The presentation will now begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Limited, I would like to welcome all of you joining the 2021 annual results investor presentation video conference. In today's meeting, there will be a presentation followed by Q&A section. If you'd like to raise question in the Q&A, please click on the Raise Hand button on the screen.
Today, we have four senior management joining us from Guangzhou and Hong Kong. From Guangzhou, may I introduce the chairman, Mr. Huo Dongling. The Executive Director and President of the Group, Mr. Xu Huijun. And Executive Director and Senior Vice President of the Group, Ms. Huo Xinyu. And from Hong Kong, may I introduce the Executive Director and Group CFO, Mr. Ken Cheung. Now, may I invite Mr. Ken Cheung, the Executive Director and Group CFO, to present the financial highlights of 2021. Mr. Cheung, please.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Comba 2021 results section. During 2021, Comba recorded HKD 592 million loss to equity shareholder. The losses mostly come from non-operating, non-cash adjustments in accounts receivable, inventory, and an increase in our R&D amortization expenses. On the operating side, our result was actually very stable. In fact, we even demonstrate good strength in the second half of 2021. Overall revenue increased by 16%. Gross profit down by 1.5%. Net loss is HKD 592 million. There are a few major adjustment that affect our accounts. As we have been always practicing prudent operating and accounting policy, after we do rigorous analysis on our AR, accounts receivable and inventory, we increase our AR and inventory provisions.
Due to COVID pandemic that affect the overall customer recoverability, we raised the AR provision, especially on the long-aged AR. Likewise, due to the fast-changing technology landscape in 5G, we have also made relevant inventory provision for those products that are either obsolete in 5G or have depreciated greatly in value. AR and inventory provisions altogether account for close to HKD 486 million loss. On the R&D side, as we previously capitalized R&D that reaches major research milestone that trigger accounting policy for amortization. This is particularly true on those 5G products and innovations. The speed of the amortization of R&D expenses has picked up because of a significant increase in amortization expenses of the new R&D that are newly capitalized. The effect alone was reducing profit by about HKD 74 million.
Lastly, we have been also busy preparing our spin-off of Comba Network IPO in the Asia market. As we have conducted the A and B round funding on this entity, as well as establishing employee stock platform. There are also certain non-cash, non-operating accounting treatment on those market value adjustment. This slide illustrate the four major adjustment that we had. Now, let us also take a look if we were to remove those four adjustment, how the account would look like. First of all, we can see that a positive HKD 3.46 million profit against the HKD 592 million loss. Gross profit margin would have been 28.2%, and gross profit would have gone up by 8.2%. We also could have seen a sharp drop in OpEx ratio, which we will illustrate a little bit later.
Overall, the OpEx as a percentage of revenue is 39.1%, which is a 1.1% increase from 2020. Of which finance costs and income tax have come down while the other expenses, because of the major adjustment that we have made, have all gone up. On the other hand, if we were to remove the four major adjustments that we had, the OpEx ratio could have come down from the apples-to-apples adjustment back in 2020 at around 36.5%. Coming down to 2021 at about 32.9%. We are in a solid financial position. Our net cash at HKD 844 million, which is a 71% increase from 2020.
Net asset is HKD 3.77 billion, which is 8.1% down because of the provision that we have made. On the key financial indicators, we have seen the inventory turnover day and AR turnover day have all come down. Inventory turnover day decreased by 17 days. AR turnover day decreased by 36 days. Cash conversion cycle remained healthy at 13 days. One thing worth highlighting is our operating cash flow remains strong at HKD 374 million, which is a sharp recovery from the negative cash flow recorded in 2020. Gross gearing ratio at 12.5%, again, remain healthy. Debt to asset ratio at 63.7%.
Looking at five years, currently the gross gearing ratio at 12.5%, which is only 0.3% higher than what we had in 2020. Over the last two years, the gross gearing ratio is actually at the low level compared with our five-year trending line. Similarly, our operating cash flow now at positive. If we look at our operating cash flow versus net profit or losses over the last 10 years, we can actually see that even though occasionally some of the years we record losses, we still record most of the years in positive operating cash flow. Let us review our revenue by customers. Besides China Tower, which decreased revenue by 3.8%, we have seen all our customer segment have increased in revenue.
