Produced by | Bullet Finance
Author | Wang Yajing
Edit | Egg total
American Editor | Qianqian
Audit | Ode
Following the Jieka shares, another collaborative robot company launched an impact on the capital market.
On June 26, Shenzhen Yuejiang Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuejiang Technology) submitted its report to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Guotai Junan and ABC International as joint sponsors.
In the field of collaborative robots, Yuejiang Technology has a certain leading edge. According to the CIC report, the company ranks among the top two in the global collaborative robot industry and the first among all collaborative robot companies in China in terms of shipments in 2023, with a global market share of 13.0%.
Behind these bright halos, Yuejiang Technology is still facing the dilemma of losing money year after year. From 2021 to 2023, its net profit will lose 41.756 million yuan, 52.477 million yuan, and 103 million yuan respectively.
When the shares of Jieka were sprinting for A shares, the listing process was suspended for a time, and on June 29, a version of the reply to the inquiry letter data was just updated. Next, where will Yuejiang Technology go?
1. After three consecutive years of losses, the price of core products has fallen
Yuejiang Technology is an enterprise specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of collaborative robots (commonly known as collaborative robots).
Collaborative robots are robots with operable robotic arms that are used for direct human-computer interaction or collaboration when a person is in a shared space or when a human is operating in close proximity to a robot.
(Photo / CR series robots (source: Yuejiang Technology Prospectus))
At present, Yuejiang Technology has launched a total of 27 models of collaborative robots in 4 series, with a load capacity ranging from 0.25 kg to 20 kg. Of these, 22 are six-axis models and 5 are four-axis models.
These cobots drove revenue growth. According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the reporting period), Yuejiang Technology achieved revenue of 174 million yuan, 241 million yuan, and 287 million yuan.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
Among them, six-axis collaborative robots have gradually grown into pillar products. In the same period, the revenue from six-axis collaborative robots accounted for 14.9%, 43.5% and 46.8% respectively. Since 2022, six-axis cobots have become the largest source of revenue.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
However, the price of the six-axis collaborative robot, which has supported half of the sky of Yuejiang Technology, has been declining year after year. From 2021 to 2023, the average selling price of six-axis collaborative robots will be 65,900 yuan/unit, 61,400 yuan/unit, and 56,600 yuan/unit, respectively.
At the same time, the sales of four-axis collaborative robots and composite robots, which are showing an overall increase in price, are declining. From 2021 to 2023, the sales volume of four-axis collaborative robots will be 14,600 units, 12,500 units, and 11,800 units, respectively; The sales volume of composite robots were 1,218, 1,560 and 960 respectively.
Behind this embarrassing situation, the net profit of Yuejiang Technology is still in a state of loss.
From 2021 to 2023, the net profit loss of Yuejiang Technology will be 41.756 million yuan, 52.477 million yuan, and 103 million yuan; The adjusted net profit was 43.041 million yuan, 39.898 million yuan and 81.817 million yuan respectively.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
And that's not the end of the loss. Yuejiang Technology admitted that the company may continue to incur net losses in the short term.
As for the loss in performance, Yuejiang Technology attributed part of the reason to the huge R&D expenses and sales and marketing expenses incurred to design, develop and market products and enhance market presence and brand awareness.
However, "Bullet Finance" noticed that as a technology-intensive enterprise, the cost of R&D invested by Yuejiang Technology is far less than that of marketing expenses.
During the reporting period, the R&D expenditure of Yuejiang Technology was 46.873 million yuan, 52.054 million yuan and 70.527 million yuan. However, in the same period, its sales and distribution expenses were 63.63 million yuan, 89.274 million yuan and 127 million yuan respectively. In 2023, Yuejiang Technology will invest almost half of its revenue in sales.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
It is not difficult to see that investing large sums of money in marketing, resulting in high costs, has obviously affected the profitability of enterprises, and if they do not change, they will affect the competitiveness of enterprises.
In response to the inquiry letter of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Jieka made it clear that it is expected that the node of turning losses into profits is about 2025; Excluding the impact of large share-based payment expenses, the break-even year is expected to be 2024.
When profitable companies run out of this track, the market's tolerance for corporate losses is bound to decline, and there is not much time left for Yuejiang Technology to improve.
2. Establish an alumni group of Shandong University,
Equity incentives continue
Yuejiang Technology has not been established for a long time, less than 10 years ago, and its founding team and senior management are equivalent to a small "Shandong University alumni group".
On July 30, 2015, Liu Peichao, Lang Xulin, Wu Zhiwen, Zhao Xiaodong, Xu Baoteng and Chen Qingliang registered and established Yuejiang Technology with a registered capital of 5 million yuan. Among them, Liu Peichao holds 75.00% of the shares and is the largest shareholder.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
It is reported that Zhao Xiaodong and Xu Baoteng are business partners of Liu Peichao, Lang Xulin and Wu Zhiwen, while Chen Qingliang is a financial investor. Four months after the establishment of the company (i.e. in November 2015), in order to devote more time to other businesses, Zhao Xiaodong and Xu Baoteng respectively transferred their entire equity interests in the company to Liu Peichao and withdrew from the company.
Today, Liu Peichao is still at the helm of the company. Before the IPO, Liu Peichao controlled 31.08% of the voting rights of the company's shareholders' meeting and was the controlling shareholder of the company.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
According to the prospectus, Liu Peichao is only 37 years old this year and graduated from Shandong University. In Yuejiang Technology, he wears many hats, including chairman, executive director and general manager, and Liu Peichao is surrounded by Shandong University alumni.
