As we all know, Anhui liquor has always had the saying of "four golden flowers of Huijiu". These four golden flowers refer to the four listed companies of Anhui Baijiu, namely Gujing Gongjiu, Kouzijiao, Yingjia Gongjiu and Golden Seeds. As for when this statement was handed down, I don't know very well.
In the nineties, Golden Seed was once comparable to Gujing Gongjiu. At the end of the golden decade of liquor in 2012, Gujing Tribute Liquor, Yingjia Tribute Liquor, Kouzijiao and Golden Seed ranked among the top four in the province, with a difference of only a few hundred million between them. In 2012, Golden Seed reached the peak of history with a revenue of 2.294 billion, and until today, Golden Seed's revenue has not exceeded 2 billion.
In 2023, the revenue of Gujing Gongjiu will reach 20.254 billion yuan, the revenue of Yingjia Gongjiu will be 6.72 billion yuan, and the revenue of Kouzijiao will be 5.962 billion yuan, while the revenue of Golden Seed will only be 1.469 billion. From the perspective of net profit attributable to the parent company, Golden Seed Liquor is the only loss-making listed company in the "Four Golden Flowers" of Huijiu. In the first quarter of 2024, Golden Seed's revenue will be 419 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 17.6449 million yuan, finally turning losses into profits.
China Resources invests in Golden Seeds:
In June 2022, CR Strategic Investment acquired 49% of the equity of Golden Seed Group, becoming the second largest shareholder of Golden Seed Group. At this time, Golden Seed's revenue has shrunk to about 1 billion, and losses have become the norm. The investment of China Resources will bring support to Golden Seed in terms of talents, funds, channels and other aspects, so both the industry and the capital market were very optimistic at that time.
Although China Resources is only the second largest shareholder of Golden Seeds, in fact, many things are being done by China Resources, such as personnel transfers, market strategies, new product launches, channel expansion, etc. Although Fuyang Investment and Development is still the controlling shareholder of Golden Seed Group, because Golden Seed has not improved for so many years, Fuyang Investment and Development maintains a relatively supportive attitude towards the reforms made by China Resources.
As we all know, China Resources has four liquor companies, including Shanxi Fenjiu, Shandong Jingzhi, Anhui Golden Seed and Guizhou Jinsha Liquor. However, China Resources does not directly participate in the operation of Shanxi Fenjiu, and the other three are directly done by China Resources, so it can be said that Golden Seed is the only listed wine company under China Resources.
When China Resources first acquired Golden Seeds, it was full of confidence and put forward the slogan of returning to the "first camp of Huijiu", and China Resources began a drastic reform. In terms of personnel, He Xiuxia, He Wuyong, Jin Hao and other "China Resources" executives with market and financial experience were sent to Golden Seeds; In terms of channels, in just one year, China Resources has added more than 100,000 sales terminals for Golden Seeds; In terms of products, it not only cut off a number of low-end products, but also launched the "Fuhexiang" series of mid-to-high-end products.
The 14th Five-Year Plan set by Golden Seed is ambitious: 2020-2022 is a strategic adjustment period to achieve a sales scale of 1.5 billion yuan to 2 billion yuan; In the strategic development period from 2022 to 2024, the sales scale will reach 3 billion yuan; From 2024 to 2025, the strategic take-off period will be completed, and the strategic goal of 5 billion yuan will be completed.
Golden Seeds' Product Reform:
But market competition often surprises, and things don't go the way China Resources intended. In 2023, Golden Seed's revenue will be less than 1.5 billion, and it is obvious that it has not achieved the previously scheduled target. After all, the golden seed has been sick for a long time, and it is unrealistic to expect to achieve rapid progress through one or two years of reform.
In the 2023 annual report, the revenue of Golden Seed Liquor was 982 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.46%. Among them, the operating income of low-end liquor grew rapidly, from 396 million yuan to 699 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 81.51%, providing a greater impetus for the acceleration of high-end products of Golden Seed Liquor.
In the product system of Golden Seeds, one of the biggest problems faced is the relatively low proportion of high-end products. Prior to the acquisition by China Resources, Golden Seed Liquor was mainly composed of three categories: Golden Seed Series, Zui Sanqiu Series and Seed Liquor Series. In 2020, Golden Seed launched a sub-high-end strategic new product, Golden Seed Fuhexiang, priced at 698 yuan per bottle.
After China Resources took over, it not only cut off a number of low-end products of Golden Seed, but also successively launched products such as Fuhexiang series and number one seed, and the product SKUs were streamlined from hundreds to about 10 in the current three series. It has created a product layout with one body and two wings, one refers to the "Fuhexiang series", and the two wings refer to the Zui Sanqiu series and the seed wine series.
In the first quarter of 2024, Golden Seed's revenue will be 419 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 17.6449 million yuan, achieving a turnaround. It's just that it is more or less inappropriate to use the thinking of beer to operate liquor, and China Resources is constantly adjusting.
Divestiture of Other Businesses:
In the last century, Golden Seed Group almost always took winemaking as its main business, and began to diversify after entering the new century. Since the beginning of 2013, Golden Seeds' revenue has been on a downward trend of volatility, and Golden Seeds Group is more inclined to diversify to try to reverse this situation.
