On February 9, the news that "Heytea will lay off 30%" rushed to the hot search. Some employees reported that the internal layoffs had been initiated years ago, and some more would be laid off in the next year, involving 30% of the employees overall.
In response, Xicha responded on February 9: "The relevant rumors are all false information, and there is no so-called major layoff in the company." It is worth noting that Heytea recently invested in a new tea brand, claiming that Itcha "does not want to be a VC", but it has gone farther and farther on the road of investment.
At the time of Heytea's Series D financing, Naixue's Tea, which was listed in Hong Kong at the same time, had a latest market value of only HK$12.2 billion, which was a sharp share price compared with the original issue price.
On the evening of February 8, Nesher's Tea released its 2021 performance forecast, saying that it expects to achieve revenue of about 4.28 billion to 4.32 billion yuan and an adjusted net loss of about 135 million yuan - 165 million yuan during the reporting period.
Nesher's tea was lost again
On the evening of February 8, Nesher's Tea handed over its first "annual report card" preview after listing. The company said it expects to achieve revenue of $4.28 billion to $4.32 billion and adjusted net loss of about $135 million to $165 million for the full year. Naixue's tea said that in January 2022, the company's store revenue maintained a recovery trend, the impact of the epidemic on the business was limited, and the new products launched by the company were welcomed by consumers, which had a positive impact on the company's performance.
Born in Shenzhen, the tea brand "Nesher's Tea", was first listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 30, 2021, and is known as the "First Share of Milk Tea". However, from the financial report disclosed by the company, from 2018 to 2021, the company's performance has been in a state of loss, of which the adjusted net loss from 2018 to 2020 was 56.6 million yuan, 11.7 million yuan and 16.64 million yuan. Naixue's tea said that from 2018 to 2020, in order to promote the rapid expansion of stores, the company invested a large initial investment, resulting in a net adjusted loss; the loss in 2021 was mainly due to the change in the fair value of convertible redeemable preferred shares generated by the company's listing.
In the capital market, the stock price of Nesher's tea has been falling since its listing. As of the close of trading on February 9, it was trading at HK$7.12 per share, which was more than 60% below the issue price.
In view of the performance loss, Naixue's tea also came up with a set of "digital solutions" to reduce labor costs. Naiser's Tea said that the company's self-developed automated tea making equipment has begun to select manufacturers and trial production at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. These devices have been put into trial in some store operations, and are expected to be officially applied in stores nationwide before the end of the third quarter of 2022, "The relevant automation equipment and measures are expected to reduce the labor costs of the company's tea shops and reduce the rigidity of labor costs." "
In terms of the number of stores, as of 2021, Nesher's tea has a total of 817 stores, of which the fourth quarter of the net increase of 149, closed 7, 23 standard stores turned into PRO stores, the number of new stores slightly lower than previously expected. Huachuang Securities analysis believes that the PRO store type is smaller, the location is flexible and encrypted, but it is similar to the standard store revenue, and the profit margin may be improved. There are also institutional analysis that since the fourth quarter of 2021, driven by new products and marketing activities, Naixue's tea has continued to improve month-on-month, and the average daily sales of all standard stores in December 2021 have returned to the same level as in 2020.
Xicha was exposed to large-scale layoffs
Xi Tea, who has been singing "two-person turn" with Nai Xue's tea, has recently been exposed to large-scale layoffs, and related topics have been on the hot search. On the workplace communication platform, some netizens said, "Heytea carried out large-scale layoffs, involving 30% of the company's employees. "There is no year-end bonus for all employees."
In this regard, Xicha responded that the relevant rumors are false information, the company does not have the so-called large layoffs, and a small number of personnel adjusted to normal personnel adjustment and optimization based on year-end assessment. At the same time, the year-end bonuses of employees have also been issued to employees normally before the Spring Festival according to their performance. However, on social platforms, netizens said that "there is no clear explanation."
Although the internal layoffs are controversial, it does not prevent Heytea from "crazy" investment. Recently, Xicha has invested in a new tea brand "Suge Fresh Tea". Modern Express Financial Cheetah combed and learned that in the second half of 2021, Xicha has invested in a number of brands, including specialty coffee brand Seesaw, oat milk brand wild plants, national tide pre-mixed wine brand WAT, tea brand and peach peach, and "molecular juice" brand Yecuishan and so on. Nie Yunchen, the founder of Xicha, has personally invested in brands such as KUDDO COFFEE and The Raven Crow Coffee.
"With the help of the power of capital, Xicha has rapidly formed a new-style tea beverage head enterprise in the short term, whether it is in store operation, publicity and promotion, etc., which needs the support of capital." Jiang Han, a pangu think tank for advanced research, believes that in this case, Heytea must form its own business logic. From the perspective of the entire industry, Heytea is facing greater pressure to innovate, so it wants to expand its industry competitiveness and consolidate the company's market share through investment.
At the beginning of 2022, Heytea lowered the price of some products, which triggered speculation about its planned listing. Although Heytea has not yet been listed, there have been many rumors about the "Heytea listing" before, but the company has denied it.
According to the data, the new tea began to grow rapidly in 2016, with a market size of 113.6 billion yuan in 2020 and is expected to reach 340 billion yuan in 2025. From the perspective of the industry, in addition to Naixue's tea and xi tea, there are many brands such as Lele Tea, Tea Beauty, Seven Points Sweet, Honey Snow Ice City, Little Point, Coco, Tea Hundred Ways, etc., and the industry competition is fierce. Among them, Michelle Ice City took the lead in opening 10,000 stores, and officially accepted listing counseling in September 2021, and other brands also had listing rumors.
Chuancai Securities analysis believes that the improvement of product strength and channel power is the core competitiveness of new tea drinks. From the perspective of product strength, new tea beverages need to be continuously innovated in taste, function and process; from the perspective of channels, new tea drinks need to open up the supply chain, build a logistics supply chain through huge stores and consumption, reduce expense rates and costs, and increase sales by expanding the sinking market, and improve internal and external efficiency.