Edit | Yuer Lake
Produced by | Chaoqi Network "Yu See Column"
Generally speaking, listed companies are mostly leaders in the industry. However, since 2024, the helmsman and senior management of many listed companies have been retained, but people are skeptical of this "iron law", and even caused turmoil in the secondary capital market.
For example, on the evening of March 12, Cisco Rui and Guoguang Electric announced that the company received a notice from the family of Zhang Ya, chairman of the company, on March 11, 2024, that Zhang Ya's family received the "Notice of Retention in Custody" and "Notice of Case Filing" issued by the Yongqing County Supervision Commission, and Zhang Ya was placed in lien. It is worth noting that among them, Cisco Rui and Guoguang Electric are all detained by Zhang Ya, the actual controller.
On the same day, Beyond Technology, an environmental protection company that is also an A-share listed company, announced that Gao Zhijiang, the actual controller and chairman of the board, was placed in custody and placed on file for investigation. In addition, Tianyi Shangjia, an A-share listed company in the field of rail transit, announced on the evening of March 14 that the company recently received the "Notice of Retention in Custody" and "Notice of Case Filing" issued by the Supervision Commission of Mentougou District, Beijing, and placed the company's actual controller Wu Peifang in custody.
Recently, according to the Red Star Capital Bureau, on the evening of May 12, Tianyu Digital Technology issued an announcement saying that Xu Dewei, chairman and general manager of the company, had been investigated and placed in custody by the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Supervision Commission on suspicion of joint duty violations.
"Yu Jian Column" noticed that while the retention of senior management of listed companies is emerging one after another, the military industry has also become a hard-hit area where violations of laws and regulations are investigated and core leaders are retained.
For example, according to official data from relevant departments, He Wenzhong, deputy general manager of China Electronics Technology Group Co., Ltd., is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently under supervision and investigation by relevant departments.
At almost the same time, the A-share listed company Ruichuang Micro Nano announced on April 7 that the company received the "Notice of Retention in Custody" and the "Notice of Case Filing" issued by the National Supervision Commission on April 4, and implemented retention in custody on Ma Hong, the actual controller, chairman and general manager of the company. It is understood that before the listing of Ruichuang Micro-Nano, Hikvision, a listed company controlled by China Electronics Technology Group Co., Ltd., was the largest customer of Ruichuang Micro-Nano from 2016 to 2018, and its sales contribution once accounted for more than 40% of Ruichuang's total revenue.
In addition, on April 17, the listed company of Guilin Haiwei Marine Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guilin Haiwei"), a subsidiary of BD Industrial, disclosed that it was suspended from participating in military procurement activities. Coincidentally, in 2023, the media also reported the news that a number of A-share listed companies such as Huaru Technology, Xinyu Guoke, and Aerospace Hongtu were suspended from military procurement.
It has been learned that these enterprises have been included in the tentative list of military procurement for different reasons, but without exception they have exposed that there may be deficiencies in the internal management of military enterprises, especially listed companies, and that it is urgent to standardize the operation of the industry and carry out fine management by the company.
The supervision of listed military enterprises is becoming stricter, and it is difficult to slip through the net
It has been observed that it is no accident that many listed military enterprises have been "involved" in the "whirlpool" of violating laws and disciplines. The reason for this is that the supervision of the securities market is becoming stricter, or one of the very important aspects.
According to media reports, recently, in order to promote the implementation of the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Strengthening Supervision and Risk Prevention and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Capital Market" (the new "National Nine Articles"), Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, led a team in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and other places to carry out research and supervision on the implementation of the "1+N" policy system of the capital market, further deepening the reform in an all-round way, and better serving the development of new quality productive forces.
Moreover, Wu Qing said very resolutely: resolutely rectify the problems of political and business "revolving door" and "escape resignation", and create a loyal, clean and responsible regulatory iron army.
In fact, there are many forms of internal "corruption" in listed companies. For example, it is not uncommon for some listed companies to offer bribes through equity holding in the past. As early as 2023, some media such as Shanghai Trust Circle reported that from 2009 to 2014, Northern Assets used Gao Moubo's position as chairman of Jilin Trust to facilitate project cooperation, collected "consulting fees" from Jilin Trust, and gave Gao Moubo a kickback as agreed in advance, and was punished by the CSRC.
