Xin Lang Zheng Quan·2025-04-30 09:45Core Insights - Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Co., Ltd. has become the first A-share listed company to receive a negative audit opinion due to significant internal control deficiencies in 2024 [1][2] - The company's management has shown serious inadequacies in risk assessment and response mechanisms, leading to a failure in internal controls [1] Group 1: Internal Control Deficiencies - The audit report highlights a weak ability of management to identify operational and financial risks, lacking an effective risk warning mechanism [1] - Before the liquidity crisis in 2024, the company failed to take prudent measures, resulting in overdue borrowings and supplier payments totaling 1.656 billion yuan, which accounted for 18.09% of the latest audited net assets [1] - The internal control system has not provided reasonable assurance for the authenticity and completeness of financial reporting, particularly lacking checks and balances in risk response and decision-making processes [1] Group 2: Financial Performance Decline - In 2024, the company's operating revenue decreased by 14.58% to 22.729 billion yuan, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 7.411 billion yuan, an increase of 478.38% year-on-year [3] - The core reasons for this decline include a collapse in the profitability of the main business, with a gross margin of only 1.53% for paper-making, and a negative gross margin of -12.91% for white cardboard [3] - The company's debt structure is heavily imbalanced, with short-term debt accounting for 86.5% and cash coverage ratio below 0.5%, significantly lower than the healthy level in the paper industry [3] Group 3: Strategic Missteps - The negative audit opinion reflects deeper governance issues and strategic decision-making failures, such as over-reliance on high leverage expansion and cross-industry financial operations [2] - The cross-industry financial operations initiated since 2014 have resulted in significant bad debts, with provisions for bad debts reaching 4.6 billion yuan, representing 51.7% of the book value [3] - The previous chairman's "integration of production and finance" model has exacerbated the funding chain break during the industry downturn, creating a vicious cycle of financial distress [3]