CEB WATER (01857) announces performance for 2024, with profits attributable to equity holders decreasing by approximately 14% to about HKD 1.02 billion.

CEB WATER (01857) announced its performance in 2024, with revenue of approximately HK$6.852 billion, a slight increase of 2% year-on-year. Gross profit was approximately HK$2.617 billion, a decrease of 7% year-on-year; net profit attributable to equity holders of the company was approximately HK$1.02 billion, a decrease of 14% year-on-year. Earnings per share were 35.65 HK cents, with a final dividend of 5.81 HK cents per share. The overall gross profit margin for the fiscal year 2024 decreased to 38% (compared to 42% for the fiscal year 2023). This decrease was mainly due to a higher proportion of construction service revenue recognized in the total revenue for fiscal year 2024 compared to fiscal year 2023. Generally, the gross profit margin for construction services is lower than that for operations services, so having a larger (smaller) proportion of construction service revenue will lower (increase) the overall gross profit margin. Construction service revenue accounted for approximately 39% of total revenue in fiscal year 2024 (compared to 31% in fiscal year 2023). Therefore, the overall gross profit margin decreased by 4 percentage points compared to fiscal year 2023.