【SPECIAL FOCUS】Nanjing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. 2025 Profit Exceeds 2.8 Billion, Full-Year Cash Dividend of 1.577 Billion, H2 Cash Dividend Payout Ratio 60%

(Source: China Ironmaking Network)

On the evening of March 16, 2026, Nanjing Steel Co., Ltd. (600282.SH) released its “2025 Annual Report.” In 2025, Nanjing Steel achieved operating revenue of 57.994 billion yuan, with net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 2.867 billion yuan, up 26.83% year-over-year. The profit growth reached a recent high, demonstrating strong operational resilience. Alongside this performance growth, the company places great importance on shareholder returns. Based on the cash dividends paid mid-year 2025, the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.372 yuan (tax included) per 10 shares in the second half of the year, with a dividend payout ratio of 60.22%. The total cash dividends for the year are planned to reach 1.577 billion yuan, accounting for 55% of the net profit attributable to the parent company for the year, significantly increasing the dividend level and continuously strengthening value return capabilities.

In 2025, Nanjing Steel adhered to the “High-Intelligence and Green” development strategy, driven by innovation and utilizing digitalization to comprehensively enhance core competitiveness. The company was awarded the Jiangsu Province Governor Quality Award; recognized as a leading standard enterprise in the “Steel Industry Normative Conditions (2025 Edition)” by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; selected for the first batch of pilot smart factories at the national level, becoming the only steel enterprise simultaneously included in the national data infrastructure investment and trusted data space innovation development pilot projects; for three consecutive years, awarded the Jiangsu Province Governor’s “Environmental Performance Grade A” steel enterprise; listed among the first batch of “New Four Types” environmental protection facility open units nationwide; rated “A-” by CDP; rated “B” in MSCI ESG, scored 46 in S&P Global ESG, “AAA” in Wind ESG, and “AA” in China Securities ESG; honored on the Fortune “China ESG Influence List” and Forbes “2024-2025 Forbes China Sustainable Development Industrial Enterprises.”

Deepening the “Specialized and Innovative” Strategy

Accelerating the construction of a “New Quality” industrial foundation

Nanjing Steel continues to implement the development philosophy of “specialization” and “innovation,” aiming to build an internationally first-class modern premium special steel base. The company is increasing R&D investment in technological innovation, digital transformation, and green low-carbon fields, promoting the upgrading of high-end products toward specialization, differentiation, and greenness. Guided by a full-cycle innovation strategy of “producing one generation, reserving one generation, and pre-researching one generation,” the company focuses on research and industry services in advanced steel materials, key strategic materials, and cutting-edge new materials to overcome technical bottlenecks. By integrating internal and external resources, it has established an integrated lean R&D system of “production, sales, research, application + services,” supported by research institutes such as the New Materials Institute, Digital Application Institute, and Industry Development Institute, forming an open high-end R&D platform architecture of “2+4+7+N” at international and national levels. In 2025, R&D expenditure was 2.335 billion yuan, accounting for 4.03% of operating revenue. High-intensity R&D is rapidly translating into core competitiveness. The acid-resistant pipeline steel became the company’s third “Manufacturing Single Champion Product” and the first domestic enterprise to pass Saudi Aramco certification and supply to its offshore projects, marking a significant leap in the company’s international competitiveness in high-end specialty steels.

Product structure optimization is fully reflected in operational data. In 2025, sales of Nanjing Steel’s core product series—advanced steel materials—reached 2.8265 million tons, an increase of 8.09% year-over-year, accounting for 30.45% of total steel product sales, with a 2.42 percentage point increase in proportion. These products contributed a gross profit of 3.004 billion yuan at a gross margin of 20.88%, nearly half of the company’s total steel gross profit, becoming a “ballast stone” for profit growth.

Since the “14th Five-Year Plan,” Nanjing Steel’s high-end transformation has been steady. The proportion of advanced steel materials sales has risen from 17% to over 30%, with sales increasing by more than 56%. In contrast, the output share of low-value-added construction materials has decreased from 20% to 9%, while the proportion of high-tech content long steel products has increased from 29% to 36%. This clear shift illustrates the company’s product matrix accelerating toward high-value-added sectors.

Synergized “High-Intelligence and Green” Development

Digital and low-carbon initiatives strengthen industry chain resilience

While focusing on core operations, Nanjing Steel is building a complex industrial chain ecosystem that empowers and collaborates with the steel industry through “industry chain, intelligent manufacturing services, and green low-carbon” initiatives.

Resource integration and breakthroughs in high-end materials advance simultaneously. Jinan Mining successfully acquired exploration rights for Fanchao Iron Mine, further enhancing iron ore resource security; Anhui Green Source has built the country’s first 9-series permanent magnet ferrite ultra-pure iron pre-sintering line, achieving large-scale production of 6-series and 9-series pre-sintering materials and nano-grade iron red, making significant breakthroughs in key permanent magnet materials technology; Steel Treasure’s e-commerce platform accelerates customer expansion, with 860 new registered users and 298 terminal customers developed in the year, continuously enhancing industry chain service capabilities.

In digital transformation, Nanjing Steel is a pioneer in the industry. The company, in partnership with Huawei, launched the first “Yuan·Yie” large model architecture for the steel industry, actively responding to national strategies of “AI integration with the real economy” and “manufacturing upgrade.” It also aligns with the national “data element” and “AI” strategies, advancing “intelligent transformation and digital networking,” independently developing the “Refine Data into Gold” management platform, which has brought data assets worth 23.24 million yuan into the books, marking a substantial step in data value realization. The intelligent manufacturing service sector continues to expand its technological lead. Jinheng Technology has built an “industrial AI platform + industry large model + multiple intelligent agents and small models,” developing over 50 AI models, with many products reaching international leading or advanced levels, providing core algorithm support for steel intelligent manufacturing. Xin Zhi Lian explores new models of data value co-existence; its project “Trusted Data Space for the Steel Industry Chain Driven by Data Elements” won third place in the 2025 “Data Elements×” national competition, demonstrating the company’s leading position in data element market applications.

Green and low-carbon development has become one of Nanjing Steel’s core competitive advantages. The company aims to be a “pioneer of global green steel,” having completed ultra-low emission upgrades across all facilities and been rated Grade A for environmental performance in Jiangsu for three consecutive years. In 2025, self-generated power increased to 60.9%, a record high; jointly with Beijing University of Science and Technology, the company successfully implemented the world’s first industrial-scale production of biomass carbon injection in a 1,000-ton blast furnace, providing an innovative path for carbon reduction in the steel industry. To address international carbon barriers, the company has built a full lifecycle product platform and an EU “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” (CBAM) digital system, establishing an integrated “carbon emission management, carbon asset management, carbon trading, and carbon neutrality” system. Its steel product lifecycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint calculation systems have received international certification from DNV, Norway’s classification society, further highlighting its low-carbon competitiveness. Additionally, the green low-carbon sector continues to operate existing projects and expand new ones. The Bai Zhong Environmental Water Treatment project remains stable, with substantial growth in hazardous waste disposal and resource utilization; Jinhan Environmental successfully won the bid for Baowu Egang New Energy Locomotive project, providing the “Nanjing Steel solution.”

Looking ahead, Nanjing Steel will continue to drive with the “High-Intelligence and Green” engine, with “specialization and innovation” as the foundation, accelerating the cultivation of new quality productivity, and striving to become a globally competitive advanced materials intelligent manufacturer, continuously creating greater value for shareholders, customers, and society.