Shanghai Petrochemical Announces 2017 Annual Results

Revenue Increases by 18.13% to RMB91,962 Million

Continuously Tamping the Foundation of Production and Operation

Continuous Optimization of Operation and Cost Reduction

HONG KONG, March 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited ("Shanghai Petrochemical" or the "Company") (HKEX: 00338; SSE: 600688; NYSE: SHI) today announced the audited operating results of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") for the year ended 31 December 2017 (the "Year").

According to IFRS, revenue of the Group for the Year increased by 18.13% to RMB91,962 million. The net profit attributable to owners of the Company was RMB6,143.2 million, representing an increase of 2.93% compared to last year. Basic earnings per share amounted to RMB0.569 (2016: RMB0.553). The Board of Directors proposed the distribution of final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2017 of RMB0.30 per share (including tax) for the Year (2016: RMB0.25 per share).

Mr. Wu Haijun, Chairman of Shanghai Petrochemical, said, "In 2017, the world economy had shown strong recovery with accelerated growth of developed economies and overall growth rally of emerging and developing economies. China had pushed forward supply-side structural reform to continue to release economic vitality, power and potential, which achieved national economy in stable state with good momentum and annual GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 6.9% that was better than expectation. China's petrochemical industry was operated in stable trend with good momentum with basically steady production, overall stable market demands, risen product price and improved industrial efficiency. During the year, centered on overall efficiency and profits, the Group made great efforts to seize the favorable market situation and actively carried out safety and environmental protection, optimizing operation, market development and cost reduction, which achieved good results in production and operation and created a high level of economic benefits in history."

In 2017, the Group's net sales amounted to RMB79,218.3 million, representing an increase of 20.14% year-on-year. Benefited from the increase in the costs of raw materials, the sales price grew generally compared to the last year. Net sales of synthetic fibres, resins and plastics, intermediate petrochemicals, petroleum products and trading of petrochemical products increased by 8.07%, 4.30%, 14.08%, 34.99% and 15.12%, respectively.  

The Group operated facilities smoothly during the Year. Basically flat processing volume of crude oil and less processing business made increasing amount of product and commodity of the Group with total volume of commodities of 13,717,500 tons, increasing 6.91% than in last year. Compared with last year, the Group processed 14,352,800 tons of crude oil in 2017 (including 1,605,600 tons of processing on given materials) with slight increase of 0.35%. The Group produced 3,166,100 tons of gasoline, up by 9.98%; 3,863,800 tons of diesel, down by 0.47%, and 1,574,100 tons of jet fuel, down by 1.51%. The Group produced 766,900 tons of ethylene, down by 7.11%; 632,900 paraxylene, down by 5.62%. The product sales rate was 99.80% and the loan return rate was 100%. The product continued to keep high quality.

In 2017, international crude oil prices showed a V-shaped trend. The average unit cost of crude oil processed by the Group (for its own account) was RMB2,581.35 per ton, up by 30.40% over the previous year. The Group's cost of processing crude oil in 2017 accounted for 45.45% of the total cost of sales.

For the Year under review, the Group continuously tamped the foundation of production and operation. It continued to strengthen Health, Safety and Environment management, made clear responsibilities of production safety for correspondent parties, carried out risk identification and control, as well as continuously developed hidden danger troubleshooting activities in different ways and made rectification. In addition, it intensified the source control of environmental protection and paid special attention to the equipment maintenance, so as to enhance process management and smoothly complete overhaul and realized normal establishment and stable operation. On the other hand, the Group continued to optimize its production and operation, and costs reduction to strive to expand its margin. The Group accurately grasped the pace of crude oil procurement, controlled reasonable crude oil inventory, strengthened storage and transportation management of crude oil and reduced the cost of crude oil. Also, it actively strived for the optimal allocation of refined oil, optimized gasoline blending by measures of optimization and adjustment of catalytic device operation and outsourcing processing of low octane components to try to improve the gasoline production and high-grade gasoline ratio.

Looking forward, Mr. Wu Haijun said, "In 2018, the world economy is expected to continue its recovery momentum. China will continue to maintain the general keynote of work which is to make progress while ensuring stability; continue with the supply-side structural reform as the main direction; and make overall plans for carrying out various tasks to maintain growth, boost reforms, readjust the structure, improve people's livelihood and prevent risks. China's economy is anticipated to remain stable with good development momentum. As the escalating global economy will fuel an increasing demand for petrochemical products, the global petrochemical industry is expected to remain stable with a rise trend in 2018. Since the supply-side reform is proceeding and the growth in downstream demand remains stable in China, the petrochemical industry is expected to continue to see structural improvement to the supply and demand. However, since there is no fundamental change in the imbalance between the supply-side structural surplus and the structural shortage in the domestic refined oil market and petrochemicals market, the expansion of the scale of domestic large private refining and petrochemical enterprises and the recovery of coal chemical production capacity will further intensify market competition in the future. In 2018, the Group will continue to adopt a market-oriented and benefit-centred approach, step up safe and green development as well as the management of production and operation, optimize resources allocation and tone up structural adjustment, striving to maximize the overall value."

Shanghai Petrochemical is one of the largest petrochemical companies in China in terms of sales revenue and was one of the first Chinese companies to complete a global securities offering. Located at Jinshanwei in southwest Shanghai, the Group is a highly integrated petrochemicals enterprise which processes crude oil into a broad range of products such as synthetic fibres, resins and plastics, intermediate petrochemicals and petroleum products.

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-looking statements by terminology such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "future", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates" and similar statements. The accuracy of these statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including risks such as the risk that the PRC economy may not grow at the same rate in future periods as it has in the last several years, or at all, due to the PRC government's implementation of macro-economic control measures to curb over-heating of the PRC economy; the risk of uncertainty as to global economic growth in future periods; the risk that prices of the Company's raw materials, particularly crude oil, will continue to increase, the Company may not be able to raise the prices of its products as appropriate, which would adversely affect the Company's profitability; the risk that new marketing and sales strategies may not be effective; the risk that fluctuations in demand for the Company's products may cause the Company to either over-invest or under-invest in production capacity in one or more of its four major product categories; the risk that investments in new technologies and development cycles may not produce the benefits anticipated by the management; the risk that the trading price of the Company's shares may decrease for a variety of reasons, some of which may be beyond the control of the management; the risk of competition in the Company's existing and potential markets; and other risks outlined in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information, except as required under applicable laws.

Encl: Consolidated Income Statement