China Leon Inspection Holding Limited (HKG:1586) today announced its audited 2020 annual results for the year ended 31 December of 2020 (Reporting Period). Revenue during the review period was approximately RMB 574.0 million, an increase of 44.8% from approximately RMB 396.5 million in 2019. Profit for the year was approximately RMB 74.9 million, an increase of 160.3% from approximately RMB 28.8 million in 2019. Basic earnings per share were approximately RMB12.59 cents (2019: RMB6.04 cents). The board of directors recommended a final dividend of RMB 0.0375 per share.
The sound performance during the reporting period was mainly due to benefit from the support by China’s national macro policies and the improving market demand amid the global public health event as well as the complex and volatile macroeconomic environment in 2020 and the management of the group focused on high-quality development, carried out the concept of platform construction throughout the work, accurately grasped the market trends in each segment, deployed strategic advantages in areas, and continued to improve the quality and efficiency of the group’s operations and steadily enhanced its comprehensive competitiveness and brand influence.
Mr. Yang Rongbing, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of China Leon, said: “In 2020, China and Singapore, our major business markets, were the first to restore normal production and operation, because they had introduced effective prevention and control measures, so that the overall business of the Company was growing well, with continuous increase in all businesses. Besides, We explored the in-depth needs of our customers, overcame the obstacles due to the pandemic, strove to improve the service quality, and expanded more business in the onsite inspection, technology consultation, and training sectors. As a result, we won praise from our customers, and our business undertaking capability was raised rapidly, which indicated that we were already on a rapid development track and that we successfully attained the initial strategic development goal set for the energy inspection industry.”
Continuous enhancement of brand influence and credibility
The Company has obtained CMA “Qualification Certificate of Inspection and Testing Agency” issued by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China and the CNAS “Laboratory Accreditation Certificate” issued by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment. Overseas, it has obtained ISO17025, ISO17020, and ISO14001 certifications. The Company has reached the standards for internationally recognized testing and inspection agencies and other authoritative standards in terms of professional capabilities, and we employ a comprehensive quality management system to govern quality control and operating procedures for stringently controlling the quality of services. The Company has been granted full membership of China Entry & Exit Inspection and Quarantine Association and Chinese Certification and Accreditation Association and rated as a contract-abiding and trustworthy company for a number of years in a row. We are a full member of TIC Council (a merger of IFIA and CEOC). The recognition of all of these qualifications assures that our inspection reports are more internationally credible.
Diversified customer structure
On the basis of maintaining a stable and good partnership with key customers such as CHN Energy, Shaanxi Coal Group, China Coal Group, Yitai Group, Datang Group, China Resources Group, CNPC, SINOPEC, CNOOC, ChemChina, SinoChem, Shell, BP, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Total, Saudi Aramco, ENOC and Rosneft, etc., the Group engaged newly customers in new energy, such as Goldwind Science & Technology, SANY Heavy Industry, China Huadian Corporation, China General Certification Center and Tianjin Zhonghai Engineering Management Consulting Co., Ltd. During the reporting period, we were expanding more regional customers and carrying out centralized marketing in specific industries, like the cement, iron and steel and papermaking industries as well as a chemical factory, which further expanded our quality customer base.
Continuous strong growth in the energy inspection business
In 2018, the Company acquired Saybolt (Tianjin) Metrology & Inspection Co., Ltd. and Leon Overseas (Hong Kong) Limited (formerly known as Core Laboratories (Hong Kong) Limited), and then. Saybolt (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Saybolt (Singapore)”) in 2019, which marked two major milestones for the Group in terms of globalization and business diversification, and enabled the Group to successfully venture into the petroleum business in the Asia-Pacific Region and extended its services, such as technical testing and inspection as well as analysis services (including product and service certification) for oil, natural gas, chemicals, and fuel bulk cargoes, to cover Singapore and the surrounding areas, thus broadening its business scope. The comprehensive and systematic output management enabled us to expand the effectiveness of our M&A assets, grow our business capabilities rapidly, and enter a positive payback period, thus resulting in a significant increase in the Group’s overall operating income. The volume of the Group’s oil business segment increased significantly during the year, thanks to the increase in the volume of oil trade transhipped from Europe and the Middle East via Singapore to Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the coal testing segment of the Company continued to grow steadily, with a gradual increase in its market share and new highs in various core indicators such as a number of certificates issued and overall business revenue.
Looking ahead, Mr. Yang Rongbing, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of China Leon, said “2021 marks the start of the “14th Fifth Year” of the country and is also a special year in the process of China’s modernization. China Leon actively responds to the development strategy of the country to seek progress while ensuring stability. Based on the achievement in M&A operation over the past three years, the Company firmly implements the 2+X strategy, which, the number “2” of the 2+X strategy
represents coal and oil product inspection, the two existing business pillars of the Group, as well as the further development in the field of energy and commodities inspection and testing; while the “X” represents the expected areas and room for future growth of the Group, focusing on renewable energy and other ESG related fields with long-term sustainable growth potential. Based on the principle of developing the “X” business in chronological order and on the solid market position in the field of commodities and energy, the Company will aggressively expand the following three major TIC sectors: (i) new energy inspection and testing; (ii) regular TIC inspection and testing; and (iii) new industry inspection and testing.”
About China Leon Inspection Holding Limited
China Leon Inspection Holding Limited is China’s first international third-party independent testing organization listed on the main board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: HK1586). The Group has nearly 30 branches and professional laboratories in multiple countries and regions across the globe, dedicated to providing professional testing and authenticating services for global clients. Chine Leon provides services on inspection, testing, measurement, and authentication for over 5,000 global clients in energy and commodity fields, including coal, petroleum, petrochemical, electricity, and bulk minerals, covering major trading hubs in China and the Asia Pacific region at large.