Yangcheng Evening News reporter Hang Ying

　　"Prefabricated dishes will become a new growth point for the company's performance. In the future, prefabricated dishes will be the main focus to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the aquatic food business." In the face of recent questions from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Guolian Aquatic Products (300094) responded as above.

In the view of Guolian Aquatic Products, the net profit has increased by 10 times in four years to continuous losses in the past three years. The reason is mainly due to the overseas sales business, which accounts for 50% of the revenue under the influence of the epidemic.

By digging deep into the domestic market in the future, the situation will soon change.

　　When the Yangcheng Evening News reporter tried to inquire about the attitude of the Guolian Aquatic Products on this matter, the Guolian Aquatic Products rejected the interview with the Yangcheng Evening News reporter on the grounds that the person in charge did not have time recently.

In the eyes of industry insiders, Guolian Aquatic's huge losses in recent years are actually the product of the combined effect of internal and external factors.

year-on-year losses

　　Compared with the performance of companies in the same industry in recent years, Guolian Aquatic only used the impact of the epidemic on domestic and export business as the reason for the decline in performance, which is obviously not sufficient.

　　For Guolian Aquatic Products, 2019 is a time of prosperity and decline.

From 2015 to 2018, Guolian Aquatic's revenue and net profit increased year by year.

But after 2019, the downhill begins.

From 2019 to 2021, its net profit was -463 million yuan, -269 million yuan, and -13.8379 million yuan, respectively -300.52%, 42.06%, and 94.85% year-on-year; -318 million yuan, -32.16 million yuan.

　　Although Guolian Aquatic said it was the impact of the epidemic, the outside world did not agree.

"The epidemic has indeed affected the business performance of Guolian Aquatic Products to a certain extent, but the overall profit margins of several other companies of the same type in the capital market have steadily increased in recent years, with only occasional fluctuations. Therefore, Guolian Aquatic Products will It is not objective to attribute profits and losses to the external cause of the epidemic," Wang Peng, an associate professor at the Gaoli Research Institute of Renmin University of China, told the Yangcheng Evening News.

　　The data does bear this out.

According to statistics, the average revenue growth rate of 7 listed companies in the same industry (Hoodangjia, Anjing Foods, Zhongshui Fisheries, Joyvio Foods, Dahu Co., Ltd., Weizhixiang, Baiyang Co., Ltd.) from 2019 to 2021 is 19.41% respectively. , 14.73%, and 18.73%, while Guolian Aquatic’s revenue in the same period was 4.628 billion yuan, 4.494 billion yuan, and 4.474 billion yuan, down 2.15%, 2.89%, and 0.44% respectively.

　　Compared with the average net profit growth rates of the above 7 listed companies over the same period (-107.06%, -341.44%, 261.97%), only the net profit growth rate of Guolian Aquatic Products in 2020 (39.97%) exceeded the average, 2019 (-304.53%) and 2021 Years (94.03%) were lower than the average.

　　Wang Peng said that, on the whole, the core problem of Guolian Aquatic Products lies in the internal factors such as the internal management strategy and layout of the enterprise. The internal supply chain, quality control and other issues have created the current situation.

　　Indeed, performance losses do not occur in isolation.

Within Guolian Aquatic Products, the problem has clearly emerged.

Inadequate internal control system

　　Recently, an investor asked Guolian Aquatic Products whether they could disclose the net loss of the upstream aquaculture industry of Guolian Aquaculture in response to the losses in the upstream aquaculture industry mentioned in the 2021 annual report.

In this regard, the secretary of the board of directors of Guolian Aquatic Products did not give a clear reply, but replied in a general way that the company was actively doing subtraction in the upstream sector to improve the company's comprehensive profitability.

　　In the inquiry letter of the annual report, Guolian Aquatic's inventory book value and inventory turnover have become the focus of Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

According to the disclosure, from 2019 to 2021, the book value of Guolian Aquatic Inventory was RMB 2.252 billion, RMB 2.529 billion and RMB 2.746 billion respectively, and the book value of inventory at the end of the period accounted for 46.23%, 49.65% and 53.63% of total assets, accounting for 46.23%, 49.65% and 53.63% respectively. The proportion of current assets was 63.38%, 66.25% and 75.16% respectively, and the company's inventory turnover days were 219 days, 223 days and 250 days respectively.

　　Compared with the 7 listed companies mentioned above, the average proportion of inventory book balance to total assets in the same period was 19.89%, 19.46%, and 17.75%, and the average proportion of current assets was 43.62%, 47.33%, and 47.75%.

As for the inventory problem, Guolian Aquatic still blames the high book balance of the company's inventory on the industry characteristics and the impact of the epidemic and changes in the trade environment.

