Editor | Yang Jie
Not long ago, Baoneng Department released a new "big move". But what followed was a voice of doubt in the market.
Zhongju High-tech, a condiment leader famous for its kitchen brand and delicious fresh brand, recently announced a plan to increase its quota, and plans to issue 239 million shares in a non-public way, raising no more than 7.7965438 billion yuan, of which 7 billion yuan is planned to invest in 3 million tons of expansion projects. It is worth noting that its major shareholder, Sun Yixian Runtian, has taken all the shares and will subscribe for the non-public offering of shares in cash. Zhongshan Runtian is also one of Baoneng's companies, and the actual controller is Yao Zhenhua.
As soon as a paper announcement came out, Zhongju Gaoxin immediately stood on the cusp of public opinion. How will Zhongju Hi-Tech absorb the huge increase in production capacity for the 3 million tons expansion project? What does Baoneng, which is caught in the whirlpool of unpaid wages and debts, take to participate in the increase? Yao Zhenhua to make this decision, gourd sell what medicine?
During the epidemic, both the consumer market and the capital market once again realized the potential of the food and beverage track. From real estate and logistics to cultural tourism, finance, medical care and automobiles, some investors have analyzed that billionaire Yao Zhenhua may want to take advantage of the low stock price to gain more control over Zhongju Hi-Tech, rebuild several "kitchen sauces" by expanding production, and even surpass Haitian Ye Wei to become the "first brother of soy sauce" in China.
However, Yao Zhenhua's ambition is great, and the resistance he faces cannot be ignored.
On the shelves of supermarkets, only a few brands of soy sauce are familiar to consumers, including Chubang, Haitian, Lee Kum Kee, He Qian and other brands. Their popularity is not low, and sales generally don't go up and down. During the epidemic last year, there was a wave of "big consumption" in the market, and consumption and medical care became one of the few booming tracks, and some head enterprises were more likely to go against the trend.
The financial reports of leading A-share condiment listed companies also performed well. Haitian Yewei's operating income in 2020 exceeded 20 billion yuan, reaching 22.792 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of15.13%; Net profit increased by 19.6 1% year-on-year to 6.403 billion yuan. Although the growth rate is lower than that before the epidemic, it is far better than that of enterprises at the tail or even at the waist. In the same period, Zhongju High-tech also maintained a net profit growth rate of 23.96%, with a net profit of 890 million yuan, approaching the 900 million yuan mark; Its gross profit margin has also improved significantly, and its ability to make money is even better than before the epidemic.
But the secondary market is often not so stable.
On the first trading day after the announcement of the fixed increase plan, Zhongju Hi-Tech suffered a "long-lost" plunge. On July 26, China Stock Exchange and Hong Kong stocks suffered a huge earthquake, which dragged down the A-share market for two consecutive days, with the consumer sector bearing the brunt. Since the Spring Festival, the hot consumer stocks of Baotuan have collectively suffered a big rout, liquor stocks are the most "tragic", and condiment companies can't escape "bad luck", and their stock prices have fallen back to the level of a year ago.
On July 26th, Zhongju Gaoxin failed to escape this panic after the daily limit was opened. Compared with the peak share price of 74.03 yuan in June of this year (5438+ 10), the share price of Zhongju Gaoxin has fallen by 53% on that day, and the market value has evaporated by 3/kloc-0.50 billion yuan. Since then, it has plummeted 5% for two consecutive days, and the stock price once hit a new low of 34.50 yuan. Zhongju Hi-Tech is not "lonely" either. In the same period, Haitian Ye Wei's share price also fell from the high point 168. 12 yuan to the low point 107.80 yuan, a decrease of nearly 36%, and its market value evaporated by more than 250 billion yuan, while He Qian Ye Wei's share price fell below 23 yuan from the high point of 42.73 yuan, a decrease of nearly 50%.
In order to appease the company's nearly 60,000 shareholders, on April 2 this year, Zhongju High-tech announced that it planned to buy back 5 million to 65.438+0 million shares at a price not exceeding that of 60 yuan, with the amount ranging from 300 million yuan to 600 million yuan, and the repurchased shares were used for equity incentives. On July 16, the company announced the completion of the repurchase. The number of shares repurchased is 1438800, and the average repurchase price is 4 1.69 yuan/share, which costs about 600 million yuan.
