On the morning of June 28, Yibin Wuliangye Co., Ltd. (000858. SZ, hereinafter referred to as "Wuliangye") held its 2023 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in the company's multi-purpose hall. Although the liquor industry as a whole is showing a downward trend, the investors who came to Wuliangye to participate in the shareholders' meeting are still full.
Wuliangye's 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders was originally scheduled to be held at the Hengxu International Hotel in Yibin, but due to the large number of participants, the company had to hold the shareholders' meeting in the multi-purpose hall of Wuliangye, which can accommodate more people.
The Economic Observer found at the shareholders' meeting that unlike previous sessions, the style of Wuliangye's 2023 annual shareholders' meeting has changed greatly, and the chairman of the board of directors has welcomed investors who participated in Wuliangye's shareholders' meeting.
(Wuliangye executives welcome shareholders Zhang Xiaohui)
Investors are full
Different from previous years, before the start of the 2023 annual general meeting of shareholders of Wuliangye, all the middle-level and above executives of Wuliangye wearing white shirts stood at the entrance of the distillery to welcome the participants, and there was also a band to play music, showing Wuliangye's great sincerity and respect for shareholders. The chairman of the board of directors Zeng Congqin ranked first in the welcome team, and from time to time investors stepped forward to take a group photo, Zeng Congqin did not refuse, and responded enthusiastically.
In this year's general meeting of shareholders, Wuliangye's specifications for treating shareholders are a grade higher than before. Looking at China's listed companies, the scene of the chairman leading a team to stand at the door of the company to welcome shareholders to attend the meeting, the reporter only saw it in Wuliangye, and has not yet found the second one. In the shareholders' meetings of other listed companies, it is not often that shareholders have close contact with the senior management.
Lin Yuan, the Internet celebrity investment manager of Lin Yuan Investment, a well-known private equity institution, also came, although Lin Yuan's private equity products have performed poorly recently, but it cannot stop investors from pursuing Internet celebrity fund managers, many participants stepped forward to take photos with Lin Yuan, and Lin Yuan did not refuse.
At last year's Wuliangye shareholders' meeting, Lin Yuan shouted to Wuliangye to ask for more dividends.
In 2023, Wuliangye's profit distribution will be: a cash dividend of 46.70 yuan will be distributed to all shareholders for every 10 shares, with a total dividend amount of 18.127 billion yuan. From the perspective of dividend rate, the dividend rate of Wuliangye in 2023 will be 60%, an increase of 5 percentage points on the basis of 55% in the previous year, and the dividend ratio and dividend scale will hit a new high since listing.
According to the Economic Observer, in the composition of the participants in the shareholders' meeting of Wuliangye, shareholders, representatives of public and private investment institutions, liquor analysts of securities companies and funds, and the media constitute four major components. There is no rostrum in the venue, but the square that highlights equality is used as the main area, and the ABCD areas are divided around the square, and investors are seated according to the area number.
The reporter learned from the Wuliangye conference group that more than 1,000 investors participated in the shareholders' meeting, which was more than in previous years.
The chairman's report is similar to that of a tech company
Zeng Congqin bluntly said in his opening remarks at the shareholders' meeting that this year he will take a different form of speech to share with Wuliangye shareholders.
In the past annual general meeting of shareholders of Wuliangye, the chairman of the board of directors made reports mostly "according to the script". But at this shareholders' meeting, Zeng Congqin broke this rule and carried out it in the way of "a huge screen + PPT speech". This format is similar to Apple's new product launch. This is also commonly used by Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi.
(Under the huge screen, the chairman of Wuliangye once made a PPT speech from Qin Photo by Zhang Xiaohui)
At present, the weak consumption of liquor companies and the lower prices of liquor products have led to lower stock prices of liquor companies.
In this context, Zeng Congqin proposed in the report of the board of directors that Wuliangye should "keep integrity and innovation".
In 2023, Wuliangye's sales revenue will exceed 80 billion yuan, reaching 83.3 billion yuan, maintaining double-digit growth in sales revenue and profit for eight consecutive years; Cash dividends have exceeded 10 billion yuan per year for four consecutive years; In 2023, the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 30.2 billion yuan, and the tax paid will be 31.6 billion yuan.
Zeng Congqin said that at present, the mainland's macroeconomic and social consumption is in a recovery period, the dual rational concepts of rational consumption and rational drinking are becoming more and more prominent, and the competition in the industry is becoming more and more intense. The more special the period, the more necessary it is to maintain strategic focus, not only to calculate the "immediate account", but also to calculate the "long-term account". From the perspective of the market, Wuliangye has an obvious leading edge in the price segment of 1,000 yuan.
Due to the inversion of the ex-factory price and the market price of liquor, Wuliangye has become more concerned about distributors this year.
Zeng Congqin said in his speech that Wuliangye will be closer to the actual situation of merchants and strive to improve channel profits; Strengthen the hierarchical and classified management of merchants, and dynamically adjust the amount of distribution plans according to the actual customer resources, sales capacity, and sales quality of merchants. Fully consider the pain points of merchants' operations, and do not blindly press payments and goods, so that merchants have no worries.
Shareholders are hotly discussed
The highlight of the shareholders' meeting was the Q&A with shareholders, and this year was no exception.
Yang Delong, managing director of Qianhai Open Source Fund, asked a question first. He said: Now that consumption has slowed down, will the price of high-end liquor products fall? The price of Feitian in Kweichow Moutai has fallen sharply, and everyone is very worried about what will happen to the sales of Wuliangye's high-end liquor. What big moves can Wuliangye release in the future?
Zeng Congqin replied that this question involves several levels: one level is how to look at the background of the entire economy, the second level is how to look at the liquor industry, the third level is how to look at high-end liquor, and the fourth level is how to do Wuliangye?
Zeng Congqin said that Chinese liquor has the attributes of a long cycle and heavy assets, and this industry is not for anyone. A study of Yibin production area, Luzhou production area, and Zunyi production area can find that the new liquor companies that have entered in recent years seem to be relatively miserable, and only a few have survived. The current economic trend does not meet everyone's expectations, and there is even a downgrade in consumption. Wuliangye now has an opening rate of 200,000 bottles a day, which shows that everyone hopes to live a good life, and it also shows that the entire consumer demand is still there.
Zeng Congqin said frankly that now Wuliangye does not pursue high growth, and it is difficult to grow high, Wuliangye insists on continuous dividends and stable returns to investors.
In the shareholder Q&A session, Zeng Congqin answered the first question, and the rest of the executives answered more detailed questions raised by shareholders, involving the strategy of Wuliangye's eight-generation products and the strategy of strong fragrance products.
The general meeting of shareholders ended at 12 noon on the same day. After this shareholders' meeting, Wuliangye did not sell liquor products to investors on the spot as it once did.
On July 1, 2024, Wuliangye's share price closed at 128.30 yuan per share, which is at a four-year low, with a total market value of about 498 billion yuan.