United Imaging Medical (688271), a leading domestic medical imaging equipment company, ushered in the first decline in performance after listing.

United Imaging Healthcare's latest 2024 performance report shows that the company's operating income and attributable net profit both fell during the reporting period. Specifically, in 2024, United Imaging Medical's operating income will be about 10.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.73%; the corresponding attributable net profit was about 1.262 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36.08%; The corresponding net profit after deducting non-profits was about 1.01 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 39.32%.

It is worth noting that this is the first time that United Imaging Medical's net profit has declined since its listing. On August 22, 2022, United Imaging Healthcare was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. Since 2020, the company's performance has achieved a turnaround and has shown a trend of increasing year by year. Financial data show that from 2020 to 2023, United Imaging Healthcare's operating income will be about 5.761 billion yuan, 7.254 billion yuan, 9.238 billion yuan, and 11.41 billion yuan respectively; The corresponding attributable net profit was about 903 million yuan, 1.417 billion yuan, 1.656 billion yuan and 1.974 billion yuan respectively.

In fact, United Imaging Healthcare's performance decline in 2024 has long been hinted at. The company's third quarter report for 2024 shows that in the first three quarters of 2024, the company's attributable net profit decreased by 36.94% year-on-year, of which the net profit in the third quarter was a loss, with a loss of 279 million yuan.

In response to the reasons for the decline in performance in 2024, United Imaging Medical said in the performance express report that the overall scale of the industry has shrunk significantly compared with the same period last year due to the impact of the implementation of domestic equipment renewal policies, and although the company's domestic market share remains at the leading level, domestic revenue still decreased compared with the same period last year; Secondly, some of the company's high-end new products have a long market introduction period, and it will take time to contribute to the performance.

In addition, United Imaging Medical mentioned that during the reporting period, the company continued to increase R&D investment and business expansion, and R&D expenses and sales expenses increased year-on-year. According to Oriental Fortune data, from 2020 to 2023, United Imaging Medical's R&D expenses will be about 756 million yuan, 968 million yuan, 1.306 billion yuan, and 1.729 billion yuan respectively; The sales expenses were approximately 756 million yuan, 1.029 billion yuan, 1.328 billion yuan and 1.77 billion yuan respectively.

It is worth mentioning that in November 2024, United Imaging Healthcare will adjust its initial fundraising project. At that time, United Imaging Medical said that the company decided to adjust the internal investment structure of the "Next Generation Product R&D Project" and "Informatization Improvement Project" according to the implementation of the fund-raising project, the investment plan of the raised funds and the actual needs of the construction of the fund-raising project, among which, for the internal investment structure of the "Next-generation Product R&D Project", Wuhan United Imaging reduced the investment amount by 750 million yuan, and provided the funds to United Imaging Medical through borrowing, and United Imaging Medical increased the investment amount by 750 million yuan at the same time. In addition, the "High-end Medical Imaging Equipment Industrialization Fund Project" will be postponed to January 2026.

United Imaging Healthcare mentioned in its performance report that during the reporting period, the company continued to strengthen overseas market development and the introduction of innovative products, achieving sustained and rapid growth in overseas revenue. In the first half of 2024, the company's operating income from overseas will reach 933 million yuan, accounting for 17.49%. According to Deng Yong, director of the Health Rule of Law Research and Innovation Transformation Center of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the development of overseas markets can disperse the business risks of enterprises, reduce their dependence on a single market, and enhance their ability to resist risks.

United Imaging Medical said that with the further implementation of domestic industry policies and the recovery of the market in the future, the company's overall performance is expected to improve rapidly in the future. On the one hand, the company continues to increase R&D investment, and a variety of innovative and differentiated products will bring new growth points to the company; On the other hand, the company continues to actively expand overseas markets and has reached cooperation intentions with a number of top international medical institutions. At the same time, the company is also optimizing supply chain management, reducing raw material procurement costs, and improving employee efficiency, further controlling costs, and improving the company's profitability through internal training and management improvement.