CICC lowered Beijing Holdings (00392)'s net profit forecast for 2024 by 28% to 6.05 billion yuan.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that CICC released a research report saying that the company's 2023 performance fell short of expectations. Considering that the current dividend rate is still attractive to medium- and long-term investors, it maintained the Beijing Holdings (00392) “outperforming the industry” rating, and lowered the target price by 30% to HK$28 in consideration of profit forecast adjustments. Taking into account the fact that the gas cost transmission mechanism in Beijing has not been completely rationalized and the company's financial statements have been disrupted by RMB, the bank lowered its net profit forecast for 2024 by 28% to 6.05 billion yuan, and introduced a net profit forecast of 6.402 billion yuan for the first time.
According to the report, the investment recovery method for the Nangang LNG project is still under negotiation. The management said at the performance meeting that the Nangang LNG project has entered commercial operation in December 2023. The company will apply to the government to include the Nangang LNG project as an effective asset for investment recovery. However, the details of the Nangang project's permitted return rate and operating incentives are still being negotiated and communicated with the government. Considering the high investment scale of the Nangang project (total investment of 201 billion yuan), the bank believes that its subsequent investment recovery model may have a great impact on the company's profit and dividend payment capacity.
The bank said that the joint venture company's performance may improve in 2024. The bank determined that the profitability and dividend capacity of the Beijing Pipeline Pipeline/China Gas/Beikong Water Service of the National Pipeline Network will continue to increase year-on-year in 2024, benefiting from an increase in gas transportation/gross margin improvement/declining share of construction business. Furthermore, the recent rebound in oil prices has also laid a good foundation for Rosneft's VCNG project to maintain a reasonable and stable profit.