Yangtze River Business Daily reporter Wang Jing
Eight years ago, an investment of 90 million yuan made Dahua shares (002236. SZ) made a lot of money.
On the evening of April 15, Dahua Co., Ltd. disclosed its 2023 annual report, in which it achieved an operating income of 32.218 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.41%, and a net profit of 7.362 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 216.73%.
The annual report shows that in 2023, Dahua's investment income alone will reach 4.496 billion yuan, and the net profit will increase by about 4.137 billion yuan. This is mainly due to the Company's disposal of 7.88% equity interest in Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Leapmotor").
Dahua Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of security video surveillance products, and in recent years, the company has increased the layout in the field of artificial intelligence. The large income from the sale of Leapmotor will help Dahua accelerate the implementation of the artificial intelligence industry.
The Yangtze River Business Daily reporter noted that Dahua Co., Ltd. has invested heavily in R&D, and the company's R&D personnel will reach 12,372 by the end of 2023, accounting for 52.8%.
In 2023, the company will also receive a stake in China Mobile, and whether the two sides will cooperate in the field of AI has also sparked market speculation.
The sale of Leapmotor received nearly 4.5 billion yuan in investment income
The relationship between Dahua and Leapmotor starts from 2015.
According to the data, in December 2015, Dahua participated in the establishment of Leapmotor with a paid-in registered capital of 33 million yuan, and in May 2017, Dahua increased its capital to Leapmotor by 57 million yuan. The price of the above two capital contributions is 1 yuan per share. Leapmotor was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2022.
As one of the representatives of the "new car-making forces", Leapmotor continued to "burn money" and lose money, so in the past few years of participating in Leapmotor, Dahua has not gained much profit.
From 2015 to 2022, Dahua's investment income in associates and joint ventures was 14.01 million yuan, 6.643 million yuan, -29.51 million yuan, -79.29 million yuan, -116 million yuan, -181 million yuan, -269 million yuan, and -400 million yuan respectively.
IN 2023, DAHUA DECIDED TO DISPOSE OF THE SHARES OF LEAPMOTOR, AND IT SIGNED A SHARE PURCHASE AGREEMENT WITH STELLANTIS N.V. ON OCTOBER 26, 2023, TO TRANSFER 90 MILLION SHARES (45 MILLION H SHARES + 45 MILLION DOMESTIC SHARES) OF LEAPMOTOR SHARES AT A PRICE OF HK$3.49 BILLION, ACCOUNTING FOR 7.88% OF LEAPMOTOR'S TOTAL SHARE CAPITAL. After the completion of the transfer, the company no longer holds shares in Leapmotor.
According to the annual report, this brought 4.496 billion yuan of investment income to Dahua shares, and increased the net profit attributable to the parent company by about 4.137 billion yuan.
Eight years ago, it spent 90 million yuan to invest in shares, and eight years later, it obtained an investment income of 4.496 billion yuan, and the yield of Dahua's investment was nearly 50 times.
Undoubtedly, this has also thickened Dahua's performance in 2023. In 2023, Dahua Co., Ltd. will achieve operating income of 32.218 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.41%, a net profit of 7.362 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 216.73%, and a non-net profit of 2.962 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 87.39%.
It is worth noting that Leapmotor can also be regarded as "marrying into a wealthy family" this time. The Stellantis Group was established in early 2021 as a merger of the former PSA Peugeot Citroën Group and the former Fiat Chrysler Group.
After the acquisition of shares by Stellantis Group, Leapmotor International has the exclusive right to export and sell to all other markets around the world, except for Greater China, as well as the exclusive right to manufacture Leapmotor products locally.
Leapmotor's profitability has also improved in 2023. In 2023, Leapmotor will achieve an operating income of 16.747 billion yuan, an increase of 35.2% over 2022, and a net loss of 4.216 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of about 900 million yuan.
In terms of deliveries, Leapmotor will deliver a total of about 144,200 new cars in 2023, an increase of 29.7% year-on-year, which is only lower than Li and NIO among the new car-making forces.
China Mobile is the second largest shareholder
After disposing of the equity of Leapmotor, Dahua is also laying out new areas.
According to public information, Dahua was established in 2001, mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of security video surveillance products, and was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in May 2008.
From 2008 to 2020, the company's operating income increased from 632 million yuan to 26.466 billion yuan, and its net profit increased from 104 million yuan to 3.903 billion yuan. In 2021 and 2022, the company's performance will decline, with operating income of 32.835 billion yuan and 30.565 billion yuan, respectively, a year-on-year change of 24.07% and -6.91%, and a net profit of 3.378 billion yuan and 2.324 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.44% and 31.2%.
In 2023, Dahua's operating income, net profit, and non-net profit will all resume growth. At the same time, in the first quarter of 2024, the company's performance continued to grow, with operating income of 6.181 billion yuan and net profit of 561 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.75% and 13.26%.
With the rapid development of the field of artificial intelligence in recent years, Dahua has made high-intensity investment in related fields to promote the large-scale implementation of the artificial intelligence industry.
From 2021 to 2023, the company's R&D investment will be 3.452 billion yuan, 3.883 billion yuan, and 3.967 billion yuan respectively, and by the end of 2023, its R&D personnel will reach 12,372, accounting for 52.8%. Dahua Co., Ltd. self-developed and released the Xinghan model. It is understood that the Xinghan model is an industry visual model with vision as the core and multimodal capabilities.
It is worth mentioning that Dahua shares have obtained shares from China Mobile, and in April 2023, Dahua shares completed the issuance of 293 million additional shares to China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., raising 5.09 billion yuan. At present, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. holds 8.9% of Dahua shares, ranking as the second largest shareholder.
China Mobile has long been in the field of AI. In 2021, it proposed a new concept of computing power network, and at the same time widely deployed visual AI and built an AI visual middle platform, including image semantic understanding, video content mining, and 3D vision.
What role will China Mobile's shareholding play in Dahua's AI development?
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