CBO reporter Li Siyang
As a supplier of many beauty giants at home and abroad, Hunan Lichen Industry recently disclosed its 2021 financial report, and its operating income rose steadily, but due to the impact of the epidemic and the increase in raw material prices, the net profit declined.
01
The market size is growing steadily
But net profit fell significantly
Hunan Lichen Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lichen Industry) recently disclosed the 2021 annual report shows that Lichen achieved operating income of 2.749 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 15.94% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 179 million yuan, down 19.57% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 165 million yuan, down 14.19% year-on-year Net cash flow from operating activities was $168 million, down 23% year-on-year.
In terms of quarters, the operating income of Lichen in the four quarters of last year was 584 million yuan, 623 million yuan, 758 million yuan and 784 million yuan, which increased quarter by quarter, and the net cash flow generated by operating activities was only negative in the first quarter, and the second half of the year was significantly stronger than the first half of the year.
Lichen's basic earnings per share and diluted earnings per share in 2020 were both 3.29 yuan per share, both of which decreased by 25.53% year-on-year to 2.45 yuan per share in 2021, and the weighted average return on net assets in 2021 was 14.55%, compared with 27.47% in 2020, a decrease of 12.92% year-on-year.
However, the total assets of Lichen Industry rose from 1.513 billion yuan at the end of 2020 to 2.444 billion yuan at the end of 2021, an increase of 61.5%; the net assets attributable to the shareholders of listed companies rose from 905 million yuan to 2.021 billion yuan, an increase of 123.20%.
The epidemic and the rise in raw material prices are the main reasons for the decline in net profit, and the downstream part has been shut down and closed due to the epidemic.
The report discloses that the main business of Lichen Industry is the research and development, production and sales of surfactants and detergents, and according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission's "Guidelines for the Classification of Listed Companies", the company's industry is chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing (code C26).
The company's main products are one of the important branches of the fine chemical industry, the production of surfactant shampoo, shower gel, hand sanitizer, laundry detergent, laundry detergent and other personal care and household washing products and other core raw materials, the industry rigid demand characteristics are more obvious, the market scale growth is more stable.
According to the official website of Lichen Industry, the company's cooperative enterprises include Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal, Swarco, Blue Moon, Yunnan Baiyao, Adolf, Colgate, Coty, Biersdorf, Henkel well-known domestic and foreign enterprises.
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Enhance users' health and environmental awareness
Promote the upgrading of the "table live" industry
Similar to the downstream application fields of global surfactants, domestic household care and personal care and other civilian washing products are the most important application directions of mainland surfactants, accounting for about half of the total amount of surfactants in mainland China.
The main functions of surfactants in cosmetics include emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, foaming, cleaning, lubrication and softness, etc. With the increasing number of cosmetic dosage forms and functional requirements, the variety of surfactants used in cosmetics is also increasing.
Compared with the international market, China's total surfactant consumption ranks among the top in the world, but the per capita consumption is only about 3kg / year, only about one-third of the per capita consumption of the United States, with the continuous improvement of the material living standards of the people on the mainland, the future market potential of surfactants in the mainland is considerable.
In recent years, the mainland's environmental protection and safety production policies have become stricter, a number of small enterprises with backward production processes have been forced to withdraw from the market, the market space for disorderly competition has been released, the industry competitive environment has been optimized, and the market demand has gathered to leading enterprises with real technical content to promote the upgrading of the surfactant industry.
However, at the same time, with the continuous enhancement of consumer health awareness and environmental awareness, the downstream customer groups have continuously improved their requirements for the environmental protection, mildness and quality stability of surfactant products. The surfactants used in cosmetics should be non-irritating and non-toxic to the skin, and also meet the high requirements of colorlessness, odorlessness and stability, prompting enterprises to carry out product innovation and technological improvement in a timely manner, and promoting the optimization of product structure in the industry.
According to the statistics of the Surfactant Professional Committee of the China Detergent Industry Association, in 2021, the total production of surfactant manufacturers above the mainland scale is 3.885 million tons, and the sales volume is 3.785 million tons, the production and marketing are basically balanced, and the output will increase by about 5% compared with 2020.
Lichen annual report shows that the company's surfactant design capacity is 361,000 tons / year, capacity utilization rate of 90.52%, under construction capacity of 150,000 tons, in Changsha, Shanghai, Dongguan have production bases.
Lichen mainly participates in the competition of the anionic surfactant market, with the increase of industry concentration, at present, the output of the top five anionic surfactant manufacturers in the mainland accounts for more than half of the national output, and the production and sales of Lichen's main surfactant products rank among the top three in the industry.