Ruan Runsheng, a reporter from the Securities Times

May 8thFierce34000Cosco Haifa (601866) held a performance presentation meeting, senior executives said that affected by the situation in the Red Sea and other factors, shipping companies and other mainstream customers are more willing to buy boxes, the market demand is picking up, and the container market is expected to enter a stable recovery channel in 2024. The overall situation will be better than 2023.

Under the influence of multiple factors such as the global trade downturn, geopolitical tensions and the continued tightening of monetary policy in major economies, the momentum of world economic growth has weakened and the shipping market has fluctuated periodically. In 2023, the company achieved operating income of 156Fierce34000.85 billion yuan, down 39% from the same period last year, and the net profit belonging to shareholders of listed companies was 1.409 billion yuan, down 64% from the same period last year, and basic earnings per share was 0.1041 yuan.

In the first quarter of this year, the company's operating income increased by nearly 40% compared with the same period last year, realizing a net profit of 447 million yuan, an increase of 12% over the same period last year, mainly due to the recovery of container business.

At the performance presentation, COSCO Haifa executives said that since the fourth quarter of 2023, the shipping industry has recovered rapidly under the influence of the situation in the Red Sea, which has pushed up container demand to a certain extent; this year, affected by factors such as a further slowdown in container turnover, new capacity and small peaks in shipments before the Spring Festival, mainstream customers such as shipping companies are more willing to buy boxes and the market demand picks up. The company actively seizes the market opportunity to achieve a large increase in sales volume.

It is predicted that the container demand for new transport capacity, the renewal demand for a large number of old boxes, the adjustment of the national industrial structure and the expansion of container application scenarios will provide a strong supporting basis for the container market. It is expected that the container market will enter a stable recovery channel in 2024, and the overall situation will be better than that in 2023. At present, the overall production and operation of the box factories affiliated to COSCO Haifa are normal and orderly, and the dry boxes of hand orders have been scheduled to around August and the cold boxes have been scheduled for around July.

In addition, last year, the company's special box manufacturing business revenue increased more than 5 times compared with the same period last year, it is reported that the main reason is that the company received nearly 1000 orders for new energy storage boxes from customers. The company develops customized products, expands container application scenarios, develops and manufactures various box types such as automobile frame folding boxes, new energy storage boxes, agricultural planting boxes, etc., to meet the diversified needs of customers and form anti-cycle products, production capacity and benefits.

Cosco Haifa's shipping leasing business improved last year, with an operating income of 2.473 billion yuan, an increase of 2.7% over the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in the scale of the leased fleet.

Looking forward to the follow-up ship purchase plan, COSCO Haifa executives said that the company will seize service opportunities in the whole life cycle of ordering, leasing, management and disposal of shipping assets, and in the case of strict risk control, the ship type and fleet size will be adjusted according to the company's ship leasing business development planning and market conditions.

At the performance presentation meeting, some investors raised questions about the growth of interest expenses of COSCO Haifa. According to the financial report, the interest expense of Cosco Haifa was nearly 3.9 billion yuan last year, an increase of nearly 60% over the same period last year, and nearly 40% in the first quarter of this year.

Company executives said that the increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in 2023 led to a rise in financing costs, and the company actively promoted relevant measures, strictly formulated the budget of capital revenue and expenditure, scientifically determined the company's safe stock of funds, activated US dollar funds in an orderly manner, controlled the scale of US dollar financing, opened up low-cost US dollar fixed interest rate financing channels, and worked hard to improve quality and efficiency.