Riding on the east wind of the concept of computing power, the stock price of Hongbo shares continues to soar. Less than a quarter of an hour after the morning opening on June 5, the "lottery leading stock" Hongbo shares rose again and finally closed with the limit board, which also became the eleventh limit board in the past 30 trading days, and the company's stock price also hit a new high since listing. Since the beginning of February this year, the company's stock price has risen by more than 400% in the past four months, gaining 22 price limits.
Lottery concept stocks hit the AI leader
According to the data, Hongbo Co., Ltd. is a secret carrier reproduction license unit recognized by the State Secrets Bureau, and is one of the leading enterprises in China's lottery printing industry, which was listed in May 2008.
Why is the stock price of a "lottery concept stock" rising so "ferociously"? This has to mention the current hot artificial intelligence. With the launch of ChatGPT, AI has become the wind outlet of the capital market in the near future, and NVIDIA, which provides AI computing power, has become a hot leader in the global market. And Hongbo shares took the "free ride" of NVIDIA. In 2022, Hongbo Co., Ltd. established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing InBev Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "InBev Digital"), to establish the Beijing AI Innovation Empowerment Center to carry out project construction and operation services in the field of artificial intelligence technology.
According to the announcement at that time, Hongbo Co., Ltd. cooperated with Zhongguancun Zhongheng Cultural Science and Technology Innovation Service Alliance, NVIDIA and InBev Digital to establish the Beijing AI Innovation Empowerment Center, and all parties agreed that InBev Digital Science would be the main operator of the project. As an important means for NVIDIA to promote industrial integration innovation and cooperative ecological construction in China, the project is committed to using NVIDIA's advanced artificial intelligence technology and NVIDIA's global ecological partner resources to empower pillar industries, scientific research institutions and start-ups, and promote the introduction and industrialization of international advanced AI innovative products, innovative applications and innovation models.
Weak performance Regulatory focus
In the face of soaring stock prices, Hongbo has issued 8 stock price change announcements since February 9, and the frequency is becoming more and more intensive, just in the past May, Hongbo Co., Ltd. has issued 3 stock price change announcements, repeatedly prompting risks.
In the latest stock price change announcement released on the evening of May 30, Hongbo also announced the progress of the Beijing AI Innovation and Empowerment Center. At present, the Beijing AI Innovation Empowerment Center project has been put into actual operation, and related products and services are in the testing and promotion stage. InBev Digital currently signs a computing power leasing service contract with Wuji Intelligent (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., and InBev Digital will provide high-performance GPU computing power rental services to Wuji Intelligent within 12 months after the signing of the agreement, with no more than 256 servers delivered in the first phase, with a total computing power of not less than 1280P. At present, InBev has generated operating income and profit.
Compared with the rapid progress of the stock price, the performance of Hongbo shares is not optimistic. In 2022, Hongbo Co., Ltd. achieved an operating income of 546 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.01%; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was -75.0695 million yuan, turning from profit to loss year-on-year, and the profit in the same period of last year was 9.139 million yuan; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring profits and losses was -87.8582 million yuan, and it was negative for five consecutive years. In the first quarter of this year, the net profit and non-net profit of Hongbo shares were still negative.
Weak performance coupled with soaring stock prices, Hongbo shares quickly entered the regulatory field. On May 26, the company received an inquiry letter for the annual report, and the first issue was performance. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange required the company to explain the reasons and reasonableness of the stable operating income and the sharp decline in net profit. At the same time, it explains the reasons and reasonableness of the company's negative non-net profit for many consecutive years, and whether the company's profit has a significant dependence on non-recurring profit and loss items.
In addition, another important issue is "NVIDIA", Shenzhen Stock Exchange requires Hongbo to supplement whether the company's project construction and operation services in the field of artificial intelligence technology actually refer to the rental of computing power, the main business threshold of the company's empowerment center, the stability risk of mainly relying on the equipment and technical services provided by NVIDIA and other uncontrollable risks.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange asked the company to respond by June 2, but Hongbo failed to reply on time and announced an extension.
