Centurion Club: Utilities

China Everbright Water is the overall sector winner in the utilities industry, and it topped weighted return on equity (ROE) as well. Zheneng Jinjiang Environment Holding, another China-based, Singapore-listed utilities company, is recognised for its returns to shareholders.

Everbright Water is listed on both the Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges. Its controlling shareholder is China Everbright Environment Group.

As described in its annual report, Everbright Water has developed a comprehensive business coverage, including raw water protection, water supply, municipal wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, reusable water, river-basin ecological restoration, and sludge treatment and disposal.

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It has also established a complete industry chain in the water business, including project investment, planning and design, technological R&D, engineering and construction, and operations management.

Everbright Water’s geographical footprint spans across 13 provinces of China, and as of Dec 31, 2024, its projects have a designed daily water treatment capacity of approximately 7.70 million cubic metres.

In FY2024, Everbright Water made significant progress in market expansion by reinforcing its existing business areas and exploring new business fields while balancing both asset-light and asset-heavy businesses to foster synergistic growth. It invested in several wastewater treatment projects. It added multiple asset-light projects, both within and outside mainland China.

With an eye on international markets, Everbright Water has signed a memorandum of understanding to explore cooperation opportunities in Indonesia. In FY2024, it treated around 1.763 billion cubic metres of wastewater and produced around 48.5 million cubic metres of reusable water. In FY2024, earnings reached HK$1.02 billion ($170.6 million), down from HK$1.19 billion in FY2023.

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Zheneng Jinjiang Environment Holding, recognised for best returns to shareholders, is a leading operator in China’s waste-to-energy (WTE) industry. It set up its first facility in 1998 and was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 2016. Its controlling shareholder is the Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group, which makes it the primary platform for circular economy development in Zhejiang province.

As at Dec 31, 2024, it has invested in and operated 27 WTE facilities, three kitchen waste treatment projects, and eight waste resource recycling facilities in 13 provinces and autonomous regions of China, with a total waste treatment capacity of 44,405 tonnes per day and a total installed capacity of 921MW. It has seven projects under construction and 13 in the preparatory stage.

In its FY2024 annual report, the company describes the solid waste industry as one that continued to navigate a challenging environment marked by payment delays, reduced government subsidies, and asset restructuring in the post-build-operate-transfer era. “These headwinds intensified throughout the year, adding pressure across the sector.” Still, it more than doubled earnings to RMB618.5 million ($112.7 million), even though revenue remained steady at RMB3.73 billion.