China Yuchai International - H2 2023

Transcript

Kelvin Lai (VP of Operations)

Thank you for joining us today, and welcome to China Yuchai International Limited's conference call and webcast for the six months and fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. Joining us today are Mr. Weng Ming Hoh and Mr. Choon Sen Loo, President and Chief Financial Officer of CYI, respectively. In addition, we also have in attendance Mr. Kelvin Lai, VP of Operations of CYI. Before we begin, I will remind all listeners that throughout this call, we may make statements that may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words believe, expect, anticipate, project, targets, optimistic, confident that, continue to, predict, intend, aim, will, or similar expression are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the company's operations and financial performance and condition, and are based on current expectations, beliefs, and assumptions, which are subject to change at any time. The company cautions that these statements, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors such as government and stock exchange regulations, competition, political, economic, and social conditions around the world and in China, including those discussed in the company's Form 20-Fs under the headings Risk Factors, Results of Operations, and Business Overview, and in other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.

All forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date they are made, and the company specifically disclaims any obligation to maintain or update the forward-looking information, whether of the nature contained in a press release made during today's call or otherwise in the future. Mr. Hoh will provide a brief overview and summary, then Mr. Loo will review the financial results for the second half year and fiscal year ending December 31, 2023. Thereafter, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. For the purposes of today's call, the 2023 and 2022 second half year and the 2023 fiscal year financial results are unaudited, with the 2022 year financial results being audited, and they will be presented in RMB and U.S. dollars. All the financial information presented is reported using the International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. Mr. Hoh, please begin your prepared remarks.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Thank you, Kelvin. We are pleased to report that we achieved profitable revenue growth of 18.9% in the second half of 2023 and 12.6% growth for the full year of 2023 in an unclear economy in China. Revenue growth resulted from modest unit volume increases, higher sales of higher rating engines, and favorable price realization. According to official data, the Chinese GDP growth rate accelerated to approximately 5.2% year-over-year in the fiscal year 2023 from 3% growth in 2022, which period reflected the post-COVID-19 recovery. However, this economic growth masked a number of challenges, including the continued struggle of the important property market throughout 2023. Consumer confidence diminished in China as consumer prices declined for four straight months as of January 2024, and producer prices were also lower according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Overall, Chinese exports declined by 4.6% in 2023, representing first yearly decline since 2016. According to data reported by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, CAAM, total industry unit sales of commercial vehicles, excluding gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles for the second half of 2023, increased by 28.2% year-over-year, as the sales of trucks and buses increased by 28% and 29.5%, respectively. In this Chinese commercial vehicle environment, our combined truck and bus unit engine sales increased by 4% for the second half of 2023, with truck engine unit sales down slightly year-over-year and bus engine unit sales 34.5% higher year-over-year. However, our heavy-duty truck engine unit sales improved as seasonal demand, including coal transportation, increased new truck demand in the second half of 2023. Increased logistical demand resulted in our medium-duty truck engine unit sales also experiencing growth year-over-year.

Engine unit sales in the off-road market experienced a gain of 4.2% in the second half of 2023, led by a 22.3% increase in marine and power generation engine unit sales with higher demand for data centers, including for artificial intelligence. Industrial engine unit sales went up by 14.3% year-over-year. This sales increase offset a decline in agriculture engine unit sales. For 2023, CAAM data reported total sales of commercial vehicles, excluding gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles, increased by 17.2% year-over-year, with truck sales 15.6% higher and the smaller bus market sales up by 28.8%. Bus engine unit sales grew by 48%, led by a 101.4% increase in heavy-duty bus engine sales, excluding industry growth. Medium and light-duty bus engine unit sales also produced positive sales growth for the year. Off-road engine unit sales declined by 6.3% in 2023.

However, marine engine and power generation unit sales and industrial equipment engine unit sales reported increased sales for 2023, partially offsetting lower agriculture engine sales. Lower agriculture equipment purchase incentives impacted unit sales in 2023. In 2023, total R&D expenditures, including capitalized costs, were RMB 1.1 billion or $150.3 million, as our initiatives continued to enhance the quality and performance of our National VI B and Tier four emission standard compliant engines. We continue to emphasize further development of new energy products to expand our portfolio of these products. Our new energy goals include a better use of alternative fuels to improve fuel efficiency and enhance emission reduction. We expect more technology enhancements and more powertrain systems and components using alternative fuels to be introduced. Examples of our alternative fuel products include our two hydrogen-powered engines using renewable hydrogen as the key propellant.

