Sockets are something we use every day.
There is a saying that there are only two kinds of sockets, one is a bull, and the other is other, I don't know if you recognize it?
I agree with half of it, and it is undeniable that the quality of the Bull product is really good, but other brands still have good quality.
However, it is true that the bull group started by word of mouth, the company's development history is not long, and it is unique to be able to break out in the field of small electrical appliances in the subdivision of sockets, and to be far ahead.
1. Company
The founder of the Bull Group is called "Ruan Liping", and he is also a model of self-made.
Ruan Liping was born in 1964 in a small fishing village in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, and graduated from Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, which is now the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Wuhan University.
After graduation, he worked in the Hangzhou Machinery Research Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources and served an iron rice bowl.
The popularity of sockets is relatively early, where there is electricity, sockets are generally used, in the eighties and nineties, electrical appliances have begun to be popularized, and the demand for sockets has also grown rapidly.
But at that time, our industrial system had not yet been formed, and many things were produced in family workshops.
In Ruan Liping's hometown, there are a lot of "families" as sockets, including his relatives and friends.
At that time, the dissemination of information was very backward, and the promotion of products could only rely on two legs.
Ruan Liping has a dormitory in Hangzhou, so he naturally became the object of the villagers.
In fact, the socket has no technical content, it is nothing more than a plastic box with a few pieces of copper in it, and then connect the wires and it's done.
Even so, in order to save costs, the quality of the sockets is very poor, and it won't take long at all, and everyone is competing at low prices.
Ruan Liping saw a business opportunity in this, and he thought at that time that if he made a socket that "does not break", it would definitely be very popular.
So in 1995, he resigned decisively, returned to his hometown, borrowed 20,000 yuan, and started a business.
This year is also a more important year in the NBA, the Flyer "Jordan" led the Bulls to win 4 championships in 5 years.
Ruan Liping is also a basketball fan, so he simply named the company he just founded "Bull".
When the people around him knew that he wanted to make a socket that was not bad, they dissuaded him from the perspective of his predecessors, thinking that the cost would be too high if the quality was too good, so he had to sell at a high price, which was not an ordinary product.
But Ruan Liping doesn't think so, he just wants to differentiate the competition.
So the first step of starting a business, he did not rush to produce low-quality products step by step, but invested money in R&D and design.
This point in those days had to be said to be very avant-garde.
If you want to have excellent quality, you must be willing to invest in materials, so the cost of materials from the beginning of the bull is more than twice that of others.
In addition to being willing to invest in costs, it is also ingenious in design.
The current plug-in boards are all with switches, but there was no one before, and the first one is the bull, which has been used until now.
He thought very simply, there is no switch in the socket, so when the power is off, he can only pull the plug, and it is easy to break if he pulls it out too much, so he designed a switch to control it.
After these details were done, the bull didn't actually promote it at first, because there was no money.
But the reputation is particularly good, because the things that are used every day, whether the product is good or not will speak.
So although the early stage is a little slower, the good thing is that the company is small in scale and low in cost, which is nothing more than boiling.
But once it gets through, the growth rate will be exponential growth, and sure enough, in 2001, in just 6 years of entrepreneurship, Bull made the market share of sockets the first, taking away more than 20%.
In fact, there is an inevitable logic in this, the socket is a low-frequency daily consumer product, buy one can be used for many years, plus the unit price is not expensive, so consumers will spend more money to buy a better one for safety reasons.
Even now, the power strip of the bull is more expensive than the average one, but many people still buy it, which shows that everyone thinks so in their hearts.
But after all, there is no technical content in the socket, as long as you want to do a good job, anyone can do a good job of quality, and it is obvious that this cannot become a long-term moat.
At this time, Ruan Liping found a teacher, that is, "Wahaha".
In fact, there were better learning objects at that time, such as Coca-Cola, Master Kong, etc., all of which were companies that did particularly well in offline channels.
