Since this year, at least 20 listed companies have “officially announced” investment projects with a scale of 10 billion, among which new energy fields such as photovoltaic and lithium batteries and basic chemical industry have become the most important investment fields.
With a good track, high prosperity, big money and busy expansion of production, the “flow chart” of 10 billion A-share investment in 2022 can be described as multi-point flowering and crisscross. According to incomplete statistics by the reporter of Shanghai Securities News, since this year, at least 20 listed companies have “officially announced” investment projects with a scale of 10 billion, among which new energy fields such as photovoltaic and lithium battery, as well as basic chemical industry, have become the most important investment fields.
Or increase the main business and fully expand the upstream and downstream; Or “marriage” partners to jointly build the industrial chain; Or cross-border exploration… Capital “ripens” innovation. Based on different development stages and strategic objectives, different companies have selected their own “investment direction”. On the whole, the booming market of production and marketing, the release of favorable policies and the broad expected prospect constitute the confidence of these companies to “bet” on the track and firmly “bet”.
However, you should ask “yes” before “selling”. Behind the ambitious investment action, some listed companies follow the trend of “overweight” regardless of the shyness in their pockets, and the risk of taking too big steps cannot be avoided. From a positive perspective, the huge investment boom frequently thrown out this year shows that leading enterprises are still optimistic about China’s economic prospects.
photovoltaic shouted “go upstream and downstream”
In the context of “double carbon”, the new energy industry represented by photovoltaic industry has ushered in a development opportunity again. “In recent years, the cost of photovoltaic power generation has decreased by nearly 80%, which greatly reduces the overall investment return cycle of photovoltaic products to less than 10 years, far lower than the 20-30-year service cycle of photovoltaic products.” An industry analyst told reporters.
The opportunity cannot be missed, and the time will never come again. Chinese photovoltaic enterprises have seized the opportunity and attacked cities and lands. On March 13, Longi Green Energy Technology Co.Ltd(601012) threw out an investment plan of up to 19.5 billion yuan to invest in the construction of 20GW single crystal silicon rod and chip project, 30GW high-efficiency single crystal cell project and 5GW high-efficiency photovoltaic module project. Among them, more than half of the investment amount is “poured into” single crystal battery projects.
As the world’s largest manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon wafers and components, Longi Green Energy Technology Co.Ltd(601012) component shipments have consistently ranked first in the industry. For Longji, who claims to be “not leading and not expanding production”, this move is more like a strong response to the continuous emergence of “new forces” in the industry, so as to consolidate its “Jianghu position”.
The relevant person in charge of Longji also revealed his optimistic outlook for the industry in the interview: “this year, the upstream and downstream capacity of the entire industrial chain will be released in succession, and the shipment volume will increase significantly. It is expected that the global PV installed capacity will increase by more than 40% year-on-year in 2022.” In addition to digging deep into the traditional “moat”, Longji is also stepping up its efforts to seize the distributed market. In February this year, the company launched the 54 version of hi Mo 5m single-sided component, which not only increases the “thickness” of the business, but also widens the “width” of the product.
Another silicon material leader Tongwei Co.Ltd(600438) is also actively launching the “capacity defense war”. Also in March this year, the company announced a large investment order of 12 billion yuan. Tongwei Cecep Solar Energy Co.Ltd(000591) and Meishan Management Committee of Sichuan Tianfu new area signed an investment agreement to invest in the construction of 32gw high-efficiency crystalline silicon battery project.
Compared with the firm “defense” of the upstream giants, the downstream photovoltaic enterprises have greater determination and courage to seek “integration”. Ja Solar Technology Co.Ltd(002459) , which took the lead in “betting” on the whole industrial chain, quickly launched its own layout. In February and March this year, the company announced that it plans to invest 3.46 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan for the construction of battery chips, components, power stations and other projects.
