Starting from May 5, 2023, “Jiangxi Pig King” Zhengbang (002157.SZ) has been subjected to “delisting risk warning” measures by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The stock name has changed from “Zhengbang Technology” to “*ST Zhengbang.”
Just a week ago, Zhengbang held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a distributed photovoltaic power generation project in Shayang County, Hubei Province. According to the information released by the company, the project has a total investment of 57.6 million yuan, with an expected annual power generation of 13.9334 million kilowatt-hours and a reduction of 108,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. At this time, Zhengbang was already heavily in debt, with a huge loss of 18.819 billion yuan in 2022.
However, Zhengbang’s foray into photovoltaics has not stopped. In 2022, Zhengbang signed a cooperation agreement with the Zhejiang branch of State Power Investment Corporation Limited (referred to as State Power Investment Zhejiang Company) to build a total of about 10 million kilowatt-hours of new energy power generation, including photovoltaics and wind power, within three years, with an expected total investment of about 40 billion yuan.
This investment has attracted inquiries from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, requesting clarification on the specific details of the cooperation and explaining whether “the company lacks the financial conditions to support the development of related projects and other risks.”
Not only Zhengbang, but more and more pig companies have started to lay out photovoltaics and other new energy projects since 2022.
Muyuan Shares (002714.SZ) disclosed that its Muyuan 30 photovoltaic power generation project in Leizhou, Guangdong will officially start operation in 2023, with an expected annual power generation of 5.34 million kilowatt-hours and a reduction of 2,997 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. New Hope Group (000876.SZ) stated that as of the end of 2022, the company has completed the construction of nine photovoltaic projects with an annual power generation of 10.66 million kilowatt-hours, equivalent to a reduction of 10,628 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
In addition, a number of listed pig companies, including Tianbang (002124.SZ), Haida (002311.SZ), and Tangrenshen (002567.SZ), have also announced photovoltaic cooperation projects. Meanwhile, pig companies face downward pressure on pig prices, and their revenues are not optimistic. In the first quarter of 2023, the industry as a whole suffered losses. The top three companies in the industry, Muyuan, Wenshi, and New Hope, all reported negative net profits.
With performance under pressure, why do pig companies still want to develop photovoltaics?
