The number of employees disclosed by Ketuo Bio does not match the number of people in the industrial and commercial information, more than 70% of the income depends on Mengniu Dairy, and the company's gross profit margin is much higher than that of its peers. According to the judgment of the China Judgment Documents Network, Ketuo Bio was also involved in the bribery case of Sun Kejie, former vice president of Bright Dairy, involving bribery to the latter.
On April 3, Beijing Ketuo Hengtong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ketuo Bio) updated its prospectus to land on the Gem, issue no more than 20.63 million shares, and raise 457 million yuan for the production and research and development of food ingredients, edible probiotics, animal and plant micro-ecological products. The sponsor of the listing is Credit Suisse Founder Securities.
The number of employees varies widely
Ketuo Bio is a high-tech enterprise mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of compound food additives, edible probiotic products and animal and plant microecological preparations. The company's downstream customers include many well-known dairy enterprises, such as Mengniu Dairy, Bright Dairy, Shengmu Hi-Tech, Keyinyou, Saikexing, etc. From 2017 to 2019, Ketuo Bio achieved operating income of 284 million yuan, 318 million yuan and 308 million yuan respectively, corresponding to net profits of 71.3477 million yuan, 91.9193 million yuan and 93.2841 million yuan, respectively. Operating income and profit showed an upward trend.
According to the prospectus, the number of employees at the end of 2019 was 144, and its operating income in the same period was 308 million yuan, and the per capita output value reached 2.1389 million yuan.
According to the enterprise investigation data, the number of employees of Ketuo Bio is less than 50 people, while the number of insured people is only 23 people, according to this calculation, its per capita output value is as high as 13.3913 million yuan.
There are 144 people disclosed in the prospectus, while the industrial and commercial information shows less than 50 people. Comparing the two data, it can be found that the number of employees in the same period is so different. Which is the real number of employees?
There are two possibilities, that is, the number of employees of Ketuo Bio may actually be less than the number disclosed in its prospectus, or the number of coto bio has up to 121 people who have not paid social security, and the number of insured people is only 15.97% of the total number of employees, and the proportion of insurance is low. However, in the prospectus, Ketuo Bio also clearly disclosed that at the end of 2019, the actual number of people participating in social insurance in the company was 138, and only 6 people had not paid social insurance.
23 people to 138 people, the number of employees insured by Ketuo Bio is a bit large.
70% of income depends on Mengniu
Another obvious feature of Ketuo Bio is that it is dependent on large customers. From 2017 to 2019, the sales revenue of Ketuo Bio to Mengniu Dairy, the largest customer, was 232 million yuan, 242 million yuan and 235 million yuan respectively, accounting for 81.9%, 76% and 76.18% of the main business income in the current period.
It can be said that more than 70% of the income of Ketuo Bio comes from Mengniu Dairy. Industry insiders believe that major customer dependence is not a substantial obstacle to IPOs, but it is an important audit risk, because it directly affects the independence and sustained profitability of enterprises.
After relying too much on Mengniu Dairy for operating income, Ketuo Bio's accounts receivable to Mengniu Dairy are also rising. From 2017 to 2019, the accounts receivable of Ketuo Bio to Mengniu Dairy, the first major customer, were 75.4822 million yuan, 84.9594 million yuan and 78.8623 million yuan, accounting for 32.54%, 35.11% and 33.56% of the sales revenue of Ketuo Biology to Mengniu Dairy in that year.
In the prospectus, Ketuo Bio admitted that because the market concentration of the dairy industry is still increasing, the relatively high concentration of the company's customers is difficult to improve in a short period of time, and if the main customers reduce the demand for the company's products, the operating performance will be adversely affected.
Gross margin is higher than peers
Ketuo Bio not only has a high customer concentration, but also the gross profit margin is much higher than that of its peers. The compound food additives, edible probiotic products, and animal and plant microecological preparations produced by Ketuo Bio are all fully competitive markets, but their gross profit margins are higher than those of their peers.
Among the several major products of Ketuo Biology, the competitors in the field of compound food additives are the international food additive giants Dennisk and Cargill; the competitors in the field of edible probiotic products are DuPont, Chr. Hansen, Synbixo, Yakult, etc.; animal and plant microecological preparations are new products, the market is still in the cultivation or development period, but it also faces fierce competition.
Under the background of fierce competition for products, the gross profit margin of the main business of Ketuo Bio from 2017 to 2019 was 46.94%, 49.44% and 51.11%, respectively. Among them, the main product compound food additives, which account for about 80% of the operating income, have a gross profit margin of about 48%, which is 7% higher than the industry average, higher than the same industry comparable company brothers Elan, Richen Food, Huabao Shares, Aipu Shares, Anji Foods, etc. In addition, the gross profit margin of edible probiotic products of Ketuo Bio is also higher than that of comparable companies in the same industry.
On the one hand, facing fierce market competition, on the other hand, it has obtained a gross profit margin that is much higher than that of its peers, and Ketuo Bio did not give a detailed explanation of the reasons for obtaining a high gross profit margin, but only believed that it was related to the different segments and cooperation with customers and the provision of process technology. Ketuo Bio disclosed in the prospectus that in 2019, in order to avoid the risk of payment collection by the customer Huishan Dairy, the company sold compound food additive products to Shenyang Yinxiang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a qualified supplier of Huishan Dairy. Whether it is related to such a special sales model is unknown.
He was involved in Sun Kejie's embezzlement and bribery case
In 2015, bright dairy "bribery door" case, from the president to the supervisor of a number of bright dairy management personnel involved in bribery for profit, from 2003 to 2014, spanning up to 11 years, Sun Kejie, former vice president of Bright Dairy, was one of the parties to the case. Among the many bribery incidents related to Sun Kejie, one involved Ketuo Bio.
According to the Judgment Documents Network of China, the Judgment of the Shanghai Minhang District People's Court (2016) Hu 0112 Xingchu No. 1338 shows that from 2010 to 2013, Sun Kejie, former vice president of Bright Dairy, sought benefits for Beijing Ketuo Hengtong Biotechnology Development Co., Ltd. and accepted bribes totaling 30,000 yuan and 1,000 yuan from the company Liu Mou2.
Here Beijing Ketuo Hengtong Biotechnology Development Co., Ltd. is now Ketuo Bio. Sun Kejie's bribery has been corroborated by many parties, including witness testimony, proof of employment, inspection reports, and the results of the court's judgment. The relevant exchanges between Ketuo Bio and Sun Kejie occurred during the latter's tenure as human resources director and vice president of Bright Dairy. The current director and supervisor of Ketuo Biotech, only the general manager Liu Xiaojun, surnamed Liu, is unknown whether the "Liu Mou 2" referred to in the judgment is related to it.
For this past, Ketuo Bio did not mention it at all in the prospectus, and whether the company had received relevant penalties in that year was not disclosed. Since the incident has occurred for a long time and is not in the reporting period from 2017 to 2019, whether Ketuo Bio is completely exempt from responsibility depends on how the issuing and review department decides.