In recent years, traditional automobile manufacturers have faced a grim situation of slow revenue growth and declining profits, but Changan Automobile seems to "not eat" this set and has continuously achieved rapid growth in revenue and net profit.
On the evening of April 17, Changan Automobile (000625) released its 2023 annual report, achieving revenue of 151.3 billion yuan, an increase of about 25%, and net profit attributable to the parent company of 11.33 billion yuan, an increase of 45%, both hitting a record high. Just in 2019, Changan Automobile also lost 2.6 billion yuan.
This is also the fourth consecutive year that Changan Automobile's revenue and net profit have achieved double-percentage growth since 2020, which is still relatively rare among established car companies.
In 2023, Changan Automobile sold 2.553 million vehicles, up 8.8% year-on-year, sold 474,000 units of its own-brand NEV, and exported 358,000 units, up 44% year-on-year.
The revenue from sales of products was 145.3 billion yuan, accounting for 96 percent, an increase of 27 percent, three times the growth rate of sales volume, and the income from the provision of labor services and other products was about 6 billion yuan, a decrease of 16.6 percent. The gross profit margin of automotive product sales was 18%, a decrease of 1.68 percentage points from 2022.
To be honest, the gross profit margin of more than 18% in automobile manufacturing is still relatively good among old car companies. The gross profit margin of the vehicle business of the two established automakers announced earlier is 4%-6%.
The excellent gross profit margin has laid a solid foundation for Changan Automobile's profit growth. However, last year, Changan Automobile's net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was about 3.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 16%. There is usually a large difference between the net profit attributable to the parent company and the net profit attributable to the parent after deducting non-profits, with a gap of 3.3 billion yuan in 2022 and nearly 6.6 billion yuan in 2020.
What are the non-recurring gains and losses of more than 7.5 billion yuan in 2023? The first "income from business combinations not under the same control", totaling 5.021 billion yuan, is related to the completion of the acquisition of Chongqing Changan New Energy Automobile (Deep Blue Automobile) in the first quarter. This is followed by government subsidies, which also had 1.46 billion yuan last year.
From the perspective of investment income, a total of 3.05 billion yuan last year was also greatly improved compared with the loss of 770 million yuan in 2022.
It has achieved an unprecedented net profit of more than 10 billion yuan, and the net cash flow generated by operating activities is also 19.9 billion yuan, which makes Changan Automobile have the ability to come up with cash to pay dividends. According to the resolution of the board of directors, it is proposed to pay a dividend of 0.343 yuan per share, with a cumulative dividend of about 3.4 billion yuan, accounting for about 30% of the net profit, the same as in 2022, but lower than the 50% dividend payout ratio in 2020 and 2021.
The controlling shareholder of Changan Automobile is Ordnance Equipment Group, and the actual controller is the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, a listed central enterprise headquartered in Chongqing.
Zhu Huarong
Executive compensation is also disclosed in the annual report. The highest salaries are Chairman Zhu Huarong and President Wang Jun, both of which are 2.63 million yuan, an increase of 120,000 yuan to 140,000 yuan.
There are 7 senior executives with a salary of more than 2 million yuan, including the chief accountant, and 7 executives with a salary of more than 1 million yuan, and Li Jun, the secretary of the board of directors, with a salary of about 980,000 yuan. Vice President Klaus Zyciora about 940,000 yuan. Independent directors are about 150,000 yuan. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board does not receive remuneration from listed companies.
Vice Presidents Wang Xiaofei and Wang Hui, and Executive Vice President Zhang Xiaoyu increased their salaries by about 1.5 million yuan last year, which is still obvious. Executive Vice Presidents Yang Dayong and Peng Tao's salaries increased by about 950,000 yuan.
In addition, there are several executives who hold hundreds of thousands of shares. Chairman Zhu Huarong holds more than 500,000 shares, Wang Jun and other 8 executives hold about 350,000 to 360,000 shares, and 7 executives hold between 170,000 and 250,000 shares.
According to the latest stock price of Changan Automobile of 17.13 yuan, Zhu Huarong's shareholding value is more than 8.5 million yuan, the dividend per share is 0.343 yuan, and more than 170,000 yuan is also recorded.
As of the end of 2023, Changan Automobile has a total of about 49,000 employees, with an average profit of 193,500 yuan and an average salary of 233,400 yuan last year, an increase of about 12,000 yuan over 2022 and equivalent to an increase of 1,000 yuan per month.
As of the close of the market on April 17, Changan Automobile's total market value was about 170 billion yuan, making it the listed company with the highest market value in Chongqing, surpassing Cialis (142.9 billion yuan).
Note: The remuneration mentioned in this article includes wages and bonuses, employee benefits, five insurances and one housing fund, enterprise annuity, supplementary retirement benefits, etc.