readchuang / Shenzhen Business Daily reporter Li gengguang
On the eve of the year of the tiger, the news that Hefu Laomian is going to be listed abroad detonated the long silent consumption IPO track!
On January 29, Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) (SH: 603517) announced that Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Hefu Laomian”), a joint-stock company of Shenzhen netju Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shenzhen netju”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and its relevant shareholders signed the restructuring framework agreement of Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd. on January 27, It plans to implement the overseas listing plan.
Source: company announcement
According to public information, Hefu Laomian was established in August 2012. It is a chain catering brand directly engaged in Chinese pasta. It is subordinate to Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd. It is mainly engaged in the business of opening chain stores offline and selling its pasta products. It opened its first store in 2013 and owns the pasta brand of the central kitchen supply chain, It is regarded as the leader of China’s emerging catering track.
Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) said that the planned overseas listing of Hefu Laomian will not have an impact on the shareholding ratio of Shenzhen netju, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. If it is successfully listed overseas, it will expand more financing channels and promote the long-term development of its business. At the same time, it will also have a positive impact on the company.
At the same time, Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) indicates the risk that the matters related to the proposed overseas listing of Hefu Laomian do not constitute related party transactions and major asset restructuring. There are still uncertainties in matters related to the overseas listing of the participating companies.
▍ a new store was opened in about two days, and Hefu Laomian has turned losses into profits
Different from other noodle restaurants, Hefu Laomian adheres to the brand-new concept of “leisure fast food” and highlights the Chinese style of “health noodles in the study” with Chinese scholarly elements. Since the opening of the first restaurant in 2013, Hefu Laomian has creatively introduced the category of “Laomian” and the scene of “study”, put forward the brand-new concept of “slow fast food”, subverted the traditional cognition of the public opposite restaurant, and quickly exploded as soon as it opened.
Source: Official Website of Hefu Laomian
According to the Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) financial report, the operating income of Hefu Laomian in 2020 was 1.107 billion yuan and the net loss was 215 million yuan; in the first half of 2021, the revenue of Hefu Laomian was 846 million yuan and the net profit was 13.8574 million yuan. As of June 30, 2021, the total assets of Hefu Laomian were 1.164 billion yuan. This means that Hefu Laomian has turned losses into profits in the first half of 2021.
It is noteworthy that, according to the previously released data of Hefu Laomian, its daily sales have exceeded 150000 bowls of noodles, with an annual service of more than 50 million people. The average turnover of Hefu Laomian stores across the country is 550000 yuan / month, the Ping efficiency is 4800 yuan / month, the human efficiency is 55000 yuan / month, and the customer unit price is 45 yuan, which is the leading level in the industry, and the revenue has maintained a growth of more than 50% for many consecutive years.
According to the “narrow door data” of China’s catering industry database, the total number of Hefu Laomian stores in China is currently 384, mainly directly operated by brands, and a few airport stores are franchised. Among them, the number of new stores in 2021 doubled compared with that in 2020, and a new store was opened in about two days across the country.
▍ Tencent, Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) and other capitals scramble for “food”
The reporter noted that while the rapid development and expansion of Hefu Laomian, it also attracted all kinds of capital leaders to rush to eat this bowl of “noodles”.
According to tianyancha data, since obtaining the a-round financing in 2015, Hefu Laomian has almost maintained the trend of completing one round of financing in a year. By 2021, a total of six rounds of financing have been completed.
In July 2021, Hefu Laomian announced the completion of nearly 800 million yuan of e-round financing, led by CMC capital, followed by many capital, old shareholders Tencent investment and longfor capital. Li Xuelin, founder of Hefu Laomian, once revealed that the e-round financing valuation of Hefu Laomian was 7 billion yuan, but in the financing process, some investors even gave a valuation of 14 billion yuan, and the quotation valuation of others was even as high as 16 billion yuan.
Source: tianyancha
Up to now, Hefu Ramen has received a total financing of more than 1.6 billion yuan. Tencent investment, Longhu capital, CMC capital, Huaying capital and Rongxun assets have become shareholders of Hefu ramen.
According to the Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) announcement, at present, Shenzhen netju under Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) ranks the second largest shareholder of Hefu Laomian with a shareholding ratio of 16.92%, while Tencent ranks the third largest shareholder of Hefu Laomian with a shareholding ratio of 11.54%.
Source: Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) company announcement
It is worth mentioning that Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) has begun to reduce its holdings of Hefu Laomian, with a reduction ratio of more than 5%. Juewei Food Co.Ltd(603517) announced in October 2021 that Shenzhen netju had transferred part of the e-round financing of Hefu Laomian. After the equity delivery, the equity of Hefu Laomian held by Shenzhen netju changed from 23.0802% to 16.9229%, and the corresponding transfer amount was US $28 million.
▍ in 2022, chain catering brands flocked to the IPO track
In recent years, the fast-paced lifestyle has accelerated the development of the fast-food market, and more and more fast-food brands are pouring into the IPO track. It is reported that the chain noodle restaurant track has ushered in an unprecedented capital heat in 2021. The number of investment and financing events of the track in 2021 exceeded 25, which was three times higher than that in 2020.
In addition to Hefu Laomian, since 2022, Chinese fast food chain brand “rural base” and Chinese seafood chain restaurant qixintian have submitted prospectus on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Insiders said that due to the great impact of the epidemic on the catering industry, catering enterprises may choose to get together and list in 2022 in order to reduce the impact of the epidemic and lay out the post epidemic era in advance.
According to the report on the analysis of China’s catering market in 2021 and the forecast of market prospects in 2022 released by the China Cuisine Association, the national catering revenue in 2021 was 4689.5 billion yuan, an increase of 18.6% from negative to positive compared with the previous year, with an average decrease of 0.5% in two years, which has not yet returned to the level of 2019 before the epidemic; Online catering revenue reached 1043.4 billion yuan, breaking the trillion mark for the first time, and also turned to positive growth year-on-year, with a growth rate of 23.5%. In 2021, the national per capita catering consumption was 3320 yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 18.6% from negative to positive. The catering industry continues to play an important driving role in promoting economic growth and driving the recovery of consumption. The report points out that under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, new retail has become a new consumption trend in the new era, and catering retail has developed rapidly.
Why are institutions optimistic about the pasta industry? Industry insiders believe that the main reason is that at present, the pasta track is in a state of category without brand and low degree of chain. Some companies have upgraded for a subdivision demand or an innovation point, and further improved the premium of pasta category with the positioning of high customer unit price and chain boutique, so as to have the imagination space of rapid expansion and profit.
Reviewed by: Tan Lugang