Particularly on China Mobile, we have seen a year-on-year increase of 43.6%. Particularly, we have seen the speed of the increase picked up in the second half of 2021. In the second half of 2021, China Mobile, the year-on-year increase is more than 100%. Likewise, China Unicom, China Telecom also have seen the increase by about 8.7% and 15.9% respectively. International market currently represent about 34% of the total pie, increasing revenue by 7.8%. Other revenue increased by 14.1%. Our subsidiary ETL, which is the third largest operator in Laos, accounting for 3.6% of our total revenue, increased the revenue by 26.5%.
Let us also look at the business breakdown by business segment. We actually have seen all segments increase its revenue year-on-year, and particularly on Antenna and Subsystems. Overall, the whole year increased revenue year-on-year by 34%. If we break it by the first half and the second half, we actually see an interesting trend, which is the first half we have seen the decrease in revenue by 13%. On the second half, the recovery rebounded very strongly and recorded 75% increase year-on-year. On the other hand, our Network Systems have seen a strong performance in the overseas market, where we have seen over 50% increase. Currently, overseas market representing close to 37% of Network Systems segment. Servers increased by close to 7%, and our Wireless Transmission and others increased by close to 15%.
We have been progressing on our spin-off A-share IPO. Over the last two years, we have been making progress. This is one thing to highlight. At the end of 2019, we have completed the business restructuring for the network system. In June 2020, we have completed the employee share platform. At the end of 2020, we have completed the share restructure and also the change of company name. Last year, we completed the A and B round funding. We introduced several renowned investors, including Intel and others. Lastly, at the end of last year, we have been granted PN15 approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. I finish my part, so I would turn my time to our president, Mr. Huijun
