Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Wen Ruonan
Image source: Tuworm Creative
The performance of the "Three Musketeers of Medical Beauty" continues to diverge.
On August 30, Bloomage Biology (688363. SH) released its 2023 half-year report. So far, including Aimeke (300896. SZ), Hao Haisheng (688366. .SH; 06826.HK), including the "Three Musketeers of Medical Beauty", all the report cards of the first half of the year were released.
Among them, the "big brother" Bloomage Biotech achieved revenue of about 3.076 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.77%; The net profit attributable to the parent was about 425 million yuan, down 10.27% from the same period last year. This is the first time since Bloomage Biotech was listed in 2019 that the net profit attributable to the parent has experienced negative growth.
Both Aimeke and Haohaishengke achieved revenue of more than 1 billion yuan in the first half of the year, with 1.459 billion yuan and 1.313 billion yuan respectively. In terms of net profit attributable to the parent company, Aimeke increased by 64.66% year-on-year to 963 million yuan, while Haohaishengke got rid of negative growth, with a year-on-year increase of 188.94% to 205 million yuan.
In the past, under the dividend of hyaluronic acid (that is, sodium hyaluronate products), the medical beauty sector, known for its "huge profits", was popular with capital. In the A-share market, Aimeike, Bloomage Biotech and Haohaishengke are known as the "Three Musketeers of Medical Beauty" because of their early approval time and large market share.
With the intensification of competition in the hyaluronic acid market, the three not only began to produce gaps in performance, but also presented different choices in business layout. Among them, the performance pillar of Bloomage Biotech has been transformed into a functional skin care business, Hao Haisheng relies on the three legs of "ophthalmology + medical beauty + orthopedics" to walk, and Aimeke is also exploring performance growth points other than hyaluronic acid, such as grabbing the land diet drug track.
Under the intensification of market competition and the adjustment of the business layout, how will the story of the "Three Musketeers of Medical Beauty" continue?
The gross profit margin of Aimeke exceeds Moutai, and the pillar business of Bloomage Biotech is now growing negatively
According to the content of the annual report, the core products of Aimeke are injectable dermal fillers, including a series of dermal fillers based on sodium hyaluronate and dermal fillers based on polylactic acid, and the products are subdivided into gel and solution.
Financial report data shows that in the first half of this year, Aimeike's solution injection products achieved revenue of about 874 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.90%, and the gross profit margin was 95.10%; Gel injection products achieved revenue of about 566 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 139%, and the gross profit margin was 97.38%. The gross profit margin of these two businesses has exceeded that of Kweichow Moutai (600519. SH), Wind data shows that in the first half of this year, the gross profit margin of Kweichow Moutai was 91.80%.
In addition, the company's medical device product poly-p-oxane facial implant has also been launched, but its performance contribution is relatively small compared to the dermal filler segment.
In view of the reasons for the growth of performance in the first half of the year, Aimeke mentioned in the half-year report that it was mainly due to the recovery of medical beauty consumer flow, the improvement of consumption willingness and the continuous increase in core products.
With continuous growth and high gross margin, Aimeke has become a leading player in the field of sodium hyaluronate fillers. According to the statistics of Frost & Sullivan's research report, as of 2021, Aimeike accounted for 21.3% of the domestic market share in the sodium hyaluronate-based dermal filler market by sales, ranking first among domestic manufacturers.
Bloomage Biotechnology, which focuses on upstream hyaluronic acid raw materials, faces a different situation. With the intensification of competition in the hyaluronic acid raw material market and the escalation of the price war, the gross profit margin of Bloomage Biotech's hyaluronic acid raw material business has also continued to decline.
In the early years, Bloomage Biotech benefited a lot from its hyaluronic acid raw material business. According to the prospectus and financial report data, from 2016 to 2018, raw material products accounted for more than 50% of the company's total revenue.
Since 2020, functional skin care products have replaced raw material products and become the largest business segment of Bloomage Biologics in terms of revenue, and the proportion of business has continued to increase. In the first half of this year, the revenue of raw material business accounted for only 18.45% of Bloomage Bio's main business revenue, and the gross profit margin level further declined to 65.65%.
According to the semi-annual report, Bloomage Biotech's raw material business includes products of different specifications such as pharmaceutical grade, cosmetic grade and food grade sodium hyaluronate. In the first half of this year, the business achieved revenue of 567 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.20%, of which pharmaceutical grade accounted for 38.90%, cosmetic grade accounted for 32.74%, and food grade accounted for 10.37%.
