The first major test after the shift of controlling stake in Shanshan Co., Ltd.: a results briefing held without the new chairman in attendance
On September 14, Shanshan Co., Ltd. held its first official performance communication meeting after the Anhui state-owned capital took control and the board of directors completed a full re-election.
55 days ago, Shanshan Co., Ltd. completed a key governance reshuffle: the 12th board of directors re-election was finalized, the original actual controller Zheng family completely withdrew, the new board of directors was all nominated by the controlling shareholder Wanwei Group, and the Anhui Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission became the ultimate actual controller of the company.
The market originally expected that the new state-owned chairman would make his first public statement at the performance meeting, clarifying Shanshan Co., Ltd.'s new strategy, risk disposal and industrial coordination layout.
It is worth noting that at this meeting, the new chairman Zhu Shengli was absent throughout the whole process, and the general manager Zhuang Wei led the core management team to respond to questions.
Regarding the reason for the chairman's absence, Zhuang Wei responded to Phoenix WEEKLY Finance that it was caused by work arrangements. He also introduced the current operation division mechanism of Shanshan Co., Ltd., that is, after the state-owned capital took control, the company fully implemented hierarchical authorization and list-based management, and guaranteed the independent operation authority of the management team and improved efficiency under the premise of complying with the relevant regulations of state-controlled listed companies.
PVA material state-owned industrial coordination is still in the verification and testing stage
After the change of control right was completed this time, Shanshan Co., Ltd. officially aligned with the state-owned capital management standards and reconstructed its corporate governance system.
This new duty-performing boundary combining state-owned capital compliance control and market-oriented operation was also confirmed at this performance meeting.
Zhuang Wei further explained that the company strictly abides by the rigid bottom line of state-owned capital supervision, implements all compliance requirements of the "Three Importance and One Big" rule, clarifies the boundaries of rights and responsibilities through the hierarchical authorization and list-based management mode, strengthens forward-looking strategic planning and full-process dynamic management, systematically improves the overall decision-making efficiency, fully guarantees the response flexibility of the company's business to market demand and price fluctuations, and always maintains an industry-leading level of market-oriented operation.
In terms of business direction, Shanshan Co., Ltd.'s strategic path has been clearly focused. According to Chen Ying, the board secretary, at the performance meeting, the company will anchor the medium and long-term development plan in the future, and continue to deeply cultivate the two core main businesses of negative electrode materials and polarizers under the new governance structure, so as to consolidate the industry leading position and core competitive advantages.
However, the medium and long-term plan has not yet been finalized. According to Zhuang Wei, the medium and long-term development plan is currently in the internal compilation and review stage, and the corresponding information disclosure obligations will be performed in accordance with the relevant rules of information disclosure after the final version is formed.
After the change of control right was completed this time, the state-owned industrial coordination dividend that the market expected most has not yet been realized.
The core key raw material of the polarizer produced by Shanjin Optoelectronics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanshan Co., Ltd., is PVA optical film; its controlling shareholder Wanwei Group is a leading domestic PVA material enterprise, and the two naturally form an upstream and downstream vertical supporting relationship.
According to the official statement in the semi-annual report, the core industrial value of this state-owned capital taking control is to rely on the upstream production capacity advantage of shareholders to make up for the core material shortboard of the polarizer business, realize the independent controllability of key raw materials, and reduce external procurement costs and supply chain fluctuation risks.
According to Zhuang Wei's disclosure at the performance meeting, the industrial coordination between Shanjin Optoelectronics and Wanwei High-tech is being actively promoted, and its PVA optical film is in the verification and testing stage.
Stockpiling expansion puts pressure on cash flow
With the governance structure reshaped and industrial coordination still in the verification stage, Shanshan Co., Ltd.'s 2026 semi-annual report shows a set of highly contrasting operating data.
The 2026 semi-annual report shows that Shanshan Co., Ltd. achieved a revenue of 12.13 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 23.04%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 822 million yuan, a year-on-year surge of 296.73%, and the profit growth rate greatly outpaced the revenue growth rate. The performance recovery comes from the performance repair of the negative electrode and polarizer main businesses on the one hand, and the profit increase from the investment income as the associate company BASF Shanshan turned losses into profits on the other hand.
Behind the eye-catching book data, the net operating cash flow of Shanshan Co., Ltd. during the reporting period was 835 million yuan, a sharp year-on-year decline of 42.96%.
Regarding the cash flow pressure, Zhuang Wei responded that it was mainly due to the rapid growth of sales in the negative electrode business, the company's increase in raw material stockpiling and working capital investment, which is a phased phenomenon in business expansion, and no major adjustments have been made to the company's settlement and stockpiling system.
