Produced by | At the forefront of entrepreneurship
Author | Wang Yajing
Edit | Egg total
American Editor | Li Yufei
Audit | Ode
In the first year after the end of the new crown epidemic, Aotai Biotech handed over a rather dismal report card.
In 2023, Aotai Biotech will achieve revenue of 755 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 77.73%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 181 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 84.76%.
The reason for this dramatic change begins with the pandemic.
Founded in 2009, Aotai Biotech is a company focusing on POCT (point-of-care diagnosis) in vitro rapid diagnostic reagent products, and in 2019, the company's revenue reached 241 million yuan.
Until the outbreak of the new crown epidemic at the end of 2019, Aotai Biotech developed a new crown detection reagent in February 2020, and since then, Aotai Biotech's performance has skyrocketed.
Wind data shows that from 2020 to 2022, the company's revenue will be 1.136 billion yuan, 1.873 billion yuan, and 3.389 billion yuan respectively, maintaining a rapid growth rate of more than 60% every year.
Now, because of the dissipation of the new crown epidemic, the soaring progress of Aotai Biotech in the past three years has come to an abrupt end, and the stock price has fallen again and again. Wind data shows that as of the close of trading on May 10, Aotai Biotech closed at 65.37 yuan / share, down about 54% from the highest point of 140.90 yuan / share in the session.
When the "performance myth" brought about by the new crown epidemic can no longer be told, where should we find a new way out for Aotai Biotech?
1. The performance plummeted, and the actual controller paid dividends of more than 500 million yuan in 4 years
According to the 2023 financial report of Aotai Biotech, during the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 755 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 77.73%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 181 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 84.76%.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
Regarding the decline in performance, Aotai Biotech explained that the main reason was that the sales revenue of new crown antigen detection products during the reporting period decreased significantly compared with the same period last year.
According to the data, in 2023, Aotai Biotech's revenue from new crown detection products will be 89.0271 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 96.89%.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
The new crown detection reagent, which affects the performance trend of Aotai Biotech, took only about 20 days to develop.
On January 21, 2020, Aotai Biotech officially established a new coronavirus research and development project team; On February 10 of the same year, a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV IgG/IgM) antibody detection kit was developed.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Prospectus)
This has brought 3 years of "rich days" to Aotai Biotech.
Wind data shows that from 2020 to 2022, the company's revenue will be 1.136 billion yuan, 1.873 billion yuan, and 3.389 billion yuan respectively; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 679 million yuan, 766 million yuan and 1.184 billion yuan respectively.
(Photo / Wind (unit: 100 million yuan))
During this period, Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang, the actual controllers of Aotai Biotechnology, also made a lot of money.
It is understood that Gao Fei holds the company's shares through himself, Qunze Investment and Saida Investment, of which Qunze Investment is wholly owned by Gao Fei and his spouse Wu Weiqun; Saida Investment is an employee stock ownership platform, and Gao Fei is the largest shareholder holding 41.2896% of the shares. Zhao Huafang holds shares of the company through Jingguan Investment, which is jointly held by Zhao Huafang and Gao Fei.
According to the data, from 2020 to 2022, enterprises will distribute cash dividends of 108 million yuan, 216 million yuan, and 529 million yuan respectively. During the same period, Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang directly and indirectly controlled a total of 69.9414%, 52.42% and 52.42% of the company's shares.
If calculated in this way, Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang shared a total of 466 million yuan in cash dividends through themselves and the Qunze Investment, Saida Investment, and Jingguan Investment controlled by them.
Now, with the dissipation of the epidemic, the past glory of Aotai Biotech is no longer there, and its performance has plummeted, but this has not affected the company's dividends.
According to the financial report, the company plans to distribute cash dividends of 116 million yuan (tax included) in 2023, and Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang directly and indirectly control a total of 52.76% of the equity.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
2. "Lying to earn" has become a thing of the past, eager for change
Aotai Biotech was not founded by Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang at the earliest.
In 2009, the predecessor of Aotai Biotech, Aotai Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Puirer Biotech), was established with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan, and Yang Meiyun and Yao Haifeng held 80% and 20% of the shares respectively. Since then, Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang have entered the company one after another and controlled the real power.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Prospectus)
Aotai Biotech is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of in vitro diagnostic reagents, mainly including new crown detection, infectious diseases, drugs and drug abuse, women's health, tumors, myocardium, others and other rapid diagnostic reagent products.