However, Coca-Cola used direct sales at that time, and Master Kong used "intensive cultivation of channels", both of which took huge manpower, material and financial resources to get up early, and there was no imitation.
Wahaha is different, he uses a "joint sales system", simply put, it is a level of agents, the dealer first pays and then picks up the goods, but before picking up the goods, Wahaha will pay a relatively high interest on the advance payment.
The advantage of this is that the development speed is very fast, and there is no need to build a huge channel system by yourself.
However, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, Wahaha's control over the terminal is actually very small, such as frequent price confusion, and even cross-selling behavior between regions.
Bull has optimized on the basis of Wahaha, he has cut the intermediary link and mastered the distribution channel in his own hands, but the terminal point is not controlled, similar to direct wholesale.
In the words of the Bull Group itself, it is called "distribution and sales".
And in this process, Bull adopted a very powerful method, that is, to help the terminal replace the shop signboard.
Signs like the one above have been seen by everyone, whether in the city or in the countryside.
According to the information in the 2023 annual report, Bull now has more than 750,000 hardware channel sales points and more than 250,000 digital channel sales points, that is, more than 1 million sales terminals.
We have a total of 1,299 counties, 977 municipal districts, 397 county-level cities, 117 autonomous counties, 49 banners, 3 autonomous banners, 1 special zone, and 1 forest area.
(I used the encyclopedia directly for these data, and I didn't verify it, anyway, it's about the same.) ）
That is, there are a total of 2,844 counties, which means that Bull has an average of 352 sales terminals per county.
It is precisely because of this advantage that Bull has continued to launch new products in recent years, many of which are growing rapidly, and they do not need to be vigorously promoted, just send them directly to the shelves of millions of stores.
2. Business
There are many products of Bull Group, because there are too many models, if they are generally divided, they are mainly "electrical connectors, lamps, and new energy".
1. Connector
Electrical connectors are all kinds of sockets, and as a product that the company relied on, there is a significant story in it.
In 2015, the Bulls had long been dominant, and there was no rival at all.
But at this time, Xiaomi's plug-in board was born, and the two features quickly became popular all over the network.
One is the design, Xiaomi's things are generally good-looking, and they are very good at catching the attention of young people.
The other is that Xiaomi's power strip has 3 USB charging holes on it, which is too attractive in the era of smartphone popularization.
Therefore, in a short period of time, driven by the majority of rice noodles, the growth rate of the socket has the momentum of impacting the status of the bull.
Ruan Liping smelled a strong sense of crisis and immediately decided to upgrade his products.
Three months later, the Bull launched the same socket, and the design and quality are still very online, so although the Bull missed the opportunity in that battle, the ending was not bad.
Later, Ruan Liping also publicly talked about this, he was grateful to Xiaomi, if there was no offensive and defensive battle, the bull might have been eliminated by the new era.
I believe that these words are sincere, and normal market competition can be carried to a higher level.
That is, after that time, it may have been a lingering feeling, and immediately began to carry out large-scale reforms.
There are two main aspects of change, one is that the product is no longer positioned in the three words "not bad", but as the annual report said, it has made great efforts in intelligence, high-end and fashion.
Another aspect is the channel, although there were so many sales terminals before, but most of them were "shop-in-shop" models, that is, Bull's products are only part of the merchant's sales, and other products are also sold.
Now there are more and more flagship stores in all categories of Bull, I have deliberately been to many cities to see, which may also have something to do with the increasing variety of products over the years, there are really many products in the flagship store, and the grade of the store is not a level of roadside hardware stores.
In addition to various sockets, electrical connectors also have digital accessories, such as mobile phone chargers that we commonly use.
I have bought Apple's original charger and also bought a bull's, the quality is not better than the original, this can't be compared, because it's all good, but the price of the bull is less than half.
In 2023, Bull's electrical connector product sales will exceed 590 million pieces, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, which is really terrifying.
