Huayu Expressway Group (1823.HK) Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Huayu Expressway Group Limited reported a material deterioration in QQ3 2024 operating results. Revenue declined to 34.66 million CNY, down 46.8% year over year and 46.19% quarter over quarter, with gross profit of 5.17 million CNY and a gross margin of 14.9%. The quarter produced a negative EBITDA of 2.15 million CNY and a negative operating income of 10.82 million CNY, leading to a net loss of 10.22 million CNY and an EPS of -0.0248. The combination of sharply lower revenue, higher operating costs, and a heavy cash outflow from operations generated substantial cash burn (operating cash flow of -80.1 million CNY and free cash flow of -131.5 million CNY). Consequently, net debt remained modest at 61.8 million CNY with total debt of 247.5 million CNY, and liquidity remained adequate near-term with a current ratio of 3.04 and cash and cash equivalents of 185.8 million CNY. However, the balance sheet shows an unusually large Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income/Loss (748 million CNY), underscoring potential one-off accounting items or remeasurements that require closer scrutiny.

Near-term guidance was not disclosed in QQ3 2024 results; management commentary in absence of an explicit forward-looking target should be monitored for signals on traffic recovery, capex optimization, and working-capital management. The stock trades at a price-to-book of ~0.24 and a price-to-sales of ~5.16, suggesting a heavily risk-weighted, earnings-driven valuation that is sensitive to any improvement in toll revenue or cost controls.