During the second half of 2023, GYMCL subsidiaries, Yuchai Xin-Lan New Energy Power Technology Co., Ltd., or Yuchai Xin-Lan in short, introduced the Yuchai Xin-Lan S06-100kW P1 parallel hybrid powertrains to SANY Group's 12-cubic-meter mixer trucks. The S06-100kW P1 hybrid powertrain shifts automatically to optimize engine performance as working environments change. Another example of our new energy innovations is the Yuchai Xin-Lan's new 350-horsepower hybrid electric drive continuously variable transmission, or hybrid CVT, powertrain system. It was designed for LiuGong tractor and for heavy-duty agriculture and industrial tractor applications. Also, GYMCL's Guangxi Yuchai Marine and Power GenSet Company Limited, MPG in short, subsidiary won a new contract in 2023 to install Yuchai's off-gas power generation system at a production plant which specializes in silicon, manganese, alloys production.

This system utilizes off-gas discharges from this melting process as a power generation fuel, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. Our new Yuchai model YC6A07N hybrid engine was chosen to power 10-meter gas-electric hybrid buses in Nanjing, a major city in China. Manufactured by Yicong Group Company Limited, more than 1,200 buses with Yuchai's engines have been ordered for local public transportation operator in Nanjing. We continue to reorganize our current operations to improve focus and resource efficiency, and new capabilities have been added as well. GYMCL combines marine and power generation businesses to enhance its competitiveness through a new subsidiary, Guangxi Yuchai Marine and Power GenSet Company Limited. This subsidiary incorporated the MTU joint venture, producing the MTU Series 4000 engines and other related products and services.

GYMCL subsidiary Yuchai Xin-Lan will accelerate the research and development of new energy technologies as well as enhance new energy product development. GYMCL also incorporated new subsidiary, Guangxi Xingyun Cloud Technology Company Limited, to quicken the development of proprietary cloud-based control systems for on- and off-road vehicles and machineries. At the end of 2023, we also sold our 100% equity holding in Yuchai Remanufacturing Services Solutions Company Limited. For 2023, our gross operating profit and earnings per share all increased by double digits, and we maintain a strong balance sheet. As of 31st December 2023, our Cash and Bank balances were RMB or $852.7 million. We continue to generate positive cash flow from operations and free cash flow in 2023. The board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.28 per ordinary share, which was paid on August 7, 2023.

Our large, diverse product portfolio provides opportunity to supply and service a number of end markets in China and abroad. Our engine products are continually updated to provide more dynamic solutions, lower vehicle emissions, and improved performance. Our growing number of NEV products addresses the need for more effective tools to help benefit the environment. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Choon Sen Loo, our Chief Financial Officer, who will provide more details on the financial results. Choon Sen, please begin your remarks.

Choon Sen Loo (CFO)

Thank you, Weng Ming. Now, let me review our unaudited six months results ended December 31st, 2023. Revenue was RMB 8.9 billion or $1.3 billion compared with RMB 7.5 billion in second half 2022. The total number of engines sold in second half 2023 increased by 5.2% to 147,700 units compared with 140,345 units in second half 2022. The increase was mainly due to higher heavy and medium-duty engine sales in the truck and bus markets, as well as increased sales in the marine and power generation and industrial markets. According to data reported by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, CAAM, in second half 2023, commercial vehicle unit sales in China, excluding sales of gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles, increased by 28.2% compared to second half 2022, as sales of trucks and buses increased by 28% and 29.5% respectively.

Gross profit was RMB 1.4 billion or $202.4 million compared with RMB 1.2 billion in second half 2022. Gross margin was 16.2% in second half 2023 compared with 16.1% in second half 2022. Other operating income increased by 21.8% to RMB 306.2 million or $43.2 million compared with RMB 251.3 million in second half 2022. The increase was mainly due to a gain of RMB 113 million on the disposal of a subsidiary. Excluding this one-off item, the other operating income would have been RMB 193.2 million or $27.3 million, lower by RMB 58.1 million compared with second half 2022. This decline was mainly due to lower government grants. Research and development R&D expenses increased by 9.9% to RMB 470.5 million or $66.4 million compared with RMB 428 million in second half 2022 due to higher personnel salaries and related expenses.