Just a few days ago, the fixed increase plan was announced, and at the same time, Zhongju Gaoxin also announced the second repurchase plan during the year. The scale and amount are equivalent to the last repurchase plan, and the price still does not exceed 60 yuan/share. Only this time, the company plans to cancel the share repurchase, which is usually considered as a more effective way to boost the stock price and appease shareholders in the capital market.
However, this has also become one of the reasons for the controversy caused by Zhongju's high-tech fixed-income plan. According to the announcement, the price of this non-public offering of Zhongju High-tech is 32.60 yuan/share (not less than 80% of the average trading price of the company's shares in the 20 trading days before the pricing benchmark date), which is not only 65,438+00% lower than the share price at that time, but also significantly lower than the two repurchases. Many small and medium investors believe that listed companies buy back shares at high prices and sell shares to major shareholders at low prices, which infringes their rights and interests.
It is not only the shareholders who are offended, but even Zhang Kun, the elder brother of public offering, is also involved. Since last year, E Fund's small and medium-sized hybrid managed by Zhang Kun, E Fund's blue-chip selection hybrid and E Fund's three-year high-quality enterprise hybrid have appeared in the list of the top ten shareholders of China Torch High-tech. As of April 9 this year, they held about 74 million shares, accounting for 9.29% of the total share capital, an increase of 53.5 million shares compared with the positions held at the end of the fourth quarter of last year.
Because a fund company can't buy more than 10% of a company's total shares, Zhang Kun is considered as a top buy. According to the average price of 60 yuan/share at that time, Zhang Kun spent a total of about 3 billion yuan, and now it has a floating loss of over 30% and a loss of over 900 million yuan.
However, at present, Zhongju Hi-Tech has been reduced by "public offering". On the evening of August 1 Sunday, the list of the top ten shareholders before July 23 disclosed by Zhongju High-tech showed that E Fund Blue Chip Select and E Fund withdrew from the top ten shareholders for three years. In addition, Xingquan Hefeng, managed by Xingquan Fund Manager Ji Wenhua, withdrew from holding for three years compared with the end of the first quarter.
According to the announcement, Zhongju Hi-Tech will invest 7 billion yuan in the 3 million tons condiment expansion project of Yangxi Delicious Fresh Food Co., Ltd., with a total investment of nearly 65.438+0.22 billion yuan. If it goes well, the company will increase the production capacity of soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sauce, compound seasoning and other products.
At present, in the main business of Zhongju Hi-Tech, soy sauce sales account for about 64% of the total revenue, chicken powder and edible oil account for about 65,438+00% and 65,438+02% respectively, and other condiments account for about 65,438+04%. The company also pointed out in the financial report that in recent years, a series of new products such as oyster sauce, cooking wine, rice vinegar and sauce have developed rapidly. This is tantamount to suggesting that the company intends to vigorously develop these businesses.
Judging from last year's data, Zhongju Hi-Tech is indeed restricted by production capacity. In 2020, the company's overall condiment output is about 697,300 tons, and the sales volume is 696,400 tons. In the same period, the company's inventory only increased by 654.38 billion yuan. From 20 15 to 2020, the company's revenue increased from 2.76 billion yuan to 5 10 billion yuan, nearly doubling; However, in the same period, the inventory only increased from 654.38+32 million yuan to 654.38+68 million yuan. Previously, the company's secretary-general revealed that the company's capacity utilization rate has reached 96%.
At the same time, however, the company has set a target: fixed projects, with an estimated annual sales income of 20.4 billion yuan and a net profit of 510.60 billion yuan.
According to the 2020 financial report, Zhongju High-tech achieved a revenue of 510.2 billion yuan and a net profit of 890 million yuan. This means that after the implementation of the expansion project, the net profit will be nearly six times that of 2020. Even Haitian Ye Wei, the industry leader, will only produce 2,739,200 tons of soy sauce by 2020. After the project with a capacity of 3 million tons is put into production, Zhongju Hi-Tech may overtake it in one fell swoop. However, is it really feasible for Zhongju Gaoxin to "eat a fat man in one bite"?
This was not only questioned by investors. On July 26th, the Shanghai Stock Exchange sent an inquiry letter to Zhongju High-tech, and also questioned the feasibility of this project.