Golden Seed's main business is the liquor business, but it has been shrinking since 2013. Since then, Golden Seed has entered medicine, involved in real estate development, participated in highway construction and so on. It is worth mentioning here that Golden Seed also owns Anhui Golden Sun Biochemical Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which is involved in traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine business, and is currently the second pillar business of Golden Seed.
Before China Resources became a shareholder, Golden Sun Pharmaceutical's revenue once accounted for more than 40% of Golden Seeds' total revenue. In 2019, the revenue of Golden Seeds was 914 million, of which the pharmaceutical revenue was 390 million, accounting for 42.63%; In 2020, Golden Seeds achieved revenue of 1.032 billion yuan, of which Huayao achieved revenue of 432 million yuan, accounting for 41.62%.
It is conceivable how seriously Golden Seed's liquor business has shrunk in the past two years. However, with the investment of China Resources, Golden Seed began to focus heavily on the liquor business, and the proportion of the liquor business in the total revenue continued to rise.
On April 30, 2024, Golden Seeds also issued an important notice while disclosing its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report. The notice mentions the announcement of the completion of the transaction of the sale of its pharmaceutical business, Anhui Golden Sun Biochemical Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Golden Sun"), and the transfer of land use rights to the holding company.
From June 14, 2024, Anhui Golden Seed Liquor Co., Ltd. will be listed for sale of a batch of office properties. These properties are all located in Hefei City, with a total value of about 163 million yuan at the external reserve price, and it is stated that a one-time payment is required. Golden Seed has been making a lot of moves recently, what is the purpose of doing this?
Focus on liquor business:
Golden Seeds' preparations to divest the pharmaceutical industry and its preparations to sell its properties have raised questions from many in the industry. Golden Seed does all these things in the name of "focusing on the main business", but does this really want to focus on the liquor business, or is it to sell other businesses to boost performance? After all, in 2020, Golden Seed turned a profit precisely because of the land compensation of 216 million yuan.
In my opinion, these moves by Golden Seed are undoubtedly really aimed at focusing on the liquor business, which is a bit like the previous Gujing Gongjiu in this regard. At the beginning of the new century, Gujing Gongjiu was also deeply troubled by diversified development. After Cao Jie became chairman in 2007, in order to refocus on the liquor business, he did not hesitate to cut a number of profitable other businesses, and finally let Gujing Gongjiu die and survive.
In order to put the golden seed back on track, China Resources did not hesitate to cut off other businesses with the determination of a strong man to break his wrist. Although Golden Sun Pharmaceutical's performance is good, the crossover from Golden Sun Pharmaceutical's entry into the liquor industry is too large, and Golden Seed cannot fully focus on the liquor field.
If you want to sell land to survive, it is possible before China Resources does not have a stake. As a well-known central enterprise, China Resources has an annual revenue of nearly 900 billion yuan, which is a behemoth in itself. Last year, China Resources acquired Jinsha Liquor and directly spent 12.3 billion yuan without blinking an eyelid. In May, China Resources reduced its stake in Shanxi Fenjiu and directly cashed out about 2.1 billion.
Compared with the above figures, the 160 million that Golden Seed received from selling the house is not worth mentioning at all. However, if the transaction is successful, the funds from the sale of the house and the divestment of medicine by Golden Seed are likely to be used for the production and sales of the liquor business.
In addition, although the development of Golden Seed has been relatively slow in the past two years, senior leaders are still very optimistic about the future of Golden Seed. At the 2023 Annual Commendation Conference, He Xiuxia, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Golden Seed Liquor, said in a speech at the meeting that the strategic goal of Golden Seed in the next five years is to return to the first camp of Anhui liquor, have influence in the same industry in the country, and become the first brand in the Fuhexiang category.
Before China Resources took a stake in Golden Seeds, Golden Seeds was entrenched in the low-end market all year round. In April 2023, Golden Seed Liquor announced the launch of the "Fuhexiang" brand upgrade and launched the new products of this series "Fu 7, 9, 15 and 20", covering the price range of 188 yuan to 888 yuan. In just over half a year, Fuhexiang's revenue exceeded 200 million yuan.
At the performance briefing on May 28, general manager He Xiuxia said that in the first quarter of this year, the Fuhexiang product series contributed more than 100 million revenues, of which Fu 7 has risen to become the second largest single product of Golden Seed Liquor. Under the planning of this year's Fuhexiang target of 10,000 cigarette hotels, the layout of 8,000 has been completed so far. Fuhexiang will achieve sales of more than 200 million yuan in 2023, and this year's goal is at least 500 million yuan, and it will double next year, and Fuhexiang will double the rhythm in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Although Golden Seed is selling other businesses, it has not paid any less attention to the liquor business. Among the four liquor brands under China Resources, China Resources' support for Golden Seeds should be second only to Jinsha. Of course, Jinsha's performance is declining after China Resources became the owner, Jingzhi Liquor's situation is unknown, and Golden Seed's performance is rising.
In addition, the products of Gujing Tribute Liquor, Yingjia Tribute Liquor, Kouzijiao and Xuanjiu continue to penetrate into various regions of the province. The first-line famous liquors such as Moutai, Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, and Yanghe are also adding to the layout of Anhui market channels. Under the multiple attacks of strong internal and external enemies, Golden Seed is indeed facing a lot of pressure if it wants to achieve the goal of "returning to the first camp of Huijiu". #长文创作激励计划#