　　If trade in goods can be attributed to the epidemic, then the inaccurate information disclosure of the top five suppliers and the inter-period of some manufacturing costs will be difficult to be "covered" by the epidemic.

The regulatory letter shows that since 2017, Guolian Aquatic has repeatedly changed the accounting estimates for inventory impairment reserves. In 2017 and 2019, due to changes in the accounting estimates of inventory impairment reserves, the inventory impairment reserves for the year increased by 17.0133 million yuan and 94.203 million yuan respectively. million.

Guolian Aquatic did not disclose the above-mentioned changes in a timely manner, nor did it explain in the relevant annual reports.

　　In addition, Guolian Aquatic Products also included 1,786,500 yuan of chilled shrimp processing costs in 2019 into 2020, and 1,954,600 yuan of refrigeration costs incurred in 2018 into 2019, which did not meet the relevant provisions of the Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises.

　　For Guolian Aquatic Products, it is not the first time for information disclosure violations, so it is not unfamiliar to receive a regulatory letter.

From August 2018 to July 2021, the company and its directors, supervisors, and senior managers received 3 decisions on the measures issued by the Guangdong Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and received 1 criticism and 2 supervision letters from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. .

　　It can be seen that the internal control system of Guolian Aquatic Products is not sound enough, and it does exist, and it has brought a considerable impact on the development of the company.

Judging from the content of Guolian Aquatic's reply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and its recent actions, pre-made vegetables were selected as the "straw" for the company to tide over the difficulties this time.

Where is the way out in the future?

　　At the recent investor performance exchange meeting, Guolian Aquatic said that it is optimistic about the development of the prefabricated vegetable industry and will continue to promote the development and promotion of prefabricated vegetables.

According to reports, the company's prefabricated food revenue in 2021 will be 841 million yuan, and about 730 million yuan in 2020.

The shift to the domestic market, coupled with the sale of prepared vegetables, has also helped the company digest inventories.

　　Regarding the layout and planning of prefabricated dishes, Liang Yongzhen, secretary of the board of directors of Guolian Aquatic Products, said in a survey of investor relations activities recently that Guolian Aquatic Products has formed a sales system with prefabricated dishes as the marketing focus.

At present, in addition to grilled fish, there are also the planning direction of several hundred million yuan of large items such as sauerkraut fish, crayfish, and noodles.

　　The reporter noticed that with the development of the epidemic and the housing economy, the current domestic prefabricated vegetable market is indeed a blue ocean.

According to the data from Meal Collection, the scale of China's prefabricated vegetable market will exceed 300 billion yuan in 2021, and it is expected to exceed 830 billion yuan by 2025, of which the scale of the C-end market will account for nearly 30%.

Guohai Securities analysis predicts that if the annual compound growth rate is estimated at 20%, in the next 6-7 years, China's prepared vegetable industry will form a trillion-scale market.

　　Many market participants are not optimistic about Guolian Aquatic's turn to the domestic prefabricated vegetable market.

"For Guolian Aquatic Products, the cost of raw materials for prefabricated vegetables can be effectively controlled through direct procurement, but from a practical point of view, more prefabricated vegetables for the user market and the original aquaculture products of Guolian Aquatic Products have differences in quality control and marketing strategies. Different." Wang Peng said.

Shen Meng, executive director of Chanson Capital, also said that Guolian Aquatic has no obvious advantages and limitations in the supply of raw materials outside its main business.

　　A reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News found that the current domestic prefabricated vegetable market is highly competitive, with not only related companies in the traditional food industry chain, fresh food chain supermarkets, but also many Internet giants.

In this regard, Wang Peng said that Guolian Aquatic Products is facing considerable competition if it wants to get a share of the pie. It needs real investment of funds and R&D talents, "rather than simply hyping a concept to tide over the current stock price difficulty."

　　Guolian Aquatic Products may not understand this truth.

On June 7, Guolian Aquatic Products announced that the company received the "Second Round Review Inquiry Letter on Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Development Co., Ltd.'s application for issuing shares to specific objects" issued by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Listing Review Center.

According to the prospectus, Guolian Aquatic Products plans to raise 300 million yuan to supplement working capital, accounting for 30% of the total raised funds.

　　"The self-positioning of Guolian Aquatic's pre-prepared vegetable business is very important to the future prospects. It does not mean that you will succeed in the pre-prepared vegetable market." Shen Meng believes.

With the development of the prefabricated vegetable market, the reporter also observed recently that the market has more diverse voices about prefabricated food. Some consumers think that prefabricated food tastes heavy and not delicious, and the homogeneity between brands is serious.

Guolian Aquatic Products still has a long way to go in order to rely on prefabricated dishes to "turn over".