Hu Jiajia, the second generation of Meibang Clothing, resigned as chairman after 7 years in charge, and his father Zhou Chengjian was nominated as a director.

The "second generation" of Meibang clothing has been in charge for 7 years.

On January 5, Shanghai Metersbonwe Apparel Co., Ltd. (Meibang Apparel, 002269. SZ) announced that Hu Jiajia applied for resignation as chairman, director, member of the nomination committee, member of the remuneration and assessment committee and chairman of the strategy committee of the company's sixth board of directors for personal reasons. After his resignation, Hu Jiajia will continue to serve as the company's president.

It is worth noting that with Hu Jiajia's resignation, it was the announcement that Zhou Chengjian was elected as a non-independent director. Zhou Chengjian is the executive director and actual controller of Shanghai Huafu Investment Co., Ltd., the controlling shareholder of Meibang Apparel, that is, the actual controller of Meibang Apparel, and does not directly hold the company's shares, and Zhou Chengjian's other identity is Hu Jiajia's father.

According to the announcement, recommended by the company's controlling shareholder Shanghai Huafu Investment Co., Ltd. and reviewed by the nomination committee of the company's board of directors, the company's board of directors agreed to nominate Zhou Chengjian as a non-independent director candidate for the company's sixth board of directors, and the term of office will be from the date of deliberation and approval of the company's general meeting of shareholders to the date of expiration of the term of the sixth board of directors.

Before the election of the new chairman, Lin Xiaodong, a director of the company, convened and presided over the board meeting and presided over the general meeting of shareholders.

Founder Zhou Chengjian is expected to return to power?

According to the announcement, Zhou Chengjian began to do business on an individual basis in May 1984, and opened the first Meters-Bonwe store in Wenzhou in 1995 to implement brand chain operation. Prior to that, Zhou Chengjian served as the general manager of Wenzhou Kailisha Garment Factory, the chairman of Wenzhou Metersbonwe Garment Co., Ltd., the chairman of Wenzhou Metersbonwe Co., Ltd., the chairman and president of Metersbonwe Group Co., Ltd., and the chairman of the company's first three board of directors. At the same time, Zhou Chengjian is also the executive director and actual controller of Shanghai Huafu Investment Co., Ltd., and the actual controller of Meibang Apparel, but does not directly hold the company's shares.

It can be said that it was Zhou Chengjian who single-handedly expanded the brand of Metersbonwe and grew into an A-share listed company.

On November 21, 2016, Zhou Jiancheng handed over the seal, and his daughter Hu Jiajia officially took over the power of Meibang clothing. Meibang announced that Zhou Chengjian applied to the company's board of directors to resign from his positions as chairman of the company, director and members of various special committees under the board of directors, and at the same time applied for resignation as the company's president. In addition, the board of directors of the company agreed to elect Hu Jiajia as the chairman of the board of directors of the company, and at the same time appointed Hu Jiajia as the president of the company.

Different from his father Zhou Chengjian's EMBA education, Hu Jiajia was born in 1986, has a master's degree, and has a professional marketing background. He graduated in Marketing from Aston University in 2010 and obtained a Master's degree in Fashion Marketing from Istituto Marangoni in London in 2011. After graduating from university, from 2011 to 2016, Hu Jiajia worked in the President's Office, Metersbonwe Footwear Development and Operation Department, Brand Marketing Department, and Strategic Development Department in Metersbonwe. until he was finally appointed chairman and president of the company.

However, before Hu Jiajia took over, the performance of Meibang clothing had already declined. Data shows that in 2013, the number of Meibang clothing stores reached a peak, with a total of 5,220, but since then it has plummeted. In 2013, the net profit of Meibang fell to 405 million yuan from 850 million yuan in the previous year. By the third quarter of 2023, the third quarter financial report shows that the company's operating income during the period is about 837 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.49%, and the net profit is about 41.64 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 105.48%, but after deducting non-profits, the net profit is -96.11 million yuan. As of the first half of 2023, the number of stores has fallen below 1,000, of which the number of directly operated stores has decreased to 26, and the number of franchised stores has decreased to 899. According to incomplete statistics, in the more than 7 years since Hu Jiajia took over, the cumulative loss of net profit attributable to the parent company of Meibang Apparel is nearly 3.2 billion yuan.

