"Big Mac" China Mobile officially returned to A to welcome the new situation of digital intelligence development

China Net Finance, January 5 (reporter Ye Qian Shan Shengqun) Today, China Mobile (600941.SH) returned to A-shares and was officially listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

On the first day of listing, China Mobile's stock price rose sharply after the opening, once rising more than 8%.

China Mobile landed on A-shares the day after the opening of the new year, becoming the first company to be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2022. At the listing site, Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile Group, and Dong Xin, managing director of China Mobile Group, jointly rang the bell and sounded this historic moment.

Deep ploughing communication for 20 years

Yang Jie said at the listing ceremony that on October 23, 1997, China Mobile was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the "first overseas listing of central enterprises", and now it has landed on A shares, becoming "the first red-chip company to return to A shares". This move also marks that China Mobile has built a domestic and foreign capital operation platform, which has laid a solid foundation for the company to promote digital and intelligent transformation and accelerate high-quality development.

In fact, as the world's leading communication and information service enterprise, China Mobile is also a world-class telecom operator with the largest network and customer scale, leading profitability and top market capitalization ranking in the world.

China Mobile has the world's largest user base. According to the prospectus, as of the end of June 2021, the number of mobile customers of the company reached 946 million, the number of 5G package customers reached 251 million, the number of home broadband customers reached 205 million, the number of government and enterprise users exceeded 15 million, with 980 million Internet of Things intelligent connections, the total connection scale is the first in the world; the net profit for many consecutive years exceeded 100 billion yuan, and the net profit margin and total asset yield ranked first among the world's first-class telecom operators.

It is worth noting that China Mobile has built the world's largest and first-class network infrastructure, with a total of more than 5.28 million mobile base stations, of which 3.32 million are 4G base stations, accounting for about one-third of the global 4G base stations, and the coverage rate of 4G network administrative villages is 99%; the 5G base stations are more than 500,000, ranking first in the world, and the 5G SA network has achieved the provision of services in urban areas above the prefectural level, some counties and key areas across the country.

In addition, China Mobile's profitability continues to maintain the leading level of world-class operators. According to the financial data disclosed by China Mobile, in the first three quarters of 2021, China Mobile's operating income was 648.6 billion yuan, and the profit attributable to shareholders was 87.2 billion yuan, an increase of 12.9% and 6.9% year-on-year, the growth rate hit a new high in a decade, and the operating performance was generally good.

The amount of fundraising reached a new high and attracted heavyweight investors to help

On the eve of the official listing, China Mobile announced that it intends to repurchase no more than 2.048 billion Hong Kong shares to be cancelled.

The number of A-share shares to be issued by China Mobile shall not exceed 845.7 million shares, that is, not more than 3.97% of the total number of issued shares of the company after the issuance (before exercising the over-allotment option).

Subject to compliance with laws, regulations and regulatory requirements, the Company may authorize the lead underwriter to exercise the over-allotment option to over-offer A-shares of not more than 15% of the number of A-shares in the offering, i.e. not more than 972,555 million shares.

Based on this calculation, before the exercise of the over-allotment option, the amount of funds raised by China Mobile was about 48.7 billion yuan, and after the exercise of the over-allotment option, it was nearly 56 billion yuan. If the over-allotment is exercised in full, The scale of China Mobile's IPO will exceed the previous 53.727 billion yuan of China Telecom, and the amount of fundraising will hit a new high in the past decade.

As the largest A-share IPO in the past decade, China Mobile's way back to A has touched people's hearts. On the evening of December 23, 2021, China Mobile disclosed the results of the strategic placement of A-share IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the total number of shares allocated by 19 strategic investors was 422 million shares, accounting for about 49.90% of the total issuance of Green Shoe Former Company, with a total subscription amount of 24.3 billion yuan. China Mobile's strategic placement has been supported by various investors such as state-level investment platforms, large central enterprises, well-known insurance institutions, Internet companies, large multinational enterprises and overseas sovereign wealth funds.

In addition, China Mobile's return to A issuance and listing has also attracted extensive participation from insurance funds. The reason may be that China Mobile has always had generous dividends. Since its listing on the Hong Kong market, China Mobile has paid dividends of more than HK$1 trillion, and the dividend payout ratio in the past three years has exceeded 50%, of which the dividend yield in 2020 reached 7.44%, ranking among the best among large companies in Hong Kong stocks and A-shares.

Achieve 5G-led leapfrog development

At the listing ceremony, Yang Jie said that China Mobile has never forgotten its original intention, kept its mission in mind, actively conformed to the trend of the times, grasped the trend of industrial change, led the breakthrough in information technology innovation and application development, and helped China's information and communication industry to achieve 5G leadership.

In fact, as a scientific and technological leader and innovation promoter of the development and growth of China's information and communication industry, China Mobile has helped China's information and communication industry achieve a leap-forward development of "2G following, 3G breakthrough, 4G synchronization, and 5G leadership".

China Mobile also pointed out that by the end of 2022, China Mobile's 5G network will basically achieve continuous coverage of 5G above the township level in the country, as well as effective coverage of important parks, hot spots and developed rural areas, and further consolidate the leading position in the industry.

Yang Jie also said that with the advancement of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change, the blue ocean space for information services is vast. After the listing, China Mobile will continue to serve as the core main force of smart China, fully promote new infrastructure, integrate new elements, strive to strengthen and expand the digital economy, and strive to become an excellent listed company with long-term investment value in the A-share market.

In the future, with the construction and performance of IPO projects such as 5G services, smart middle offices, and computing power networks, it will bring a broader imagination space for China Mobile's post-listing performance.