Not all of these products are self-developed by Aotai Biotech, and many of them are mainly based on ODM mode. In 2023, the company's ODM model will achieve revenue of 500 million yuan, while the revenue realized by its own brand will only be half of the ODM business, which will be 252 million yuan.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
From the point of view of sales channels, foreign countries are the main positions of Aotai Biotechnology. In 2023, the revenue from abroad will reach 695 million yuan, accounting for 92% of the main business income. Among them, the European Union is the most important overseas market for Aotai Biotech.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
The EU market is about to bring more challenges to Aotai Biotech. It is reported that the company's in vitro diagnostic reagent products are sold in the European Union and are subject to the local in vitro diagnostic medical device directive (IVDD, 98/79/EC).
In May 2017, the European Union officially released the new version of the in vitro diagnostic medical device regulation (IVDR, EU2017/746);
In December 2021, the European Union released a gradual implementation plan, in which Class A non-sterile products will be mandatory from May 2022, and Class D, Class C, Class B and Class A sterilized products will be implemented in May 2025, May 2026 and May 2027 respectively.
The new IVDR regulations are more complex and stringent in classifying IVD products, and imposes stricter requirements on manufacturers, further emphasizing the responsibilities of manufacturers and strengthening post-market regulatory requirements for products, if the requirements are not met, the business will suffer.
Aotai Biotech admits that after the implementation of the new regulation IVDR, it will have a certain impact on the company's existing ODM business model.
Just without the new crown detection reagent as a reliance, and about to face the change of the main export market policy, Aotai Biotech is eager to change.
At the same time as the release of the 2023 financial report, Aotai Biotech released a version of the 2024 annual action plan of "improving quality, efficiency and return".
Among them, in the region, the company stated that it will actively build a positive layout of domestic and foreign markets, will speed up the registration process of Chinese and American products, and comprehensively increase the market share of the Chinese and American markets.
In the 2023 financial report, Aotai Biotech did not disclose the sales in the US market, but the domestic market only contributed 57.7474 million yuan in revenue, a year-on-year decrease of 91.81%.
Obviously, Aotai Biotech still has a long way to go from opening the domestic market.
In terms of products, the company decided to increase research and development efforts, but judging from the results, except for the new crown detection reagent, which has created a "miracle", the rest of the products are still difficult to support a new world.
In 2023, the revenue of infectious diseases, drugs and drug abuse products will exceed the threshold of 100 million yuan, 275 million yuan and 204 million yuan respectively, and the rest of the products will be below 100 million yuan.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
It can be said that these products cannot support the rapid development of performance like new crown detection reagents in a short period of time.
3. The stock price is cut in half, and shareholders cash out at a high level
Looking back on March 2021, Aotai Biotech successfully landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with the help of the popularity of new crown detection reagents.
At the beginning of the listing, the company was also highly sought after by capital. According to the data, the issue price of Aotai Biotech was 133.67 yuan per share, and the total amount of funds raised was 1.805 billion yuan and the net amount was 1.643 billion yuan, while the company's original plan to raise funds was only 398 million yuan.
In other words, Aotai Biotech overraised more than 1.2 billion yuan at the time of its IPO.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Prospectus)
In January 2022, the share price of Aotai Biotech reached an intraday high of 140.90 yuan per share.
Just when the company's stock price and performance are both rising, the shareholders of Aotai Biotech plan to reduce their holdings, and the first to reduce their holdings is Xu Jianming, the only natural person shareholder who holds more than 5% of the shares, except for Gao Fei and Zhao Huafang.
From July 2022 to January 2023, Xu Jianming reduced his holdings of 515,300 shares of the company, 135.56-140.41 yuan per share, and cashed out 58.5377 million yuan.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech announcement)
In addition to Xu Jianming, there are many more investors who are "fleeing".
Wind data shows that as of the close of trading on May 10, Aotai Biotech closed at 65.37 yuan / share, down about 54% from the highest point of 140.90 yuan / share in the session, and the total market value was only 5.2 billion yuan.
On March 25, 2024, the sale restriction of Saida Investment controlled by Gaofei was lifted; On September 25, 2024, the restricted shares of Gaofei and Qunze Investment, which is controlled by Gao Fei, and Jingguan Investment, which is controlled by Zhao Huafang, will be lifted and can be listed and traded. At that time, a huge number of restricted shares will be listed and circulated, and once the actual controller sells it, the company's stock price will be further pressured.
(Photo / Aotai Biotech Financial Report)
Objectively speaking, after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, many companies have joined the research and development of new crown detection reagents, and with the receding of the epidemic, there are not a few companies with the same performance and stock price as Aotai Biotechnology, such as Shengxiang Biotechnology, Wanfu Biotechnology, Jiu'an Medical, etc.
After the epidemic dissipates, the days of these companies to achieve extraordinary performance with new crown test reagents are out of reach, and now they must climb up to save their performance and stock price, and the road ahead is destined to be a challenging and thorny road.
*Note: The title image in the article is from the photo network and is based on the VRF protocol.