The Zhitong Finance App learned that Vinda International (03331) announced results for the full year of 2023, with total revenue reaching HK$19.99 billion, a natural increase of 6.9%. Benefiting from the optimization and upgrading of the product portfolio, sales of the high-end tissue package achieved double-digit growth. Its market share of tissue remained steady, maintained a leading market position in the Chinese market, and its personal care business continued to stabilize its market share in the main market during the year.
As far as business segments are concerned, the tissue segment and personal care segment respectively account for 83% and 17% of the Group's total revenue. Revenue from traditional dealers, modern channel supermarkets, commercial and e-commerce sales channels accounted for 23%, 21%, 10%, and 46% of total revenue, respectively. E-commerce has become Vinda's mainstream sales channel, and sales recorded a natural increase of 12.6% over the same period last year.
Despite the gradual restoration of profit margins, gross profit and net profit continued to be negatively affected by inflationary pressure and increased market competition compared to last year. Gross profit fell 4.2% to HK$5,251 million, while gross margin fell 1.9 percentage points to 26.3%. Although the price of raw materials has dropped significantly, it has had a negative impact on profit margins due to the time required to digest raw material inventory purchased in the early stages. In response to this, Vinda actively implemented measures such as flexible pricing strategies, product portfolio improvements, and operational efficiency improvements during the year to cushion this.
In the context of increasing public awareness of hygiene, the household paper market is developing in the direction of high quality and diversification. Driven by sales volume, price and product portfolio, Vinda International's tissue business achieved positive growth. In 2023, the tissue business revenue was HK$16,655 million, an increase of 3.4% over the previous year. Excluding exchange rate influence of 7.6%, accounting for 83% of the Group's total revenue. The tissue business in the Southeast Asian market also performed well. Sales rose steadily, and sales achieved a natural increase of 24.4% over the same period. Vinda adheres to the high-end strategy to achieve double-digit growth in sales of the high-end household paper portfolio, further consolidating its dominant position in the market in mainland China and Hong Kong, China, and mitigating the impact of high-cost wood pulp stocks and promotions to a certain extent. The gross margin of the tissue division this year was 24.9%.
Revenue from the personal care business increased by 0.9% to HK$3,344 million. The impact of the natural growth rate was 3.7%, accounting for 17% of the Group's total revenue. According to its announcement, the gross margin of the Personal Care Division and the profit margins for segment results were 32.9% and 2.8%. The personal care business in mainland China is driving the Group's personal care business to maintain steady growth.
At the operational level, in 2023, Vinda was once again awarded the ESG “A” rating by MSCI (Ming Sheng), the world's largest index company. Following an increase in the rating in 2021, it remained “A” for three consecutive years, leading the industry in “corporate governance”, “packaging and waste”, “chemical safety”, and “raw material procurement”.
In terms of capacity allocation, as of December 31, 2023, the paper manufacturing equipment is designed to have an annual production capacity of 1,425,000 tons.
Li Zhaowang, chairman of the board of directors of Vinda International, attended the board meeting on January 24. The board approved the annual results. Looking forward to the future, Vinda will continue to focus on innovation investment and brand building, enhancing e-commerce channels, expanding market share through online marketing, and consolidating its leading position in the industry. At the same time, it is also firmly implementing a high-end strategy, continuously optimizing in terms of category expansion, product price, marketing promotion, channel expansion, financial management, etc., to further promote the Group's sustainable profitable development in all major markets.