In recent years, there have been rumors about China Resources Group's plan for China Resources C'estbon to IPO in Hong Kong, and now the matter has finally been confirmed.
According to the disclosure of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 22, China Resources Beverage (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Resources Beverage) submitted a listing application to the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Bofa Securities, Bank of China International, CITIC Securities and UBS Group as its joint sponsors.
According to the document, China Resources Beverage has 13 brands, including "Cestbon", "Zhiben Qingrun", "Honey Water Series", "Holiday Series" and "Flavored Tea", covering packaged drinking water, tea drinks, fruit juice drinks, sports drinks, and coffee drinks, with a total of 56 SKUs. In terms of retail sales in 2023, it is the fifth largest ready-to-drink soft drink company, the second largest packaged drinking water company and the largest drinking purified water company in China.
According to the latest disclosed documents, for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, the revenue of CR Beverage was RMB11.340 billion, RMB12.623 billion and RMB13.515 billion, respectively, showing a year-on-year growth trend. During the same period, the net profit was RMB858.9 million, RMB989 million and RMB1,331 million respectively, with a net profit margin increasing from 7.6% in 2021 to 9.9% in 2023.
At present, the packaged drinking water to which the Cestbon brand belongs is the largest category of China Resources Beverage, accounting for more than 90% of the revenue in the previous three years. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, the company's packaged drinking water revenue was 10.818 billion yuan, 11.906 billion yuan and 12.447 billion yuan, accounting for 95.4%, 94.3% and 92.1% of the total revenue, respectively. During the same period, the proportion of the company's beverage products is also increasing year by year, with revenue of 522 million yuan, 717 million yuan and 1.068 billion yuan in the previous three years, accounting for 4.6%, 5.7% and 7.9% of the total revenue respectively.
As of December 31, 2023, CR Beverage had 12 self-owned factories and 34 cooperative production partners in China, producing packaged drinking water and beverage products. In terms of sales network, the company cooperates with more than 1,000 dealers across the country, covering more than 2 million retail outlets in China.
In the past few years, CR Beverage has made a number of equity investments, including the acquisition of a 70% stake in China Resources C'estbon Beverage (Yixing) Co., Ltd. by injecting RMB753.9 million into a subsidiary in 2022, a 79% stake in Heyuan Biyouxuan Drinking Water Co., Ltd. by injecting RMB314 million into a subsidiary in 2023, and a 70% acquisition of Wuhan Huaxinda Beverage Technology Co., Ltd. (a former co-production partner of CR Beverage) in January 2024 The acquisition increased the capacity of packaged drinking water by 1 million tonnes at CR Beverage's already operational self-owned plants.
In addition to foreign investment, CR Beverage is also vigorously expanding its own production capacity. According to the documents, the company currently has five new plants and two expanded plants, the main production category of these projects is packaged drinking water, and is expected to be put into operation this year. China Resources Beverage said that in addition to the above projects, it plans to continue to expand its own production capacity in 2026 and 2027.
At present, CR Beverage has only two major shareholders, with China Resources Group (Beverage) and Plateau owning 60% and 40% of the company's equity respectively. On August 5, 2022, Plateau acquired all 400 shares of China Resources Beverage held by Kirin for a consideration of US$1 billion. After the sale of Kirin's shareholding, CR Beverage's IP cooperation with the "Kirin" brand (including afternoon milk tea, fire coffee, etc.) is expected to expire in 2025, and the relevant arrangements for IP cooperation may be considered.
The documents also show that at present, the chairman of the board of directors, executive director and president of China Resources Beverage is Zhang Weitong, who first joined the company in April 2000, served as president since December 2018, and has served as chairman of the board of directors since July 2022. In addition, Xiaoshidai noticed that on the eve of the impact on the listing, the company also brought in a number of board members from China Resources, including a new chief financial officer. According to the documents, Wu Xia has been appointed as a director and chief financial officer of China Resources Beverage since April 2024, and she worked in several subsidiaries of China Resources Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. from July 1997 to May 2009, where she was responsible for accounting-related work, and served as the deputy general manager of Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical Group from June 2020 to April 2024. This month, CR Beverage also appointed three non-executive directors, including Lin Guolong, former deputy general manager of the finance department of China Resources (Group), Sun Yongqiang, former vice president of China Resources Land, and Xiao Ning, former deputy general manager of China Resources Chemical.
For the purpose of raising funds, CR Beverage refers to strategic expansion and optimization of production capacity, acceleration of sales channel expansion and channel efficiency, sales and marketing activities, enhancement of product research and development capabilities, digital upgrades, potential investment and mergers and acquisitions opportunities, and working capital and general corporate purposes.
Source: Synthesis snack generation
Disclaimer: The manuscripts and pictures published on this official account are used for internal communication, and the source and source of the article are indicated in a prominent position.
Beverage Industry Network
微信号：cn-beverage
Official website | http://www.cnbeverage.com