For another example, Tbea Co.Ltd(600089) recently announced that its subsidiary plans to invest in the construction of 200000 ton polysilicon project in Zhundong Industrial Park, Changji, Xinjiang, with a total investment of about 17.6 billion yuan. According to the company’s annual report in 2021, the volume and price of polysilicon increased at the same time, driving the revenue of Tbea Co.Ltd(600089) the new energy industry and engineering business to increase by 57.39%, surpassing the power transmission and transformation business and becoming the largest source of revenue of the company.
The prospect of photovoltaic is bright, and the lithium battery is also accelerating. On February 16, Yunnan Yuntianhua Co.Ltd(600096) announced that the company and Yuxi Municipal People’s government, Yunnan Energy New Material Co.Ltd(002812) , Eve Energy Co.Ltd(300014) , Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co.Ltd(603799) Huayou holdings, the largest shareholder, would jointly build a new energy battery industry chain, with a total investment of 51.7 billion yuan. Four enterprises on the new energy chain jointly won the big deal.
It is reported that this project involves a multi-level industrial chain in the new energy battery industry, from the resource exploration and mining of phosphate rock and lithium ore at the upstream to the terminal new energy battery products. At the same time, it also plans capacity projects such as lithium battery isolation film and copper foil. “On the one hand, the investment and construction of the industrial chain can rely on the advantages of long-term cooperation to reduce costs and increase efficiency; on the other hand, companies can also obtain investment income from the profits of joint ventures.” A new energy industry analyst said.
Earlier, Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) also announced to cooperate with Zhuhai municipal government to invest 12 billion yuan in power battery and other related projects; Subsequently, it signed an agreement with Shifang municipal government to raise 8 billion yuan to build a 20gwh power battery and energy storage battery production base. According to incomplete statistics, since this year, the total proposed investment of A-share companies in the field of new energy has exceeded 170 billion yuan.
chemical industry “throwing money” to “new”
In addition to the “double carbon” industry, a new round of infrastructure construction is also being implemented around the “double new” industry of new energy and new materials. “Affected by the epidemic in the past two years, the global basic chemical industry chain has fluctuated significantly. At the same time, with the continuous upgrading of environmental protection and other policies, the industrial chain needs to be upgraded in an all-round way.” Market analysts said that in this context, leading enterprises in the field of basic chemical industry tend to choose capital to accelerate the industrialization of technology.
On April 6, Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) announced that the company plans to build high-performance new material integration and supporting projects in Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) Penglai Industrial Park through its holding subsidiary Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) (Penglai) Co., Ltd. At this stage, the planned investment of the feasibility study project is 23.1 billion yuan, and the project construction funds are raised in the form of self owned funds and bank loans.
In recent years, “innovation + investment” has become an important strategy for Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) development. Since the development of fine chemicals and new materials in 2019, the company has implemented a number of investment or construction plans to accelerate the conversion efficiency from innovation to productivity through industrialization and integration. According to public information, in January this year, the Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) annual 50000 ton lithium iron phosphate project was launched in Meishan, Sichuan, which also means that the company has another son in the field of lithium battery materials.
Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) has its own strength to “throw thousands of gold” like this. The latest annual report shows that in 2021, the company achieved an operating revenue of 145538 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 98.2%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 24.649 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 145.5%. By the end of 2021, the monetary capital on Wanhua Chemical Group Co.Ltd(600309) book has exceeded 34 billion yuan.
To “new” is also the general trend of the development of the current chemical industry. Tangshan Sanyou Chemical Industries Co.Ltd(600409) , which has determined the idea of “transformation”, recently launched a 10 billion investment plan to expand the industrial chain of new energy and new materials on the basis of traditional business.
