Benxi Steel's four-year loss approaches 12 billion yuan. Can a leadership change lead to a breakthrough?

Ask AI · How will new General Manager Yan Dongyu respond to the company’s financial pressure?

China Jing News reporter Chen Jiayun, Beijing report

On the evening of April 3, Benxi Steel Plate (000761.SZ) released its 2025 annual financial report. The report shows that the company’s full-year net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of RMB 3.94B. On the same day, Benxi Steel Plate also issued an announcement disclosing that its chairman and general manager, Huang Zuojia, resigned from all positions due to a work adjustment.

People from Benxi Steel Plate, in an interview with reporters from The China Business News, said that the company’s loss in performance is the result of multiple factors working together. On the one hand, in recent years, the overall business climate in China’s steel industry has been relatively low, which is an external environment issue that most industry companies face; on the other hand, affected by regional factors, the company is located in Northeast China, where—compared with other regional steel companies—raw material and product transportation costs are higher, further increasing the company’s operating burden.

As for the specific reason for Huang Zuojia’s resignation, the company’s spokesperson for Benxi Steel Plate clearly stated that this is a normal personnel change within the company and has no connection with the company’s performance.

Continued Losses

Benxi Steel Plate’s main businesses cover steel smelting, rolling processing, power generation, coal chemical industry, and special steel bar products, among other areas. The financial report shows that in recent years, Benxi Steel Plate’s performance has been under sustained pressure.

In 2025, Benxi Steel Plate achieved operating revenue of RMB 46.39B, down 9.51% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was a loss of RMB 3.94B, and net profit after excluding non-recurring gains and losses was a loss of RMB 4.03B. Although it improved compared with the loss of RMB 5.04B in 2024, the scale of the loss is still close to RMB 4 billion.

Previously, Benxi Steel Plate had been losing money continuously. From 2022 to 2024, its net profit attributable to shareholders was losses of RMB 1.23B, RMB 1.72B, and RMB 5.04B, respectively. Combined with the loss in 2025, the company’s four-year cumulative losses totaled about RMB 12 billion.

Regarding the reasons for the losses, Benxi Steel Plate stated in its financial report that in 2025 the steel market as a whole showed a pattern of weak supply and demand on both ends and price fluctuations. Although the industry situation improved somewhat, there was no clear turnaround; as a result, the company’s full-year operating performance failed to achieve profitability.

A steel industry insider analyzed for the reporter that Benxi Steel Plate’s performance reflects the current reality of a deep adjustment in China’s steel industry. Soft downstream demand, steel prices running at low levels, and rigid cost-side pressure still remain; the slow bottom-up recovery process continues to restrict steel companies’ earnings recovery.

Financial data shows that as of the end of 2025, Benxi Steel Plate’s asset-liability ratio was 81.20%, up 8.48 percentage points from 72.72% at the end of 2024. In 2025, Benxi Steel Plate’s finance costs were RMB 428 million, up 78.09% from RMB 240 million in 2024. In addition, the net cash flow from operating activities was a negative RMB 1.79B, compared with RMB 1.1 billion in 2024, a decline of 262.58%, reflecting a downturn in the company’s “cash-generating ability” from its main business.

Information previously disclosed by China Chengxin International shows that due to a sluggish external operating environment for the steel industry, Benxi Steel Plate’s total operating revenue has been declining year by year since 2022, with profits from its operating business continuing to post losses and its financial leverage level continuing to rise. However, the company has continued to receive strong indirect support in areas such as production and operation and financing from its indirectly controlling shareholder, Benxi Steel Group Co., Ltd., and from its ultimate controlling shareholder, Ansteel Group Co., Ltd. Therefore, financing channels remain open, and the losses have not yet had a major negative impact on its credit profile.

Personnel Changes

On the day Benxi Steel Plate disclosed its 2025 financial report, it also announced major personnel changes. Specifically, the company’s board of directors received a written resignation report from Huang Zuojia. Due to a work adjustment, he applied to resign from positions including director, chairman, and general manager, as well as related posts on all specialized committees of the board. After his resignation, he would no longer hold any position in the company. Meanwhile, independent director Yuan Zhizhu also stepped down because he had served for six consecutive years.

Huang Zuojia has served as chairman of Benxi Steel Plate since August 2024, with a tenure of less than two years. During his tenure, the company’s performance losses continued to expand; the amount of loss in 2024 increased by nearly two times year over year. In 2025, although the company reduced its losses somewhat, it still had not escaped its situation of continued losses. According to disclosures from Benxi Steel Plate, Huang Zuojia’s remuneration in 2025 was RMB 526k, and he did not hold shares in the company.

Previously, in August 2024, Benxi Steel Plate’s then chairman, Li Yan, resigned due to a work adjustment, and Huang Zuojia took over to fulfill the role.

After Huang Zuojia’s resignation, Benxi Steel Plate has hired Yan Dongyu as the company’s new general manager. The announcement shows that Yan Dongyu was born in 1974. He currently serves as general manager and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Benxi Steel Plate, and also serves as a director of E’yu Yunshang and of the Beijing Research Institute of Ansteel Group. He previously served as deputy general manager, general manager, and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the marketing center of Ansteel Co., Ltd.; chairman of Angsteel Cold Rolled Steel Plate (Putian) Co., Ltd.; deputy general manager and Party Committee Standing Member of Benxi Steel Group; and deputy general manager of Ansteel Group, among other roles.

(Editor: Dong Shuguang; Review: Wu Kezhong; Proofreading: Zhai Jun)