enn energy's natural gas retail sales in the first half of 2021 increased by 22.3% to 12.431 billion cubic meters
ubiquitous business sales volume increased by 67.5% to 8.049 billion kwh
low-carbon business portfolio and digital and intelligent safety management to promote the sustainable development of the group
on august 23, enn energy held the 2021 interim results conference in the form of a combination of on-site attendance and online video.
zheng hongtao, vice chairman of the board, zhang yuying, executive director and president, wang dongzhi, executive director, liu jianfeng, chief financial officer, and mu nini, chief financial officer, attended the meeting through on-site and remote connections.
in the first half of the year, under the background of the national "dual carbon" goal, benefiting from the overall economic growth and low-carbon development policies, coupled with the excellent execution ability of the management team and the joint efforts of all employees, enn energy achieved excellent results during the period. as of june 30, 2021, the company's natural gas retail sales volume increased by 22.3% year-on-year to 12.431 billion cubic meters. the ubiquitous energy business, including steam, cooling, heating, electricity and other energy sales, increased significantly by 67.5% to 8.049 billion kwh. benefited from the steady growth of the main business and the company's customer-centric development strategy, the company's total turnover including joint ventures and associates reached rmb 58.55 billion, and core profit increased by 18.4% to rmb 3.685 billion. with solid performance and excellent financial management capabilities, it generated positive free cash flow of rmb 1.473 billion. in order to share the results with shareholders soon, the board of directors declared the first interim dividend of hk$0.59 per share since its listing in 2001.
expansion of customer base drives continuous business growth
most of the company's gas projects are located in key areas of national air pollution prevention and control. local governments strictly implement environmental protection policies. during the period, 13,858 industrial and commercial users (gas appliances with a designed daily gas supply of 10,200,523 cubic meters have been installed), and 190,986 industrial and commercial users have been served (gas appliances with a designed daily gas supply of 152 million cubic meters have been installed). the company also developed 1.182 million household users, and the cumulative number of users increased to 24.395 million, with an average pipeline gas gasification rate of 62.6%.
in the first half of the year, the company fully grasped multiple opportunities such as carbon neutrality, industrial transfer, clean heating, and energy reform promotion, and successfully expanded the exclusive management rights of 20 urban gas projects and ubiquitous energy projects, with the total number of projects reaching 239 and 135 respectively. the company currently has a total of 40 ubiquitous energy projects under construction, including 13 distributed photovoltaic projects with a total installed capacity of 40mw. when all projects under construction and in operation reach production, the comprehensive energy sales volume is expected to reach 34.4 billion kwh. in addition, the company actively develops low-carbon energy utilization projects including biomass, photovoltaics and geothermal energy, and develops distributed clean heating projects in northern china and the middle and lower reaches of the yangtze river. the cumulative heating area has exceeded 6 million square meters. the above projects will continue to drive the development of natural gas sales, integrated energy and extended business, and promote the company's further transformation and upgrading to an integrated energy service provider.
adhere to the purpose of safety and build a digital and intelligent safety management system
the company is committed to providing customers with safe and stable low-carbon energy, and has always regarded safe operation as its top priority. in order to ensure the safe operation of the gas pipeline network, the company continues to manage and replace the old pipeline network, and at the same time builds a digital and intelligent system during the construction and operation periods of the pipeline network to ensure the safe, stable and reliable operation of the gas pipeline network. in order to ensure the safe use of gas by industrial and commercial customers and improve service quality, the company vigorously promotes the application of iot meters in addition to quarterly, monthly or even weekly home security checks based on the gas consumption of customers. through the application of the iot, the company monitors the gas consumption of users distributed in various parts of the city in real time, and uses various data to analyze the current operating status of the meters, so as to detect abnormal phenomena in time and reduce the probability of gas accidents. the penetration rate of iot meters for industrial and commercial customers of the group has increased to 42%.
in addition, in order to ensure the safety of gas use by home users, the company conducts home security inspections at least once a year for general household users and twice a year for rural gas users, which is more frequent than the national standard for security inspections for residential users every two years. the company also promotes the "smart security inspection system 2.0", and provides users with online security inspection self-inspection and self-test mini-programs, etc., to guide users to self-inspect and report the status of indoor gas facilities according to the security inspection procedures. customer service specialists can be contacted through the national customer service hotline 95158, mobile app, social media and other channels to ensure that the safety of user facilities and hidden dangers can be ensured under any circumstances, and customer satisfaction can be improved.
in the second half of the year, the group will continue to vigorously develop the natural gas business, relying on the digital system to accurately forecast customer needs, coordinate resource supply and demand, and reserve lng resources in advance during the low-price period to ensure stable gas supply in winter. the company will also strengthen the development of energy consumption side services, including hosting and operating energy facilities for customers, installing "serlink" smart energy consumption management system, optimizing customers' energy consumption patterns, providing renewable energy application solutions, etc., and is committed to saving energy and reducing carbon for customers. it is believed that under the background of the national "dual carbon" target, the company's ubiquitous energy business will grow rapidly. in terms of safety operation, which the company attaches great importance to, we will continue to invest resources to improve the level of digital and intelligent safety management, increase the application of advanced pipe network testing equipment, consolidate the safety awareness of all employees and strengthen the construction of emergency response capabilities, in order to provide customers with safe, stable and clean energy services.
