Lei Jianping reported on April 19
Ctrip is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today at an issue price of HK$268. Ctrip raised a net capital of HK$8.33 billion. If the over-allocation option is exercised, an additional amount of approximately HK$1.26 billion can be raised.
Ctrip opened at HK$281, up 4.9% from the issue price, and Ctrip's market capitalization exceeded HK$170 billion.
Subsequently, Ctrip Chairman Liang Jianzhang and CEO Sun Jie were interviewed by the media, including Leidi Network, and Sun Jie revealed at the scene that the first quarter of 2020 was the most difficult period for Ctrip, when Ctrip made a lot of advances for the refund of safe guests.
"Sometimes it's 5 billion or 6 billion a day, and James and I really had gray hair overnight. So the loss in the first quarter of 2020 was the highest. ”
It was also during that difficult period that Ctrip made a series of adjustments.
In March 2020, Sun Jie issued an internal letter saying that Chairman Liang Jianzhang and his salary would be 0 starting this month; the company's senior management also proposed a voluntary salary cut, with a minimum half salary, until the industry recovered; and other employees suspended their salary increases.
Sun Jie said that in the difficult situation of 2020, Ctrip has achieved slight profitability, and the epidemic situation continues to be well controlled this year, and I believe that Ctrip's profitability will be greatly improved.
Speaking at Ctrip's Hong Kong launch ceremony today, Leung said that historically, the vast majority of innovation has occurred at the hub of population and travel. To innovate we need people, and we need to travel.
"If population represents the density of civilization, then the radius of human travel represents the height of civilization's development. If humans no longer travel, civilization will stagnate and regress. ”
Liang Jianzhang said that the barrier of the epidemic is temporary, people can't do without travel, and Ctrip's goal is to make travel inseparable from Ctrip.
The following is the Q&A transcript of Ctrip Chairman Liang Jianzhang and CEO Sun Jie:
Question: Ctrip has been rumored to go public in Hong Kong many times a year ago, and now the dust has finally settled, what are the considerations for choosing to return to Hong Kong at this point in time?
Sun Jie: Hong Kong should be one of the fastest growing regions in the world in the next decade, and listing in Hong Kong can expand the brand benefits and allow us to reach more Asian guests.
Second, we have many partners in Asia, including AirAsia, which are very good Asian partners, and listing in Hong Kong is also beneficial to let more partners know about Ctrip and provide our customers with the best services and products.
Third, our main investors listed on the NASDAQ before were in Europe and the United States, and we expanded the investor base in Asia, which is also a very good 24-hour trading platform for investors.
Hong Kong listing is a normal return
Question: How long has it been preparing for the second listing in Hong Kong? What is the main purpose of the funds raised?
Sun Jie: James and I are firmly grasping the business, so our very capable financial team, legal team, investment team are doing, they have been doing it for about a few months, but they have also done very well, although the market is very turbulent, but we are almost very smooth to finish, we are also very proud and proud of them.
The future investment is mainly to continuously increase the strengthening of technology, products and services in one-stop service, so we continue to put the products they need online according to the voice of customers, and the technology is more robust, laying a good foundation for future globalization.
Q: What is the difference between Ctrip's return to Hong Kong and its first listing in the U.S. in 2003? Did you feel differently during the preparation period than the last time?
Liang Jianzhang: Just after the last SARS passed, at that time there was only domestic business, we did not do international business, and the Chinese tourism market resumed a retaliatory rebound, so our domestic business performance was very good. Now it is also the domestic business that has been recovering for a while, so it is a coincidence.
At that time, we only went public in the United States. We are one of the first Chinese Internet companies to go public, and we may be one of the first to go public and make money.
Of course, at that time, our company grew very fast and the business was very busy, so I personally did not spend too much effort on the listing, mainly because our CFO at the time, Shen Nanpeng, was planning the listing, and it was also the bell that he went to ring at that time.
The difference is that after more than 20 years of development, Ctrip has become a global enterprise with tens of thousands of employees, and our opponents are no longer domestic opponents or global opponents, our most important thing is to continuously improve ourselves and surpass ourselves, which puts forward different requirements for the management of the entire company. Ctrip has also become an international company, and it will continue to enhance its global competitiveness after the end of the epidemic in the future, which requires our continuous efforts.
