Recently, the utilities sector has performed well, which has attracted enthusiastic attention from the market. Industry experts have pointed out that as the mainland economy enters a new development model, public utilities enterprises may gradually transition to the direction of marketization and rejuvenate themselves.
On May 16, Dazhong held a news media exchange meeting to conduct in-depth exchanges on issues of public concern.
The veteran utility was founded in 1991 and went public in 1993, becoming one of the first utilities to be established and listed. Over the past 30 years, Volkswagen has experienced ups and downs, passed various tests, and shown great resilience.
Yang Guoping, chairman of Volkswagen Utilities, said in an interview with the media that in 2022, affected by the epidemic, the company suffered its first loss since its establishment, but the main business of public utilities still maintained stable development. In 2023, the company's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses will increase by 223 million yuan year-on-year, an increase of 74.81%! This is the second highest point achieved by the company since its listing, and is only slightly behind the highest figure in 2016.
Yang Guoping said that seizing the opportunities of the times and highlighting strategic guidance is an important reason for the steady development of public utilities.
1. Review: Actively embrace the trend and cast core competitiveness
Yang Guoping pointed out that since its listing, Dazhong Public has undergone two important transformations, from "Pudong Volkswagen" to "Volkswagen Science and Technology" and then to "Volkswagen Public", and has established a two-wheel driven development strategy of public utility investment and financial venture capital.
For more than 30 years, Volkswagen has taken advantage of the trend and actively embraced the trend. Volkswagen Public started as the first taxi company in Pudong, Shanghai, and then followed the pace of reform and opening up to achieve transformation and upgrading, and gradually laid out the public utilities fields such as city gas, municipal facilities, and environmental protection industries.
In addition to seizing the opportunities of the times, adhering to the right and sustainable strategy is another important reason for the success of the public utility.
Yang Guoping pointed out that the company adheres to the business strategy of "seeking progress while maintaining stability and focusing on stability", conducts analysis and research on external situations such as the macro situation, the competition situation in the same industry, the regulatory environment and the development trend of the industry, formulates a development plan suitable for the enterprise, gives full play to the company's centralized control and business support capabilities, continuously improves corporate governance, and promotes the two main businesses of public utility investment and financial venture capital to maintain steady growth and healthy development.
It is based on this strategic positioning and business philosophy that Dazhong Public Utilities has been able to maintain its competitive advantage and achieve long-term success.
2. Prospect: Start from the "new" and forge ahead
Yang Guoping also revealed the company's development strategy for the next few years. The company plans to further adjust the industrial investment layout and strengthen the investment in the main business of public utilities to consolidate the momentum of its sustainable development.
In the field of public utilities, the company will continue to increase the proportion of investment in major projects, and actively expand high-quality project investment and M&A opportunities, especially focusing on gas engineering, sewage treatment, waste and solid waste treatment, and the extension of upstream and downstream industrial chains. The company remains optimistic about the investment opportunities in China's energy and environmental protection industries, and promises to pay close attention to the changes in the industry market, prudently judge and capture investment opportunities suitable for the company.
In the gas sector, Volkswagen Utilities' subsidiaries will seize the opportunity of business market recovery and steadily increase market growth. The company will improve the quality of basic services, strengthen security guarantees, and deepen extended services, while actively seeking diversified and intelligent development paths. In order to support this goal, the company will further increase investment in existing gas enterprises to improve the development momentum of enterprises.
In terms of environmental protection industry, the company actively pays attention to M&A opportunities for environmental treatment projects, including upstream and downstream enterprises in sewage treatment, technology enterprises, as well as solid waste treatment, hazardous waste treatment, air pollution prevention and control, etc.
Yang Guoping particularly emphasized the importance of intelligence and digitalization. In the gas sector, Volkswagen Public will carry out safety inspections to ensure service quality and safety. In the environmental sector, the company plans to achieve intelligent management through the establishment of energy consumption and equipment management systems, which will help reduce operation and maintenance costs and ensure the continuous and stable operation of environmental facilities.
In addition, the company will actively focus on digital transformation and explore how to integrate advanced technologies into traditional industries to break through industry bottlenecks and achieve efficiency improvement. Green energy service utility projects will also be one of the company's key focus directions in the future.
3. Adhere to the long-term values of sustainable development
Volkswagen Utilities adheres to long-termism, which is not only reflected in the company's own long-term development, but also in the company's commitment to practicing the concept of sustainable development and actively assuming social responsibility.
On the one hand, the company has achieved good results in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance).
Dazhong Utility's ESG practice and disclosure work started early, and it has disclosed the "Public Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report" to the public for 7 consecutive years, demonstrating its ESG initiatives in operation and management to all stakeholders. In 2023, the company was awarded the "2023 ESG Excellent Practice Case of Listed Companies" by the China Shanghai Association, and was selected as one of the "Top 50 Carbon Neutral Achievers of the 1st Guoxin Cup ESG Golden Bull Award", and ESG governance has been widely recognized by all parties.
"We understand that the public's growing awareness of environmental protection and sustainable development means that investors will gradually begin to expect companies to assume their due social responsibility and use their resources to make due contributions to the sustainable development of society and the environment. In the market of the future, the performance of companies in terms of sustainability may directly or indirectly influence the decisions of investors. Yang Guoping said in an interview with reporters.
The fourth meeting of the 12th board of directors of the company deliberated and approved the renaming of the strategy committee of the board of directors as the strategic development and ESG committee of the board of directors, which further reflects the great importance that the company attaches to ESG work.
On the other hand, the public utility insists on providing stable returns to investors.
According to statistics, since its listing in 1993, the company has raised a total of approximately RMB2.614 billion (of which the net amount of funds raised from the H-share listing is approximately RMB1.478 billion), and the cumulative cash dividend amount is approximately RMB2.4 billion. Among them, since its listing on the H-share market in 2016, the company has paid dividends a total of 8 times, with a cumulative cash dividend amount of more than RMB 1.2 billion.
"Dazhong Utility has always had a good history of paying dividends, and insists on repaying the trust and support of shareholders and investors through continuous and stable dividends." Yang Guoping said. He further revealed that the company has maintained a share-based payout ratio of close to 40% for most of the years since its listing. Even under the special circumstance of profit loss in 2022, the company still insists on paying dividends, demonstrating the company's sincerity and high sense of responsibility for shareholders and investors.
"In the future, when formulating the annual dividend plan, the company will comprehensively consider its own profitability, capital expenditure arrangements and debt repayment ability, take into account investor returns and company development, and enhance the stability, sustainability and predictability of dividends." Yang Guoping revealed.
The company gives investors a stable return, which is not only a financial behavior, but also realizes the organic combination of shareholder interests and social responsibility, and establishes a good corporate image and social reputation. In this way, the company has built a long-term and stable enterprise development model, promoted the positive interaction between the company, shareholders and society, and promoted its own development in a more sustainable and healthy direction.
At this news media exchange meeting, Volkswagen Public Utilities demonstrated its deep strength and determination in the field of public utilities to the outside world. It is expected that Volkswagen Public Utilities will continue to maintain a steady development trend in the future and create more value for shareholders and society.