The mother of the actual controller is involved in short-term trading
It is worth noting that the relatives of the actual controller of Hongbo shares have also been exposed to short-term transactions recently. According to the announcement, He Weiping, the actual controller of the company and the mother of Mao Weizhi, the former chairman of the board, bought and sold the company's shares on August 24, 2022, August 25, 2022, November 8, 2022, December 7, 2022 and February 9, 2023 through centralized bidding. According to relevant regulations, the transaction constitutes a short-term transaction, and the income generated by this short-term transaction is 96,920 yuan.
He Weiping's above-mentioned proceeds from the trading of the company's shares have been handed over to the company as the profit amount of this short-term transaction. On March 18, Mao Wei, chairman of the company, received the decision on administrative supervision measures of the Fujian Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission "Decision on Taking Measures to Issue Warning Letters to Mao Wei".
The controlling shareholder is exposed to the risk of liquidation
In addition to the above problems, Yutai Holdings, one of the controlling shareholders of Hongbo Shares, which is controlled by Mao Wei, has also encountered trouble. According to the announcement, the company recently received a notice from Caitong Securities, learning that Yutai Holdings held 30.32 million shares of the company (accounting for 6.08% of the company's total share capital) through the credit account of Caitong Securities participating in margin trading, and Caitong Securities will take default disposal measures against the credit account of Yutai Holdings due to the receipt of the notice of court assistance in enforcement.
If Yutai Holdings does not repay the financing debt (total debt of 62.7646 million yuan) in accordance with the margin and securities lending contract before the default disposal date (inclusive), Caitong Securities will implement compulsory liquidation of the credit account of Yutai Holdings to settle all financing contracts. This situation will lead to the risk of forced liquidation of Yutai Holdings' credit account in Caitong Securities, resulting in passive reduction of holdings. Yutai Holdings is currently actively communicating solutions.
Just before the liquidation risk announcement, Mao Wei had just transferred the equity of Yutai Holdings and resigned as chairman of Hongbo Shares. On April 14, Hongbo issued an announcement that Mao Wei, the actual controller, originally held 8.03% and 13.38% of Hongbo shares through Hui Yi Trading and Yutai Holdings, respectively. On April 13, Mao Wei signed equity transfer agreements with Yang Kai and Li Xiaolin respectively, transferring 100% of the shares of Hui Yi Trading and 94.23% of the shares of Yutai Holdings.
Strangely, on the same day, Yutai Holdings and Hui Yi Trading signed voting rights proxy agreements with Mao Wei, entrusting all the voting rights of the company's shares held by them to Mao Wei. After the completion of the transaction, Mao Wei will still be the actual controller of Hongbo Shares. However, on April 20, Hongbo announced that Mao Wei resigned as chairman and director of the company due to personal reasons, and Mao Wei will not hold any position in the company after his resignation.
Various contradictions in the equity transfer process have also aroused regulatory attention. In this regard, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern asking Hongbo to elaborate on whether the relevant arrangements are conducive to maintaining the stability of the company's control. The specific reasons and reasonableness of Yang Kai and Li Xiaolin entrusting voting rights to Mao Wei, and whether there was a situation of transferring assets.
Hongbo replied that the equity transfer did not transfer assets and would not affect the stability of the company's control. The company said that the background and main consideration of Yang Kai and Li Xiaolin's transfer of Hui Yi Trading and Yutai Holdings is optimistic about the company's future development in the AI artificial intelligence sector, in order to obtain dividends for the company's future development.
Mao Wei is temporarily unable to perform the duties of chairman of listed companies due to personal reasons, but he has rich industry experience and professional judgment capabilities in the AI artificial intelligence sector. Yang Kai and Li Xiaolin are not familiar with the industry and lack market analysis experience in the industry. Mao Wei has rich industry experience and professional judgment ability. In order to improve the efficiency of the operation and management of the listed company, Yang Kai, Li Xiaolin and Mao Wei signed a voting rights entrustment agreement.