好，徐总，时间交给您，谢谢。
Thank you, Mr. Chang. May I now invite Mr. Xu Huijun, Executive Director and President of the Group, to present the industry development and company outlook.
我们现在有请执行董事兼集团总裁徐惠君先生为我们介绍一下行业的展望及公司的展望。我们有请徐总。
我的发言包括几部分。首先第一部分是介绍一下目前的行业发展情况，包括全球无线网络的发展、中国5G的建设现状以及业务的发展情况。 从全球无线网络的发展情况来看，到去年年底，全球的5G商用网络的数量已经达到了两百张，并且从虽然在疫情期间，全球的无线运营商的收入依然保持一个稳定的增长态势。特别是在5G部分带来的营业收入的增长还是非常可观的。从全球5G建设节奏来看，我们预测至少会延续到2025年，并且在这几年中，会有超过55%的资本支出用于5G网络建设方面。 节奏比较快的，主要集中在几个国家。第一个是在美国，美国前期是采用毫米波的方式来建设5G网络，最近也开始在中频段建设5G，覆盖全国人口。在日本方面，最近发布了一个高速通信标准5G基础建设计划，希望到2023年5G的普及率达到90%。另外在韩国方面，应该也是在亚洲，在5G网络建设方面走在比较快的。 在欧洲，一个非常重要的趋势是在5G行业专网的建设方面，特别是在德国已经发放了179张企业或者机构的5G独立专网许可证，包括著名的奥迪、宝马、西门子、博世这些公司都在积极地响应和参与，已经建设完成了多个5G专网。频谱的申请速度也创下了新高。 在中国方面，截止去年年底，我国已经建设完成142.5万个5G基站。最新的数据到二月份的时候已经超过150万个5G基站，已经覆盖全国所有的地级以上城市，整体的基站建设量占全球的60%以上。 在国内，5G建设有一个显著的变化，就是通过中低频联合组网来解决覆盖、容量、速率等问题。从早期的高频3.5G、2.6G来解决热点的容量问题，现在在中低频，就是利用700到900到2.1G的建设去实现覆盖。这应该说是一个非常新的变化趋势。 目前从去年的统计情况来看，去年国内主要电信运营商的5G投资额达到了约CNY1,850亿，占全部投资的45.6%，比2020年提升了8.9个百分点。也可以看到国内5G的用户数量也是一个非常快速的增长态势。 在5G的业务发展方面，已经衍生了多种应用场景，特别是在5G和行业，特别是在工业互联、交通物流、煤矿能源、公共事业、医疗服务方面的应用案例显著增加。随着R16标准的发布以及R17标准的推进，5G的业务将逐步地从消费向各个垂直行业拓展。我们预测未来的十年里面，5G加垂直行业是一个未来的业务蓝海，市场潜力巨大。并且我们预判到2026年，行业业务的网络设备投资额将基本和运营商业务的设备市场投资额接近，这应该也是一个我们非常值得高度重视和关注的未来投资方向。 第二部分是对公司情况进行介绍和展望，也分成三个部分。第一部分是我们的天线产品，第二部分是我们的网络系统设备，第三部分是我们的业务经营重点工作以及一些策略。 在天线产品方面，首先在国际市场的网络建设是逐步恢复。在国际上，一方面是5G的投资，另外一方面是4G和5G融合的BSA需求的增加，特别是在3GHz以下的频谱重耕，是一个非常明显的趋势。这块技术的升级以及线网天线的更换将带来我们传统天线的长期需求。在欧洲、亚太5G的部署节奏明显加快，在中频协同主网和分场景布网应该带来了4G、5G融合天线的需求。在印度、南美、中东、非洲持续进行4G的布网和优化，带来了FDD超多端口、多系统公用天线和混合波束天线的持续需求。 从下面这张表也可以看到，在过去的一年里面，我们在一些国际主要运营商的天线集采中，都分别取得了第一名和第二名的好名次。 在国内市场方面，700到900和2.1G 5G网络的规模部署，带来了我们公司优势产品、传统BSA天线的快速增长。在我们半年的业绩发布会的时候，我已经向大家通报过，我们在三大运营商的集采中都分别取得了第一名和第二名的好成绩，总体中标份额排列第一。目前我们也在持续交付，目前来看这些标的我们基本上应该要到2022年年底完成集采份额的落地工作。去年在这方面给我们贡献了很好的业绩增量，今年应该也是我们非常重要的国内业绩支撑。 从产品技术发展形态的角度来看，第一个是我们用于5G上面的AAU配套天线模块，我们是主设备商的核心供应商，到目前为止已经累计发货超过40万副。特别是我们新推出的腔体AAU产品，获得了客户的高度认可，目前首款产品已经批量供货。随着国际客户5G建设的增多，有望带来订单的持续增长。 在4G、5G、4TR融合BSA方面，这是我们在国内首打的产品，目前在亚太、欧洲、南美、中东也开始规模应用。第三个产品是4G、5G融合的8TR的BSA，这是目前海外运营商5G网络部署的主流方案，目前已经在亚太、欧洲规模应用，预测未来需求量也会持续增长。 