Therefore, Hong Kong listing is also a normal return. We are a global layout, to serve all global customers, of course, we also hope that investors around the world can share and develop with us.
Question: In 2020, Ctrip's platform will allow more than 40% of new trading users to come from third-tier cities and below, what is Ctrip's layout and strategy in the sinking market in the future?
Sun Jie:: We are a matrix layout, 1, high-quality, business-oriented guests, high-quality guests prefer Ctrip; 2, Qunar is a relatively young customer; 3, we also have a brand is Zhixing, many college students like to use, sinking platform also like to use, this is the online part.
Offline we have more than 6,000 offline stores, which are now doing very good business because it is in the center of the community, the sinking market, and also contributes to our brand building.
Q: Will antitrust-related provisions have an impact on Ctrip?
Sun Jie: We are very welcome, and we actively support and cooperate with the government, because we do tourism, is a vertical field, if the market can be in an equal and fair environment, which is the best for Ctrip's customers, Ctrip will actively support.
Profitability will increase significantly this year
Q: When will Ctrip fully return to pre-pandemic levels?
Sun Jie: We were the most difficult in the first quarter of last year, for the safety of our guests, we took the lead in advancing funds before the airline and the hotel refunded the money, and sometimes the one-day advance was 50 or 6 billion, and at that time James and I really had white hair overnight.
But it was very good that the guests were grateful to Ctrip for helping in the most difficult times, so the loss in the first quarter was the highest, 1.2 billion. But in the second quarter our loss narrowed, James and I said we don't take the salary, our VP is also very hard, they are half salary, our employees are very united, so the second quarter has narrowed the loss to 200 million, the third quarter on the profit level of 1.6 billion, the fourth quarter is also profitable.
Last year's difficult situation we are also slightly profitable, this year's epidemic continues to be well controlled, GDP growth is very fast, we believe that our profitability is greatly improved.
Q: What role will Ctrip's 6,000 offline stores play in the post-epidemic recovery phase?
Sun Jie:: Offline stores last year was very hard, now the epidemic has resumed, our Ctrip brand offline stores recover the fastest, in the future, as long as this piece of stores is value-added by our tourism industry, the development is still very impressive, we also see that the community stores and so on are very popular, so we will increase our efforts.
Prepare for May Day in an all-round way
Q: May 1 Golden Week is coming soon, how about Ctrip's estimated number of passenger bookings?
Sun Jie: Our Qingming performance has been very good, 95% before the recovery of the epidemic, many air tickets, hotels are showing double-digit growth, tickets, customized tours have shown triple-digit growth, the future May Day will be better.
Because of this year's May Day five-day holiday, many parents will take their children to go farther away, so we are fully prepared for May Day, to ensure the best customer service, to ensure the best products, our team is very active in preparation.
Q: What are the strategies and views of the shareholders of Ctrip's secondary strategic listing, and what is Ctrip's judgment on the subsequent recovery of the domestic and international travel markets?
Sun Jie: We made a communication with all the major shareholders before making this decision, and everyone was very supportive, because the world is very recognized that the next 5-10 years is China's golden years, and China will lead Asia forward in the next 5-10 years, so at this moment, the layout of Asia has a very positive role in promoting existing shareholders and future shareholders.
Q: The mainland's economy is recovering faster than other regions, how can Ctrip increase the scale of development and investment in the mainland, and does it have any investment and merger plans?
Sun Jie: Our strategy this year is to "deeply cultivate the domestic and have a global heart". The GDP in the first quarter of the domestic market is very surprising, so we will also vigorously increase the in-depth development of the interior, including the development of many small and beautiful products, such as skiing, diving, helicopters, etc., there was no opportunity to show these small and beautiful products to customers before.
At the same time, we will continue to increase our efforts on the technology platform, we will reopen the enrollment of 1400 people, and we will also increase the service system, so that we can have the best products and the best service for domestic and foreign tourist guests.
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