In the current domestic condiment pattern, although the market position of Zhongju Hi-Tech is second only to Haitian flavor industry, it has never been surpassed, and it has been dubbed by netizens as the "Millennium second child" of soy sauce industry. According to the research report of Huaan Securities, Haitian Ye Wei has a 34% share in the soy sauce market, while Zhongju Gaoxin has only 9%, and it has always been threatened by Qianhewei and unlisted Lee Kum Kee.
In the case of Haitian monopoly, it is difficult for soy sauce enterprises in the second and third echelon to achieve double growth in volume and price, and expanding categories and differentiation has become their important strategic direction.
Not to be outdone, Zhongju Hi-Tech, which owns two brands of Chubang Soy Sauce and Delicious Fresh, tries to find another way by relying on the "green check" packaging of Chubang, focusing on the label of "origin, nature and safety", hoping to impress more family consumers. Up to now, Zhongju Hi-tech has contributed more than 70% to residents' consumption and retail income.
But the problem is that condiment consumption accounts for less than 2% of domestic household kitchen expenditure. In the current condiment market, catering is the most important income channel, accounting for almost half of the market share of the whole industry. Haitian Ye Wei and Lee Kum Kee's income from catering channels accounted for 60% and 70% of the total income respectively.
This has also led to the difference in gross profit margin of several major head enterprises. In the last three years, the gross profit margin of Haitian Ye Wei was 46.47%, 45.44%, 42. 17%, that of He Qian Ye Wei was 45.74%, 46.2 1%, 43.85%, and that of Zhongju Gaoxin was 39. 12%, 39.55.
In recent years, Zhongju Hi-Tech has also increased the development of catering market. However, people in the industry generally believe that catering channels are generally characterized by high viscosity and price insensitivity, which is attractive to enterprises. But at present, in the catering industry, there are already head brands in the condiment field, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Zhongju Hi-Tech, which has lost its first-Mover advantage in catering channels, can only find another way. To this end, Zhongju Hi-Tech has continuously expanded its sales team and increased its advertising investment. In 2020, the number of dealers in the company exceeded 65,438+0,400. Although it is far from Haitian's 70,565,438+0, the year-on-year growth rate reached 35%, while Haitian's growth rate was only about 20%. In the whole year of 2020, the number of high-tech sales staff in Zhongju reached 1620, and the advertising cost exceeded 86 million yuan, twice as much as that in 20 18.
But even so, to catch up with Haitian, Zhongju Hi-Tech has to make a lot of efforts. Huaan Securities reported that as of 20 19, the number of users reached by Chubang was 1.3 1 100 million, while Haitian reached 566 million in the same period.
Ai Caijing also noted that in 2020, the unit manufacturing cost and labor cost of Zhongju Hi-Tech were 365,438+065,438+0 yuan/ton, 65,438+0,465,438+0 yuan/ton respectively, while Haitian was 243 yuan/ton and 57 yuan/ton in the same period.
Returning to the "grand goal" of the expansion project of Zhongju Hi-Tech, can the sales network, manufacturing and sales costs of Zhongju Hi-Tech hold up this heavy "dream"?
Some brokers predict that the performance of condiment companies, including Zhongju Gaoxin, may continue to be under pressure in the future due to the unfavorable price increase environment and the rising prices of raw materials such as upstream soybeans. In the first quarter of this year, although the revenue of Zhongju Hi-Tech increased by 9.5 1%, its net profit decreased by 15. 17%.
In the announcement on July 25th, Zhongju High-tech said that it would terminate the non-public offering of A shares on 20 15. In 20 15, when the company applied to the relevant departments for non-public offering of A shares, it was not approved because it involved real estate enterprises, which became the main reason for the opposition of the two supervisors.
The full name of Zhongju Hi-Tech is Zhongju Hi-Tech Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., and its "natural color" business is actually not condiment, but related to real estate. Zhongju Hi-Tech said in the financial report that the company has been responsible for the construction and management of the 5.3-square-kilometer national Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone since the early 1990s. After nearly 30 years of development, the park has been basically developed. At present, the company has properties such as factories, dormitories and commercial facilities in the park1850,000 square meters.
It is reported that the core area of Qijiang New City, a subsidiary of Zhongju High-tech, owns 1.600 mu of high-quality commercial and residential land. According to the recent auction price nearby, the initial valuation is 65.438+07 billion yuan-34 billion yuan.