The rise in stockpiling scale has also aroused the market's concern about the risk of inventory impairment. The semi-annual report shows that as of the end of June 2026, the book balance of the company's inventory was 7.75 billion yuan, a significant increase from 6.6 billion yuan in the same period of last year.
In response to the market's concern about inventory risks, the management stated that the cycle from raw material procurement to finished product delivery for the company's negative electrode business is about 3 months, and the current stockpiling corresponds to customer locked orders with strong pertinence, so the subsequent pressure on inventory impairment provision is limited. At the same time, the company's products are mainly artificial graphite, and the price fluctuation of natural graphite has little impact on the overall business.
For the subsequent optimization direction, Zhuang Wei clearly stated that the company will speed up the collection of accounts receivable, improve inventory turnover efficiency, and continuously optimize the working capital structure.
The financial dividend brought by state-owned capital taking control has also begun to be released. Li Keqin, the chief financial officer, said that relying on the credit endorsement of state-owned capital, the company will reduce financing costs by re-signing agreements and replacing high-interest liabilities, and the loan interest rate is expected to drop significantly, continuously reducing financial expenses and increasing profits.
Historical legacy risks have not been completely resolved
The state-owned capital taking control brings multiple benefits in governance, finance and coordination, but it cannot immediately eliminate the industry cycle pressure and historical stock risks faced by the company. The two major problems are still the core bottlenecks restricting the company's long-term development.
At present, the lithium battery negative electrode industry continues to expand production capacity, the risks of overcapacity and price involution are intensifying, and the industry profit space continues to shrink; the competition in the polarizer industry is white-hot, and the downstream demand growth rate is stable. The company has taken the initiative to slow down the capital expenditure of new projects, and only stabilizes profits by optimizing product structure and deeply cultivating high-end automotive and OLED categories, so it is difficult to break through the industry growth bottleneck in the short term.
Compared with short-term industry fluctuations, the uncertainty of historical legacy risks is more lasting. The semi-annual report shows that as of the end of the reporting period, the total amount of external guarantees of Shanshan Co., Ltd. reached as high as 17.867 billion yuan. At the same time, the litigation involving a total amount of nearly 1.954 billion yuan is still in the stage of responding to the lawsuit.
Li Keqin responded to Phoenix WEEKLY Finance that all the company's guarantees are for companies within the consolidated scope. For major litigation matters, the company's legal team is actively organizing to respond to the lawsuit, and will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company and all shareholders in accordance with the law.
The signals released at this performance meeting show that Shanshan Co., Ltd.'s state-owned capital transformation is still in the shallow stage. Although the company has completed governance reshuffle, implemented the authorization mechanism and optimized financing costs, the two core increments of medium and long-term strategy and industrial chain coordination have not been realized. Under the background of the dual main businesses facing cycle pressure and the coexistence of large amount of guarantee and litigation risks, the short-term performance rebound cannot cover the dual pressure of the company's operation and risk control.
This performance meeting with the chairman absent accurately reflects the current transformation status of Shanshan Co., Ltd.: the state-owned capital reform at the level of equity and governance has been completed, but the in-depth transformation of industrial empowerment, risk resolution and strategic upgrading has not yet been realized. In the future, whether Anhui state-owned capital can go beyond the simple equity holding level, truly implement industrial coordination, resolve historical burdens, and help enterprises go through the industry cycle, will be the core criterion for testing the success of this control right restructuring.
"The essence of this change of control right of Shanshan is debt restructuring, not industrial merger and acquisition, and it cannot be evaluated with the logic of merger and acquisition." In the view of Chen Jingjing, founder of Jingjie Brand Consulting, Wanwei, Conch and Shanshan are not natural upstream and downstream, so there is no need to forcibly expect industrial coordination. Valuable coordination is more reflected in financing, energy, supply chain and overseas resources.
Chen Jingjing believes that Shanshan's profit rebound reflects the operation recovery of its two main businesses, but it only means that the old business has profitability, not that a new growth cycle has arrived. Profit repair and historical risk clearance are two different things. State-owned capital taking control can optimize the credit environment, but cannot automatically resolve the stock legacy problems such as guarantees and litigation. The equity change at the legal level has been completed, and the success or failure at the operational level still needs 2 to 3 years of observation. The core depends on the resolution of historical risks, the improvement of financing structure, and whether shareholder resources can be transformed into real operational increments, and finally contribute to enterprise value creation.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Phoenix WEEKLY Finance", author: Cui Lupeng, editor: Cao Bei, published with authorization from 36Kr.