According to the Zhitong Finance App, China Southern Communications (01617) announced the annual results for the year ended December 31, 2023. The group achieved revenue of 522 million yuan (RMB, same below) during the period, a year-on-year decrease of 17.59%; profit attributable to shareholders was 5.188 million yuan; loss attributable to shareholders during the same period last year was 8.103 million yuan, turning a loss from the previous year into a profit; basic profit per share was 0.003 yuan.
The announcement said that during the period, the Group's gross profit increased by about 23.2% from about 57.4 million yuan in the same period in 2022 to about 70.7 million yuan. During the reporting period, the Group's gross margin was approximately 13.5%, while the gross margin for the year ended 31 December 2022 was approximately 9.1%. Although the unit price of sales remained generally stable, the cost of raw materials (including non-ferrous metals and some other chemical raw materials) declined significantly and overall production costs were strictly controlled, driving up the Group's gross profit and gross margin during the reporting period.