As a new form of foreign trade, the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce is obvious to all. In 2023, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in mainland China will increase by 15.6% to 2.38 trillion yuan, of which exports will account for 1.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.6%, accounting for 5.7% of foreign trade imports and exports. In the first half of this year alone, the mainland's cross-border e-commerce import and export was 1.22 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the mainland's foreign trade in the same period.
Looking back on the reckless era of the rise of cross-border e-commerce, the first generation of big sales such as Aoji Technology, Saiwei Times, Tongtuo Shares, and Youyi Tree are known as the "Four Youths of South China City". Nowadays, there are some of the first generation of big sellers whose performance is under pressure and are facing delisting, and there are also those who have transformed and listed to reap high profits. As the last of the "Four Youths in South China City", Aoji Technology is also about to land in the capital market.
On October 4, Aoji Technology updated its prospectus and continued to promote the listing process on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with China Thailand as the sole sponsor. In the first four months of this year, Aoji Technology achieved a double increase in profits, achieving a net profit of 189 million yuan and a revenue of 2.833 billion yuan.
Not long ago, on September 29, the International Cooperation Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission has disclosed the notice on the filing of the overseas issuance and listing of Aoji Technology.
It is getting closer and closer to the capital market
According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued a filing notice on the overseas issuance and listing of Aoji Technology, Aoji Technology will plan to issue no more than 148 million ordinary shares and list them in Hong Kong. The company's 81 shareholders plan to convert a total of 198 million domestic unlisted shares into overseas listed shares and list them for circulation.
"Within 15 working days after the completion of the overseas issuance and listing, Aoji Technology shall report the issuance and listing through the filing management information system of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Aoji Technology shall strictly implement the rectification requirements put forward by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments as promised, and strictly abide by the relevant laws, regulations and rules at home and abroad in the process of overseas issuance and listing. If Aoji Technology has not completed the overseas issuance and listing within 12 months from the date of issuance of this filing notice, and intends to continue to advance, it shall update the filing materials. The announcement reads.
According to the listing rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, enterprises are required to submit a "Notice of Filing" at least 4 business days before the date of the hearing, which means that Aoji Technology has obtained the pre-requirement to conduct a listing hearing in Hong Kong, or will soon conduct a listing hearing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Earn 180 million in 4 months
Aoji Technology attracts star investors
After the filing and listing, Aoji Technology followed up with the updated prospectus. In the first four months of this year, Aoji Technology's revenue increased by 16.9% to 2.833 billion yuan from 2.424 billion yuan in the same period of 2023; Net profit increased by 96.8% to $189 million from $96 million in the same period of 2023.
In terms of performance, from 2021 to 2023, Aoji Technology's revenue will be 9.071 billion yuan, 7.100 billion yuan and 8.683 billion yuan respectively, and the adjusted gross profit margin will be 31.7%, 35.1% and 34.7% respectively in the same period. In 2022, Aoji Technology achieved a turnaround with a net profit of 223 million yuan, and the net profit in 2023 increased by 133.2% year-on-year to 520 million yuan.
Since 2012, Aoji Technology has completed a total of 4 rounds of financing and 8 rounds of equity transfer, with a transaction amount of RMB 1.79 billion. Before the IPO, Jinglin, Shenzhen Capital and Sequoia held 9.42%, 8.95% and 6.7% of the shares respectively, ranking among the top three institutional shareholders.
From the first generation of distribution and sales, it has transformed into a home furnishing to go to sea
Aoji Technology has twists and turns on the road to listing
As a member of the "Four Youths of South China City", the listing of Aoji Technology has not been smooth sailing. In the prospectus submitted in April this year, Aoji Technology was positioned as a "cross-border e-commerce platform focusing on providing furniture and home furnishing products". Home furnishing has become the new business card of Aoji Technology.
The earliest impression left by Aoji Technology in the circle is that the distribution type is a big sell. In 2021, Amazon took control measures such as banning accounts, removing products from the shelves, and freezing account funds for the "unofficial promotion ratings or reviews" that were flooding the platform at that time, which also impacted many Chinese distributors. The "Four Youths of South China City" is among the affected areas, and Aoji Technology is naturally not immune.
In May 2021, directly affected by the Amazon incident, Aoji Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Aoji Technology") had no choice but to withdraw the listing application submitted to the GEM of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange just in the same month.
It is worth noting that as early as November 2015, Aoji Technology was listed on the New Third Board as the "first export e-commerce stock", hit the Science and Technology Innovation Board in August 2019, and hit the Growth Enterprise Market in May 2021 to no avail.
The transformation and upgrading after Amazon's "account closure incident" is imminent. Aoji Technology finally chose the path of home furnishing to go overseas.
Home furnishing and cross-border logistics have become the core business
From 2016 to 2018, the main source of revenue of Aoji Technology was 3C electronic products such as headphones and power banks, and the revenue of technology consumer products accounted for more than 60% during this period.
From 2021 to 2023, the business structure disclosed by Aoji Technology has become two major sectors: commodity sales and logistics solutions, of which the former is the core business of cross-border e-commerce business. Among them, furniture and household products such as beds, cabinets, tables and chairs are the main sales commodities.
In 2023, furniture and home furnishing products will generate 5.337 billion yuan in revenue for Aoji Technology, accounting for 75.9% of the commodity sales sector, and more than 60% of the company's overall revenue.
Specifically, Aoji Technology has furniture and home furnishing products of brands such as ALLEWIE, IRONCK, LIKIMIO, SHACERLIN, HOSTACK, FOTOSOK, etc. In 2023, Aoji Technology has 11 brands with a GMV of more than 100 million yuan, covering 6 categories, including bed frames, pantryboards, dressers and dressing stools, bookcases, dining cabinets and sideboards, and refrigerators.
The supporting large-scale home furnishing logistics has also become another income-generating core of Aoji Technology. By establishing an integrated supply chain, using digital management and leveraging the warehousing network, Aoji Technology is able to solve the pain points of high cost and long delivery time in medium and large logistics solutions, so as to provide a cost-effective alternative to medium and large logistics solutions at a price 30% lower than FBA.
Overseas warehousing is a major core of the logistics network. As of December 31, 2023, Aoji Technology operated 27 overseas warehousing facilities in major port cities in the United States and Europe, with a total construction area of more than 5 million square feet (approximately 460,000 square meters).
Aoji Technology said in the prospectus that the net proceeds from the IPO will be mainly used for business expansion; strengthening digitalization; potential investment or M&A opportunities in the industrial chain; and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Written by: Chen Yingshan, reporter of Nandu · Bay Finance Agency
Producer: Nandu · Bay Finance Cross-border E-commerce Research Group