China Net Finance News on April 24th: Recently, Jingke Energy's 2023 annual report was released. During the reporting period, Jingke Energy achieved a revenue of 118.682 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.55%; The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 7.44 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 153.2%, making it the "profit king" of the newly established Science and Technology Innovation Board.
For the significant growth in performance, Jingke Energy mentioned in its annual report that it was mainly due to a significant increase in the shipment volume of photovoltaic modules. In 2023, the shipment volume of Jingke Energy components increased by 77.1% year-on-year, reaching 78.5GW, winning the global component sales championship for the fifth time. Among them, the shipment of N-type components was 48.41GW, a year-on-year increase of 352%, and the industry accounted for nearly 40%.
The large-scale production of N-type TOPCon high-efficiency batteries has effectively improved the profitability level of Jingke Energy. In 2023, Jingke Energy's gross profit margin was 14.04%, an increase of 3.59 percentage points compared to 2022; The net profit margin is 6.27%, an increase of 2.72 percentage points compared to 2022.
Jingke Energy, which saw both revenue and net profit growth, continued to increase its returns to investors in 2023 by launching a dividend plan of 2.24 yuan per 10 shares, with a total cash distribution of over 2.234 billion yuan, accounting for 30.03% of the company's net profit attributable to the parent company's owners in the current period. According to statistics, this is the third time Jingke Energy has made a cash out since its listing, with a cumulative cash out amount of 2.234 billion yuan.
Prudent expansion of production
Currently, the photovoltaic industry is in a period of adjustment. According to the CPIA forecast, the national photovoltaic module production in 2024 may reach 750GW, indicating a significant overall supply-demand imbalance. Part of the production capacity that is relatively backward in technology, lacks market capacity, and has the ability to continue operating has begun to be phased out by the market. According to third-party organizations, the current operating rate of second and third tier photovoltaic enterprises is less than 30%.
In this context, Jingke Energy, which has achieved counter trend growth in 2023 through early layout of N-type products, has also embarked on the path of "slimming down". As of the end of 2023, Jingke Energy's vertically integrated production capacity in the three core sectors of silicon wafers, batteries, and components reached 85GW, 90GW, and 110GW respectively, with an integrated production capacity matching rate of over 85%.
In the 2023 annual report, Jingke Energy mentioned that in 2024, the company will maintain a cautious pace of expansion, prioritize the landing of advantageous production capacity such as Shanxi's large base, and accelerate the elimination of outdated production capacity.
Although Jingke Energy has not explicitly stated how much "backward production capacity" it will exit, it has stated that by the end of 2024, it is expected that the advanced production capacity of silicon wafers, batteries, and modules will reach 120GW, 110GW, and 130GW respectively. This means that the company's battery and module production capacity is expected to increase by 20GW in 2024.
Considering that Jingke Energy has previously stated that its Shanxi base project will have an integrated incremental production capacity of 28GW in 2024, as well as the efficiency and production improvement brought about by technological upgrades, the annual increase in production capacity in each link should be at least 30GW. That is to say, in 2024, the company's batteries and components each have at least 10GW of outdated production capacity that needs to be phased out.
Industry insiders say that this may sound the horn for the comprehensive elimination of P-type production capacity and also point out a way for the industry to accelerate the clearance of excess production capacity. Several institutions have also mentioned in their research reports that they are optimistic about the operational flexibility brought by the release of advanced integrated production capacity of Jingke Energy, which is expected to support the company's sustained production and sales growth.
Firmly adhere to "globalization"
The reporter noticed that Jingke Energy continues to increase its overseas market layout. In the past two years, Jingke Energy's revenue from overseas has accounted for over 50%. At present, Jingke Energy products have covered more than 190 countries and regions worldwide, established more than 120 global marketing branches, and had 35 global service centers.
In 2023, Jingke Energy Company further expands its global integrated supply chain, including Southeast Asian factories. As of the end of the period, the company has the largest overseas integrated production capacity of over 12GW of silicon wafers, batteries, and components in the industry. At the same time, it actively promotes the construction of 1GW of component production capacity in the United States. In 2024, the proportion of high profit market shipments in the United States is expected to further increase, supporting the company's component profitability to maintain its industry-leading level.
Jingke Energy is also actively and rapidly promoting the construction of traceability systems, carbon footprint management, ESG and other work, laying the foundation for long-term stable supply in overseas markets. In December 2023, Jingke Energy's latest annual ESG rating at Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) jumped by two levels to "BBB", becoming the first photovoltaic company in China to achieve a leap of two levels in rating within a year.