According to the relevant administrative penalty decision, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) conducted an investigation and trial on the violation of securities laws and regulations by North Asset Management Co., Ltd. (formerly Dalian North Asset Management Co., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as North Asset), and decided to issue a warning to North Assets; Wang Xing, then the legal representative, chairman and general manager of Northern Assets, was given a warning and fined 30,000 yuan; The business qualification of Northern Asset Management Co., Ltd. was revoked. It can be seen that the stricter supervision of listed companies is an unstoppable trend.
In the military industry, various tricks and violations are also emerging in an endless stream, and they are also being severely cracked down on by relevant departments. Taking another listed company, Xinyu Guoke, as an example, according to the penalty announcement issued by the military procurement network, the Procurement and Supply Bureau of the Army Logistics Department decided to prohibit the company from participating in the procurement of materials and engineering services for 2 years from April 16, 2024 from April 16, 2024.
During the prohibition period, other enterprises controlled or managed by the legal representative Jin Weiping are prohibited from participating in the military procurement activities within the above-mentioned scope, and Hou Shuai, the bidding representative, is prohibited from participating in the military procurement activities within the above-mentioned scope on behalf of other suppliers.
According to reports, the reason for Xinyu Guoke's violation was that in participating in a project procurement activity, there were three companies including Xinyu Guoke and two other companies with similar bidding documents, which were determined to be collusive bidding with each other, and the project was invalidated, and the project was scrapped.
Source: Jiangxi Xinyu Guoke official announcement
According to BD Industrial, the aforementioned Guilin Haiwei was suspended from procurement due to the improper payment and use of funds related to the customer between 2013 and 2014.
In addition, on the evening of May 10, Xingwang Yuda announced that the company was "suspended from the qualification of the procurement of materials and engineering services for the whole army" by the Procurement and Supply Bureau of the Army Logistics Department on May 9, 2024 due to suspected violations and untrustworthy behaviors. The fact that so many enterprises have been suspended from purchasing military materials is enough to show that the military industry is being rectified on a large scale, which may trigger the industry to enter a new round of reshuffle.
Under the intensive anti-corruption campaign, where will the military industry go?
As an important industry related to the mainland's national defense undertakings, the major reshuffle of the military industry will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the pattern of the entire industry and the growth of the performance of the enterprises involved. Especially for enterprises that focus on military products and services, they may even be "uprooted".
Taking Huaru Technology as an example, it is understood that the main business of Huaru Technology is military simulation as the main line, and military simulation application products are its main products. Moreover, the company has experienced a significant decline in performance since the beginning of 2023.
According to the financial report data of Huaru Technology, its performance has begun to turn into a loss in 2023, with a loss of more than 240 million yuan (a year-on-year decrease of nearly 300%). Although Huaru Technology was included in the suspension list of military procurement in November 2023, due to Huaru Technology's over-dependence on the military business, internal and external troubles have been highlighted, and its immediate development has even fallen into crisis.
Source: Screenshot of Huaru Technology's 2023 financial report
In fact, in the first three quarters of 2023 before being "blacked" by the military procurement network, Huaru Technology's performance has been reduced, with both revenue and net profit declining, with revenue decreasing by 18.85% year-on-year to 321 million yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company of -28 million yuan.
At that time, Huaru Technology explained that due to being included in the military procurement suspension list by the military procurement network during the reporting period, the company has suspended its participation in military procurement activities since November 22, 2023.
In Sina stocks, some people in the industry even believe that after it was included in the suspension list of military procurement, Huaru Technology has made matters worse, and Zhanpeng Technology may replace its "status in the rivers and lakes". Because the data shows that Zhanpeng Technology Co., Ltd. has made corresponding protection for independent intellectual property rights, and has obtained 24 patents, 55 soft copyrights and 7 trademarks. The announcement of Huaru Technology was suspended from procurement, which is good for Zhanpeng Technology.
