Improving Fundamentals for Amino Acids and MSG
发布时间:2026-05-25 来源:华泰证券
Star Lake Bioscience has reported 2025 revenue/attributable net profit(NP)/recurring NP of RMB15.90/0.98/0.93bn(-8/+4/-19%YoY),including 4Q25 revenue/attributable NP of RMB3.82bn/-RMB36.24mn(-16/-114%YoY,-2/-120%QoQ).The company plans to distribute acash dividend of RMB0.38 per share.4Q25 NP came in below our expectation of RMB210mn,mainly due to pressure on product prices.We maintain our BUY rating,citing the company's rising penetration in the farming sector,the improving amino acid demand driven by soybean meal substitution,and incremental contributions from new projects.
Feed&food additives pressured,amino acids&fertilizers sold well
For 2025,feed additive revenue declined by 10%YoY to RMB10.56bn,mainly due to pressure on amino acid prices.Sales volume increased by 3%YoY to 2,284kt,while average selling price declined by 12%YoY to RMB4,625/tonne.According to Boyar,the average prices of 98%lysine/70%lysine/threonine for 2025 were RMB8.19/5.26/9.77 per kg,down by 23/4/13%YoY.Segment gross margin increased by 0.7pp YoY to 17.6%,chiefly due to lower raw material costs.Food additive revenue declined by 5%YoY to RMB4.03bn,mainly due to lower selling prices of MSG and disodium flavor nucleotides.Sales volume came down by 0.2%YoY to 493kt,while average selling price fell by 4.9%YoY to RMB8,188/tonne.Average MSG market price in 2025 declined by 10%YoY to RMB6.91/kg,while segment gross margin dropped by 0.9pp YoY to 11.4%.Organic fertilizer revenue declined by 11%YoY to RMB345mn,mainly due to lower fertilizer prices.Sales volume increased by 7.7%YoY to 385kt,while average selling price declined by 17.2%YoY to RMB897/tonne.Gross margin increased by 0.2pp YoY to 36.7%.Pharmaceutical intermediates revenue grew by 10%YoY to RMB233mn,driven by improving CMO industry fundamentals.Sales volume jumped by 299%YoY to 3,310 tonnes,while average selling price declined by 72.5%YoY to RMB70,300/tonne.Gross margin rose by 11.2pp YoY to 25%.Overall company gross margin declined by 0.7pp YoY to 16.5%,chiefly due to lower prices of certain products.
Amino acid and MSG prices recovering
According to Boyar,as of 24 April,market prices for lysine(98.5%)/lysine(70%)/threonine/MSG were RMB8.45/4.95/10.35/7.19 per kg,up by 33/18/42/16%from the beginning of the year.The current amino acid and MSG prices remain at relatively low levels.With the arrival of the peak season,downstream demand recovery,and optimization of industry supply structure,we expect product fundamentals to improve gradually.According to the 2025 annual report,the company's 600kt corn deep-processing and supporting CHP project in Kokdala has entered trial production,while the 450kt amino acid and supporting project in Daqing,Heilongjiang is progressing steadily as planned.In addition,the company plans in 2026 to fully ramp up capacity utilization for the Zhaodong 3,500-tonne nucleoside and nucleotide product technical upgrade project,while cultivating new profit growth drivers through coordinated production-supply-sales operations,pharmaceutical business transformation,and new product development.
Earnings forecasts and valuation
Given continued pressure on product prices,we lower our gross margin forecasts for food additives and other businesses,and accordingly revise down our 2026/2027 attributable NP forecasts by 24/16%to RMB1.07/1.30bn(previous:RMB1.40/1.56bn).We introduce a2028 attributable NP forecast of RMB1.50bn,representing YoY growth of 9/22/15%for 2026/2027/2028,implying EPS of RMB0.64/0.78/0.90.We value the stock at 15x 2026E PE,in line with its peers'average on Wind consensus,for our target price of RMB9.60(previous:RMB11.76,based on 14x 2026E PE).Maintain BUY.
Risks:Slower progress of new projects than we expect,loss of core technology.