Total R&D expenditures, including capitalized costs, were CNY 599.2 million or $84.6 million, representing 6.8% of revenue in second half 2023 compared to CNY 540.8 million, representing 7.2% of revenue in second half 2022. Selling, general and administrative SG&A expenses increased by 31.7% to CNY 1 billion or $147.9 million from CNY 795.3 million in second half 2022. The increase was mainly due to increased personnel salaries and related expenses, and higher warranty and travel expenses compared with the same period last year. SG&A expenses represented 11.8% of revenue for second half 2023 compared with 10.7% for second half 2022. Operating profit was CNY 221.8 million or $31.3 million from CNY 231.3 million in second half 2022. The operating margin was 2.5% compared with 3.1% in second half 2022.

Finance costs increased by 15.6% to RMB 46.5 million or $6.6 million from RMB 40.2 million in second half 2022, primarily due to higher bills discounting. The share of financial results of the associates and joint ventures climbed to a profit of RMB 32.5 million or $4.6 million compared with RMB 1.8 million in second half 2022. The improvement was mainly driven by higher profits at MTU Yuchai Power Company Limited and significantly reduced losses at Y&C Engine Company Limited and Guangxi Purem Yuchai Automotive Technology Company Limited. Income tax expense was RMB 37.9 million or $5.3 million compared with RMB 2.6 million in second half 2022. The change was mainly due to other provisions in prior years and higher taxable income in the same period of 2023.

Net profits attributable to equity holders of the company was RMB 107.1 million or $15.1 million compared with RMB 124.9 million in second half 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share were RMB 2.62 or $0.37 compared with RMB 3.06 in second half 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share for second half 2023 and second half 2022 were based on a weighted average of 40,858,290 shares. Now, we will review the unaudited financial results for the 2023 fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. Revenue was RMB 18 billion or $2.5 billion compared with RMB 16 billion in FY 2022. The total number of engines sold in FY 2023 decreased by 2.4% to 313,493 units compared with 321,256 units in FY 2022.

The decrease was mainly due to lower sales in the truck and agricultural markets, partially offset by increased sales in the bus, industry, marine and power generation and new energy markets. According to CAAM, commercial vehicle unit sales in China, excluding sales of gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles, increased by 17.2% year-over-year in FY 2023, as sales of trucks increased by 15.6% and the smaller mass market sales increased by 28.8%. Gross profit increased by 16.7% to RMB 2.9 billion or $411.7 million compared with RMB 2.5 billion in FY 2022. Gross margin increased to 16.2% compared with 15.6% in FY 2022. The increase in gross margin was mainly attributable to higher revenue from heavy-duty engines and continuing cost reduction initiatives, partially offset by higher customer sales rebates.

Other operating income increased by 31.4% to RMB 442.4 million or $62.5 million compared with RMB 336.8 million in FY 2022. The increase was mainly due to a gain of RMB 130 million on disposal of a subsidiary. Excluding this one-off item, the other operating income would have been RMB 309.4 million or $46.5 million in FY 2023. R&D expenses increased by 4.8% to RMB 876.6 million or $123.8 million compared with RMB 836.4 million in FY 2022. GYMCL continued its initiatives to enhance the engine quality and performance of its National VI B and Tier four emission standard combined engines and to develop new energy products. In FY 2023, total R&D expenditures, including capitalized costs, were RMB 1.1 billion or $150.3 million compared with RMB 1 billion in FY 2022, representing 5.9% of the revenue compared with 6.4% in FY 2022.

SG&A expenses were RMB 1.9 billion or $264.3 million, representing 10.4% of the revenue compared with RMB 1.5 billion, representing 9.2% of the revenue in FY 2022. This increase was mainly due to higher personnel-related expenses and warranty expenses compared with last year. Operating profit grew by 17.4% to RMB 609.4 million or $86 million compared with RMB 519.3 million in FY 2022. The operating margin was 3.4% compared with 3.2% in FY 2022. Finance costs increased by 4.9% to RMB 100.2 million or $14.1 million from RMB 95.5 million in FY 2022. The share of financial results of the associates and joint ventures was income of RMB 62.1 million or $8.8 million compared with a loss of RMB 39.1 million in FY 2022.

