep accumulation in the medical and health field and forward-looking strategic layout, the company demonstrates strong development momentum and broad growth space, with promising future development and worthy of long-term attention from investors.