"Investor's Network" Zhang Wei
At present, it is difficult for automobile manufacturers to list on the A-share market. In this case, the relevant company will adjust its listing destination to HKEX. According to the official website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as of June 28, three automobile manufacturers have submitted initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses this year, including Brayton, New Gonow (hereinafter referred to as "New Gonow" or "the Company"), and Hezhong New Energy (Nezha Automobile).
Among the three companies, Brayton and New Gonow have made new progress in their listings in Hong Kong. On June 21, the International Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued a document (June 14, 2024 - June 20, 2024) to issue supplementary materials for eight companies.
Among them, the regulator requires New Gonow to provide supplementary explanations on the compliance of the establishment of the equity structure, the reasons for the unpaid registered capital of the main domestic operating entity Xinglongcui, and the compliance. Brayton was required to provide supplementary explanations on matters such as equity changes, equity incentives, share holding and full circulation.
According to public information, Miao Xuezhong, the founder and chairman of New Gonow, once served as an executive of Geely Group. In 2003, Miao Xuezhong founded Zhejiang Gonow Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gonow Automobile"). In 2014, Miao Xuezhong founded New Gonow with the aim of entering the field of RVs and new energy logistics vehicles. Miao Xuezhong, who has been in business for more than 20 years, has attracted the attention of many parties whether he can lead the new Gonow to go public.
The tortuous road of the former "Geely Marshal".
In great contrast with the "car madman" Li Shufu, who currently owns nine listed companies in the "Geely Department" (Geely Automobile, Volvo, Polestar, ECARX, Qianjiang Motorcycle, Lotus, Hanma Technology, Lifan Technology, and Zeekr), Miao Xuezhong, who has followed Li Shufu for many years, is still struggling for his first listed company.
According to Miao Xuezhong's blog memoirs, Miao Xuezhong, who dropped out of junior high school, worked in the refrigerator parts factory of his fellow villager Li Shufu in his early years. In 1993, Geely Group began to produce aluminum-magnesium composite panels, and Miao Xuezhong was responsible for sales, with sales of more than 100 million yuan a year at its best.
In 1999, Li Shufu entered the automobile industry, and Miao Xuezhong served as the general manager of Geely Automobile. Because of the achievement of sales exceeding 30,000 units in the entrepreneurial period of Geely Group, Miao Xuezhong won the reputation of "Geely Young Marshal". In 2002, Miao retired bravely in the snow and chose to start his own business.
However, after leaving Geely Group, Miao Xuezhong's entrepreneurship was not smooth, and he had a business of building materials and auto parts in the short term. In the end, Miao Xue chose to return to her old business: building cars. Miao Xuezhong once said: "Building a car is an industry that can be fought for, addictive, painful and happy." ”
In September 2003, Miao Xuezhong followed in the footsteps of Li Shufu and founded Gonow Automobile in Taizhou, Zhejiang. However, Miao Xue chose to compete with Geely Group in a dislocation position, and Gonow Automobile does not produce sedans, focusing on SUVs, pickup trucks and other models, and has achieved a good response.
In March 2007, the five ministries and commissions of the state announced the list of enterprises that meet the conditions for applying for automobile export licenses in 2007, and Gonow Automobile was on the list. In the same year, Gonow established a branch in South Africa and began to enter the international market. This move also accumulated experience for the later development of New Gonow.
In 2009, Gonow began to make micro vans again. At this time, Gonow Automobile had a variety of models such as SUVs, pickup trucks, and microfaces, and Miao Xuezhong's car-making business was booming. However, with the expansion of the company, especially the simultaneous construction of multiple production bases, Gonow Automotive's financial constraints have also been tightened.
In 2010, GAC Group came to the aid and acquired 51% of the shares of Gonow Automobile, becoming the "talker" of Gonow Automobile. At the same time, Gonow Auto officially changed its name to GAC Gonow. Since then, GAC Gonow has successively developed models such as the GA sedan and the GAC GX6 SUV.
In 2016, GAC Group continued to increase GAC Gonow. According to the relevant announcement, GAC Passenger Vehicle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAC Group, acquired 49% of the equity of GAC Gonow held by Gonow Automobile for a transaction consideration of 262 million yuan. In this way, GAC Gonow was completely merged into the GAC Group. GAC Gonow was also renamed GAC Trumpchi.