However, it can also be understood that a traditional manufacturing company can make offline channels invincible, and online sales are also the first, and it makes sense that the performance is good.
2. Lighting
Lighting is mainly divided into two categories, one is the wall switch, that is, the control lamp, and the other is all kinds of lamps.
This has to be praised by Bull Group, in the case of the real estate downturn to this extent, the company's revenue from this business is still 7.9 billion, and a year-on-year increase of 15.37%.
From a conventional point of view, the main scene of buying wall sockets and lights is the decoration of a new house, since the house is not easy to sell, how can these two things grow so much?
There are two main reasons, one is that the market share continues to increase, and the typical is that foreign brands are gradually declining, such as the Siemens wall switch, which was very popular in the past few years, and now it is not so popular.
The other is the expansion of the category, this business not only has wall switches and lights, but also bath bombs, smart door locks, clothes dryers, etc., which are all new products of Bull in the past two years.
Because the brand power is relatively strong and there are enough offline stores, these new products are performing well.
Therefore, Bull said in the annual report: "Overcome the challenge of deep adjustment of the real estate industry".
This list of achievements has really proved that it has been overcome, and I am sure that it will continue to do well this year.
There are also lamps and lanterns, and there are more types of products, both domestic and public.
I think last year's bull's lamps and lanterns were upgraded quite a lot, and those conventional lamps in the past have been used for so many years, and they are already very mediocre.
Now look at Bull's new products, the design style is completely different, such as modern simplicity, light luxury and so on.
Speaking of this lamp, I have to mention the "no master lamp" that has been very popular in recent years.
As the name suggests, there is no main lamp in the room, but a lot of scattered small lights are installed, and I think many young people's houses are designed like this.
Of course, the advantages are obvious, in order to ensure sufficient brightness, the main light in the past will be relatively large, and it is difficult to make aesthetics, which is generally installed on the ceiling in the middle of the house, either ceiling or hanging down.
Then naturally it is impossible to achieve the high cleanliness of the whole house, especially for the simple style, the ordinary main lamp cannot be used at all, it is too ugly.
After the main light is dispersed, it can appear in any corner you want to install in various forms, and if you use all downlights or light strips, the whole house can be flat.
If you want to add a sense of embellishment in a certain position, you can also install a row of track lights, and the design sense will come out immediately.
This is also the reason why young people like it so much now, but the disadvantages are actually obvious.
Regardless of the price, the main lamp is definitely more expensive than the main lamp, at least the consumption of the wire will increase a lot of cost, of course, as long as it can look good, it is not a problem to be expensive.
However, the main light is suitable for houses with relatively high floors, and it is not suitable for houses with low floors.
Because whether it is a downlight or a light strip, it must be suspended, if the height of the house is relatively low, it is no problem to circle the ceiling around, and it will not look depressing.
However, if the whole room is suspended, it is generally about 20cm down, and the room will appear very short, and it is uncomfortable to live for a long time.
In my opinion, those with a floor height of less than 2.7 meters are not suitable for the use of no main light.
And there is a very important point, no main lamp on the design requirements are relatively high, not just choose a few positions to install on the line, if so, it is better to use a main lamp.
However, ordinary decoration designers basically don't understand lighting design, so many different types of small lights, how to match and how to match, there is technical content.
However, many people don't seem to realize this, of course, for the Bull Group, they must be happy to see this scene, so he doesn't care how to install it after buying it, just buy it.
Now the bull's non-main lamp brand is called "Muguang", the name is very good, or more conscientious, may also be aware that ordinary consumers do not have this matching ability, so last year the international lighting master launched the "Muguang" package.
I have also deliberately looked at this package a few times, and it can only be said that it is leading in the lighting brand, but there is still room for improvement, and because it is a solution, the price is not cheap.
The company's lighting business also performed very well last year, with sales of more than 900 million pieces, a year-on-year increase of 22.27%, which is very good.
3. New energy
Now it should be that all companies related to "electricity" are embracing new energy from all angles, and Bull is no exception.