However, for some enterprises whose military business does not account for a high proportion of the company's overall revenue, the suspension of military procurement may not be fatal. For example, for Xinyu Guoke, which is also included in the suspension of procurement list, from 2021 to 2023, the proportion of the company's operating income with the military to the company's main business income did not exceed 1.5% every year. As a result, the company said that the matter had little impact on the company's overall operations. At the same time, this penalty decision is not an administrative penalty, and does not touch the relevant provisions of the major illegal forced delisting.
"Yu Jian's column" believes that although the impact of anti-corruption in the military industry on such enterprises is not fatal, it is enough to set an example and serve as a warning to other enterprises in the industry. Facts have proved that under the impact of the anti-corruption wave in the military industry, it has become an inevitable choice for military enterprises to carry out rapid transformation and seek the second growth curve of enterprises.
For example, Aowei Communications, a military enterprise that was also "blacked" by military procurement, announced that its holding subsidiary "Donghexin New Materials" had signed an order contract of up to 1.2 billion yuan shortly after temporarily "losing" the military business, which was also regarded by the industry as a relief in the snow.
Through the impact of Huaru Technology's suspension of procurement performance by the army, it is enough to see that enterprises that rely heavily on the military industry and have too single revenue may face a huge crisis of "putting eggs in one basket", and it is imperative to transform and seek a new growth curve.
There are still hidden concerns about the supervision of listed companies, what kind of military enterprises do the market need?
Although the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other relevant regulatory authorities have repeatedly issued orders, emphasizing that listed companies should strictly carry out internal management to prevent corruption, they are also constantly implementing some new regulatory policies to strengthen the supervision and investigation of listed companies in the military industry.
However, some listed companies do not disclose information related to the company's violations of laws and regulations in a timely manner on the grounds of "confidentiality", and even disclose the penalty information after it is announced, which will bring many problems.
On the one hand, for upstream and downstream enterprises: once a military enterprise suddenly "thunderstorms", upstream and downstream enterprises will inevitably be implicated, and even affect the whole body. As a result, it will also lead to such enterprises being unprepared for the impact, and even affect the entire military industry chain.
On the other hand, for investors in the secondary capital market: because of the objective existence of the lag in the disclosure of information punished by the regulatory authorities, who will make up for the losses of investors caused by the disclosure of information, and whether it will be patched in the future? It is also interesting to think about the adoption of investor compensation.
On the whole, when corruption incidents in the military industry emerge one after another, the entire industrial chain is also facing many uncertainties. As an outstanding representative of the industry, listed companies in the military industry should shoulder their social responsibilities and truly contribute to the mainland's national defense and military industry.
From the perspective of the market, the market also calls for a "clean and orderly" industry development environment. In the process of the rapid development of the military industry, enterprises may not only need to be driven by technology, but also start from the demand pain points of the development of the national army and from the perspective of military material supply to cheer for the combat effectiveness of the mainland troops. Moreover, it is necessary to proceed from the overall situation of the healthy development of the entire military industry chain to drive the common progress of upstream and downstream enterprises.
At the same time, as the "reserve force" of the mainland's military undertakings, it is also the most basic social responsibility of such enterprises to maintain the image of the continental army's industrial industry, enhance the brand value of military enterprises, and establish correct business values.
"Yu Jian's column" believes that only in this way can the mainland's military industry develop more healthily and steadily, and as a result, more respectable enterprises will be born. From a higher vantage point, this is also an important guarantee for the mainland to make the country rich and the people strong, and for the army to be able to defend the homeland and the country.
epilogue
Military enterprises are the most important weapons of the country. If this system is also full of cases of violations of laws and regulations, and there are bottomless business practices such as corruption everywhere, it is bound to erode the mainland's national defense undertakings, harming the interests of upstream and downstream enterprises and investors at the least, and eroding the mainland's national defense undertakings at the worst, and even endangering national security.
Therefore, the recent intensive cases of senior executives of listed companies in the military industry being investigated and included in the military procurement list should arouse the attention of relevant departments, and some enterprises that may have such business risks should be alerted so as to thoroughly deal with them. It is expected that enterprises engaged in this kind of business can return to the original intention of loving the country and supporting the army and benefiting the country and the people, instead of being consumed by the desire for profit and getting carried away.