Best Group gets rid of the express business and it is still difficult to survive, the stock price is below $1 for a long time, and it is warned of delisting
Our reporter Li Chunlian Li Qiaoyu
Best Group, which shed the domestic express delivery business, not only did not make it easy, but was warned of delisting because its stock price was below $1 for a long time.
On January 18, Best Group issued an announcement stating that the company received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange on January 5, 2022, informing the company that it did not meet the applicable price standards in the standard for continued listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Effective January 4, 2022, the average closing price of the company's American Depository Receipts (ADS) was less than $1 per ADS for 30 consecutive trading days.
After getting rid of the express delivery business, Best Group's corporate indicators have improved, and the company needs to achieve a good and effective resonance with the capital market.
Zhao Xiaomin, CEO of Guanshuo Capital and an expert in the express delivery industry, told the "Securities Daily" reporter, "Best Group should not be delisted in the future, but more news should be released."
It is reported that Best Group was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on September 20, 2017, and issued a total of 45 million American depositary shares at a price of US$10 per share, with a total financing amount of US$450 million.
But since its listing, Best Group's development has not been satisfactory.
Not long ago, it just sold its domestic express business to Jitu Express at a price of 6.8 billion yuan.
According to the financial report, Best Group’s revenue from 2018 to 2020 was 25.116 billion yuan, 32.359 billion yuan, and 29.995 billion yuan, respectively, with net losses of 508 million yuan, 219 million yuan, and 2.051 billion yuan, respectively.
The financial report for the third quarter of 2021 shows that the company achieved revenue of 6.812 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.6%; a net loss of 651 million yuan, an increase from the same period last year.
Wei Jianhui, an analyst in the circulation industry of Analysys, said that the long-term slump in the share price of Best Group is mainly because the market share of the company's express delivery business has not increased significantly since its listing. Under the influence of the superimposed price war, the service cost has increased, which has led to the company's perennial loss.
Compared with the sluggish share price of Best Group, the logistics sector of the domestic A-share market has often stood out.
As of the close on January 19, 2022, the logistics index has risen by 11.08% since December 1 last year; the stock price of Shentong Express has risen by 20.02%; the stock price of SF Holding has risen by 7.3%; and the stock price of Yunda has risen by 5.94%.
It also performed well in terms of performance.
Taking YTO Express, which recently announced its 2021 performance pre-increase announcement as an example, the company expects to achieve a net profit of 2 billion to 2.2 billion yuan attributable to shareholders of listed companies in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 13.20% to 24.52%, exceeding market expectations.
Affected by this, the opening of the market on January 11, Yuantong Express skyrocketed and closed the board.
"As the Spring Festival is approaching, the stock prices of logistics companies have risen. The high-quality development of enterprises is prompted by industry regulatory policies, the state's introduction of logistics-related industry support policies, the performance forecast of industry representatives exceeding expectations, and the valuation advantage of express stocks." Wei Jianhui believes that , the stock price of Best Group is in contrast or related to its sale of express delivery business.
From the perspective of business structure, Best Express business accounts for a large proportion of total revenue, and the overall proportion of express, international, supply chain and other businesses needs to be further increased. How to maintain the double growth of revenue and profit is placed after Best sells the express business. major problem.
Zhao Xiaomin said that the difference in the trend of the express logistics industry in the capital markets of China and the United States is determined by the differentiation of market rules.
The medium and long-term investment value of the logistics industry is still huge. It is still in the explosive stage in the fields of supply chain, logistics equipment, express delivery and cold chain logistics, but the differences between enterprises are also obvious.
"From the perspective of the development trend in 2022, high quality will become a key word in the development process of the logistics industry."
Zhao Xiaomin emphasized that during this period, how to balance the high-quality development of the company itself and service quality will become a difficult problem for many listed logistics companies.
"At present, the long-term downward trend of express delivery prices has ended, and it is gradually moving towards a channel of rising freight rates."
Zhao Xiaomin believes, "However, in the process of rising freight rates for e-commerce express companies, it is necessary to consider the game ability with other express delivery companies, and consider whether the market agrees with the price increase. The price increase means the beginning of comprehensive competition for enterprises. If there is no price increase action Get market recognition and you risk losing market share.”
The "involution" of price wars may be transformed into the "involution" of products and services.
In the future, the competitive direction of the express logistics industry lies in differentiated services. For example, Yuantong has launched Yuanzhunda, Zhongtong has launched Timing, and JD.com also has Jingzunda.
Under the condition that the cost and speed of express logistics services are gradually converging, the difference in the added value of products can help enterprises to improve their competitiveness.
(Securities Daily)