Some media have counted the "loss kings" of A-shares over the years since 2000, of which 3 have been on the list more than 2 times, while only 1 has been on the list more than 3 times, that is, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings.
Moreover, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings is also the only listed company to achieve a "loss king" for two consecutive years, losing 10.4 billion yuan in 2011 and 9.6 billion yuan in 2012, and wearing the hat of ST.
Another year to win the "loss king" is also closer, with a loss of 7.5 billion yuan in 2009.
However, feng shui takes turns, and today's COSCO SHIPPING Holdings has changed its appearance, making a net profit of nearly 110 billion in the past 2022, enough to cover the losses of all past years, and the net profit in 2021 is also nearly 90 billion.
There is a saying called "three years do not open, open and eat for three years", in fact, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings has earned more than three years of money in the past two years, I am afraid that it can eat for 10 or 20 years.
COSCO SHIPPING Holdings' annual report for the first half of 2023 shows that there is 200 billion cash lying on the account, and according to the cash flow ranking of A-share listed companies as of the end of 2022 according to media statistics, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings ranks 12th.
In addition to cash, there are more than 65 billion yuan in equity investment, while borrowing is only more than 36 billion, which is not an exaggeration to say that it is rich.
Rich, dividends are also generous, dividends in 2021 13.9 billion, 2022 dividends 54.8 billion.
In particular, it is worth mentioning that the dividend plan implemented on December 7, 2022 is 20.1 yuan for 10 pies, which is equivalent to a yield of 20% based on the stock price of about 10 yuan at that time, and I am afraid that A shares will not be able to find a second such dividend.
COSCO SHIPPING Holdings is not a high-tech business, mainly shipping, helping people pull goods, perhaps his predecessor "China COSCO" is more well-known, the name of "loss king" was obtained during the China Ocean period.
Founded in 1961, COSCO is China's first ocean-going fleet company to pioneer the "loan to buy ships, profit repayment" model, that is, first buy cargo ships back from bank loans, and then use cargo ships to earn money to slowly repay the loans.
It should be said that for a long time, China COSCO has not had any voice in the world, until 1998, when it ushered in a different leader, Wei Jiafu.
As soon as Wei Jiafu arrived in office, he invited a large number of experts to consult him, formulated a 10-year development plan for COSCO, and put forward the goal of building COSCO into a Fortune 500 company.
In 2007, China COSCO did so, ranking 488th in the Fortune Global 500 with a revenue of US$15.4 billion, and successfully landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
With the capital platform, COSCO began to desperately get ships, but shipping is like pig farming, it is also a cyclical industry, when the business is good, everyone will buy ships vigorously, resulting in excess capacity, falling freight rates, and everyone is not happy.
In addition, affected by the country's economic development and global trade, the financial crisis broke out in 2008, and China COSCO got a lot of ships, but the economy was down, there was no cargo to pull, and losses were inevitable.
In fact, several cyclical shocks in the past few years have wiped out many shipping companies, and even South Korea's top ten Hanjin Shipping has gone bankrupt.
COSCO's "renaming" was also after the acquisition of China Shipping Container Line in 2015 and the new name "COSCO SHIPPING Holdings", and in 2018 it acquired Hong Kong-based "OOCL", becoming a global container shipping giant.
After surviving a long trough, when the epidemic came in 2020, the outbreak of global shipping business finally ushered in, and China exported a large number of anti-epidemic materials overseas, and COSCO SHIPPING Holdings made a lot of money by relying on nearly 500 container ships.
As mentioned earlier, the cyclicality of shipping determines that the next few years may be troughs, which has been reflected in COSCO SHIPPING Holdings' 2023 half-year report, with revenue of 91.8 billion, a decrease of 120 billion yuan from the first half of 2022, and a net profit of 16.6 billion yuan, a decrease of 48 billion from the first half of 2022.
Of course, even if the scale of business shrinks significantly, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings is still profitable, the so-called national luck is good shipping, and the development of China's economy and trade has become COSCO SHIPPING Holdings' biggest backing.
It is foreseeable that COSCO SHIPPING Holdings has fewer and fewer opportunities to win the "loss king" again.