China Tower Corporation Limited

China Tower reported 2023 operating revenue of RMB94.01 billion, up 2% year over year, and profit attributable to owners of RMB9.78 billion, up 11%. Excluding the impact of commercial pricing agreements, operating revenue was RMB97.72 billion, up 6% year over year. Operating expenses were RMB79.51 billion, up 0.8%; depreciation and amortization was RMB49.05 billion, down 1%; repairs and maintenance was RMB7.41 billion, down 2.4%; employee benefits and expenses were RMB8.84 billion, up 11.4%; annual CapEx was RMB31.72 billion, up 21%; operating cash flow was RMB32.84 billion; and free cash flow was RMB1.13 billion. At year-end, tenants reached 3.658 million and tenancy ratio was 1.79, up 0.05. Management said the final dividend was RMB0.03739 per share, up 15.7%, with a 75% payout ratio. Looking ahead, management said operating cash flow should return to a normal level in 2024 as billing and collection issues ease; no quarterly or full-year revenue/EPS guidance was given.

Chairman Zhang framed 2023 as a year of steady growth driven by the company’s “One Core and Two Wings” strategy, sharing, and coordination. He emphasized that China Tower is broadening revenue sources, upgrading telecom towers into digital towers, and investing more in innovation, with R&D investment up 38% and 217,000 towers upgraded to digital towers. His tone was confident and upbeat, but he also directly acknowledged the temporary cash flow dip and said it should normalize in 2024.

Chief Accountant Hu focused on cost control, asset efficiency, and balance sheet discipline. He said operating expenses were RMB79.51 billion, up 0.8%, while depreciation and amortization declined 1% to RMB49.05 billion and repairs and maintenance fell 2.4% to RMB7.41 billion; at the same time, employee benefits rose 11.4% to RMB8.84 billion to support the Two Wings businesses. He highlighted CapEx of RMB31.72 billion, operating cash flow of RMB32.84 billion, free cash flow of RMB1.13 billion, and a healthy year-end leverage profile with a liability-to-asset ratio of 39.4% and gearing ratio of 31.4%.

There was no substantive analyst Q&A in the transcript provided; the event ended after management presentations. The main issue management preemptively addressed was weaker operating cash flow, which they linked to new pricing and service agreements, billing-system upgrades, order verification, and slower receivables collection. Management said collections improved in the second half and in January-February 2024, suggesting the issue was temporary.