On the evening of March 27, Weichai Power released its annual report for 2024. During the reporting period, the company effectively overcame the pressure of operating at a low level in the industry, with all major indicators showing a positive trend, and continued to maintain high-quality and stable development. The company achieved an operating revenue of 215.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.8%; achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company of 11.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%, with the growth rate far exceeding that of revenue; and achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring items of 10.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.3%.

Both the company's profitability and profit quality have improved. The gross profit margin reached 22.4%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points year-on-year; and the net cash flow from operating activities was 26.1 billion yuan. The company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 3.47 yuan (including tax) for every 10 shares, with the annual cash dividend payout ratio reaching 55%.

In 2024, Weichai Power promoted the strategic transformation of each major business segment, all showing a strong development momentum. Among them, the power system business focused on the comprehensive solution of "traditional power + clean power + new energy power", opening up a long-term growth path for the company. At the same time, the agricultural equipment and smart logistics businesses focused on high-end transformation and intelligent innovation, achieving industrial upgrading.

Occupying the Technological Commanding Heights and Achieving High-quality Growth in the Power System Business

In 2024, "power assembly, complete vehicles and key components" remained the core business segments of Weichai Power, achieving an operating revenue of 89.8 billion yuan, accounting for 42% of the company's total operating revenue, with a gross profit margin of 19.5%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared with the previous year. The company's engine sales volume was 734,000 units, basically the same as the previous year; the sales volume of heavy-duty trucks was 118,000 units, with a growth rate outpacing the industry. The company has built a diversified energy power product matrix of "traditional power + clean power + new energy power".

The company's R&D strength in traditional power engine technology occupies the commanding heights of the industry. In 2024, it released the world's first diesel engine with an in-body thermal efficiency of 53.09%, which has continuously refreshed the world record for four years; it launched China's first new electric drive products M33 and M55 for 120-400 ton mining trucks, establishing a solid brand image of national heavyweight products.

It is worth mentioning that the high-end large-bore engines developed by the company have entered a dividend period under the global AI infrastructure boom. In 2024, the large-bore engines made a strong breakthrough, supporting the explosive growth of the data center business in high-end markets such as Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia. The total sales volume reached 8,132 units, with overseas sales accounting for 62.2%. Among them, there were nearly 400 data center products, a year-on-year increase of 148%.

In terms of the clean power business, the company launched a new generation of gas engines to build a competitive advantage in the entire field of clean fuel power. In 2024, the market share of natural gas heavy-duty truck engines reached as high as 59.6%. In terms of the new energy power business, the company released a full range of commercial vehicle and construction machinery power batteries. The cycle life of the battery system has increased by more than 60%, and the battery pack with the same power is 5% lighter than its competitors, and is expected to become a new performance growth engine.

Industrial Upgrading, Accelerating Iteration of Logistics and Agricultural Machinery Businesses

In 2024, both the smart logistics and agricultural equipment businesses of Weichai Power had remarkable performances, becoming important supports for the company's product structure optimization and profitability improvement.

The company's agricultural equipment business adhered to the high-end transformation, achieving a comprehensive increase in the market share of its main products and maintaining a leading market position. In 2024, Weichai Lovol Smart Agriculture, which is engaged in the agricultural equipment business, achieved an operating revenue of 17.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%; and achieved a net profit of 890 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. Its products ranked first in the industry in multiple market segments, and the export sales volume was 16,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 37%, demonstrating strong market competitiveness.

In terms of the smart logistics business, in 2024, KION Group, the company's overseas holding subsidiary in Germany, got out of the influence of inflation and supply chain problems, with a significant increase in profits. It achieved an income of 11.5 billion euros, a record high, and a net profit of 370 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%. This business focused on intelligent innovation, established a center of excellence for automation solutions, and promoted the development of unmanned forklift and interoperable robot technologies. At the same time, it created an intelligent warehousing system combining automated forklifts, intelligent cameras, automation, and robot technologies to improve the overall efficiency of warehousing management.

Reform and Innovation, Focusing on Five Strategic Transformations

Looking to the future, Weichai Power believes that a new round of large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods, the policy dividends of the implementation of major national strategies and the construction of security capabilities in key areas, as well as urban renewal to boost industrial transformation and a new round of development in overseas markets will bring a series of positive factors and opportunities to the company. On the basis of consolidating its traditional advantageous businesses, the company will focus on promoting the transformation of five strategic businesses.

The company will vigorously develop the new energy business, strengthen the integration of new energy and advantageous business resources, promote the large-scale supporting of electric drive power assembly products for internal customers and the significant expansion of external customers, and ensure that the growth rate outpaces the industry. At the same time, it will focus on the large-bore engine business, create more high-end popular products, and promote the continuous volume increase in high-end markets such as global data centers. The company will also take seizing the strategic window of the overseas market, strengthening and expanding the after-sales market business, and accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation as the key tasks for 2025.

In terms of continuously building technological leading advantages, Weichai Power will accelerate the breakthrough of key core technologies and industry "bottleneck" technologies in the traditional power direction, strengthen the research and development of core engine technologies such as high thermal efficiency, high reliability, and low emissions, and ensure that the engine platform maintains an absolute competitive advantage. In the directions of clean energy power and new energy power, the company will strengthen the research and development of special technologies for low-carbon fuels, and focus on the development of alternative fuel products; accelerate the demonstration of the new energy electric drive system business, and develop and lay out the next-generation new energy controller; continuously improve the power density, response speed, and durability and reliability of fuel cells, and accelerate the commercial promotion in specific scenarios.

The company stated that it will take the initiative, innovate and seek changes, accelerate the transformation, comprehensively consolidate its advantageous main business, continuously strengthen the new driving forces for development, increase efforts, make breakthroughs, and improve efficiency in all work, achieve the annual business objectives with high quality, and continuously bring high-value returns to shareholders. (This article is from the official website of Seetao.com, www.seetao.com. No reprinting is allowed without permission. Otherwise, legal liability will be pursued. If reprinting, please indicate Seetao.com + the original text link.) Editor of the Strategic Column of Seetao.com / Yin Shiqian