On April 16, the National Bureau of Statistics released the data on the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size, the total retail sales of consumer goods, the GDP data for the first quarter, and the fixed asset investment data in March 2024. In the first quarter of 2024, China's GDP increased by 5.3% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations. The growth rate of infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment has accelerated, which has played a supporting role to a certain extent. In the first quarter, the industry maintained a high level of activity and growth rate, and in terms of products, the output of charging piles, 3D printing equipment, and electronic components grew rapidly, and the industrial structure of the manufacturing industry is undergoing good changes.
Industry insiders said that the growth rate of industries with higher added value is more obvious. Based on this, increasing the drive of scientific and technological innovation has become an important starting point for more and more enterprises to achieve high-quality development. From the perspective of listed companies, many companies are actively cultivating new momentum and creating new growth points.
Actively cultivate new momentum
Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, told the China Securities Journal that manufacturing investment increased by 9.9% in the first quarter, up from 9.4% in January and February, and the growth rate of manufacturing investment accelerated. On the one hand, due to the improvement of fundamentals, exports remained relatively resilient in the first quarter, and the cumulative growth rate of profits of manufacturing enterprises rebounded sharply to 17.2% from January to February. As business conditions improve, the willingness to expand investment will increase accordingly. On the other hand, due to policy support, large-scale equipment renovation will directly stimulate the purchase and reconstruction of traditional manufacturing equipment investment, and improve the willingness of related equipment manufacturing enterprises to expand production, at the same time, "accelerate the development of new quality productivity" under the guidance, high-tech manufacturing investment growth is faster.
Judging from industrial data, in March, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 4.5 percent year-on-year in real terms, and from January to March, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year. In March, 32 of the 41 major industries maintained a year-on-year increase in added value.
"The industry maintains a high level of activity and growth rate. In terms of products, the output of charging piles, 3D printing equipment, and electronic components is growing rapidly, the industrial structure of the manufacturing industry is undergoing good changes, and the growth rate of industries with higher added value is more obvious. Pan Helin, a member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told a reporter from the China Securities Journal.
In the first quarter, the recovery of the consumer market was better than expected, residents' willingness to consume was boosted, the foundation of domestic demand was further consolidated, and the consumption of various life services exceeded expectations.
In the view of Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, a cup of milk tea, a barbecue, a bowl of spicy tang or an "Internet celebrity" performance can all be used as a traffic password to leverage cultural tourism consumption. This is also the reason why the tourism industry in Zibo, Tianshui, Kaifeng and other cities is booming. Tourism is no longer limited to big-name scenic spots and well-known landmarks, but is scattered in various categories of big consumption and entertainment.
From the perspective of listed companies, many companies are actively cultivating new momentum and creating new growth points. Tan Beijing, secretary of the board of directors of TV and radio media, told a reporter from China Securities Journal that in recent years, the company has increased project investment and landed 7 projects in 6 cities and prefectures in Hunan Province. In 2024, the company's flagship product, Mango City, will start construction in an all-round way. At the same time, the cultural tourism projects in various cities and states have increased their layout, realizing the real "starry sky" from the "Seven Stars Alignment" to create future growth points.
In March this year, the added value of the agricultural and sideline food processing industry increased by 5.2% year-on-year. Judging from the quarterly report of listed companies, the demand for leisure snacks is also continuing to grow. The relevant person in charge of a leisure snack listed company told reporters: "From the demand side, the demand before the Spring Festival is beyond expectations. At present, the stocking situation of 'May Day' has also exceeded our expectations. ”
On the performance side, the first quarter performance of listed companies such as Yanjin Shop and Jinzai Food is promising. Yanjin Shop expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 150 million yuan to 170 million yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 34.48%-52.41%. Jinzai Food expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 70.5592 million yuan to 78.3991 million yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 80%-100% year-on-year.
"Since the beginning of this year, policies to promote consumption in the automobile and home appliance industries have been continuously introduced, prompting the number of orders of listed companies to continue to increase. Industries closely related to life, such as agricultural and sideline food processing industry, liquor, and beverages, have high market potential. In the future, we will continue to be optimistic about the role of computer, communications, electronics and other scientific and technological innovation industries in promoting the economy, and these industries will play a key role in promoting the transformation and upgrading of the traditional economy and cultivating new quality productivity. Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, told a reporter from the China Securities Journal.