另外在有源无源一体化融合天线方面，FDD超多端口、多系统公用天线方面，FDD混合波束多系统公用天线方面，我们都有独到的技术领先优势，获得了客户的高度认可，目前也在全球规模应用部署。 另外在创新的天馈解决方案方面，我们的广义区分场景以及轨道交通场景的创新解决方案，已经在国内多个省份规模应用。因为是一个创新的产品，目前还没有进入运营商集团采购，还是在各个省根据需求进行个性化采购。目前我们在这些领域的中标份额以及在省份的覆盖方面，都属于在国内遥遥领先的态势。 在网络产品方面，在国际市场方面，我们的室内共享覆盖Open RAN行业的前景非常乐观。我们积极推进共建共享室内无线网络覆盖解决方案。在2021年，我们在亚太、北美这些区域取得了突破性的增长。在Open RAN领域，我们持续引领行业的技术创新，相关产品系列得到了业界领先运营商的认可，参与全球多个商用以及试点的部署。 目前全球小基站和大磁场依然保持年复合增长在两位数以上的复合增长，特别是其中设备的投资占了大头。在国内，随着流量消费潜力的释放，在2022年，室内纵深覆盖已经被各大运营商提上重点建设的议程。到目前为止，三大运营商已经启动了5G扩展型基站集采的常态化测试。我们预计在今年上半年，中国移动和中国电信会完成集采招标。目前中国移动的建设规划里面，今年新增8万个站。中国电联2022年时分共规划了20万个站，其中电信的投资占比是约58%。 另外一方面，我们在5G垂直行业的商业发展，在工业、矿山、医疗领域的应用，在2021年也取得了良好的落地。 在产品创新方面，我们聚焦覆盖与容量场景化的需求，推出了E-Femto、十分信源和X-DAS的创新产品。涵盖了5G扩展型基站、5G大功率基站、5G大功率直放站，X-DAS和E-Femto等网络产品系列。目前我们在国内小基站厂家里面，在5G不管是在技术还是在商用部署、新技术推出方面，都在行业里面排名前列。我们也寄希望于在今年运营商的大规模集采中取得良好的效果。 在行业专网方面，我们推出了FLeX 5的5G行业专网整体解决方案。整体解决方案包括轻量级的核心网、轻量级的MEC，加上我们的5G基站、扩展单元以及泛在物联网，以及整套的网络管理系统。目前已经涵盖中国移动、中国电信、中国联通、广电，以及在垂直行业里面已经具有明显的产品竞争力。2021年我们在智慧矿山方面已经初步形成了可复制的商业模式，落地效果也非常好。 在Open RAN方面，我们在产品方面提供了一整套包括室内及室外的Radio解决方案，包括我们的openradio IC，就是基于开放架构的轻量级小站解决方案，以及openradio RRU，就是大功率的基站设备单元，以及Open RAN的大系统。我们在这些领域支持独到的特色，包括支持多模式2G、3G、4G和5G，特别是我们的领先优势聚焦在射频领域方面，就是我们的多频段、多功率的大功率射频设计方面，有我们很多独到的专利。特别是我们的大功率基站的RU新平台获得了量产和商用。目前我们在这个领域，我们和行业领先的系统集成商深度合作，赢得了全球多个领先运营商的试点以及商用订单。 在2022年，我们会在欧洲、中东、美洲、亚太和非洲多个地区，目前已经有Open RAN的试点和规模商用。这也是我们去年在产品领域增长幅度最快的领域。我们在多频多制式的RU领域，应该也是业界率先推出相关产品。 下面最后总结一下2022年的一些重点经营工作。 在国内市场方面，天馈核心还是做好已中标的集采项目的交付落地，以及新增集采项目的高质量中标。挖掘5G广义时分，围绕交通覆盖场景的应用需求。另外一方面，我们也在积极探索智能终端、物联网新兴领域，寻找潜在的业务增长点。 在网络产品方面，我们大力拓展时分、村通等细分场景，创新高性价比的解决方案，确保行业的领先地位。打好三大运营商5G扩展型、皮基站集采的三大战役，并且加快产品的落地。另外一方面，继续将我们的FLeX5打造成5G网络加泛在物联加MEC加AI引擎的全连接智能算力平台。 在新业务方面，我们继续加大智能科技领域的探索，全面提升品牌的知名度。 在国际及OEM市场方面，天馈这边我们还是重点关注已突破的全球TOP 30的运营商客户群，确保框架协议下的重点国家和项目的落地，提升市场份额。同时我们继续深耕主设备商战略合作伙伴关系，加大4G、5G融合BSA以及有源无源一体化融合天线的研发市场推广，确保我们的技术领先性。 在网络产品方面，我们继续在Open RAN领域发展战略合作伙伴和国际生态链，突破国际运营商客户，持续增大市场份额。同时我们在这方面也采用一种开放式的合作模式，多渠道拓展我们的业务规模。另外一方面，加强重点区域的拓展，积极推进共建共享室内无线网络覆盖的解决方案。 在整体经营战略方面，首先第一点，我们继续开拓创新，实现在5G时分以及5G加垂直行业的大幅增长。第二点是精耕细作，巩固在天馈、Open RAN等细分市场的领先地位。第三点是持续探索在智能科技等新业务领域寻找增长的机遇，树立品牌形象。同时进一步加强内部的经营管控，大幅提升公司的盈利水平。 我的报告就到这，谢谢大家。