The income was primarily generated by higher profits at MTU Yuchai Power Company Limited and the share of lower losses at Y&C Engine Company Limited and Guangxi Purem Yuchai Automotive Technology Company Limited. Income tax expense was RMB 148.5 million or $21 million as compared with RMB 59.1 million in FY 2022. The increase was mainly due to underprovision in prior years and higher taxable income in FY 2023. Net profit attributable to China Yuchai's shareholders was RMB 285.5 million or $40.3 million compared with RMB 218.6 million in FY 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share were RMB 6.99 or $0.99 compared with RMB 5.35 in FY 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share for FY 2023 and FY 2022 were based on a weighted average of 40,858,290 shares.

Now, we will go through our balance sheet highlights as of December 31st, 2023. Cash and bank balances were RMB 6 billion or $852.7 million compared with RMB 4.9 billion at the end of FY 2022. Trade and bills receivable were RMB 7.8 billion or $1.1 billion compared with RMB 6.8 billion at the end of FY 2022. Inventories were RMB 4.6 billion or $656.4 million compared with RMB 4.9 billion at the end of FY 2022. Trade and bills payables were RMB 7.6 billion or $1.1 billion compared with RMB 6.9 billion at the end of financial year 2022. Short-term and long-term loans and borrowings were RMB 2.5 billion or $358.7 million compared with RMB 2.3 billion at the end of FY 2022. I will now turn the call over to Kelvin for a comment for Q&A section.

Kelvin Lai (VP of Operations)

Thank you, Chief. Please note, some officers of China Yuchai are remotely calling into the conference call. This may result in a slight delay in providing answers to some questions. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience. With that, operator, we're ready to begin the Q&A session.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask questions on the phone, please press star one one and wait for a name to be announced. You can also submit your questions via Ask a Question tab on top of the webcast player. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Once again, to ask questions on the phone, please press star one one. One moment for the first questions from the line. We have the call from William Gregozeski from GreenRidge Global. Please go ahead.

William Gregozeski (President and Director of Research)

Hi, guys. Can you talk about your outlook for 2024 and how you see the product mix, if it's going to be any different from 2023 or about the same?

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Okay. Hi, Bill. It's Weng Ming here. Okay. Our product mix will likely be more or less the same, but we hope to increase our vehicle engines sales in 2024. We expect the market for vehicle engines, especially for the heavy-duty and medium-duty markets, to grow by between 10%-15% in 2024. So with that growth, we hope to capture a bit more of the market. And we have also had some success in the penetration of some of the OEMs. Hopefully, that will result in some improved sales for us as well. Other than that, I think the others will probably be the same. We do expect some growth in the marine and power generation sales. The agriculture sales, we hope you get better this year. Last year, there wasn't too much incentives from government.

So hopefully, if there is any better incentives coming from government, we'll see an improvement in that area as well. The industrial engines are still being affected by the weakness in the building industry, especially the housing market. So that one, I'm still a bit concerned, I think. But then I don't think that it's going to deteriorate much further in that particular segment.

William Gregozeski (President and Director of Research)

Okay. With the expectation for the higher medium-duty and heavy-duty sales this year, are you expecting growth margins to increase?

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

We expect the market to increase between 10%-15%. So we will expect our own engine sales to have some improvements as well for this year. Yes.

William Gregozeski (President and Director of Research)

Okay. And then anything on the operating expense side that was up, obviously, for personnel and travel this year, is that going to be continuing to grow with sales, or have you kind of made those expenditures you need last year?

Choon Sen Loo (CFO)

Hi, I just want to say, yeah, thank you for your questions. Yeah. So if you look at that, 2023, pretty much there's quite a substantial increase in that staff salaries and expenses, including traveling, right? So we expect that it's probably maintained the same, right, or increased a little bit because of the market growth accordingly.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Let me add to that. I think the increase in the operating expenses mostly come from what you call the selling and distribution expenses. We also have some increase in the warranty costs, in the salary and distribution, on top of this sub-cost that Choon Sen has added to. So those two are the drivers of the main increase in the operating expenses. We'll have to see how these years go, but we expect them to be broadly the same. Of course, if the volume increases compared to last year, we would expect to see an increase in the warranty expense provision as well.

William Gregozeski (President and Director of Research)

Okay. All right. Great. Thank you, guys.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Okay.

