Qinghai Spring Medicinal Resources Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qinghai Spring"), the parent company of Tinghua Liquor, was fined 1.8 million yuan by the market supervision department of Wuhou District, Chengdu for "improper publicity", and the 315 turmoil seems to have come to an end temporarily. Two months after March 15, the Tinghua Wine Tasting Shop resumed business with the public. On May 15th, the editor of the business visited the Beijing Tinghua Wine Tasting Store and learned that the store had opened in early May, and the store currently only sells standard packs, with a price of 5,860 yuan per bottle.
If it is said that the resumption of business after the roll call of the 315 party is the "small luck" of Tinghuajiu, then the performance of Tinghuajiu in the capital market is not so lucky. In the 37 trading days since March 15, Qinghai Spring has not only changed its "hat" to "ST Spring", but also its share price has fallen to 3.58 yuan per share. It is worth noting that since May 6, Qinghai has harvested 6 consecutive falling limits in spring. Now, when Tinghuajiu gradually comes out of the aftermath of March 15, how much will it have left for the high-end market space in the future?
"Quietly" resumed business with the outside world
Unlike the previous closed door, Tinghua Wine's tasting hall on the World Trade Center has resumed business with the public. During the visit, the editor learned that the Tinghua Wine Tasting Hall was reopened in early May. The clerk of the store said: "We have cooperated with the investigation and closed the store, but we have been working normally, but we are not open to the public." "It's worth noting that when introducing the product, the store staff has avoided talking about health benefits.
Xiaobian found in the store that the current display of products is mainly based on the standard packaging of Tinghua wine, the price is 5860 yuan / bottle, if the group purchase price is about 4688 yuan / bottle. In addition, for the Tinghua wine boutique products priced at 58,600 yuan / bottle, the store clerk said that the boutique products have been exclusively for the international market, and are no longer sold in China and have no inventory.
In view of the current store sales, the relevant departments of Tinghua Liquor said in an interview with Xiaobian that the current sales of Tinghua Liquor have basically recovered. The department did not reply to the specific sales performance and dealers.
While quietly resuming business with the outside world, Tinghua Liquor also issued a low-key notice of price increase and control of goods. Xiaobian learned from the official website of Qinghai Spring that Tinghua Liquor issued three notices: "Notice on Adjusting the Standard Price of Tinghua Liquor", "Notice on the Implementation of Limited Quota Supply of Tinghua Liquor", and "Notice on Tinghua Boutique Series Products Only for Export Sales", which made a series of adjustments to the product strategy of Tinghua Liquor. It is reported that the three "Notices" involve three major strategies: price adjustment, quantity limit, and export.
According to the "Notice on Adjusting the Standard Price of Tinghua Liquor", the company has decided to adjust the settlement price of the standard packaging of Tinghua Liquor from May 9 to 3989 yuan per bottle. Distributors who signed contracts before the issuance of this notice shall still be subject to the price before the adjustment within the scope of the annual purchase quota agreed in the agreement.
In view of the current price increase, Xiaobian found during the visit that the increase in the settlement price has not affected the transaction price in the terminal market. In the Beijing Tinghua Wine Tasting Hall, the standard price of Tinghua Wine is 5,860 yuan per bottle.
At the same time as adjusting the price, Tinghua Wine also offered a limited edition brand. According to the "Notice on the Implementation of Limited Quota Supply of Tinghua Wine", Yibin Tinghua plans to ensure the total delivery of Tinghua products to the mainland market from 2025 to 2035 is 30,000 tons. In order to ensure the production plan, the marketing rhythm and sales planning of the integrated brand, it was decided to implement a quota supply system for Tinghua Liquor from May 9. It is reported that the total number of Tinghua products put on the market every year does not exceed 3,000 tons (including sales wine, promotion wine and tasting wine), of which the planned quota does not exceed 1,000 tons, and the unplanned quota does not exceed 2,000 tons.
Cai Xuefei, a wine marketing expert, pointed out that the scarcity of ultra-high-end liquor consumer goods such as Tinghua Liquor is the core source of its premium due to its process and output.
The market value evaporated by 1.755 billion in 37 trading days
Unlike the tasting shop, which has regrouped and opened for business again, Tinghua Liquor is not so "lucky" at the capital market level.
