Behind the shocking visual effect of the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, there is a hard technology enterprise from Xi’an, that is, Nova nebula, which provides a full link control system for all on-site displays.
The Nova Nebula has been associated with the Olympics for 14 years. The “appearance” of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games is still its core advantage of display control. Not only the Olympic Games, but also behind many of the world’s top activities, the Nova nebula is displayed and controlled.
At present, Nova nebula is sprinting the IPO of gem and entered the inquiry stage on January 24. However, the turning point was caught off guard, or was involved in the filing and investigation of Sino German securities, which showed on cninfo that it had “suspended the review”. From the financial data, this low-key company has considerable hard power and attaches great importance to R & D and technical ability.
It is reported that Nova Nebula belongs to the video image display and control industry, and its development is closely related to the development of LED display industry. Driven by many favorable policies and the Olympic trend, the LED display industry has accelerated into the fast lane. Standing at the tuyere, opportunities and challenges coexist. Can Nova Nebula take off?
Qu Fang, an investment consultant of Wanlian securities, warned, “for small and medium-sized enterprises, the most important thing is to concentrate on making a subsystem / Project sophisticated and advanced.”
“Show up” Winter Olympics
On the evening of February 4, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games opened grandly. With the perfect combination of conceptual innovation and scientific and technological power, the opening ceremony presented an ethereal and romantic artistic feast, brushing the screen all over the world.
It is understood that the whole process of the opening ceremony used digital performance and simulation technology, and achieved the effect of “less people but not empty, ethereal and romantic” through the comprehensive use of artificial intelligence, 5g, AR, naked eye 3D and other scientific and technological achievements. This is also the world’s first large-scale application of 8K technology for live broadcast of the opening ceremony and coverage of key events.
However, what many people don’t know is that behind the shocking visual effect, in addition to BOE, Leyard Optoelectronic Co.Ltd(300296) , Unilumin Group Co.Ltd(300232) and other industry giants, there is also a hard technology enterprise from Xi’an, that is, for all display screens including 15000 ㎡ ground screen, ice screen, super giant screen, rocket screen and so on, Xi’an Nova Nebula Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nova Nebula) which provides full link control system.
Display control system, which can be said to be the brain of LED display screen, plays a key role in visual effect. According to the official wechat of Nova nebula, its self-developed ultra-high resolution server, super large-scale video splicer and more than 100000 receiving cards provide the most accurate control and safest backup control system for the LED display system of the Winter Olympic opening ceremony. At the same time, its single port 8K control technology provides technical support for more than 20 8K LED display giant screens across the country. Viewers can also get an immersive visual experience of ice and snow without going to the bird’s nest.
Fanxiang finance and economics noted that the Nova Nebula has been associated with the Olympic Games for 14 years. In 2008, the start-up team overcame the technical difficulties, broke the foreign technology monopoly, and lit up the main background screen of the “Pangu Grand View” of the Beijing Olympic Games, thus becoming famous in the first World War. In April of the same year, Nova nebula was established in Xi’an hi tech Industry Co., Ltd. since then, its figure has frequently appeared at the Olympic site.
The “appearance” of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games is still its core advantage of display control. According to a transaction announcement of China government procurement network on December 14, 2021, the Central Radio and Television Corporation purchased the 8K UHD IPTV network access and test adaptation 8K terminal project of Nova Nebula Winter Olympic Games, with a transaction amount of 990000 yuan.
In addition, according to the publicity for Soliciting Opinions on the single source procurement of 8K UHD IPTV network access and testing and adaptation of 8K terminals for the Winter Olympics by China Central Radio and Television Corporation, the professional argumentation mentioned that the 8K output from 8K terminals should be processed through 8K HDMI port processor, and four 4K signals should be output on the display screen. At present, only the 8K HDMI port processor of Nova Nebula can meet the demand.
It is worth mentioning that not only the Olympic Games, but also behind the world’s top activities such as the 2018 Russia world cup, the 70th anniversary military parade of the national day, and the 2019-2021 China Central Television Spring Festival Gala, Nova nebula is displayed and controlled.
Sprint IPO “implicated”
On December 27, 2021, the official website of Shenzhen Stock Exchange gem showed that the IPO of Nova Nebula gem was accepted. On January 24 this year, it successfully entered the IPO inquiry stage. Minsheng securities, as its sponsor, plans to raise 1.085 billion yuan and will invest in projects including Novartis photoelectric display system industrialization R & D base in order of priority.
But the turning point was a little unexpected. Sino German securities sponsor LETV business was filed by the CSRC on suspicion of violation of laws and regulations. The details of the lawsuit revealed that intermediaries such as Jindu law firm and ShineWing certified public accountants became defendants. According to incomplete statistics, more than 100 enterprises have been implicated.
On the evening of January 26, the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed that due to the fact that the relevant securities service institutions hired were filed for investigation by the CSRC, the Shanghai Stock Exchange suspended the issuance and listing review procedures of more than 10 companies according to the stock issuance and listing review rules of the science and innovation board.