In recent years, the financial pressure caused by losses has forced Meibang Apparel to sell its assets to maintain the normal operation of the company.

In December 2023 alone, Meibang Apparel issued 4 announcements on the sale of assets. These include: 1. The shop held by the proposed company located in the middle section of Times Square, Shengli Road, Donghu District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, is finally determined to be 170 million yuan after negotiation;2. The shop held by the company is located at No. 48, Kangjian Middle Road, Xinzhou District, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, and the transaction price is finally determined to be 60 million yuan after negotiation; 3. The proposed sale of the shop held by the company located at No. 1-10101, Wanda Xintiandi, East Street, Beilin District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, was finally determined to be 40 million yuan after negotiation;4. The proposed sale of the store held by the company located at No. 43, Dakejia Lane, Jinjiang District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, the transaction price was finally determined to be 680 million yuan after negotiation.

Not only that, just a few days before the latest personnel appointment and dismissal announcement, on December 26, Hu Jiajia also received a warning letter issued by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau. On the same day, Meibang issued an announcement saying that Hu Jiajia, chairman and president of the company, received a warning letter issued by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau on December 26, 2023. According to the announcement, from May 2018 to December 2019, Meibang provided financial assistance to new franchisees with greater financial pressure to pay for their store rent and decoration investment, with a maximum daily balance of 228 million yuan. However, as of September 30, 2023, the unrecovered balance was 43.9985 million yuan. This fact was not disclosed by the Company in the form of an interim announcement until July 4, 2023. For failing to perform the review procedures and timely disclosure, Hu Jiajia was issued a warning letter by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau.

As of the announcement date on January 5, Hu Jiajia held 225 million shares, accounting for 8.96% of the company's total share capital.

Under the pressure of performance, traditional clothing has increased its live broadcast business

There are certainly reasons for performance pressure behind the personnel changes, but Zhou Chengjian's return also hints at the transformation of Meibang Apparel to live broadcast.

Starting in 2023, Meibang Apparel has made frequent moves in the field of e-commerce.

In May 2023, the headquarters of Metersbonwe e-commerce will be settled in Binjiang District, Hangzhou. Subsequently, Hangzhou Meterss Digital Industry Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Meterss Digital Industry Co., Ltd. were established one after another. Tianyancha shows that the two companies were registered and established on June 7 and 12, 2023 respectively, and the company's legal representative, general manager and executive director are Zhou Chengjian, the founder of Meibang Apparel, with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. In addition to regular sales business, the business scope of the two companies also includes Internet live streaming technology services and performance brokerage.

On July 23, 2023, Meibang Apparel announced that the company's shares on July 20 and July 21 for two consecutive trading days, the closing price of the company's shares deviated by more than 20% cumulatively, reaching 2 consecutive boards. At the same time, a notice on the relocation of the headquarters of Meibang Apparel from Shanghai to Hangzhou e-commerce headquarters in July circulated on the Internet. At that time, the industry generally speculated that the two boards may be related to Meibang's entry into the live broadcast business.

In October of the same year, Meibang disclosed more progress about the live broadcast business on the interactive platform. According to the company, Douyin is at the core of the current digital strategy, reconstructing the consumption scene in line with today's era through the creation of live broadcast scenarios. The company not only has a Douyin base in Hangzhou, but also a video account base in Guangzhou.

It is not uncommon for traditional clothing brands to deploy live e-commerce. In recent years, many traditional clothing brands have turned to live streaming platforms.

On December 18 last year, the domestic clothing brand Semir (002563. SZ) announced the official opening of its live broadcast Wenzhou base in Ouhai, Zhejiang.

In addition, Semir has also created two new brands "VIVID BOX" and "Shuku SHUKU" one after another, cooperating with Douyin head authors Batu & Bogu and Jia Nailiang respectively.

On December 18 last year, Semir also revealed that in 2022, the live broadcast performance of Semir e-commerce will exceed 3 billion yuan.

With Semir in front, it seems understandable that Meibang has high hopes for the live broadcast business.

As of the close of trading on January 5, Meibang Apparel fell 1.20% to close at 1.65 yuan, and Semir Apparel fell 0.17% to close at 5.88 yuan.