In this plan, Tangshan Sanyou Chemical Industries Co.Ltd(600409) describes the specific appearance of “three chain group”, that is, to build the industrial layout of “two alkali and one chemical” circular economy industrial chain, organosilicon new material industrial chain, fine chemical industrial chain and “double new” strategic industrial cluster of new energy and new materials. The total investment scale is expected to reach 57 billion yuan. Among them, the most “expensive” is the company’s “double new” strategic industrial cluster plan, and the company plans to invest about 22 billion yuan. It is reported that during the “14th five year plan” period, the company will also plan to develop projects such as 500MW photovoltaic power generation, 50000 T / D seawater desalination, bromine, magnesium and other downstream high value-added new materials.
On March 23, Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co.Ltd(000301) issued two announcements in a row, namely, the “intelligent functional fiber project with an annual output of 1 million tons” of RMB 6.655 billion and the “degradable material project (phase I)” of RMB 7.471 billion, with a total investment of about RMB 14.126 billion, so as to build a whole industrial chain business from “one drop of oil” to “one silk”.
“The chemical industry is a heavy investment industry, and its industrial cycle is also relatively long.” “Generally speaking, although the total amount of these projects under construction is huge, it is still reasonable to allocate them to two or three years. At present, the high prosperity of the industry is still continuing, and the rapid increase of output and scale is a trend of the development of Companies in the industry.”
generous hand behind the “family background” geometry
However, if you have the ambition to “bet” on the future, you should also have the corresponding “chips” in your hands. Blindly climbing up can easily bring uncertainty to the long-term development of the company.
Just after the front foot announced that it would invest 14 billion yuan to enter the field of silicon materials, the back foot planned to raise an additional 2.5 billion yuan to expand the production of batteries and planned to “take all” Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co.Ltd(300393) , which was questioned by regulators because of the doubt of “where does the money come from”.
Specifically, in March this year, Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co.Ltd(300393) announced a production expansion plan with a “total price” of 14 billion yuan, which plans to invest in projects with an annual output of 200000 tons of industrial silicon and 100000 tons of high-purity polysilicon. The company said that the move is to get rid of the constraints of raw material costs and resist the risk of price fluctuations in the supply chain by arranging the upstream links of the photovoltaic industry.
However, behind the heroic declaration, it is “shy in the bag”. By the end of June last year, Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co.Ltd(300393) had a monetary capital balance of 1.789 billion yuan, including 887 million yuan of restricted monetary capital and 734 million yuan of special funds for raised investment projects. The actual discretionary capital was only 168 million yuan, which was far from the capital demand of 10 billion yuan.
On March 17, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern, requiring the company to specify the construction and operation plan of the above 14 billion yuan silicon material project, specify the amount and source of funds required in each stage, the feasibility of the financing plan, and fully prompt the relevant risks.
Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co.Ltd(300393) said frankly in the reply that compared with the investment scale, the actual amount of disposable funds of the company is small at present. Considering that the business segments of existing backplane, high-efficiency battery and module and photovoltaic application system are developing well, the company plans to take the surplus cash flow of the above three business segments as one of the sources of project investment on the premise of meeting its own normal operation and development. In addition, other investment and financing plans also include establishing phased investment strategies, promoting local governments to establish industrial funds, promoting local governments to support project loans, communicating with relevant banks in the early stage, and planning investment funds in the later stage.
Similarly, Sichuan Anning Iron And Titanium Co.Ltd(002978) 4 disclosed a project investment contract on April 2, with a total planned investment budget of 10 billion yuan. It is planned to invest in the whole industrial chain project of energy grade titanium (alloy) materials with an annual output of 60000 tons. However, by the end of last year, the book value of the company’s monetary capital was only 2.189 billion yuan. In this regard, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange asked whether the investment would significantly increase the company’s financial risk and liquidity risk; And explain the reason, rationality and necessity of the company’s investment in the project; Whether there is a situation of using relevant announcements to cooperate with shareholders to reduce their holdings.
Overall, according to the reporter’s observation, since the first four months of this year, the 10 billion investment plan has been frequently announced. Under the current downward pressure on the economy, leading companies have actively increased investment in their industries, which not only reflects the high prosperity of the industry, but also shows that these companies are very optimistic about China’s economic prospects.