Cninfo.com showed that the audit status of Nova nebula was also updated to “suspend the audit”
Image Source: http / / www.cninfo.com
However, the industry generally has high confidence in the follow-up promotion of the suspension. This time, it is mainly because of the “accident” involved in the use of head intermediaries. “If the relevant intermediaries resume normal operation, they can continue to promote without affecting the company’s listing,” Qu Fang said. “You can even consider changing intermediaries, depending on which way is more beneficial to the company itself”.
In fact, the Nova Nebula itself has considerable strength. According to the financial report, from 2018 to 2020, its revenue was 933 million yuan, 1.213 billion yuan and 985 million yuan respectively, and its net profit was 170 million yuan, 238 million yuan and 111 million yuan respectively. In 2020, mainly affected by covid-19 epidemic, the performance declined. However, since 2021, the epidemic situation outside China has improved. In the first half of 2021, the revenue was 643 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 84.68%, and the net profit was 95.0816 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 264.43%
Image Source: http / / www.cninfo.com
In terms of gross profit margin, the cost control ability of Nova nebula is relatively stable. From 2018 to the first half of 2021, the comprehensive gross profit margin was 49.48%, 51.62%, 48.66% and 48.47% respectively, higher than the average of the same industry.
In a technology intensive industry, Nova Nebula attaches great importance to R & D and technical capabilities. From 2018 to the first half of 2021, the R & D investment of the company was 108 million yuan, 145 million yuan, 156 million yuan and 92 million yuan respectively, accounting for 11.56%, 11.95%, 15.87% and 14.42% of the operating revenue respectively, higher than the average of the same industry. The company’s R & D personnel account for more than 30% of the total number of employees.
As of the signing date of the prospectus, the company has 695 domestic patents (including 330 invention patents) and 7 overseas patents.
After years of technology accumulation, Nova Nebula has formed core technologies such as high-precision full gray scale bright chromaticity correction, tiny spacing LED display image quality engine, high synchronization video processing supporting multi-layer and multi screen management. At present, the core technology of Nova Nebula has been fully industrialized. From 2018 to the first half of 2021, the revenue generated by using the core technology accounted for more than 80% of the operating revenue.
However, Nova nebula is not without competitive disadvantage. Qu Fang pointed out that “compared with international advanced enterprises, their product structure is relatively single and their coverage is insufficient.”
In addition, the limited financing channels make Nova Nebula unable to meet the high investment in multi product line R & D, which has an adverse impact on the expansion of the company’s business scale to a certain extent.
Can the station take off
The “black technology” of the Winter Olympics shocked the screen, and the LED display was brilliant, which was highly concerned.
Nova Nebula belongs to the video image display and control industry, and its development is closely related to the development of LED display industry.
With the rapid development and gradual popularization of 5g, mini / micro led and 4K / 8K ultra-high definition video technology, the LED display screen is becoming more and more refined, the display content is gradually developing to ultra-high definition, the application scenes are becoming richer and more personalized, and the industrial scale is gradually expanding. According to the market research of China led display screen industry released by toubao Research Institute, The scale of China’s LED display industry is expected to grow to 110.41 billion in 2023
prospectus source \\
Nova Nebula pointed out that since the direct downstream of the video image display control industry is dominated by LED, LCD and other display manufacturers, the LED display control and video processing system has a positive correlation with the scale of the LED display industry. In the above context, the scale of video image display control industry will maintain growth.
There are also many favorable policies. For example, in May 2020, the Ministry of industry and information technology and the State Administration of radio, film and television issued the guide for the construction of UHD video standard system (2020 version), which formulated the standard system construction plan and predicted that the overall scale of China’s UHD video industry will exceed 4 trillion yuan by 2022; The national 14th five year plan mentioned that “accelerate the improvement of the production and broadcasting capacity of ultra-high definition TV programs, promote the high-definition transformation of TV channels, and promote applications such as immersive video and cloud broadcasting”; In October 2021, the Ministry of industry and information technology and other six departments issued a document to encourage the implementation of “one hundred cities and one thousand screens” UHD video promotion activities
In this context, Nova Nebula launched a series of ultra-high definition display control and video processing products supporting 4K / 8K video processing, and continued to carry out cutting-edge technology research and development.
After more than ten years of deep cultivation, Nova nebula is now a highly competitive LED display solution service provider, with a market share of about 60% and serving more than 4000 customers around the world. During this period, it drafted the technical requirements for video and audio of 8K Ultra HD large screen system (T / AI 112-2021) together with China Central Radio and Television Corporation, Huawei, Leyard Optoelectronic Co.Ltd(300296) and other units.
But the challenges are not small. Nova Nebula pointed out that the rapid development of the industry scale and the attraction of good business returns have further increased the competition in the industry. In the video image display control industry, Barco and other international well-known enterprises entered the market earlier, and the competitive pressure imposed still exists for a long time. In addition, the sluggish impact of covid-19 epidemic on Chinese enterprises to promote the layout of globalization cannot be ignored.
In this regard, Qu Fang warned, “for small and medium-sized enterprises, they need to be comprehensive and diversified in their own fields. However, they do not develop many projects at the same time, but concentrate on making a subsystem / project perfect and advanced.”
