Hongqi Chain(002697) 光大证券·2024-04-01 16:00Investment Rating - The report maintains a "Buy" rating for the company [2][4]. Core Insights - The company's performance exceeded previous expectations, primarily due to significant growth in investment income and the continuous increase in the asset management scale of Xinwang Bank. The ongoing upgrade of old stores is expected to enhance the profitability of the main business in the future [2]. - The company achieved a total revenue of 11.3 billion yuan in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 0.97%. The value-added service revenue reached 2.853 billion yuan. The net profit from the main business was 414 million yuan, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 6.47%, while investment income surged by 46.89% to 154 million yuan [1][19]. - The company opened 144 new stores and upgraded 279 existing stores in 2023, bringing the total number of stores to 3,639 by the end of the year. Additionally, the company launched a new sales model combining online ordering with in-store pickup [1][19]. Financial Summary - The company’s revenue for 2023 was 10.133 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 1.12%. The net profit attributable to the parent company was 561 million yuan, translating to a fully diluted EPS of 0.41 yuan, which is a 15.53% increase year-on-year [19]. - The comprehensive gross margin for 2023 was 29.63%, an increase of 0.57 percentage points year-on-year. The expense ratio for the same period was 24.80%, up by 0.39 percentage points [20]. - The report projects EPS for 2024 and 2025 to be 0.45 yuan and 0.48 yuan respectively, with a new forecast for 2026 at 0.51 yuan [2].