At present, functional skin care products have become the performance pillar of Bloomage Biologics, accounting for 63.92% of the company's main business income in the first half of this year. However, this pillar business became the only business with negative growth in the first half of this year, with a total revenue of 1.966 billion yuan, down 7.56% year-on-year, and gross margin of 74.49%, down 4.25 percentage points from the same period last year.
In this regard, Bloomage Biotech explained in its semi-annual report, "Affected by weak consumption and conservative consumer purchase intentions, the optional consumer goods market represented by skin care products has been affected to a certain extent, the traffic dividend has slowed down, the traffic cost has become higher, and the background of the internal organizational structure and operation management needs to be further upgraded, the company has taken the initiative to make strategic adjustments to reduce the speed of development, resulting in a decline in sales revenue growth." ”
In contrast, Bloomage Biotech's medical terminal business (including ophthalmic viscoelastic agents, medical lubricants and other pharmaceutical medical device products and soft tissue fillers, medical skin protection agents and other medical beauty products) performed the best in terms of growth rate, achieving revenue of 489 million yuan in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 63.11%, accounting for 15.90% of the company's main business income and gross profit margin of 82.30%.
Bloomage Biotech is also exploring the functional food business, and has launched brands such as "Water Muscle Spring", "Black Zero" and "Huxiang Corner", but the current volume of this business is relatively small, with a total revenue of about 33 million yuan in the first half of this year.
Driven by hyaluronic acid, Hao Haisheng gets rid of increasing income without increasing profits
Hao Haisheng, which was previously at the bottom, got rid of the dilemma of increasing income without increasing profits. With the hyaluronic acid business to drive the growth of overall performance and gross margin, in the first half of this year, Haohaishengke achieved a net profit attributable to the parent of about 205 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 188.94%; The net profit was about 188 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 253.05%; The overall gross margin was 71.04%, up from 69.84% in the same period of the previous year.
In 2022, Haohaishengke is the only enterprise among the "Three Musketeers" with negative net profit growth. Financial report data shows that in 2022, Haohaisheng's revenue will be 2.130 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.56%, and the net profit attributable to the parent will be 180 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 48.76%.
In this regard, Hao Haishengke explained in the half-year report, "mainly due to the stagnation of production and operation of the Group's company in Shanghai from March to May 2022, which adversely affected the Group's operating income in the first half of 2022, and in the first half of 2023, in the context of the pharmaceutical terminal market gradually returning to normal... The sales volume and revenue of all major product lines of the Group increased significantly compared with the same period of the previous year, especially the sales of medical beauty hyaluronic acid products performed well, with revenue growth of more than 110%, driving the growth of overall operating income. ”
In addition, Hao Haishengke mentioned that due to the good sales performance of hyaluronic acid products with higher gross margins, the proportion of hyaluronic acid products in the overall operating income increased from 12% in the same period of the previous year to 20%, which promoted the gross profit margin of the company's main business in the first half of the year.
From the perspective of subdivisions, medical beauty and wound care products and ophthalmic products have become important revenue pillars of Haohaisheng. Financial report data show that in the first half of this year, the above two businesses achieved revenue of 485 million yuan and 481 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.49% and 34.98%, accounting for 37.03% and 36.70% of the main business income respectively.
In the medical beauty and wound care segment, hyaluronic acid products are still at its core. Similar to Aimeike, Hao Haisheng's hyaluronic acid products are mainly hyaluronic acid dermal fillers, which are used in medical cosmetology. According to the financial report, at present, Hao Haishengke has launched three generations of hyaluronic acid products and is developing the fourth generation of organic cross-linked hyaluronic acid products.
In the first half of this year, Haohaisheng's hyaluronic acid business achieved a total revenue of about 256 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 114.35%, of which the third-generation hyaluronic acid product "Haimei", which is positioned as a high-end hyaluronic acid and focuses on "precise carving" functions, achieved revenue of more than 115 million yuan, a significant increase of 377.37% over the same period of the previous year.
In addition, Hao Haisheng is also developing orthopedic product lines, including sodium hyaluronate injection and medical chitose (for intra-articular injection). Financial report data shows that in the first half of this year, its orthopedic products achieved revenue of about 232 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.74%.
In terms of sales expenses, financial report data shows that in the first half of this year, Bloomage Biotech's sales expenses were 1.420 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.40%, accounting for about 46.18% of the total revenue; The sales expense of Haohaishengke was 421 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.29%, accounting for about 32.06% of the total revenue; The sales expense of Aimeke was 149 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 72.87%, accounting for about 10.19% of the total revenue, accounting for the lowest proportion among the three.