Chemical Industry Leader's Performance Reverses, Wanhua Chemical's Q4 Profit Increases Over 70%

(Source: V-View Financial Reports)

The highly anticipated Wanhua Chemical has released its 2025 performance forecast.

The company’s annual revenue reached 203.235 billion yuan, an increase of 11.62% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 12.527 billion yuan, down 3.88% year-over-year; net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses was 12.144 billion yuan, down 9.10% year-over-year; shareholders’ equity increased by 14.46% to 108.305 billion yuan.

Regarding performance fluctuations, Wanhua Chemical stated that the company has deeply implemented the management theme of “Year of Transformation,” using transformation to respond to global uncertainties, continuously increasing investment in R&D and innovation, deepening industry integration and application development, and successfully commissioning multiple new facilities. Meanwhile, the company actively expanded its global market presence, improved overseas local delivery and technical services, and enhanced its global brand influence. However, due to declining chemical product prices, net profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 3.88% compared to the previous year.

Wanhua Chemical’s performance in 2025 showed a gradual recovery. In the first quarter, net profit was 3.082 billion yuan, down 25.87%; in the first half, net profit was 6.123 billion yuan, down 25.1%; in the third quarter, net profit grew year-over-year, narrowing the first three quarters’ decline to 17.45%; in the fourth quarter, net profit was approximately 3.37 billion yuan, a significant increase of over 73% from 1.94 billion yuan last year, greatly reducing the full-year profit decline.

Data shows that Wanhua Chemical’s business covers polyurethane, petrochemicals, fine chemicals, and new materials industries.

Recently, price increases have become one of the drivers of Wanhua Chemical’s performance growth.

Huaxin Securities research report states that leading overseas polyurethane companies have already announced price hike plans, which are driving the recovery of domestic polyurethane product prices. The global MDI supply landscape is highly oligopolistic, with long-term dominance by a few multinational giants. In recent years, Chinese industry leaders like Wanhua, supported by favorable policies and a complete industrial chain, have accelerated capacity expansion, becoming the main force of new effective global supply in the coming years. According to data from Huajing Industry Research Institute and other organizations, the five major companies—Wanhua Chemical, BASF, Covestro, Hunstman, and Dow—hold a combined 91% market share of MDI capacity, with Wanhua Chemical maintaining the top position globally with 3.8 million tons per year. Wanhua is also the world’s largest TDI supplier and a key beneficiary of the current polyurethane price increases. Additionally, Wanhua’s Fujian capacity expansion project will add 700,000 tons of MDI capacity, expected to be completed by Q2 2026, bringing Wanhua’s total MDI capacity to 4.5 million tons, with both product volume and price rising.

Guohai Securities believes that, globally, Chinese chemical industry leaders have established strong cost and efficiency advantages, entering a long-term upward performance cycle. They are optimistic about the global supply-side restructuring and the long-term demand growth driven by AI. As the chemical industry enters its peak season, rising demand will become a key marginal variable, enhancing the profitability of chemical companies.

Although Wanhua Chemical failed to reverse its profit decline in 2025, its recent performance in the secondary market has been impressive. The stock price rose from around 53 yuan in June 2025 to a high of 97 yuan in March 2026. As of the close on March 16, it was 79.43 yuan per share, nearly a 50% increase within that period.

Notably, during Wanhua Chemical’s stock price rally, shareholders and executives have been actively trading. Prime Partner International Limited disclosed share reduction plans in August and November 2025, and in January 2026, reduced holdings to below 5%. Director and Executive Vice President Hua Weiqi bought 5,000 shares at 59.49 yuan per share in July 2025, and 2,000 shares at 89.278 yuan per share in February 2026.

Currently, the 2,000 shares bought by Hua Weiqi at a high price are showing unrealized losses.

(The views expressed are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Investing involves risks; please proceed with caution.)

Cover and introductory images sourced from AI-generated graphics.