On July 26th, Zhongju High-tech received an inquiry letter from Shanghai Stock Exchange, and also asked the company to verify and disclose the main considerations and necessity of putting forward this non-public offering plan before the disposal of real estate business is completed, and whether there is any misleading situation for investors.
Stripping off real estate has been the consensus of the company's major shareholders. Since 20 18 increased its holdings and took over Zhongshan Torch Group and gradually took control of Zhongju Hi-Tech, Yao Zhenhua has been "considerate" to this soy sauce enterprise. Yao Zhenhua, the helm of Baoneng Department, was once called a "barbarian" by Wang Shi in the "Wanbao dispute". After Yao Zhenhua took office, Zhongju High-tech put forward the strategic orientation of "focusing on the main business of healthy food and building the company into a super-class comprehensive condiment group enterprise in China", and set the development goal of "double hundred flowers in five years" for the main business of condiments, that is, the operating income exceeded10 billion, and the annual production and sales exceeded one million tons. In May this year, He Hua, an important figure in Baoneng Department, succeeded Chen Lin as the new chairman of Zhongju Gaoxin.
A survey record of Zhongju Hi-Tech was circulated on the Internet, which showed that there was a big difference between the major shareholder Zhongshan Runtian and the second shareholder Zhongshan Torch. For Zhongshan Torch, the second shareholder, it is more inclined to solve the problem of real estate assets before increasing its holdings; At the same time, it is also expected that the expansion project will be placed in Zhongshan Industrial Park where Zhongshan Torch cooperates with Yangxi County, and Zhongshan can share half of the tax revenue. This also means that if we lose the support of two shareholders, Yao Zhenhua may need the support of minority shareholders who hold at least 20% of the company's shares to pass the fixed increase plan.
Another question is, if Zhongshan Runtian can get enough money to expand production by selling real estate business, why should it raise money?
According to this survey record, major shareholders want to increase their control rights; And more funds are also conducive to capital operations such as mergers and acquisitions, or for channel and brand marketing.
According to the current equity information, Yao Zhenhua Baoneng Group holds 67.4% equity of Jushenghua, a controlling capital platform, Jushenghua holds 0/00% equity of Zhongshan Runtian/KLOC-,and Zhongshan Runtian holds 25% as the controlling shareholder of Zhongju High-tech. If this increase is successful, the shareholding ratio of Zhongshan Runtian will rise to 42.28%.
However, as of the end of the first quarter of this year, nearly 80% of the 654.38+99 billion shares of Zhongju Hi-Tech held by Zhongshan Runtian were pledged. However, Yao Zhenhua, which is "transforming to build a car", is caught in the negative public opinion of unpaid wages, layoffs and huge debts. Baoneng automobile, which cost hundreds of billions, failed to achieve mass production for many years. The sales volume of the only Qoros car that it can get has also been declining and has been intensively implemented. Up to now, the execution amount still exceeds 2.57 million yuan.
On July 12-13, the corporate bond "2 1 Shenju 0 1" of Jushenghua, an investment platform of Baoneng, stopped falling and touched. Previously, Dagong International changed the rating outlook of Ju Shenghua from "stable" to "included in the credit watch list". Dagong International believes that Ju Shenghua's equity is pledged in a high proportion, and the risk management ability of its subsidiary Qianhai Life Insurance needs to be improved, and it still faces certain capital replenishment pressure.
By the end of 2020, Baoneng Investment Group had pledged 8,086,543.8 million shares of Jushenghua, accounting for 7.354% of its shares. In the same period, Ju Shenghua's total assets were 525.966 billion yuan, total liabilities were 430.975 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio was 8 1.94%. Judging from the debt structure, Jushenghua's interest-bearing debts are mainly within 65,438+0 years and 65,438+0-2 years, which together account for more than 60% of all interest-bearing debts, but the cash on the account is stretched.
As a result, the market has questioned the fixed-income plan of Zhongju High-tech. How much money can the current Baoneng Department raise to participate in the subscription of Zhongju Hi-Tech? If Zhongju Hi-Tech really gets the "blood transfusion" from Baoneng Department, how will Yao Zhenhua explain to Baoneng employees who are owed wages?
However, on July 27th, Great Wall Securities, Guosen Securities and CITIC Securities all gave Zhongju High-tech a buy or overweight rating. Whether China Torch Hi-Tech can turn over and challenge "Big Brother" Haitian Ye Wei depends on Yao Zhenhua's next operation.