Jinwu Financial News | According to Tianfeng Securities Research Report, China Resources Gas (01193) released its 2024 semi-annual report. In the first half of 2024, the company achieved operating income of HK$52.08 billion, up 7.7% year on year; profit attributable to shareholders was HK$3.46 billion, a decrease of 2.5% year over year. Excluding the impact of exchange rate fluctuations, shareholders' profit increased 0.3% year on year; excluding Chongqing Gas's consolidated income for the same period in 2023, shareholders' profit increased 21.2% year over year.
The bank continued that in terms of retail gas volume, the company's retail gas volume increased 5.3% year-on-year to 20.9 billion cubic meters in the first half of 2024. Among them, industrial gas sales increased 3.7% year on year to 9.66 billion cubic meters; commercial gas sales increased 8.1% year on year to 5.01 billion cubic meters; and consumer gas sales increased 7% year on year to 5.76 billion cubic meters. The company's upstream resource acquisition capacity is gradually improving, and gas source costs are gradually being optimized. The company's self-managed gas volume reached 1.75 billion square meters in the first half of the year, an increase of 30% over the previous year, and is expected to save 0.03 billion yuan in costs. At the same time, the annual contract target volume was increased by 0.75 billion square meters. The average cost of the company's gas sales in the first half of the year was 2.94 yuan/square meter, down 0.14 yuan/square meter from the same period last year. The decline in procurement costs contributed to the continuous improvement of the gross margin in the gas sales business. In the first half of the year, the company's gross sales margin was about 0.54 yuan/square meter, an increase of 0.04 yuan/square meter over the previous year.
The bank said that the gradual return of the market to normal in 2024, the gradual recovery in downstream natural gas demand, and the continued promotion of the favorable price policy will have a positive impact on the company's gross sales margin, but the market is still in a fragile balance and faces many uncertainties. The bank expects the company's net profit to be HK$5.73, 6.37, and 7.15 billion in 2024 to 2026, respectively, and the corresponding PE is 11.4, 10.3, and 9.2 times, respectively, maintaining a “buy” rating.
