U-Hair Group: Will further increase industrial chain cooperation and mergers and acquisitions integration
On May 16, Youfa Group stated in an investor relations event that in the first quarter of 2025, the company's various steel pipes process production reached 4.4261 million tons, an increase of 662,200 tons year-on-year, up 17.59%; sales volume reached 2.9422 million tons, an increase of 462,600 tons year-on-year, up 18.65%. In the first quarter of 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of 11.402 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.06%; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 133 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9680.17%; earnings per share were 0.0925 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9150.00%.
Domestically, the main consideration is to accelerate the optimization and improvement of production capacity layout, striving to be closer to raw material supply sources and meet market demand nearby. Currently, eight production bases have been built in Tianjin, Tangshan, Handan, Hancheng, Shaanxi, Liyang, Jiangsu, Huludao, Liaoning, and Yuxi, Yunnan, and Linquan, Anhui. Two more bases are under construction in Chengdu, Sichuan and Yanling, Henan, and the company is actively discussing and promoting relevant project construction, industrial cooperation, and mergers and acquisitions, striving to quickly fill in the gaps in the local production capacity map.
Competition in the domestic welded steel pipe industry is relatively fierce. The company's core competitiveness is mainly reflected in its brand advantages, scale advantages, product quality advantages, technology and equipment advantages, innovation and R&D advantages, marketing channel advantages, national layout and location advantages, cooperation mechanisms, and corporate culture advantages, ensuring the company's leading position in the industry for many consecutive years with the largest production and sales volume of welded steel pipes nationwide, and becoming a steel pipe price and quality "weather vane". The company actively advocates industrial cooperation and green development concepts, leading the healthy and sustainable development of the industry, improving the quality of industry development through fair competition, and providing users with more high-quality products and services. Through the continuous practice of high-quality development, the company gives full play to its various traditional advantages, actively expands new products, new models, and new fields, thereby continuously improving market share and brand influence, and demonstrating outstanding competitive advantages in domestic and international market competition.
Overseas production capacity layout is in the preliminary research stage. Currently, the focus is on researching the welded steel pipe industry in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In accordance with the company's new ten-year strategic plan and the globalized goal of "going global", we strive to achieve the landing and layout of overseas production capacity projects as soon as possible. To accelerate the landing of overseas production capacity, the company will consider in-depth cooperation with local steel pipe companies, giving full play to the advantages of all parties to achieve win-win cooperation, shortening the adaptation period, and striving to improve the proportion and profitability of overseas business.
Reviewing the overall operating situation in 2024, in the first three quarters, due to insufficient demand release, steel prices decline, and a slight year-on-year decrease in production and sales, the year-on-year decrease in net profit was relatively large. Entering the fourth quarter, with the successive introduction and implementation of various national policies encouraging healthy economic development, market demand has improved, and steel prices have risen. The company achieved revenue of 14.752 billion yuan in the fourth quarter, an 8.10% increase month-on-month, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 324 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 146%, achieving recovery growth. In 2024, the company's various steel pipe process production reached 20.0949 million tons, and sales of various steel pipes reached 13.4734 million tons (production and sales volume decreased slightly by about 0.9% year-on-year, the decrease was much smaller than the nearly 8% decrease in welded steel pipe production and apparent consumption volume announced by the National Bureau of Statistics), and the overall market share of the company's products continued to improve; in 2024, operating revenue reached 54.822 billion yuan, net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 425 million yuan, and earnings per share were 0.30 yuan. The first quarter of 2025 continued the good momentum of the fourth quarter of 2024, with year-on-year growth in production and sales volume, revenue, and profit.
In 2025, the company, in accordance with the new ten-year strategic guidance, will implement the "Three-Year Action Plan", accelerate the improvement of domestic and foreign production capacity layout, and maintain the growth of production and sales volume and market share. On the basis of the existing production and sales scale, the company will increase investment in R&D of high value-added products and actively expand the development of new products, new businesses, and new models. In 2024, the "Youfa Water Conservancy Pipeline Application Research Institute", "Youfa Structural Steel Manufacturing Industry Research Institute", and "Youfa Construction Steel Pipe Application Research Institute" were established to cultivate terminal industries and improve the proportion and profitability of terminal businesses. In addition, the company will further strengthen industrial chain cooperation and mergers and acquisitions, continue to reduce costs and increase efficiency, improve profitability, maintain high operational efficiency, and through rapid turnover, marketing transformation, strengthening terminal business, and supplemented by appropriate hedging to offset market fluctuation pressure.
Combining the macroeconomic development situation, international trade environment changes, and the company's basic operating conditions since the first quarter, although the economic environment faces certain risks and pressures, it is expected that the overall national economic development in 2025 will be more stable and positive, reflecting strong economic resilience and structural growth space. Relevant policies will continue to help boost market confidence and stabilize the demand for welded steel pipes; at the same time, the steel industry will further achieve high-quality development through various effective measures. As a downstream processing and manufacturing industry of the steel industry, the welded steel pipe industry will continue to benefit from the transformation and upgrading of the industrial chain. The company continues to promote and improve its domestic and overseas layout strategies, striving to improve production and sales volume, market share, and profitability, and actively strive to achieve better operating performance in 2025.
