The cold winter of consumer IPOs continues. Recently, the official website of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange disclosed that Akuan Food and its sponsor GF Securities applied for the withdrawal of the issuance of listing application documents. As a result, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has decided to terminate the review of its initial public offering and listing on the Main Board.
Akuan Food's road to market can be described as a long one. In December 2021, Akuan Foods pre-disclosed its prospectus to be listed on the main board, in June 2022, the content of the prospectus was updated, and in March 2023, after the implementation of the full registration system, Akuan Food's IPO process shifted and continued the IPO process on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In this listing, Akuan Food plans to raise 656 million yuan, of which 535 million yuan will be used for the construction project of the health food industrial park (phase I) and 130 million yuan will be used for the construction project of the R&D center.
According to wind data, since the beginning of this year, 33 consumer-oriented enterprises have withdrawn their IPOs, covering various industries such as clothing, food, housing and transportation. It is worth noting that the second half of the year is the peak period for consumer enterprises to cancel orders, with 30 companies canceling orders after June, accounting for 90% of the annual number of cancellations in the industry. After the setbacks of many consumer-oriented IPOs, they choose to change their tracks and plan to list through the Beijing Stock Exchange or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The advantage is not enough, it is difficult to sprint the motherboard
Akuan Food is a company mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of new convenience foods, including instant noodles, instant vermicelli, instant rice noodles, etc.
Judging from the performance of financial data, the performance of Akuan Food is not impressive. From 2020 to 2022, the company's operating income will be 1.11 billion yuan, 1.214 billion yuan and 1.246 billion yuan respectively, the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 76.2649 million yuan, 58.9669 million yuan and 68.8182 million yuan respectively, and the operating cash flow will be 152 million yuan, 71.78 million yuan and 97.2 million yuan respectively. The fluctuation of a number of key data, for the main board listing requirements, "the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards are positioned to highlight the blue-chip characteristics of the large market, and focus on supporting high-quality enterprises with mature business models, stable operating performance, large scale, and industry representativeness." "Contradictory.
Compared with comparable enterprises in the same industry, Akuan Food has no obvious outstanding advantages, and obviously cannot meet the requirements of "leading enterprises" in the industry. According to the research report of Zhiyan Consulting, there are hundreds of large and small enterprises engaged in the production and sales of instant noodles in China's instant noodle consumer market, but the market concentration is high. In the leading position in the market, there are Uni-President, Master Kong, Jinmailang, Huafeng and so on. In the field of non-fried instant noodles, Wugu Dojo has already seized the track. Data from Everbright Securities Research Institute also proves this, in 2021, Akuan Food's market share in the instant noodle market was only 2.1%, ranking seventh.
At the same time, Akuan Food, which was previously blessed by the traffic dividend, is gradually facing the fading of this dividend. The e-commerce channel, as an important way for Akuan food to sell, has not performed well. From 2020 to 2022, the number of active users of Akuan Food's e-commerce self-operated stores will be 5.3756 million, 4.3521 million, and 2.7392 million respectively, and the loss of active users will be serious. Under the stock competition of the industry, how to break out of the encirclement and open the road to listing is a thorny problem for Akuan Food.
The risks under the high-value VAM agreement have also pushed Akuan Food to the forefront. In the reply to the first round of IPO inquiry letter of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Akuan Food said that if the actual controller Chen Zhaohui fulfills the repurchase obligation, it is necessary to repurchase 33.41% of the total shares of the company held by relevant investors. If December 31, 2023 is used as the trigger date for the repurchase conditions, the total repurchase funds will be about 614 million yuan. The total amount of funds that Chen Zhaohui can obtain through the disposal of personal assets is about 130 million yuan, and after deducting the payment and dividends, the total shortfall of funds that Chen Zhaohui still needs is about 429 million yuan.
