Recently, Aiko Solar announced that its subsidiary Zhejiang Aiko Solar Technology Co., Ltd intends to participate in the capital increase of silicon producer Qinghai Lihao by monetary contribution, and plans to invest RMB 385 million yuan to acquire 2.78% of the equity of the company.
Aiko Solar said that this investment was a part of its own strategic development plan to further strengthen upstream and downstream cooperation in the industry, improve the supply chain system, give full play to the leading advantages of both sides in all aspects of the photovoltaic industry chain, and achieve win-win cooperation.
Founded in April 2021, Qinghai Lihao is mainly engaged in the production process research, development, production and sales of semiconductor materials such as high-purity crystalline silicon, with high-purity silicon being its main products. Qinghai Lihao plans to invest a total of RMB 18 billion yuan to build a 200,000 ton high-purity crystalline silicon project in three phases. At present, the first phase of the 50,000 ton construction has been put into operation this year, and the second phase has been started.
The announcement simultaneously disclosed the relevant unaudited financial data of Qinghai Lihao. As of October 31, 2022, it had total assets of RMB 8.746 billion yuan and net assets of RMB 4.069 billion yuan. From January to October 2022, it realized an operating income of RMB 845 million yuan and a net profit of RMB 492 million yuan.
Considering Lihao’s insufficient capacity release in 2022, Aiko Solar estimated a dynamic P/E ratio of about 2.38 times, lower than the average dynamic P/E ratio of 4.99 times of the current comparable listed companies in the same industry, according to the calculation of its profits in 2023 and the price of this capital increase, which is feasible for investment.