The integration of digital and real is advancing steadily
"From the perspective of the digital economy, the information transmission, software and information technology services industry grew by 12.7%, and the performance of the service industry in the first quarter was relatively bright. The growth rate of this industry mainly comes from the digital transformation of enterprises, indicating that the integration of data and reality is still steadily advancing in the first quarter. The digital economy, especially digital transformation and the integration of data and reality, is an important driving force for the growth of the current service industry, and also provides strong support for the growth of consumption and industrial output. Pan and Lin said.
Lv Siyao, vice president, secretary of the board of directors and head of finance of Haitian AAC, told the China Securities Journal that scientific and technological innovation is an important engine for the development of new quality productivity and economic growth. It is of great significance to promote the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing and other industries by strengthening the breakthrough of domestic AI computing power and the construction of intelligent computing centers, and guiding enterprises to explore the application scenarios of large models through active actions in the field of data. At the same time, the subjects who hold the data should play a greater role in opening up and building high-quality data for large model training.
Increasing the drive of scientific and technological innovation has become an important starting point for more and more enterprises to achieve high-quality development.
Xu Guanju, chairman of Transfar Group, told the China Securities Journal that at present, enterprises are facing a new situation from market-driven development to technology-driven development. In the past, the market environment was good, and enterprises could continue to expand the market, increase the volume and scale. Now we must rely on technological innovation or driven by scientific and technological innovation, have breakthrough technologies, and form a "two-wheel drive" of scientific and technological innovation and the market, in order to achieve high-quality development and boost investor confidence.
Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in the next stage, China is still in the stage of structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, and some enterprises will carry out transformation and upgrading. Due to the adjustment of traditional industries and the cultivation of new kinetic energy, it is normal for some economic growth fluctuations to occur, but the quality of development continues to improve, and high-quality development continues to improve.
There is a general emphasis on R&D
In order to enhance competitiveness, listed companies have increased research and development efforts to cultivate core competitiveness. Judging from the financial reports of listed companies, many companies' R&D expenses are at a high level.
Judging from the annual report, among the 1,775 listed companies that have disclosed their 2023 annual reports, 1,629 listed companies have disclosed data related to R&D expenses. Among them, 792 listed companies have R&D expenses of more than 100 million yuan, 257 listed companies have R&D expenses of more than 500 million yuan, 127 listed companies have R&D expenses of more than 1 billion yuan, and 18 listed companies have R&D expenses of more than 10 billion yuan. Among the listed companies with the highest R&D expenditures, BYD, China Mobile, CATL, China Telecom, Haier Smart Home, China Unicom and other companies achieved significant growth in R&D expenses during the reporting period.
Taking BYD as an example, during the reporting period, the company accelerated the R&D layout of new technologies. In 2023, the company achieved a total operating income of about 602.315 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.04%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of about 30.041 billion yuan. The annual R&D expenses were about 39.575 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 112.15%. In 2023, the number of R&D personnel in the company will be 102844, a year-on-year increase of 47.56%.
In terms of the first quarter report of 2024, among the 62 listed companies that have disclosed the first quarterly report, 61 listed companies have disclosed data related to R&D expenses, and 9 listed companies have R&D expenses of more than 100 million yuan in the first quarter. CATL, Dahua Co., Ltd., Shennan Circuit, Chenming Paper, EZVIZ Network, Kangyuan Pharmaceutical and other companies have the highest R&D expenses.
During the reporting period, many companies doubled their R&D expenses. Taking Shennan Circuit as an example, the company's quarterly report shows that during the period, the company achieved a total operating income of about 3.961 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.24%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of about 380 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 83.88%. During the reporting period, the company's R&D expenses were about 338 million yuan, an increase of 103.58% year-on-year.
Looking ahead, most companies said they would continue to increase R&D investment.
Reviewer: Xiong Yonghong Editor: Zhang Lijing Proofreader: Zhang Diange Producer: Li Ruoyu Signed: Fei Yangsheng