On May 15, Shanghai Spring, the parent company of Tinghua Liquor, closed at 3.58 yuan per share, up 1.99%, with a market value of 2.102 billion yuan. In the 37 trading days since March 15, Qinghai Spring's share price has fallen from 6.57 yuan/share on March 15 to the current 3.58 yuan/share, a decrease of about 45.51%; The market value fell from 3.857 billion yuan on March 15 to 2.102 billion yuan on May 15, evaporating about 1.755 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that Qinghai Spring has harvested 8 falling limits in the past 37 trading days. Qinghai Spring fell by about 10% in the two trading days of March 18 and April 16. Not only that, since May 6, Qinghai Spring has harvested 6 consecutive falling limits.
Liquor practitioners pointed out that the stock price of Qinghai Spring fell not only after the March 15 party, but also from the perspective of the stock price throughout the year, the capital market lacked confidence in the future trend of Qinghai Spring, and the market value also continued to fall.
Since the beginning of 2024, Qinghai Spring has fallen from 7.78 yuan/share on the first trading day (January 2) to 3.58 yuan/share today, a decrease of 53.98%. The market value also fell from 4.567 billion yuan at the beginning of the year to 2.102 billion yuan, evaporating 2.465 billion yuan.
At the same time as the stock price fell sharply, Qinghai Spring also implemented other risk warnings for stock trading from May 6, and the stock abbreviation was also changed from "Qinghai Spring" to "ST Spring".
Hidden behind the implementation of other risk warnings in stock trading is the dilemma of Qinghai Spring falling into losses year after year. According to the financial report, Qinghai Spring's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies from 2020 to 2023 will be -320 million yuan, -249 million yuan, -288 million yuan and -268 million yuan respectively. After rough calculation, Qinghai Spring has accumulated a net loss of 1.125 billion yuan in the past four years.
Since entering 2024, Qinghai's spring losses have not stopped. According to the data of the first quarterly report, the net profit loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies in Qinghai Spring from January to March was 27 million yuan.
As for whether Qinghai Spring can pick up the hat by turning around losses, liquor practitioners pointed out that for Qinghai Spring, there are certain challenges in turning around losses. However, from the perspective of capital market performance, there are many factors that affect the stock price and market value of enterprises, including the development of enterprises themselves and the overall investment environment. At present, if it wants to boost the performance of the capital market, Qinghai Spring needs to improve investor confidence.
What is the space for the high-end market?
On the one hand, the external business has quietly resumed, and on the other hand, the capital market has been cold, and Qinghai Spring has also been squeezed under the influence of the market and capital.
In recent years, the layout of high-end products has gradually become one of the important indicators to measure the future development momentum of wine companies. Whether it is the head enterprises Kweichow Moutai, Wuliangye, Yanghe Co., Ltd., etc., or the regional leading enterprises Gujing Gongjiu and Jinshiyuan, they are constantly laying out the high-end market. As the liquor industry enters the stage of structural adjustment, the logic of the high-end layout of liquor companies is gradually changing, and the track has changed from the previous "barbaric entry" to the "intensive and deep cultivation" of the channel market.
From the point of view of price, the price of standard packaging is 5,860 yuan, and the price of high-quality packaging is as high as 58,600 yuan. Leaving aside the current terminal market transaction price of 2,700 yuan/bottle of Feitian Moutai, a phenomenal product of Kweichow Moutai, compared with other peers, the high-end core products of Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Yanghe and Luzhou Laojiao are all positioned in the price band of more than 1,000 yuan.
Xiao Zhuqing, a wine marketing expert, believes that listening to flower wine cannot change consumers' consumption needs in the era of rational consumption in pursuit of clear consumption. Such a high price of Tinghua wine does not represent social attributes, and there is a lack of psychological price expectations based on consumer cognition. Therefore, the high price of Tinghua wine is just wishful thinking in Qinghai Spring, and this high price lacks public awareness and psychological price expectations.
Although product pricing continues to challenge the nerves of the consumer market, in terms of performance, it has not produced the same gains.
Under such fierce competition, Qinghai Spring, which is fully committed to the high-end market, has been continuously squeezed under the force of famous and high-quality liquor. According to the financial report data, Qinghai Spring's wine business will achieve revenue of 82.9476 million yuan in 2023, compared with 936.432 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 11.42%.
Regarding the current situation of Qinghai Spring in the high-end market, Xiao Zhuqing pointed out that Qinghai Spring's Tinghua Liquor is currently competing with China's leading liquor companies for the right to speak in the high-end market. If the brand logic supported by "dreams" can be established, then the brand logic of establishing empathy and resonance with consumers and allowing consumers to consume clearly will be subverted.
Liu Yibo, Feng Ruonan/text
Source: Screenshot of Oriental Fortune Network APP Beijing Business Daily Official WeChat