The sweeping robot can't be sold! Stone Technology's net profit fell for the first time in 6 years, and Chairman Changjing wanted to cash out hundreds of millions

Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Wang Ting

Source: Pixabay

On the evening of February 27, the former "sweeping grass" stone technology released the 2022 annual performance forecast, during the period of operating income of 6.629 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.56%, and the net profit attributable to the owner of the parent company was 1.193 billion yuan, a decrease of 14.93% from the previous year.

This is the first time since 2016 that Stone Technology's annual net profit attributable to the parent has declined year-on-year. On February 28, Stone Technology closed at 359.91 yuan per share, about two-thirds from the highest point. According to the announcement, Changjing, the controlling shareholder and chairman of the board, intends to reduce his holding of no more than 2% of the shares.

"At present, stone technology is almost equivalent to 'sweeping robot', but sweeping robot has experienced a process from hot to cold in the past year." Liu Buchen, a senior observer of the home appliance industry, told Times Finance.

Nowadays, in order to get rid of the ceiling of the sweeping robot market, Stone Technology has begun to look for a second growth curve. In late February, Stone Technology launched the molecular sieve washing and drying machine H1. Previously, Changjing said in the open letter that the washing and drying machine is a track with great potential in the category of cleaning electrical appliances.

Inventories are high and there is a high reliance on robot sweepers

Stone Technology was founded in 2014 and was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in 2020 with its sweeping robot business, and its stock price soared, with a stock price of more than 1,000 yuan per share. According to the 2021 financial report, more than ninety percent of its operating income comes from intelligent sweepers and accessories.

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, the net profit attributable to the parent of Stone Technology increased by 154.52%, 74.92% and 2.41% year-on-year, respectively, and in 2022, it was negative year-on-year, with a year-on-year decline of about 16% in the first three quarters and a year-on-year decline of 12.53% in the fourth quarter.

The performance forecast shows that the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the continuation of the new crown epidemic in 2022 will have a certain impact on the consumer goods market and the demand of the industry where Stone Technology is located. At the same time, affected by the drastic changes in the foreign exchange market, the income generated by the company's forward foreign exchange lock decreased, resulting in a decline in the level of operating profit.

During the period, Stone Technology's response measures were to expand domestic and overseas markets, promote marketing and publicity and promotion, enhance marketing services and deepen brand building, and carry out multi-channel business layout. In short, the goal is to sell more products.

At present, Stone Technology's inventory is high, with an inventory value of 1.049 billion yuan as of the end of September 2022, an increase of about 76% over the end of the previous year, and net cash flow from operating activities in the first nine months was 387 million yuan, shrinking by more than 60% from the end of the previous year.

It is worth noting that Stone Technology has repeatedly been reduced by major shareholders. On February 21, the 21.694 million shares held by Changjing ended the restricted period and were officially listed and circulated, and on the same night, Stone Technology announced Changjing's reduction plan.

Announcement of reduction Source: Screenshot of Juchao Information

The total number of shares that Changjing intends to reduce shall not exceed 2% of the total share capital of Stone Technology, with a value of up to hundreds of millions of yuan, and the period of reduction will be within 6 months after the 15 trading days after the announcement is disclosed. The current reduction has not yet begun, and Changjing still holds 23.15% of the company's shares.

In 2022, Stone Technology was also collectively reduced by shareholders such as Shunwei Ventures III (Hong Kong) Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Shunwei"), Tianjin Stone Times Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership), Banyan Consulting Limited, and Wan Yunpeng, of which Shunwei reduced its holdings twice, cashing out a total of about 600 million yuan.

Layoffs, declining performance, sweeping robots are no longer favored

Behind the negative growth of Stone Technology's net profit is the overall malaise of the sweeping robot market.

According to Zhongyikang data, the market size of mainland sweeping robots has increased from about 5.6 billion yuan in 2017 to 10.8 billion yuan in 2021, but it will not increase but decline in 2022.

Oviyun data shows that in 2022, the online sales of sweeping robots will decline by 22.58% year-on-year, and offline sales will decline by 26.78% year-on-year, because the average price will increase by 741 yuan and 1455 yuan respectively compared with 2021, so sales will increase slightly positively year-on-year.

According to the Wall Street Journal reported in February, iRobot, the originator of sweeping robots in the United States, announced a 7% layoff, and Cobos' financial report showed that the net profit attributable to the parent in the first three quarters of last year fell by 15.65% year-on-year, and the inventory at the end of September was 3.186 billion yuan, an increase of more than 30% over the end of the previous year.

Stone Technology thus seeks to diversify. At the end of 2022, Changjing said in public that when a certain category stops growing and there are many resources overflowing, the opportunity for diversification will naturally come.

In February, on the occasion of the third anniversary of listing, Changjing issued an open letter, spending half of the space talking about the molecular sieve washing and drying machine that Stone Technology is about to launch, saying that this is a new category expansion, and the company is expected to seize a new round of market highland in the field of intelligent hardware and achieve diversified development.

Liu Buchen told Times Finance that for the current stone technology, there is an urgent need to have a new excitement to stimulate the market and stock prices, and the molecular sieve dryer is produced in this context.

"It's not that the market doesn't have demand, it's that the product can't support the market demand." Liu Buchen said that the sweeping robot market is "fueled by seedlings", the maturity of the product is still not high, and many users find that the actual use experience is not as expected after purchasing.

In the future, whether Stone Technology can get out of the upward trend in the sales and capital markets depends on whether the sweeping robot market can usher in a new round of outbreak, and whether its molecular sieve dryer is recognized by the market.