IPO Radar|3D Scanning First Stock? Sikan Technology was questioned about the sprint to the Science and Technology Innovation Board: key customers lost and became opponents?

According to the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Scantech (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Scantech"), known as the "first stock of 3D scanning in China", disclosed its reply to the inquiry letter for the second round of review of the IPO of the Science and Technology Innovation Board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on July 1. In the second round of inquiries, the Shanghai Stock Exchange once again focused on the company's gross profit margin fluctuations, the loss of key customers and other issues.

The main business of Scantech is the R&D, production and sales of 3D vision digital products and systems, providing 3D vision digital technology solutions for BYD, COMAC, CATL, ZTE, Apple, BMW, Tesla and other enterprises, as well as the Space Application Engineering and Technology Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and other research institutions.

Is there a downward trend in gross profit margin?

According to the company's prospectus, during the reporting period (2021 to 2023), the gross profit margin of the company's main business was 79.19%, 77.01% and 76.40% respectively, which remained at a high level. According to the company, the gross profit margin level of the company's products is mainly affected by factors such as R&D technology threshold, market supply and demand, business sales model, product update and iteration, and market sales strategy. If the company fails to develop or iterate products in a timely manner according to the changes in downstream market demand and industry technology development trends, resulting in the lack of market competitive advantage of products, it may lead to pressure on the sales price and gross profit margin of the company's products, which will adversely affect the company's operating performance.

In the second round of inquiry, the SSE asked Scantech to provide further clarification on the issue of gross profit margin.

The inquiry letter pointed out that according to the first round of inquiry responses: (1) After excluding the impact of accessories and supporting products, the gross profit margin of industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection systems in the field of automobile manufacturing from 2021 to January to June 2023 was 68.28%, 61.75% and 41.85% respectively, which was significantly lower than that of the aerospace field; (2) The simulated sales gross profit margins of the packaged products in each period of the reporting period were 32.69%, 31.20%, 23.67% and 38.69%, respectively, and the gross profit margins of the supporting products purchased by customers in the form of separate orders were 35.09%, 45.64%, 33.58% and 42.13% respectively, and the sales unit price of supporting products in the order was calculated according to the price of separate pricing, the average price of separately priced orders, and the gross profit margin of the same category of products with separate pricing; (3) changes in the gross profit margin of various products of the issuer are affected by the launch of new series and new models of products; (4) The price of the issuer's portable 3D scanner is higher than that of Xianlin 3D and Wuhan Mesoscopic products, and significantly lower than that of Zeiss Gaomu and Xingchuang Company's products; The price of tracked 3D visual digital products is slightly higher than that of Wuhan Mesoscopic products, and significantly lower than that of Xingchuang Company.

The SSE asked the company to explain: (1) the reasons for the significantly lower gross profit margin of industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection systems in the field of automobile manufacturing; (2) the reasons for the large change in the simulated sales gross profit margin of the packaged products sold from January to June 2022 and 2023, and the reasons why the gross profit margin is significantly lower than the gross profit margin of the supporting products purchased in the form of separate orders; (3) Distinguish between new and old models and series of various products, analyze the changes in gross profit margin and the reasons, the impact of new product launch on the gross profit margin of old products, and explain the expected change trend of the issuer's gross profit margin in combination with changes in revenue structure, new product iterations, competitor product launches and price differences of similar products.

The company replied to this question that there is no obvious downward trend in the gross profit margin of the company's various series of products. During the reporting period, the sales composition and proportion of the company's main business revenue by product series are as follows:

Source: Sikan Technology.

As shown in the above table, during the reporting period, the sales proportion of the company's industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection system with low gross profit margin increased significantly, and the gross profit margin of the company's main business was under certain pressure.

The company said that the iteration of the company's products, the launch of competitors' products and the pricing differences of similar products of competitors will not have a material adverse impact on the gross profit margin of the company's main business; If the sales proportion of the company's industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection system with relatively low gross profit margin increases significantly in the future, there is a risk of decline in the gross profit margin of the company's main business, but the industrial-grade automated 3D visual inspection system is only a unit price, high unit cost, low gross profit margin, and unit gross profit is at a reasonable level, so the resulting reduction in gross profit margin does not constitute a substantial adverse impact on the company's profitability.

Termination of cooperation with key customers

The prospectus also shows the risks associated with the loss of key customers. In each period of the reporting period, the company's revenue from the top five customers was 13.5836 million yuan, 23.1548 million yuan and 35.0597 million yuan respectively, accounting for 14.84%, 14.38% and 17.02% of the operating income respectively, and the customer concentration was relatively low. The company adopted the ODM cooperation model with its main customer, Gaomu Optical Measurement Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and the sales amount in each period of the reporting period was 5.9119 million yuan, 13.0128 million yuan and 15.4233 million yuan respectively, accounting for 6.46%, 8.08% and 7.49% of the operating income respectively. In the second half of 2022, the original cooperation agreement between the two parties has expired. If a major customer terminates cooperation with the Company based on various factors such as the adjustment of its own development strategy, intensified competition, and the quality of the Company's products, it may adversely affect the Company's competitiveness, market position, business development and ability to continue operations.

The SSE also mentioned this in the second round of inquiries. According to the reply to the first round of inquiries: (1) in November 2022, the ODM cooperation between the issuer and the largest customer in the reporting period, ZEISS GAOMU, expired and was not renewed, and in the first half of 2023, ZEISS GAOMU has launched its self-developed handheld 3D laser scanner products; (2) On February 24, 2023, the issuer signed a licensing patent licensing agreement with Zeiss Gaomu, involving 8 patents including the issuer's built-in photogrammetry composite scanning technology and multi-band scanning technology, with an annual fee of US$1,000 per year and valid until February 28, 2033.

The letter of inquiry requires the company to explain: (1) the current layout and sales of Zeiss Gaomu's 3D vision digital products, compared with the issuer's product structure and technical performance, whether the relevant products use the issuer's authorized technology, and whether the issuer's customers have been substituted for products during the reporting period, which has an adverse impact on the issuer's market competition; (2) the reasons and reasonableness of the issuer's licensing of technology and patents to competitors, the pricing basis and fairness of the fees charged, whether there are other agreements or plans, whether there is a material adverse impact on the issuer's business development, how the issuer maintains its core competitiveness, and whether the relevant information disclosure and risk warnings are sufficient.

Scantech replied that in the history of ZEISS Gaomu and the existing product line, except for the ODM products purchased from the company and the first self-developed handheld laser 3D scanner T-SCAN hawk 2 products, the rest are fixed camera-related technology products, and the technical principles of the related fixed camera-type products are essentially different from the company, and there is no situation and possibility of using the company's authorized technology. In addition, ZEISS GAOMER's ODM products purchased from the company use the company's own technology, and its self-developed T-SCAN hawk 2 will be launched in the first half of 2023 and has not yet used the relevant licensed technology; ZEISS GAUMUS is considering the use of the licensed technology on future products.

The company said: According to the company's expectations, although ZEISS Gomo has interrupted ODM cooperation with the company, ZEISS Gomu's layout in the field of handheld products will not have a material adverse impact on the company's market competition.