In the capital market, the road to listing of enterprises is often accompanied by countless twists and turns.
Recently, there has been news in the cross-border e-commerce capital market, and the listing of cross-border enterprises has been suspended.
The listing of KONE Technology was suspended
KONE Technology, which is in the process of sprinting for listing on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is shown as "suspended" in the project status of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
It is understood that the reason for the suspension of KONE Technology's listing is that the financial information recorded in the issuance and listing application documents has expired, and it is necessary to submit supplementary and updated financial information in order to continue the IPO review process.
In August 2013, KONE was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code of 01249.HK. HK。
However, in 2021, KONE Technology completed its privatization and delisting from Hong Kong stocks.
In September 2022, KONE submitted an IPO application in China.
On March 2, 2023, KONE Technology's main board IPO application materials were accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
It is expected to raise 1.015 billion yuan this time, which will be mainly used for the upgrading of manufacturing technology in the factory area, the construction of R&D center, and the expansion and replenishment of electroacoustic product production capacity. The sponsor of this issuance is Huatai United Securities, and the auditor is Dahua Certified Public Accountants.
On March 30, 2023, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued an inquiry letter to KONE Technology.
In May 2023, KONE replied to the relevant questions in the inquiry letter of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
On June 30, 2023, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued another opinion implementation letter to KONE Technology.
On July 28, 2023, KONE passed the Listing Committee meeting.
On November 6, 2023, KONE Technology entered the process of submitting an application for registration with the Securities Regulatory Commission.
Now, however, KONE's path to IPO has come to a standstill for the time being.
According to public information, KONE Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "KONE Technology") was formerly known as TCL KONE Electronics (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., which was established by TCL Holdings (BVI) Co., Ltd. with a capital of 16 million yuan in January 2000. The company is mainly engaged in the design, development, manufacturing and sales of acoustic products and smart products, including DVD, Bluetooth speakers and Soundbar and other smart products.
In the early days of the company's development, KONE provided ODM business for Philips, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, LG and other world-renowned brands, and the shipment volume reached the first place in the world at that time.
Later, with the rapid development of the electronics industry and the decline of the DVD industry, KONE began to transform into acoustic products.
After years of development, KONE Technology has established a solid cooperative relationship with many well-known international and domestic consumer electronics and Internet brand enterprises, and the group's various products are sold to the global market through customers.
At present, KONE Technology has reached stable cooperative relations with Amazon, Anker Innovations, Harman, Sony, Samsung, Jabra, OPPO, Alibaba, Google, ByteDance, Lenovo and other companies.
In 2020, Anker Innovations ranked as the fifth largest customer of KONE Technology, and its main products were wearable devices, with an annual purchase value of about 400 million yuan.
As a supplier of major well-known enterprises, KONE Technology has a very big advantage in the supply chain.
KONE has achieved lean and intelligent production at the supply chain end, and KONE has established five manufacturing bases in Huizhou, Beihai and Vietnam, with global manufacturing capabilities, which can effectively reduce the risk of trade barriers.
According to the prospectus information of KONE Technology, the company's shipments of Bluetooth speakers, soundbars and other products rank first in the world.
In recent years, KONE Technology has ushered in rapid development, and its performance has maintained steady growth.
In 2022, KONE's revenue exceeded the 10 billion yuan mark, and its net profit reached 372 million yuan.
In the first three quarters of 2023, KONE Technology has achieved a revenue of about 6.7-7 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent company has also reached 340-380 million yuan, almost catching up with the net profit for the whole year of 2022.
From the perspective of revenue structure, the product with the highest revenue contribution is speakers, which have been stable at more than 50% in the past three years, and KONE has become an important supplier of world-renowned consumer electronics brands.
KONE's second largest product is wearable devices, and KONE's third largest product is AIoT products.
KONE Technology's product outreach is inseparable from its long-term R&D investment. KONE Technology has set up R&D centers in Huizhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Wuhan and Malaysia, with a R&D team of more than 1,400 people, forming a series of core technologies in product simulation, algorithms, radio frequency, acoustics and other aspects.
KONE faces multiple risk factors
Although the market performance of KONE Technology is not bad, it still faces many risk factors in the process of development.
First, KONE is facing the same problem as many foundries, that is, raw materials, especially core raw materials such as chips, are too dependent on external procurement. Because the company's product patents are mainly focused on headphone noise reduction, processing technology and Internet of Things. It is understood that KONE Technology's chips and other raw materials are mainly purchased from semiconductor companies such as MediaTek and Texas Instruments.
Secondly, the cost of raw materials accounts for more than 80% of the cost of the company's main business, which will have a great impact on the company's operating performance. In the future, if the economic situation changes, the supply of upstream capacity or the supplier's operating policy is adjusted, it may lead to significant fluctuations in the price of the main raw materials purchased by the company, which will directly affect the company's operation and profitability.
Third, the asset-liability ratio of KONE Technology is significantly higher than that of its peers. According to the prospectus information released by KONE Technology, from 2020 to 2022, KONE Technology's asset-liability ratios are 72.37%, 75.31% and 54.95% respectively. During the same period, the average asset-liability ratio of companies in the same industry was 61.16%, 56.54% and 50.06%, and the asset-liability ratio of KONE Technology was about 5%-15% higher than that of its peers.
Fourth, the profitability of KONE Technology is not good, and the ability to resist risks is relatively weak.
The gross profit margin of KONE Technology during the reporting period was 13.85%, 13.78% and 14.75% respectively, which was relatively stable. However, the net profit margin in the reporting period was 4.18%, 2.92% and 3.71% respectively, showing a downward trend of fluctuations.
The last risk factor that cannot be ignored is over-reliance on individual customers. In recent years, KONE's top five customers include Samsung (including Harman), Sony, Flextronics, A and Amazon, and the sales revenue of these customers accounts for more than 70% of the company's main business revenue. Long-term over-reliance on individual customers is detrimental to the company's development, the company's revenue is greatly affected by the operating conditions of these customers, and if the payment cycle, order volume or payment ability of major customers changes, the company's cash flow will be directly affected.
For KONE Technology, if it wants to achieve long-term development in overseas markets and successfully list in the future, it is necessary to be vigilant against the above risk factors, and at the same time pay attention to building its own competitiveness in the market.