Its operating revenue increased by 11.9% year-on-year, hitting a record high for the same period, and its profit and net profit both greatly exceeded expectations, with significant improvements in overall operating efficiency. This is the high-quality development outcome achieved by China Minmetals in the first quarter of 2022 in the face of severe challenges.
Since the beginning of 2022, China Minmetals, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, has thoroughly implemented the deployments of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), and maintained the basic tone of prioritizing stability while pursuing progress, and focused on stabilizing growth, fighting against the pandemic and ensuring safety. These actions have ensured its steady rise in business performance, stable and powerful resource guarantee and steady progress in epidemic containment. China Minmetals made a good start in its business performance in the first quarter, embracing the 20th CPC National Congress with excellent development results.
On April 22, China Minmetals held an economic operation analysis meeting for the first quarter of 2022, on which it studied in depth General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and instructions, summarized its business performance in the first quarter, and made overall arrangements for key tasks in the second quarter of 2022.
In the first quarter of 2022, China Minmetals managed to improve its operational quality steadily by overcoming the adverse impacts of accelerated changes in the world situation and sporadic outbreak of domestic epidemic. During the period, the total profit of its metal mining business increased by 23% year-on-year; the operating revenue and profit of its metallurgical engineering business rose by 31.6% and 14% year-on-year, respectively; the amount of newly signed metallurgical engineering contracts increased by 13% year-on-year; and the profit of new energy materials business grew substantially by 5.5 times year-on-year. At the end of the first quarter, its total asset turnover rate and current asset turnover rate both increased year-on-year, its interest-bearing liabilities decreased year-on-year, and the growth rate of proportion of "two-fund" (account receivables + inventory) in total fund was lower than that of operating revenue.
China Minmetals has expanded the business layout of metal mining and metallurgical engineering businesses, and continued to improve the profitability of its core businesses. It achieved stable production and sales in terms of metal mining business. The output of copper concentrate increased by 7% year-on-year, and the output of iron ore concentrate rose by 23% year-on-year. Besides, major mines, deep processing and new materials enterprises continued to maintain a good momentum of increased output, improved sales and reduced cost. It also accelerated its efforts to develop high-end projects in terms of metallurgical engineering business. Many projects undertaken by China Minmetals have broken world records, including scrap steel intelligent plant system of China Baowu Steel Group, intelligent management and control center of Shanxi Jincheng Steel Holdings Group Co., Ltd., the world's first supercritical gas generator set of Shenglong Electric Group and No. 2 rotary hearth furnace of Shagang Group. The CHROMENI stainless steel project in India undertaken by China Minmetals won the Luban Award for Overseas Projects of 2020-2021.
New achievements have been made in its expansion of the industrial, supply, value and innovation chains. Besides, it made breakthroughs in high-end instruments, deep-sea mining and other bottleneck technologies with a faster pace. It also accelerated the pace of the new energy battery material of becoming a strategic emerging business, and of energy conservation and environmental protection business of becoming a new strategic growth point. ACRE Coking & Refractory Engineering Consulting Corporation, MCC and Wuhan Surveying-Geotechnical Research Institute Co., Ltd. of MCC were included in the second batch of "Science and Technology Reform Demonstration Enterprises". The construction and operation of the Winter Olympics venues was full of technological elements. All these demonstrate that its technological innovation and industrial development have formed a benign interaction relationship.
At the same time, China Minmetals has shouldered its mission without hesitation, given full play to its own advantages and actively fulfilled its social responsibilities in major tasks such as supporting Shanghai in fighting against the pandemic and serving the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics. To this end, it has strengthened its command, made careful deployment, and exerted all efforts to help Shanghai fight against the pandemic. As of April 22, Shanghai-based affiliated enterprises have been mobilized to input nearly 14,000 constructors, and build a total of 27 epidemic prevention projects including the mobile cabin hospital at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) and 62,000 beds. China Minmetals took full advantage of its professional advantages to fight on the front line of the battle against the pandemic and used its channel advantages to fully coordinate and guarantee logistics. Meanwhile, it undertook the construction of the "Flying Snow Dragon" Project for Yanqing National Sliding Centre, and supported the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which fully demonstrated China Minmetals' responsibility, speed and quality.
The leaders of China Minmetals emphasized that in the next step, China Minmetals would continue to implement the new development philosophy, and put more efforts in the development of its main business. They noted that China Minmetals would promote reform and innovation, consolidate foundational management, focus on work safety and promote Party building. They also indicated that with its own steady growth, China Minmetals would contribute to the stability of national economic fundamentals, coordinate the relationship among economic development, epidemic containment and work safety, and present outstanding operation performance to celebrate the 20th CPC National Congress.
