In 2023, the national express delivery business volume completed 132.07 billion items, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%, ranking first in the world for 10 consecutive years; The revenue from express delivery business reached 1.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%
Thanks to the increase in online shopping penetration rate and the active promotion of express delivery entering villages and factories, express logistics enterprises will continue to maintain stable growth in 2023, becoming a popular sector in the secondary market in recent times. Among them, companies such as SF Express Holdings and Zhongtong Express saw a year-on-year increase in net profit of over 30% in 2023.
With the newly revised "Management Measures for the Express Delivery Market" officially implemented on March 1st this year, express delivery leaders are actively creating differentiated services to improve customer experience, while accelerating the layout of the second growth curve. The rise of cross-border logistics and low altitude economy has also opened up new growth space for them.
Continuously increasing momentum and providing positive returns to investors
On the evening of April 25th, Yuantong Express released its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report. Its business completion in 2023 reached 21.204 billion items, a year-on-year increase of 21.31%, exceeding the industry average growth rate by 1.9 percentage points. It achieved a revenue of 57.684 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.74%, and a net profit of 3.723 billion yuan, of which the net profit of the express delivery business was 3.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.15%.
Previously, financial report data disclosed by Shentong Express showed that in 2023, Shentong Express completed 17.507 billion express delivery business, a year-on-year increase of 35.23%; The market share was 13.26%, an increase of 1.55 percentage points year-on-year; Realized a revenue of 40.924 billion yuan, an increase of 21.54% compared to the same period last year; The net profit was 341 million yuan, an increase of 18.41% compared to the same period last year.
Thanks to the gradual promotion of business cooperation and resource integration with JD, Debon Group achieved a total operating revenue of 36.279 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 15.57%; The net profit was 746 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.32%.
Benefiting from the increase in online shopping penetration rate and the active promotion of "entering villages and factories" for express delivery, the business volume of express delivery service enterprises nationwide has steadily increased in 2023. In 2023, the national express delivery business volume completed 132.07 billion items, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%, ranking first in the world for 10 consecutive years; The revenue from express delivery business reached 1.2 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%.
In 2023, SF Express Holdings achieved a revenue of 258.409 billion yuan, making it the largest comprehensive logistics service provider in China and Asia, as well as the fourth largest in the world; Although the operating revenue decreased by 3.39% year-on-year, the company achieved a net profit of 8.234 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 33.38%. Thanks to the increase in order density, further release of network scale effect, as well as a healthy revenue structure and lean operation, SF Express achieved full year profitability for the first time in 2023.
While adhering to lean management to improve operational efficiency and profitability, leading companies further emphasize rewarding investors through dividends. For example, SF Holdings actively increased its dividend per share for the year 2023 to 0.6 yuan, a significant increase of 140% year-on-year. The dividend ratio has increased from the previous 20% to 35%. According to the "Shareholders Return Plan for the Next Five Years (2024-2028)", the company's cash dividend ratio for the years 2024-2028 will steadily increase on the basis of 2023.
Data shows that the dividend amount of YTO Express has continued to increase in the past three years. From 2021 to 2023, the company's dividend amount per share was 0.15 yuan, 0.25 yuan, and 0.35 yuan, respectively. In 2022, the dividend amount increased by 67% compared to 2021, and in 2023, it increased by another 40%.
Zhongtong Express stated in its annual report that the board of directors has approved the regular dividend policy, with a cash dividend of $0.62 per share for 2023 and a dividend payout ratio of no less than 40% for 2024. In addition, the board of directors has authorized the approval of an additional $500 million on top of the existing $1.5 billion repurchase plan, and the repurchase period will be extended until June 30, 2025. "Benefiting from the long-term growth prospects of the Chinese economy and logistics industry, coupled with the company's competitive advantage and accumulation of free cash flow, Zhongtong is ready to steadily improve investor returns," said Yan Huiping, CFO of Zhongtong.
Data shows that in 2023, Zhongtong Express achieved a business volume increase of 5.8 billion items, with a total package volume of 30.2 billion items for the year, a year-on-year increase of 23.8%; In 2023, the company achieved a revenue of 38.419 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%, and adjusted net profit increased by 32.3% year-on-year to 9 billion yuan.
Building a new growth curve through energy storage transformation
Centered around new rules and opportunities, major express delivery leaders are diligently practicing their internal skills, increasing their digital and peripheral management capabilities, reshaping endogenous growth drivers by improving user experience, and actively laying out new growth curves.
At a recent investor exchange meeting, SF Express Holdings revealed that the company will leverage its local advantages in the Asian market to accelerate its global network layout and build a second growth curve. The company stated that the increasing demand for Chinese manufacturing enterprises to go abroad, the accelerated expansion of cross-border e-commerce business on emerging e-commerce platforms in the international market, and the trend of reshaping global enterprise supply chains have all driven an increase in demand for cross-border e-commerce logistics, international express delivery, and supply chains. Express delivery companies need to have differentiated service capabilities and full product matrix service capabilities to cope with market changes.
In November 2023, SF Express Holdings collaborated with a leading new energy vehicle manufacturer through multiple organizations to carry out the aviation export of large power lithium batteries for the first time at Huahu Airport in Ezhou. This indicates that SF Express has improved and strengthened its capabilities in cross-border air transportation services for dangerous goods.
The development of low altitude economy has also opened up new growth opportunities for logistics and express delivery. In March this year, Zhongtong Express signed a V2000CG large eVTOL aircraft purchase agreement with Fengfei Airlines, with an order volume of 30 aircraft. It is reported that Fengyi, a subsidiary of SF Holdings, has been exploring the field of small logistics drones for over 10 years and has accumulated a rich foundation of self-developed technology. The company previously stated at an investor exchange meeting that the development of Fengyi small logistics drones can be divided into three stages: flying, flying more, and flying well. Currently, it is in the second stage. As of 2023, Fengyi small logistics drones have flown over 4 million kilometers nationwide, and the number of national transportation flights has exceeded 800000, making it the player with the largest commercial scale in the field of small logistics drones.
SF Holdings stated that currently, Fengyi Small Logistics Drones are focused on solving urgent, difficult, dangerous, and expensive scenarios, such as achieving half day delivery across the Qiongzhou Strait, opening the first batch of logistics drone blood transportation routes in Shaoxing during the Asian Games to provide medical support services for the Asian Games, providing transportation services for broken stock repair equipment for the State Grid, and opening the latest seafood distribution route on the South Australian Island, achieving a series of services from the origin to consumers, helping the company further enrich its reach network.
From the disclosed operational data of the first quarter report, it can be seen that the leading express delivery companies have continued to maintain a stable growth trend at the beginning of this year. In the first quarter of 2024, the operating revenue of Shentong Express increased by 15.87% year-on-year to 10.13 billion yuan, and the net profit increased by 43.20% year-on-year to 190 million yuan. Yuantong Express achieved a revenue of 15.427 billion yuan from January to March 2024, a year-on-year increase of 19.46%, with a net profit of 943 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.14%. Among them, the express delivery business achieved a net profit of 994 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.87%.
Based on current market conditions and operational conditions, Zhongtong Express predicts that the total number of packages in 2024 will be between 34.73 billion and 35.64 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15% to 18%.