Before GAC Group fully controlled GAC Gonow, Miao Xuezhong also had two preparations. In 2014, Miao Xuezhong founded New Gonow with the intention of starting a new journey.
Opportunities and Challenges for New Gonow
is different from the previous period of entrepreneurship, Miao Xuezhong, who started a second business, changed the track and the scene. According to the prospectus, the main operating entity of New Gonow in China is Xinglongcui Automotive Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., which is mainly engaged in RVs and new energy logistics vehicles, while most of New Gonow's business, assets and operations are located in China and Australia. To put it simply, New Gonow manufactures RV parts in China, then assembles and sells them in Australia.
In addition to in-house production and export sales, New Gonow also acquired the Australian RV brand Regent. At present, the new Gonow RV has three major RV brands: the mid-range brand Snowy River, the luxury brand Regent and the semi-off-road brand NEWGEN.
According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "reporting period"), the number of RVs delivered by New Gonow increased from 1,330 to 2,694. According to statistics from research agency Frost & Sullivan, in 2023, New Goo is the second largest standard RV manufacturer in Australia, with a market share of nearly 10%. New Gonow said the company has grown into an RV company with an extensive dealer network in Australia.
The revenue composition shows that during the reporting period, the revenue from Snowy River accounted for nearly 80%; The revenue from Regent and NEWGEN accounted for only about 10% respectively, and the Snowy River is the main model of the new Gonow. In terms of sales region, 94% of revenue came from Australia, and the remaining 6% came from New Zealand.
According to Frost & Sullivan, in 2023, the top five players in the entire Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and the adjacent Pacific Islands) caravan market will collectively account for 55.4% of the market share. Among them, the market share of the first place is 31.5%, and the market share of the new Gonow and the bottom three is 6.8%, 6.0%, 5.8% and 5.3% respectively.
It can be seen that the gap between the new Gonow and the first place is large, and the advantage over the bottom three is not obvious. On May 28 this year, Miao Xuezhong publicly stated that the company will strive to win the first place in the Australian and New Zealand markets in the next ten years, and at the same time rank among the top in the European and American markets. Judging from the gap between it and the industry leader, the task of the new Gonow is arduous.
How to catch up with the industry leader, marketing is naturally the first. During the reporting period, the sales and distribution expenses of New Gonow were 6.479 million, 19.316 million and 41.547 million respectively, and the proportion of revenue in each period increased from 2.2% to 5.8%. The company said it intends to continue to invest in marketing activities, strengthen its sales and distribution network to further expand its customer base and increase customer stickiness, and further expand the company's market share in the Australasian caravan industry.
New Gonow, which is ready to go big, is facing short-term debt repayment pressure. During the reporting period, the loans and borrowings of New Gonow were 26.686 million yuan, 9.117 million yuan and 31.208 million yuan respectively, and increased to 103 million yuan by April 30 this year. Among them, those due within one year are 26.686 million yuan, 9.117 million yuan, 30.8 million yuan, and 103 million yuan; Those due from 1 to 5 years are 0 yuan, 0 yuan, 408,000 yuan, and 355,000 yuan. Short-term debt repayment pressure is enormous.
In addition to marketing, R&D investment, working capital and general corporate purposes, the IPO funds raised by SGO are mainly used to establish new production bases and upgrade existing production plants. It is reported that New Gonow has set up five intelligent manufacturing bases, including Jiaxing in Zhejiang, Melbourne in Australia, Shiyan in Hubei, Shangqiu in Henan, and Dalian in Liaoning.
When it first started its business, Gonow Automobile was financially strained due to the construction of multiple production bases at the same time, which eventually led to the loss of the Gonow brand. With the lessons of the past, I wonder if the new Gonow can learn a lesson and make steady progress.
It is worth mentioning that just half a month before the submission of the new Gonow (May 28) to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, on May 13, Cao Cao of the "Geely Department" also disclosed the IPO prospectus to Hong Kong. If it can be listed, Cao Cao will become the tenth listed company harvested by Li Shufu. Compared with the listing of the "car madman" company, it remains to be seen whether Miao Xuezhong can achieve the "zero breakthrough" of its listed companies. (Produced by Thinking Finance)■