According to incomplete statistics from "Bullet Finance", Lang Xulin, the company's co-founder, executive director and chief scientist, is the same as Liu Peichao, who studied at Shandong University for both bachelor's and master's degrees.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
Liu Zhufu, deputy general manager of the company, graduated from Shandong University with a bachelor's degree, and Jiang Yu, R&D director and deputy general manager, graduated from Shandong University with a master's degree.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
There are even managers who go to Shandong University for further study after joining Yuejiang Technology. For example, Wan Ying, the company's administrative manager and chairman of the board of supervisors, joined the company in March 2017 and only obtained a bachelor's degree in human resource management from Shandong University in June 2021.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
In addition, Li Yibin, an independent non-executive director of the company, is a teacher at Shandong University. He has been a professor at Shandong University since September 2003.
During the reporting period, Yuejiang Technology did not pay dividends, but Liu Peichao did not treat his friends badly.
In December 2018, January 2022, June 2023 and December 2023, the company carried out a total of 4 share incentive plans to carry out equity incentives for key employees, including Liu Zhufu, Wan Ying, Jiang Yu and others.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
According to the share estimation after the company's transformation into a joint-stock company, the price per share of the above-mentioned equity incentives is 2.99 yuan/share, 5.93 yuan/share, 7.01 yuan/share, and 7.55 yuan/share respectively.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
As early as when Yuejiang Technology conducted the last round of D+ round of financing in 2022, the consideration paid by investors has reached 9.81 yuan per share. Being able to enter Yuejiang Technology at a relatively low price can be regarded as a good deal.
In the future, if Yuejiang Technology can be successfully listed, Liu Peichao and his friends will share this capital feast.
3. The valuation is 3.5 billion, and some investors have withdrawn
In fact, this is not the first time that Yuejiang Technology has tried to go public.
As early as January 2023, Yuejiang Technology entered into a counseling agreement with CICC in preparation for listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and filed with the Shenzhen Regulatory Bureau for listing counseling, but it did not come to fruition.
In the first half of 2024, Yuejiang Technology decided to seek a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It explained that this is to further expand the global business, and considering that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can provide an international platform for companies to obtain foreign capital and absorb various types of overseas.
Before going to the capital market, Yuejiang Technology has actually obtained several rounds of financing, and investors include Shenzhen Venture Capital, Qianhai FOF, Songhe Capital, China Network Investment, CICC Capital, CRRC Capital, China Merchants Capital and other well-known institutions.
After the last D+ round of investment, the company's post-investment valuation reached 3.531 billion yuan, and the financing amount obtained through the investor's subscription of the company's new registered capital reached 683 million yuan.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
Just when Yuejiang Technology continued to introduce investors, many shareholders took the opportunity to cash out.
According to incomplete statistics from "Bullet Finance", from 2018 to 2022, shareholders such as Liu Peichao, Lang Xulin, Wu Zhiwen, Chen Qingliang, and Qin Mo Limited Partnership, a financial investor shareholding platform, transferred the company's shares several times and cashed out more than 50 million yuan.
It is worth noting that in just three months from October to December 2022, several investors such as Shenzhen Venture Capital, Red Soil Maker, Songhe Growth, Shanghai Leili, Gongqingcheng Shanban, and Zhuhai Tongdao have transferred the company's shares and cashed out 52.8 million yuan.
Among them, Shanghai Leili and Gongqingcheng no longer hold shares in Yuejiang Technology and completely left the market.
The remaining investors have also made demands on Yuejiang Technology. According to the prospectus, the investor's special rights included a right of redemption, but this right has been terminated.
Without the pressure of the VAM agreement, Yuejiang Technology could have breathed a sigh of relief. It's just that the company's cash flow doesn't leave much breathing time for the business.
From 2021 to 2023, the average monthly cash burn ratio of Yuejiang Technology was 3.5 million yuan, 12.1 million yuan and 20.6 million yuan, respectively.
Among them, the relatively high cash burn ratio in 2023 was mainly due to the capital expenditure of 71.5 million yuan for the acquisition of assets related to the construction of production facilities in Qingdao in 2023, and the historical cash burn ratio in 2023 was 14.6 million yuan after deducting the relevant capital expenditure.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
As of December 31, 2023, the Company's cash and cash equivalents, financial assets at fair value through profit or loss and restricted bank deposits totalled $288 million.
Assuming an average cash burn ratio of $20.6 million in the future, these working capitals can maintain financial stability for about 14 months; Assuming an average cash burn ratio of $14.6 million in the future, financial stability can be maintained for about 19.7 months.
(Photo / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus / Yuejiang Technology Prospectus)
In other words, the cash flow by the end of 2023 can only support the operation of Yuejiang Technology for about one and a half years, and if it cannot obtain more financing during this period, Yuejiang Technology will be in jeopardy, and listing is undoubtedly a fast way to obtain financing.
So, why Yuejiang Technology switched from A-shares to Hong Kong stocks and eagerly rushed to the capital market, which can also be glimpsed. In the next year or so, the focus of the management of Yuejiang Technology will probably revolve around the listing. In this regard, "Bullet Finance" will continue to pay attention.
*The title picture in the article is from: the official website of Yuejiang Technology.