2024-04-01 16:00Investment Rating - The report maintains an "Outperform" rating for COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation [12][19]. Core Views - The 2023 annual report performance is in line with expectations, with operating income of 22.091 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.40%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 3.351 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 129.95% [11][17]. - The oil transportation sector's profitability is expected to continue improving, with potential for both freight rates and valuations to rise due to solid supply-side logic and a favorable outlook for VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) market conditions [19]. Financial Performance Summary - The gross profit from foreign trade oil transportation was 4.15 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 184.6%, while domestic oil transportation gross profit was 1.49 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.6% [11][18]. - The LNG transportation segment contributed a net profit of 790 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.4% [11][18]. - The report forecasts net profit attributable to shareholders for 2024-2026 to be 7.377 billion yuan, 8.141 billion yuan, and 8.949 billion yuan, respectively, with corresponding PE ratios of 10.9x, 9.9x, and 9.0x [19]. Dividend and Shareholder Returns - The company proposes a cash dividend of 3.5 yuan for every 10 shares, resulting in a cash dividend ratio of 49.84% [11][17].