Faced with the question of "collecting IQ tax" and "exaggerated publicity", whether the IPO of Yanzhiya will be affected

A few days ago, a reporter from China Business Daily learned from the sales staff when visiting an offline store in Beijing that Yanzhiwu products have multiple effects such as anti-aging, improving immunity, improving sleep, and alleviating asthma. But in fact, the true efficacy of bird's nest has always been a mystery, and problems such as "collecting IQ tax" and "exaggerated propaganda" of bird's nest enterprises have also been frequently reported. Not long ago, Xiamen Yanzhiwu Biological Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yanzhiwu) announced a prospectus to impact the capital market, will its IPO road be affected by various doubts from the outside world?

Salespeople emphasize that bird's nest has asthma and anti-aging effects

"The efficacy of bird's nest is too much, it doesn't matter who is suitable for people, from babies over four months old to the elderly who eat bird's nest can benefit." Children eat to improve immunity, women eat to improve skin conditions, the elderly eat to improve sleep, asthma patients eat to improve respiratory conditions. The sales staff of a Yanzhiwu offline store in Xicheng District, Beijing, introduced it to a reporter from China Business Daily.

In the view of this salesman, the reason why bird's nest is so effective is because bird's nest itself is the saliva of swallows, the main ingredient is sialic acid, and its nutritional components are many, including a variety of proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals. "Animal saliva is inherently nutritious, as the saying goes, the nutritional value of four-legged animals is not as good as that of two-legged animals, and the nutritional value of two-legged animals is not as good as that of flying in the sky, which shows the preciousness of swallow saliva."

The sales staff of another Yanzhiwu store in Beijing's Xicheng District also stated similar content with a Reporter from China Business Daily, "Bird's nest can fight free radicals, anti-aging, enhance physical resistance, etc." ”

The sales staff of a Yanzhiwu store in Beijing's Dongcheng District told the China Business Daily reporter that the main effect of bird's nest is to enhance human immunity. "We can't claim that it has curative properties, but it actually helps to alleviate diseases like asthma." My children generally do not take medicine when they have a slight cough, and eating a few bowls of bird's nest can be relieved. ”

In addition, the sales staff of the above-mentioned Xicheng District store in Beijing also introduced the "secret" of its products that can be stored at room temperature and not stored in the refrigerator. It said that most of the bird's nest products on the market need to be stored in the refrigerator, and the ready-to-eat bird's nest of the house of birds does not need to be stored in the refrigerator and can be stored at room temperature, thanks to the professional sterilization and stewing technology of the house of birds.

"At present, many bird's nest products on the market are stewed out of large pots, and the stewing technology of Yanzhiwu and the large pot stewing technology of these products are different, using a unique professional sterilization and stewing technology, high temperature stewing without harmful substances, which makes the products store at room temperature for a long time without additives and preservatives." The salesperson said so. The sales staff of the Yanzhiwu store in Dongcheng District, Beijing, explained to the China Business Daily reporter that unlike the large-pot stewing technology used in fresh stewed bird's nest, the bowl of Yanzhiwu is stewed together with the bowl, so the product can be stored at room temperature for 18 months.

For how To view the efficacy of the store sales staff and the true efficacy of bird's nest, the reporter of China Business Daily repeatedly called Li Youquan, executive director and CEO of Yanzhiwu, but as of the press release, the other party did not answer, and du Xiaoqiao, the secretary of the board of directors of the company, also said that there was something to hang up when answering the reporter's call.

Caught in the "IQ tax" and "exaggerated propaganda" questions

In fact, the true efficacy of bird's nest has always been a mystery. The outside world's doubts about the "IQ tax" and "exaggerated propaganda" of bird's nest enterprises have been endless. For example, in November 2020, the well-known dummy Wang Hai counterfeited Simba's bird's nest, saying that the bird's nest displayed by Simba in the live broadcast of his apprentice was not real bird's nest, but a gel synthesized from sodium alginate and calcium lactate, which was a naked fraud. Although this incident eventually ended with Simba Bird's Nest returning one to three, the controversy about the true nutritional value of Bird's Nest has not stopped.

The bird's nest industry leading enterprise Yanzhiwu, which has invited Celebrities such as Zhao Liying, Liu Jialing and Lin Chiling, has become the focus of attention from the outside world. In May 2021, The House of Swallows played an advertising slogan of "I heard that it is better to eat bird's nest when pregnant", saying that long-term consumption of its bird's nest series products can beautify and nourish the face, enhance the body's immunity, improve morning sickness, and prevent colds, causing the outside world to question its "exaggerated publicity".

Li Youquan once said that the advertisement of Yanzhiwu never directly said that bird's nest had any effect, so there was no consumer fraud. "If consumers have their own feelings and understandings through advertising, we can't sway them." This statement has aroused heated discussion from the outside world, and a large number of people believe that there are many hints involving health care effects in the advertising of Yanzhiwu, and Liu Jialing and other celebrities have also said on social platforms that the secret of their beauty and beauty is to eat the bird's nest products of "Yanzhiwu". In addition, tianyancha information shows that Beijing Yanzhiwu Yan Bowl Food Co., Ltd. has been punished twice by the State Administration for Market Regulation for using medical terms to publicize.

