On the evening of August 28, Kouzijiao released its financial report for the first half of the year. Data show that in the first half of this year, the company achieved operating income of 2.912 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.79%; The net profit attributable to the parent was 848 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.64%, and both revenue and net profit showed double-digit growth.
In terms of quarters, Kouzi Cellar achieved revenue of 1.321 billion yuan in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 34.03%, and net profit of 312 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.78%. Previously, Zheshang Securities expected the Q2 revenue and net profit attributable to the parent to grow by 22% and 27%, respectively.
Although it has a good performance, the status of the "third old man of Huijiu" has not changed.
In the first half of the year, it was still no match for the tribute wine
Anhui is an important battlefield in the liquor industry, with 4 A-share liquor listed enterprises. Gujing Gongjiu (274.990, -3.69, -1.32%), Kouzi Cellar, Yingjing Gongjiu and Golden Seed Wine are known as the "Four Masters of Huijiu".
In recent years, Gujing Gongjiu has continued to hold the position of "champion" of Huijiu, but the position of "list" is fiercely competitive. Specifically, from 2012 to 2016, Yingjing Gongjiu maintained its lead. From 2017 to 2021, Kouzi Cellar surpassed Yingjing Gongjiu and became the second in Huijiu.
By 2022, Kouzijiao will achieve annual revenue of 5.135 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies will be 1.55 billion yuan. The revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in 2022 increased by 19.59% and 22.97% year-on-year, respectively, to 5.505 billion yuan and 1.705 billion yuan, both of which successfully surpassed Kouzi Cellar and successfully became the "second old", while Kouzi Cellar became the "third old".
In the first half of this year, the operating income of Yingjing Gongjiu was 3.143 billion yuan, an increase of 24.25% year-on-year; The attributable net profit was 1.064 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.53%. Although Gujing Gongjiu has not released half-year report data, its first-quarter performance alone has exceeded the half-year performance of Yingxing Gongjiu and Kouzi Cellar, and it is still the big brother of Huijiu.
As a result, in the first half of 2023, the performance of Yingjing Gongjiu still exceeded that of Kouzi Cellar and became the "list" of Huijiu. Golden Seed Wine, which is also the "Four Masters of Huijiu", is expected to have a net profit loss of 32 million yuan to 48 million yuan in the first half of the year. The mouth cellar is still "the third old".
It is not surprising that Kouzi Cellar is left behind, and the crux of its single product structure has always been there. In particular, the weakness of low-end liquor has brought a lot of impact to the mouth cellar.
Cai Xuefei, an expert in wine marketing, told "Wine Industry Ginseng" that it is not surprising that Yingjing Gongjiu has surpassed the kouzi cellar, and in recent years, Yingjing Gongjiu has actively implemented a product upgrade strategy by using the trend of solidifying the profits of the kouzi cellar, and the series of products in the cave ecology have increased significantly and achieved good results.
Medium and low-end liquor downward product structure "embarrassing"
"Wine Industry Reference" found that although Kouzi cellar has performed well in the field of high-end liquor, the mid-range liquor shows a weakening trend.
In 2022, Kouzi Cellar's high-end liquor, mid-range liquor and low-grade liquor will achieve revenue of 4.87 billion yuan, 95.1049 million yuan and 94.0531 million yuan respectively, and the revenue of high-end liquor will account for 96.26%.
In the first half of 2023, Kouzi Cellar's high-end liquor achieved revenue of 2.770 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 28.06%. In sharp contrast, the middle and low-grade liquor of Kouzi Cellar, the income of mid-range liquor in the first half of the year was only 38.99 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.94%. The sales revenue of low-grade liquor was 46.3271 million yuan, a slight increase of 3.57% over the same period last year.
It can be said that the performance of Kouzi Cellar is mainly driven by high-grade liquor.
In February this year, Kouzi Cellar launched a new product of "Jian Series", and the transaction price of Jian 10 was stable at about 350 yuan / bottle, and the transaction price of Jian 20 was stable at about 550 yuan / bottle.