The agreement in the repurchase agreement is that if Akuan Food's initial listing application is dissuaded, withdrawn, terminated after acceptance, has not been approved or approved by the domestic securities regulatory authority, and has not achieved the initial listing within 4 years after acceptance, the investor has the right to request Chen Zhaohui to repurchase shares. This also means that the Beijing Stock Exchange seems to have become the only domestic listing track that Akuan Food can choose.
After the official announcement of the termination of the IPO, the relevant person of Akuan Food publicly explained to the outside world about the withdrawal of the listing application, saying that "the company has decided to adjust the listing-related work plan based on the current capital market environment and policy guidance, combined with the prudent consideration of strategic planning and development".
During the year, 33 consumer companies withdrew their IPOs
Since the phased tightening of IPOs, the cold winter of consumer-oriented IPOs has continued, and a large number of food, clothing, housing and transportation companies have withdrawn orders in piles. According to statistics, as of December 23, 33 consumer-oriented enterprises have withdrawn their IPOs this year, 28 of which have chosen to be listed on the main boards of Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the second half of the year is the peak period for order cancellation, with 30 companies choosing to withdraw their listing applications after June, and the financial data of many companies are not bad.
Specifically, these companies are Akuan Food, Huahong Shares, Kefan Home, Deconi, Huanya Technology, Dongcheng Group, Marge Home, Miss Food, Liuliufu, Niuniu Holdings, Lao Niang, Fuyang Biotechnology, Zhongao Tongyu, Zhengda Shares, Bama Tea, Weiyan Clothing, Dezhou Grilled Chicken, Longjiang Wagyu, Xian Meilai, Tongfu Shares, Wolong Food, Laoxiang Chicken, Scholar Mendi, Ocean Family, Fubei Pet, Millennium Boat, Zilin Vinegar Industry, Zhilian Textile, Sanwei New Materials, Zhongding Textile, Dafeilong, Baiweijia, Schneemann.
In fact, the IPO of consumer-oriented enterprises has been restricted earlier, and Mixue Bingcheng, which sought to be listed on the A-share market last year, has attracted a lot of attention from the market, but has not achieved translation after the implementation of the full registration system. With the spread of the "red and yellow light" industry restriction policy at the beginning of the year, "mass consumer enterprises with relatively traditional and low industry barriers such as food, home appliances, furniture, clothing, shoes and hats" and "fast-moving consumer beverage chain business" belong to the restricted category, and it seems that it is becoming more and more difficult for consumer-oriented enterprises to break through the IPO.
Some investors in the consumption track sighed, "Most of the consumption projects seem to be innovation in mode and packaging, unlike hard technology investment that can directly promote the progress of productivity and the development of human civilization." "In the case of limited market resources, regulators prefer to use resources to support high-tech and strategic emerging industries, which is also a major dilemma encountered by consumer enterprises.
The lack of stability in performance has also become the reason for the failure of some leading consumer companies to go public. In the past two years, consumer-oriented enterprises have been greatly affected by the epidemic, and their performance has mostly fluctuated, which is not conducive to the track of sprinting to the main board. Not to mention the general consumer-oriented enterprises, which often face multiple problems such as strong cyclicality, low ceilings, and lack of core competitiveness.
Under the influence of multiple pressures, more and more consumer enterprises choose to voluntarily withdraw materials and reroute listing. On November 13, the sponsor of the old lady's uncle, CITIC Securities, voluntarily withdrew the sponsor materials, and the main board IPO process came to an end. At the same time, the old lady chose the Beijing Stock Exchange as a way out, and the name of the old lady can be seen in the list of listed enterprises in the national small and medium-sized enterprise share transfer system.
Some companies seek to list through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Since the beginning of this year, there have been consumer-oriented enterprises such as Fanyuan International, Yanzhiwu, Guoquan, October Rice Field, Zhenjiu Lidu, and Baiguoyuan landing on the Hong Kong stock market, most of which have previously switched to Hong Kong stocks after the A-share table.
This article originated from the Financial Associated Press