For the "skin improvement, anti-aging, asthma relief" and other effects promoted by the staff of the Yanzhiwu store to reporters, Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Communication Department of the Science and Technology Communication Center of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, told the China Business Daily reporter that the behavior of publicizing these effects is exaggerated propaganda. In his view, the protein contained in bird's nest is mainly collagen, which is an incomplete protein and lacks the necessary amino acid (tryptophan) needed by the human body. In addition, the current understanding of the health benefits of sialic acid is based on animal experiments, and there is not enough evidence for human experiments.

"And even if there is evidence that sialic acid is really effective on the human body, bird's nest is not the only way to obtain sialic acid." Sialic acid is widely present in humans and animals (such as animal brains such as pig brains), and is not only found in bird's nests. The human body itself can synthesize sialic acid, which does not need to be ingested through diet, even if it wants to be ingested, it can eat cheese and pig brain. Nguyen Quang Feng thought.

For the sterilization and stewing technology of Yanzhiwu products, Zhong Kai, director of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, told the China Business Daily reporter, "Its technology is high temperature sterilization plus sterile canned storage, which is quite easy to achieve, and there is no too high technical content." Ruan Guangfeng also mentioned that The House of Swallows uses high-temperature sterilization technology, and its room temperature storage and low-temperature preservation of fresh stewed bird's nest are similar to the normal temperature milk and low-temperature pasteurized fresh milk in the dairy industry.

A food researcher who did not want to be named told the China Business Daily reporter that under normal circumstances, fresh stewed bird's nest still needs to be preserved in the refrigerator, but canned products can be stored at room temperature without additives, and it is not known whether the technology of Yanzhiwu is similar to canned food.

Advertising costs account for a relatively high proportion

Recently, Yanzhiwu submitted a prospectus to impact the capital market. The prospectus shows that advertising expenses have always accounted for a high proportion of the company's revenue, and advertising has contributed a lot to the company's performance growth.

According to the data, from 2018 to 2020 and the first half of 2021, the revenue of Yanzhiwu was 724 million yuan, 951 million yuan, 1.299 billion yuan and 707 million yuan, and the net profit was 0.63 billion yuan, 0.79 billion yuan, 122 million yuan and 0.64 billion yuan, respectively.

In the same period, the sales expenses of Yanzhiwu were 234 million yuan, 308 million yuan, 317 million yuan and 169 million yuan, accounting for 32.3%, 32.4%, 24.4% and 23.9% of the company's revenue, respectively; of which the advertising and publicity expenses were 136 million yuan, 187 million yuan, 237 million yuan and 122 million yuan, accounting for 18.78%, 19.66%, 18.24% and 17.26% of the company's revenue, respectively.

A bird's nest industry practitioner in Jiangsu told the China Business Daily reporter that The House of Birds does invest a lot in advertising, but this is not a common phenomenon in the bird's nest industry, and most bird's nest companies are making products in the boring head.

It is worth noting that Yanzhiwu also admitted in the prospectus that the company's revenue mainly comes from canned bird's nest products such as ambient ready-to-eat bird's nest and fresh stewed bird's nest, according to the "National Economic Industry Classification", the company's industry is other canned food manufacturing, according to the CSRC's "Guidelines for the Classification of Listed Companies (Revised in 2012)", the company's industry is C14 food manufacturing. That is to say, the essence of Tsubame's house products is indeed canned food, not health food.

The advertising campaign has made a "great contribution" to the performance growth of Yanzhiya. Whether the House of Swallows is deeply involved in "exaggerated publicity" and other questions will affect its listing process? Can its over-reliance on advertising be sustainable?

In this regard, Lin Sisi, a researcher at Shenzhen Zhongwei Zhiyan Consulting Co., Ltd., told the China Business Daily reporter that from the current information, there is a great possibility of "exaggerated publicity" in Yanzhiwu, and the company should come up with authoritative investigation and scientific research results before listing, and make clear clarifications and explanations to the CSRC, otherwise this is likely to become an obstacle to its listing. The model of Yanzhiya relying on advertising is not conducive to its listing and long-term development. Listed companies should be valuable enterprises, not enterprises that rely on "gimmicks" and "publicity".

Liu Chang, chief analyst of the food and beverage industry at Tianfeng Securities, also told the China Business Daily reporter that compared with other enterprises, the advertising expenses of Yanzhiwu are indeed high in the company's revenue, or because the bird's nest products themselves still need to educate consumers, this proportion may be difficult to reduce in the short term. However, this phenomenon should not be the norm, nor is it conducive to the long-term sustainable development of enterprises.

Reporter 丨 Zhou Zijing

Edited by Wang Huangren and Li Monan

Cover image 丨 Photo Network