Zhejiang Jihua Group Co Ltd

Jihua Group disclosed its 2026 half-year report on the evening of August 27. In the first half, it achieved operating revenue of 796 million yuan, up 12.27% year on year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 46.1628 million yuan, a sharp year-on-year increase of 1235.47%. The company said the rise in operating revenue was mainly due to a substantial increase in product prices compared with the same period last year. Jihua Group focuses on dyes, dye intermediates and other chemical products. It has total dye production capacity of nearly 100,000 tonnes, including 75,000 tonnes of disperse dyes, 20,000 tonnes of reactive dyes and 5,000 tonnes of other dyes. It also has 20,000 tonnes of H acid capacity, 330,000 tonnes of sulfuric acid capacity, 6,000 tonnes of coatings capacity and 6,000 tonnes of polyurethane sponge capacity. Since the beginning of this year, the company's share price has risen by more than 30% cumulatively, outperforming the broader market over the same period.

Upstream dye prices have risen more than expected. The key intermediate H acid has jumped from around 45,000 yuan per tonne to nearly 120,000 yuan per tonne, driving reactive dye GSPN black from about 20 yuan per kilogram to 31 yuan per kilogram. Overall dye prices are up nearly 20 percent from July. The industry benchmark disperse black has accumulated a gain of 4,000 yuan per tonne this year, with current transaction prices approaching 25,000 yuan per tonne. Reactive dye has also risen from 22,000 yuan per tonne at the start of the year to 23,000 yuan per tonne. RunTu shares expects its first-half net profit attributable to the parent company to increase by about 254 to 334 percent year on year. Jihua Group expects a surge of over 1,259 percent. Meanwhile, traditional printing and dyeing mills that lack self-sufficiency in intermediates are seeing their profits severely squeezed. On the supply side, tightened environmental and safety regulations, reduced output in India due to high temperatures, and the situation in the Middle East have cut effective H acid capacity to less than 60,000 tonnes, leaving a supply gap of over 10 percent. The industry expects the rally could last until September or October, but whether the downstream peak season in September and October materializes will determine the price turning point.

China's domestic dye industry has kicked off a new round of price hikes, with disperse black prices rising 51.52% from the end of last year. Zhejiang Longsheng and Runtu have implemented a new pricing system since July 21. Quotes for disperse dye intermediates hexachloro and reduced substances have risen to 50,000 yuan per tonne and 120,000 yuan per tonne respectively. The disperse black 300% series has been raised by 3,000 yuan per tonne, while other varieties have generally been raised by 1,000 yuan per tonne. According to data from Sublime China Information, as of July 23, reactive black and disperse black prices have risen 30.43% and 51.52% respectively from the end of last year, while H acid and para-ester have risen 54.32% and 27.91% respectively. Among the 18 A-share listed companies in the dye industry chain, Jihua Group expects its first-half net profit attributable to the parent company to grow 1,272.52% year-on-year, Jianxin Chemical expects growth of 681.1% to 867.08%, and Runtu has received research visits from 58 institutions.

On the evening of July 20, nearly 100 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange disclosed a flurry of positive news, covering buybacks, increased holdings, upbeat earnings, interim dividends, and long-term insurance capital investment. On that day, 16 companies announced new buyback plans with a combined upper limit of 4.5 billion yuan, and 9 companies announced new shareholding increase plans with a combined upper limit of 6.875 billion yuan, bringing the total to 11.375 billion yuan. Another 30 companies released progress updates on buybacks and increased holdings. On the semi-annual earnings front, 15 Shanghai-listed companies reported positive results. Shanghai International Port Group expects a net profit attributable to shareholders of approximately 8.47 billion yuan for the first half, up about 5.35 percent year-on-year. Shanghai Electric expects a net profit of 920 million to 1 billion yuan, up about 12 to 22 percent. Putailai expects a net profit of 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion yuan, up 32.66 to 42.14 percent. Jihua Group achieved a net profit of 474 million yuan, surging 1,272.52 percent. Bank of Chongqing posted a net profit of 3.518 billion yuan, up 10.28 percent. Ten companies disclosed interim dividend plans. The controlling shareholders or chairmen of six companies—Chint Electrics, Yiwu China Commodities City, Industrial Securities, Juhua Group, Hualu Hengsheng, and Hundsun Technologies—proposed interim dividends. The controlling shareholder of Shanghai Airport proposed raising the interim dividend payout ratio. Several companies' shareholders pledged not to reduce holdings or terminated reduction plans early. For example, the controlling shareholder and actual controller of Keli Sensing voluntarily committed not to reduce holdings, and Bethel Automotive announced that its shareholder did not reduce holdings and terminated the reduction plan early. In the insurance sector, China Pacific Insurance, Ping An Insurance, and New China Life Insurance expressed firm support for capital market development, vowing to leverage the advantages of insurance funds, adhere to long-term and prudent investment principles, support the cultivation of new quality productive forces, act as patient capital in the market, and firmly implement profit distribution policies by optimizing dividend frequency and carrying out interim dividends to enhance shareholder returns.

Jihua Group released its 2026 semi-annual performance flash report, achieving operating revenue of 798 million yuan, up 12.5% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 47.4438 million yuan, a surge of 1,272.52% year-on-year. During the reporting period, the company's various business segments maintained stable production and operations. Among them, the dye segment saw both operating revenue and average product selling prices increase to varying degrees compared with the same period last year, while profitability indicators such as gross margin recorded substantial growth.

Prices of key disperse dye components have surged sharply, with multiple companies raising prices for disperse black products twice, reaching year-to-date highs. A person in charge at Zhejiang Longsheng said the company's current selling price for disperse black is about 25,000 yuan per tonne, after two increases of 2,000 yuan per tonne each in early July and mid-to-late June. Gu Shujing, an analyst at Sublime China Information, noted that the price of a key reducing agent soared from 25,000 yuan per tonne at the end of 2025 to 100,000 yuan per tonne in June to July 2026, directly driving a broad upswing in disperse dye prices. The root cause of this price hike lies in rigid supply contraction of upstream intermediates, with domestic capacity for the reducing agent at only about 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes, leaving extremely limited supply elasticity. Low inventories combined with the traditional peak season at the end of the third quarter are expected to push disperse black prices above 30,000 yuan per tonne, while integrated leading companies with self-sufficiency in intermediates continue to gain market share.