Original title: The turning point of Naixue's tea station in the first half of the year when it was profitable only in June?
Source: Beijing Business Daily
It is not easy for tea brands to make profits. Facing this threshold, listed enterprises need to show confidence to prove themselves to the capital market. Recently, Naixue's tea disclosed its financial data for the first half of the year. After adjustment, the net loss reached hundreds of millions of yuan, and only in June in the first half of the year was it profitable. In fact, Naixue's tea is also constantly reducing costs and increasing efficiency by adjusting the store type and investing in digital equipment, but it still needs time to continue to optimize. The analysis points out that improving profitability is the key to the development of Naixue's tea, which also determines the brand's valuation in the capital market.
Only one month's profit in the first half of the year
"The first share of new tea" is also facing profit problems. Recently, Naixue's tea announced that, in the six months ending June 30, 2022, the company's expected revenue was about 2.02 billion to 20.7 billion yuan, and the adjusted net loss was about 230 million to 270 million yuan.
As for the reasons for the loss, Naixue's tea also pointed out in the announcement that, in addition to the impact of the epidemic, the expansion of stores in the first half of this year brought about an increase in the relative fixed costs such as store manpower and rent, which further led to the loss. At the same time, due to the influence of foreign exchange rate, the net unrealized loss of Naixue's tea in the first half of the year was about 24.4 million yuan.
According to the announcement, Naixue's tea said that the company was promoting the established cost control measures to reduce the impact of changes in the economic environment. In June 2022, the monthly unaudited comprehensive management account of Naixue's tea was profitable, which was the first "profit month" of Naixue's tea this year.
It is understood that Naixue's tea opened its first store in Shenzhen in November 2015, formally submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February last year, and finally officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 30 last year. At that time, there was also a voice in the industry that Naixue's tea was "bloodied and listed". According to the documents submitted by Naixue before its tea was listed in June last year, the brand's adjusted net profit reached 16.64 million yuan in 2020, and the loss in 2019 was 11.74 million yuan.
Labor rent accounts for more than 1/3 of the total income
Manpower and rent are two relatively fixed costs that catering enterprises usually need to pay, and Naixue's tea is no exception. According to the 2021 annual performance announcement released by Naixue Tea, the company's employee cost in 2021 reached 1.424 billion yuan, accounting for 33.2% of the total revenue. Other rents and related expenses mainly include the leasing of tea shops, which will cost 213 million yuan in 2021, accounting for 5% of the total revenue. In this way, the sum of the two costs accounts for more than 1/3 of the total revenue.
In fact, Naixue's tea has also been changing in recent years, and opening a PRO store is one of the methods. Compared with the conventional store type, Naixue's tea PRO tea shop has removed the on-site bakery area, and the central kitchen has made prefabricated baking products in advance. Moreover, the layout is more flexible, which also means that the cost of opening a store is lower. According to the latest data, as of the first half of this year, Naixue has 494 PRO tea stores, 410 more than 84 stores in the same period last year, and there are also stores converted from standard tea stores.
Not only that, Naixue's tea is still trying to make tea mechanically. Naixue's tea said in the announcement released in the second quarter of this year that the automatic tea making machine developed by the brand has been used in nearly 200 stores nationwide, and it is expected to complete the plan of putting it into use in stores nationwide by the end of September 2022. At the same time, Naixue's tea has also accelerated the use of automatic ordering, procurement and other software systems in stores. Naixue's tea believes that the continuous promotion of digital management can reduce the human cost of stores.
Wen Zhihong, a senior chain industry expert, said that in addition to the epidemic, Naixue's losses in the first half of the year were related to its single store profit model. The profitability in June is related to the current environment on the one hand, and the peak period of tea consumption in May and June on the other hand. Whether adjusting the store model or investing in digital equipment, it is an effective measure for Naixue to adjust the single store profit model, but it still needs time to optimize and adjust.
Listed companies need to pass the "profit barrier"
The competition in the tea market is fierce. There are not only relatively mature leading brands such as Xicha, Mixue Ice City, and Chayan Yuese, but also new brands are emerging. Among many tea brands, although Naixue's tea is the first to be listed, its profit model has always been concerned and discussed. Industry insiders pointed out that the brand still needs to do homework in product quality, structural combination, consumer experience and other aspects to improve profitability.
"For the current Naixue tea, the brand influence and products have certain advantages in the industry, and the core is how to improve its profitability." Wen Zhihong pointed out that once the profitability of Naixue tea is improved, the brand's valuation in the capital market will also increase.
Wen Zhihong further pointed out that in the future, Naixue's tea can reduce the rent cost by optimizing the store area, improve the product quality and optimize the product structure, so as to combine more high-quality products at different prices. In addition, in addition to introducing digital equipment to reduce costs and increase efficiency, Naixue's tea should also consider how to improve the customer flow and repurchase rate of stores through marketing.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Zhao Shuping Zhang Tianyuan
