Haitong Securities·2024-04-01 16:00Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is "Outperform the Market" [3][8] Core Views - The company reported a stable revenue of 80.418 billion HKD in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 2.16%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 3.117 billion HKD, reflecting an 18.43% increase year-on-year [5][6] - The beverage business achieved a revenue of 50.939 billion HKD, growing by 5.39% year-on-year, while the instant noodle business faced challenges with a revenue of 28.793 billion HKD, declining by 2.84% year-on-year [6][8] - The company is expected to continue expanding its scale advantage in 2024, with projected revenues of 85.783 billion HKD and net profits of 3.501 billion HKD [8][11] Summary by Sections Financial Performance - In 2023, the company achieved a gross margin of 30.42%, up by 1.33 percentage points year-on-year, leading to a gross profit increase of 6.85% [5][6] - The company maintained a high dividend payout ratio of 99.98%, distributing 3.117 billion HKD in cash dividends [5][6] Beverage Business - The beverage segment's revenue surpassed 50 billion HKD, with a gross margin of 32.10%, despite a decline in net profit by 8.57% to 1.260 billion HKD due to increased distribution costs [6][8] - Specific revenue contributions from beverage categories include: tea drinks at 20.059 billion HKD (6.96% growth), water at 5.375 billion HKD (9.78% growth), juice at 7.150 billion HKD (4.47% growth), and carbonated drinks at 18.355 billion HKD (2.88% growth) [6][8] Instant Noodle Business - The instant noodle segment's revenue was 28.793 billion HKD, with a gross margin improvement of 3.05 percentage points to 27.00%, resulting in a net profit increase of 46.10% to 2.008 billion HKD [6][8] - The company is focusing on core products and developing innovative flavors to meet diverse consumer demands [6][8] Future Projections - Revenue projections for 2024-2026 are 85.783 billion HKD, 89.907 billion HKD, and 93.362 billion HKD respectively, with net profits expected to reach 3.501 billion HKD, 3.747 billion HKD, and 4.011 billion HKD [8][11] - The estimated EPS for the same period is projected to be 0.62, 0.67, and 0.71 HKD per share [8][11]