Although this business has just started, last year's revenue was only 380 million, but the year-on-year growth was as high as 148.64%, which is very fast, of course, mainly because of the low base.
Bull Group's new energy business is mainly automotive charging piles and energy storage, but these two businesses are separated from the advantage of "channels", so I think it will be difficult.
It's too early to discuss the possibilities of the future, so let's see.
3. Performance
The performance of the Bull Group in recent years has been good, and it has been growing continuously for several years.
Last year's revenue was 15.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.46%, and it continued in the first quarter of this year, with revenue of 3.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14%.
As mentioned earlier, last year's sales volume of each business increased to varying degrees, and then the gross profit margin was also very strong.
The gross profit margin in 2023 will reach 43.2%, an increase of 5.2 percentage points compared to 2022, and the revenue will of course increase.
And the gross profit margin in the first quarter of this year is still at this level, and this year's performance will not be bad.
The net profit performance was also good, with increased revenue and profits.
In 2023, the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 3.87 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.37%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company in the first quarter of this year will be 930 million, a year-on-year increase of 26.27%.
This year's net profit margin is almost exactly the same as last year's, and the cost control is in place.
Although the expenses are increased, but the amount is not large, last year's sales expenses of 1.07 billion, a lot of advertising, management expenses of 600 million, mainly due to the increase in equity incentives, research and development expenses of 670 million, sockets and lamps research and development did not cost much.
Financial expenses have been negative for five consecutive years, and the monetary funds of 4 or 500 million yuan on the account will also collect more than 1 billion yuan in interest a year.
The debt of the Bull Group has always been very low, there has been no long-term borrowing over the years, and it has made real money every year.
At present, the asset-liability ratio is only 27.5%, and among the total liabilities of 5.86 billion, interest-bearing liabilities are actually only more than 1 billion, and payables and contract liabilities account for most of them.
This is due to a very good cash flow performance.
Last year's operating cash flow was particularly good, reaching 4.83 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.9%, and in the first quarter of this year, it was also good, reaching 1.52 billion, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year.
The company's main business has been very mature, and there is no relatively large capital expenditure, and it is foreseeable that it will be able to operate steadily and make money in the future.
Bull Group originally took electrical connectors as its main business, and then successfully built the second growth curve of lighting, which is not easy.
Now new energy should be one of the choices for the company to incubate the third growth curve, and the difficulty is definitely greater than the lighting business, after all, there are too many masters in this industry, and now it is in a state of fierce competition.
Therefore, there is no need to take the new energy business into account in a short period of time, and do not blindly exaggerate when valuing.
There is also the socket, the bull already has a very high market share, and it is not realistic to want to increase it more.
However, the lighting industry is still relatively scattered, with a market size of about 300 billion, although the overall growth rate of the industry is also very slow, but there are many brands, and the industry concentration CR10 is only about 10%.
This is the main source of the Bulls' future performance growth, and it is possible to go to the next level.
Fourth, summary
Bull Group is certainly a good company, and it is also very stable, but the market value is really not low, especially since it has risen a lot this year.
However, for a company that has only been listed for 4 years, the market value is likely to fluctuate greatly, so you can be patient and wait.
The company doesn't have much to spend money on, and the dividends are not stingy.
Last year, it was divided into nearly 2.2 billion, with a dividend of 33 yuan per 10 shares, and this year it is slightly less, with a dividend of 31 yuan per 10 shares, but the dividend amount is 2.76 billion, accounting for 71.4% of the net profit attributable to the parent company, which is very generous.
It's just that the market capitalization is a bit high now, which leads to a little lower dividend, and there are no other drawbacks.
I made the following table of "A-share Core Assets Research Summary", which selects hundreds of high-quality companies and attaches tens of thousands of words of analysis methods.
All companies analyzed will update their data in the table above.
Exploring the study of corporate fundamentals together, the gains are bound to be huge.
#财经#