Choon Sen Loo (CFO)

Thank you for the questions. Once again, to ask questions, please press star one one on your telephone.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

There is a question from a viewer. Perhaps you should take the question first. This is from the question there are three questions there, and I'll take the first two, and I'll let Choon Sen handle the third questions. The first question is, why is Yuchai's engine growth, unit growth, still significantly lagging that of the industry average? Now, the growth in 2023 came mainly from the especially for the heavy and medium-duty market, from the trailers market. This trailers market is dominated by five OEMs. And of the five OEMs, in fact, all the five OEMs have their own, what you call, in-house engine production. The only exception is Dongfeng. Dongfeng has its own production as well, but they also use some of our engines, right? And that's where the majority of the growth for 2023 came from.

Again, it's dominated by the OEMs with their own in-house production. The other part of the growth is from the gas engine side of things, business. Unfortunately, in 2023, our gas engine range is not as complete as before, as we like it to be. So going to 2024, and that's answering your second questions of how are you seeing the current market conditions and what some levers you're intending to improve to drive stronger growth in 2024, right? We see continual growth in the vehicle sales, especially in the heavy and medium-duty market as well as the gas engine market. With coming into 2024, we have a more complete set of products to offer for the gas engine in particular. We do expect that to help to improve the sales, hopefully, in 2024.

Choon Sen Loo (CFO)

Okay. I will take question three, right? What's the key reason for the significant SG&A increase in FY 2023? Are there any specific items there? And also, how should we expect margins to trend in financial year 2024, right? For SG&A, as mentioned earlier on, there are a few things here. One is that the average unit warranty cost increase, right? That's also pretty much based on the engine units out there that are still within the warranty period for the last 24 months. And the other one is, as mentioned, that the salaries and those specific projects and deliverables that trigger the eligibility bonuses, right? So that is one of the areas of increase in 2023. And also, predominantly due to the high revenue as well, right? But that is pretty much the baseline to drive the staff salaries.

Then the third one is the traveling expenses, right? So we have seen that we are pretty much aggressive in pushing the sales, right, for the new customer or excellent customers for the product launching for the new engines or upgraded engine as well, right? So there isn't any exception item there, right, in 2023. In terms of margin expectation, right, so you can see we improved to 16.2% for the full year, right? So the product mix, that is one of the reasons. And also, you have seen our agriculture engines margin actually better, especially with the Tier four emission standard, despite that overall volume in 2023 was lower than 2022. But we hope that that will continue the same trend in 2024. Then we can get some margin gain in 2024 or maintain at least the same level as 2023.

Operator (participant)

Thank you for your questions. As a reminder, to ask questions, you can press star one one on your telephone and wait for a name to be announced. You can also submit your questions via Ask a Question tab on top of the webcast player. Once again, to ask questions, please press star one one on your telephone.

Choon Sen Loo (CFO)

Okay. Yeah, we have a question here. Maybe I'll read out the question. Can we expect Yuchai's OPM, as opposed to the operating margin, to revert to longer-term average in coming years? Seeing depressed in recent years, what do we need to see for margins to revert to longer-term average? So if you look back, since the National VI emission standards upgrade from National V, so that was about two years ago, right? Since then, there were a lot of efforts done to improve the margin to the current state, right? Of course, the EBIT has not been reaching to the previous National V engines margin level, right? So the efforts continue, right? But it may not necessarily that we still can reach that margin level back in those days, right? So that's where we are seeing right now, right? But also margin improvement, we continue.

It also very much depends on the product mix or the revenue mix, right? So we have been seeing the off-road profile, right, compared to on-road that actually for the last two years, it's actually increased than on-road. So we hope that the on-road sales will increase, right? Unit sales increase. So we shall tap on the benefit of the economies of scale from the production perspective.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Okay. And then let me add on to that. I think just every year, we would have a cost reduction program and targets that we hope to achieve. And in the last couple of years, we have been able to sort of achieve the targets we have set. So going forward, we will continue to do so. And that will be one of the factors that we use to drive down to improve the operating margin. But of course, at the same time, we expect our customers to want to ask our pricing as well, which is an ongoing negotiation or discussion which we have with our customer every year. So yeah. So one of the drivers that we will be doing is to do cost reduction of our products in particular.

The other one, of course, is to drive the mix to a higher rating engines to improve the operating margins.

Operator (participant)

Once again, to ask questions, you can press star one one. I see there are no further questions at this time. We have now reached the end of our Q&A session. I'll turn the call back over to Mr. Hoh.

Weng Ming Hoh (President)

Thank you all for joining us in this conference call. We look forward to seeing you again in the next call. Bye. Thank you. And thank you.