Awaiting Price Recovery to Drive Revenue and Profit Growth
发布时间:2026-04-14 来源:华泰证券
In 2025, Chenguang Biotech reported revenue, an attributable NP, and a recurring NP of RMB6.56bn, RMB369mn, and RMB280mn, YoY changes of -6.2%, +292.2%, and +530.3%, respectively. For 4Q25, revenue, the attributable NP, and the recurring NP were RMB1.51bn, RMB70mn, and RMB20mn, YoY changes of -14.5%, +106.9%, and -22.7%, respectively. Earnings were broadly in line with the previous preliminary results, which had reported 2025 revenue of RMB6.6bn, an attributable NP of RMB360mn, and a recurring attributable NP of RMB310mn. Overall, 2025 featured pressure on the revenue side but a significant recovery in profit. Revenue pressure mainly came from the company’s proactive reduction of trading business in the cottonseed segment. In the plant extract segment, the company exchanged price for volume while raw-material costs remained low, achieving continued market-share gains. Profit improvement was mainly driven by the cottonseed business, which turned around on a YoY basis as market conditions recovered. The company’s core plant extract business retains solid competitive advantages. The profitability of the cottonseed business is recovering, and prices of plant-extract products are still near the bottom. As industry fundamentals improve and the company continues to gain share, we think that its earnings upside potential could be gradually delivered. Maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Core products price at cyclical lows but steady volume growth
In 2025, revenue from the plant extract and cottonseed businesses reached RMB3.31bn and RMB2.94bn, up by 5.9% YoY and down by 15.3% YoY, respectively. By product: 1) Core products: paprika oleoresin remained resilient, with full-year sales volume reaching 11,900 tonnes, up by 25% YoY. Due to raw-material costs and industry competition, capsicum oleoresin prices still faced downward pressure, but sales volume reached 2,910 tonnes, up by 65% YoY. Lutein product sales remained steady overall. 2) Second-tier products: after new silymarin capacity came onstream, the company’s competitive edge improved further, with full-year sales volume reaching 720 tonnes, up by 66% YoY. Lycopene sales volume grew steadily, and revenue exceeded RMB40mn. Stevia revenue reached RMB280mn, and the benefits of differentiated product development continued to emerge. Zanthoxylum oleoresin, the company’s core spice-extract product, rose to No. 1 in sales volume, further consolidating its industry-leading position. 3) Potential products: the health-food business continued to expand its customer base both internally and externally and delivered steady growth.
Expect an upcycle; maintain OVERWEIGHT
Considering that the Zambian subsidiary faced higher product costs and a lower gross margin in 2025 due to natural disasters, and that the impact is likely to continue, we revise down our earnings forecasts. We now expect EPS of RMB0.87 and RMB1.06 for 2026 and 2027, down by 9% and 8% from our previous forecasts, and we introduce our 2028 EPS forecast of RMB1.19. Based on 18x 2026E PE, in line with its peers’ average on Wind consensus, we derive our target price of RMB15.66 (previous: RMB17.76, on 24x 2025E PE). Maintain OVERWEIGHT.
Risks: intensifying competition, weaker-than-expected industry demand, and food safety issues.