In June this year, Kouzijiao replied to investors on the interactive platform that the company should maintain double-digit growth in the future. To this end, it is necessary to promote growth from the product structure. In addition to the launch of the new products of the "series" of the mouth cellar, the packaging image and wine body upgrade of the five-year and six-type products were also upgraded. In the future, on the basis of steadily improving the five-year, six-year and existing products of the kouzi cellar, the company will make every effort to increase the operation of the sub-high-end and series, especially the operation of the 20.
It is worth noting that the half-year report does not introduce too much about the 10th, fifth, and sixth-type products, but with the income of mid-range liquor, it can be seen that the sales in the first half of the year are not very ideal.
In fact, for a long time, the product structure problem of Kouzi cellar has not been solved. In 2022, the revenue of high-end liquor in Kouzi Cellar will be 4.87 billion yuan, the revenue of mid-range liquor will be 95.1049 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.95%, and the low-grade liquor will only be 94.0531 million yuan.
In 2022, the revenue of medium and high-end liquor and ordinary liquor will be 3.928 billion yuan, and the revenue of ordinary liquor will be 1.269 billion yuan, and the product structure has stronger anti-risk ability.
In recent years, 200 yuan liquor has become the mainstream price of the public in the Anhui market, Kouzi cellar wants to surpass Yingxing tribute wine in the province, but also need to continue to make efforts in low-end liquor, first sell low-end liquor in the base camp, so that low-end liquor becomes a new driving force for the company's performance growth.
In addition, in addition to facing the intensification of the involution of the provincial market, the expansion of the market outside the province is not very smooth, and the process of nationalization is slow.
The development of markets outside the province is slow
"Nationalization" has become the common pursuit of the liquor industry, and for those regional wine companies that have long occupied the local market, seizing the national market means finding new performance growth points. Kouzijiao is also working hard for this, but it is not smooth, and it is difficult to expand the territory outside the "siege".
From 2020 to 2022, the revenue outside Kouzijiao Province was 788 million yuan, 889 million yuan and 889 million yuan, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 0.77%, 12.76% and -0.03%, and the revenue in the province increased by -17.24%, 28.47% and 2.27% year-on-year. In the first half of this year, the province achieved revenue of about 2.394 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.36%. Revenue outside the province was about 462 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of only 7.16%.
Over the past few years, there has been a considerable gap between the growth rate outside the province and the comparison within the province.
At the same time, according to the annual reports of previous years, the number of dealers in the province from 2020 to 2022 was 439, 468 and 478, and 243, 297 and 381 outside the province. In the first half of 2023, the number of dealers in the province was 488, and the number of dealers outside the province was 418. Although the growth rate of the number outside the province is good, it is still less than that of dealers in the province.
In addition, Kouzijiao mentioned in the financial report that the liquor market is a fully competitive market, the company is located around the Huaihe River Basin and the main market Anhui Province in many liquor production enterprises, including many well-known enterprises, and in recent years, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shanxi and other regions of liquor manufacturers continue to develop, the company faces increasingly fierce market competition.
Some insiders pointed out that Kouzi Cellar does not have brand power and local resources outside the province, and it is difficult to achieve sales in other places.
Cai Xuefei believes that cognition determines everything, Kouzi cellar is both fragrant, itself is a small fragrance type, and Kouzi cellar is a regional brand, high-end value is limited, the influence of the whole country is also insufficient, cross-regional development appeal is insufficient, etc., all affect the national development of Kouzijiao.
It is worth noting that Kouzi Cellar was previously questioned that the sales team was too small. At this year's 2022 annual results briefing, some investors proposed on the spot that compared with the scale of the sales team of thousands of people such as Yingjing Gongjiu and Gujing Gongjiu, the investment of sales personnel in Kouzi cellar has been too small. Subsequently, Kou Zijiao said that it will promote the implementation of marketing changes this year, and as of June 2, the company's sales force has reached 351 people. At the end of 2022, the sales team of Kouzi Cellar is less than 300 people. This may be an important reason for the slow development of the market outside Kouzijiao Province.