Intelligent water meter develops rapidly

 

 

In recent years, with the continuous improvement of technology and the accelerated evolution of smart city and smart water, the overall transformation and upgrading of domestic water meter industry is accelerating. Smart water meter is increasingly favored by downstream customers with its advantages of data collection and settlement, and the market demand is increasing rapidly.

 

According to the statistical data of "China Intelligent Water Meter Industry Trend Foresight and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report" issued by Prospective Industry Research Institute, the output of China's water meter industry reached 5.86 million units in 2008, and the output of intelligent water meter reached 4.1 million units. And it shows a trend of rapid growth year by year. In 2013, China's water meter output reached 70 million units, and smart water meter output exceeded 10 million units. By 2017, the output of water meters in China has increased to 96.2 million units, while the output of intelligent water meters has also increased to more than 20 million units. Although smart water meters have been replaced in a large area, their proportion is still low, and there is still a lot of room to replace them in the future.

 

In 2018, sales revenue of intelligent water meters in Ningbo was 406 million yuan, up 68.99% year-on-year, accounting for 39.83% of the main business income, up from 29.77% in the previous period. The company's business structure has gradually changed from the traditional mechanical water meter as the main intelligent water meter to the mechanical water meter and the intelligent water meter.

 

Zhang Lin, chairman of the board of directors, told the reporters of Securities Daily: "Intelligent water meter is the development trend of water meter industry. We believe that the application of intelligent water meter will become more and more popular and the demand will be increasing. In recent years, the company has gradually shifted the focus of research and development and production to intelligent water meter, and has achieved good results. I believe not. The proportion of business coming to the company will be further increased.

 

In addition, most of the fund raised by the company's IPO has invested in the expansion project of 4.05 million smart water meters annually. With the gradual production and release of the project, it will effectively solve the company's capacity concerns and lay a good foundation for the rapid expansion of the company's smart water meter business.

 

R&D as the Core Competence

 

Ningbo Water Meter has always regarded R&D as its core competitiveness. Through continuous independent R&D and technical cooperation, it has accumulated rich experience and can meet most of the customers'needs. Its products cover more than 600 types of 8 mm to 500 mm full range of civil, industrial, cold, thermal and mechanical water meters and intelligent water meters.

 

The second generation intelligent water meter produced by the company adopts water flow sensing technology without moving mechanism. This kind of intelligent water meter does not need electromechanical conversion device, and can directly output electrical signals, complete the functions of water metering or data remote transmission. Yao Ling, Director of Technology, said: "At present, the transformation and upgrading of intelligent water meters is an important stage. As a leading enterprise in the industry, the company has the responsibility to lead the development of the whole industry in addition to its own development.

 

The R&D expenditure of Ningbo Water Meter in 2018 was 316.125 million yuan, an increase of 36.97% over the same period last year, accounting for 3.07% of the total business income. "As a provincial water meter research institute, in the past two years we have focused on the research of NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of Things) technology which Huawei cooperates with. Wireless intelligent water meter based on this technology has the characteristics of high measurement accuracy, low power consumption, wide signal coverage and strong signal penetration. Last year, the company won the bid of NB-IoT wisdom of many regional large and medium-sized water groups. Huishui Project", Yao Ling introduced.

 

It is worth mentioning that in September 2018, Ningbo Watermeter won the "NB-IoT Industry Leadership Contribution Award" at the Honeycomb Federation and Vertical Application Summit Forum of "ICT China 2018 High Level Forum" held at the same time in China International Information and Communication Expo.

 

Higher dividend-sharing ratio

 

Ningbo Water Meter Annual Profit Distribution Plan is 5 yuan of gold dividend per 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of 78.17 million yuan, accounting for 56.97% of the net profit of shareholders belonging to listed companies. Zhang Lin frankly said: "The average dividend level of the company over the years is high, the current industry prospects are good, the company's development is stable, we hope to share the operating results with shareholders." The company's profit distribution plans for 2016 and 2017 are 6 yuan and 4 yuan for every 10 shares.

 

Zhang Lin also said that in the future, the company will further expand the scale of production and operation of smart water meters by utilizing the undistributed profits retained after raising funds and cash dividends. Taking the opportunity of intelligent water metering terminal and operation, it will continue to promote the development of smart water projects and related business, and lead the development direction of the whole industry. Step by step to enhance the overall operating capacity of the company, improve the profitability of the company, to bring more returns to the majority of shareholders.