Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1258
Nasdaq has produced a Chinese “big demon stock”
There is a company with 50 or 60 people, which makes a net profit of 4.8 billion yuan a year and has a market value of 218.5 billion yuan. There is also a company with 50 or 60 employees, which makes a net profit of 148 million yuan a year and has a market value of 400 billion US dollars.
The former is the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail. The latter is AMTD Digital, a financial technology company headquartered in Hong Kong SAR, whose market value has risen by 30,000% in two weeks. Its main business is selling financial solutions and selling insurance.
- At its highest market value, AMTD Digital was the 13th largest company in the world and the largest Chinese concept stock.
- The market value is roughly equal to the sum of the three major e-commerce companies in China.
- In the fiscal year ended April 30, 2021, AMTD Digital’s revenue was RMB 163 million, investment income was RMB 59 million, and pre-tax profit was RMB 163 million.
Among them, “SpiderNet Ecosystem Solution Service” (SpiderNet) contributed revenue of 153 million yuan, and the explanation of the solution in the prospectus is vague:
- “We provide Asian entrepreneurs and companies with hyperconnectors and digital accelerators that connect resources and technologies, and provide them with access to our unique AMTD SpiderNet ecosystem. Around our ecosystem-driven strategy, we empower entrepreneurs and Businesses capitalize on capital, technology, guidance, connectivity and other resources…”
- “Through a paid membership program, we provide corporate clients exclusive access to the AMTD SpiderNet ecosystem and its prestigious corporate members, distinguished corporate executives and partners, creating strategic and synergistic opportunities…”
Combined with some company press releases, SpiderNet actually provides funding and technology to municipal digital startups, while also providing networking services to other digital startups for a fee from members. They hold an insurance license in Hong Kong SAR and are applying with Xiaomi for a digital banking license in Singapore.
As of April 30, 2022, AMTD Digital had 50 employees, including 4 managers, 35 frontline employees and 11 support staff.
AMTD Digital’s major shareholder is AMTD IDEA Group, a Hong Kong-listed company, holding more than 90% of the shares. AMTD (AMTD Group), Infinity Power Investments Limited and Century City International Holdings Limited are the three major shareholders of AMTD IDEA, holding 50.6%, 20.43% and 5.79% of the shares respectively.
- AMTD Group is a small and medium-sized investment bank that participated in the listing of Xiaomi and Meituan, and also established Airstar Bank, a joint venture with Xiaomi, which pays AMTD Digital a fixed annual fee to participate in the latter’s SpiderNet.
- Shareholders of AMTD Group include a number of local wealthy families in Hong Kong, such as Cheung Kong Hutchison Industries, Li Jiajie (co-chairman of Henderson Land and Hong Kong Gas Company, the eldest son of Li Shau Kee), the Tam Shili Zhao family, and the chairman of Far East Development Group, Qiu Dachang, etc.
A person in the secondary market said to Late Finance and Economics that “no one knows what happened to AMTD Digital”, but speculated that the very small proportion of outstanding shares (11%) was one of the reasons for the sharp rise in the stock price. The tradable shares are unrestricted stocks in the market. Under the same market value, the fewer tradable shares, the easier it is to push the stock price up or down.
“Retail investor paradise,” said the aforementioned person.
On the day it was followed by users on Wall Street or Reddit/WallStreetBets forums where retail investors gathered, $130 million, or 0.2% of the circulating market value, created a market value of $70 billion. AMTD Digital itself was puzzled by the sudden growth, and issued a statement saying that there have been no major changes since the IPO.
As of the press release on August 3, AMTD Digital’s share price has fallen by more than 40%, and its market value has dropped to US$183.1 billion. Alibaba is now more expensive than it is. (Gong Fangyi)
Starbucks China same-store sales fell 44% in the second quarter
According to the financial report data released by Starbucks, revenue in the second quarter was US$8.15 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%; net profit was US$910 million, a year-on-year decrease of 20.9%.
- The U.S., its home market, had the strongest performance, with revenue of $5.62 billion, up 13% year-over-year, and same-store sales up 9%.
- International markets, except China, saw double-digit revenue growth.
Starbucks founder Schultz said that the Chinese market was affected by the epidemic. Revenue in the second quarter was US$540 million, down 40% year-on-year, and same-store sales fell 44%.
- More than 1,300 stores were temporarily closed throughout the quarter, accounting for about a quarter of the total store size.
- There are 940 stores in Shanghai, China’s largest market, and about two-thirds of the time in the second quarter was closed.
- Of the 150 stores in Beijing, about one-third were temporarily closed for nearly six weeks.
At the earnings conference, Schultz said that with the resumption of operations in most Starbucks stores in Shanghai in June, it is expected that revenue in the Chinese market will be effectively improved in the next quarter. He once again reiterated his emphasis on the Chinese market, believing that Starbucks’ business in China will eventually surpass that of the United States.
In order to cope with the fierce competition in the Chinese market, Starbucks has stepped up its store expansion in China while introducing the best-selling new products in the North American market. In the second quarter, the number of stores increased by 12% to 5,761. But to reach its target of 6,000 stores this year, 239 new stores will need to be opened in the next five months. (Intern Zeng Xing)
Nintendo’s second-quarter sales and profits both fell year-on-year
On August 3, Nintendo released a financial report saying that revenue in the second quarter was about $2.365 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4.7%; profit fell 15% to $763 million, which was less than expected.
- Nintendo’s business revenue is mainly concentrated in Switch console hardware and related game sales.
- Sales of game hardware, software, digital content, subscription services and other content decreased by 4.3% year-on-year;
- Mobile game and IP licensing sales fell 16.8% year-on-year;
- Switch console sales were 3.43 million units, down 22.9% year-on-year; software sales were 41.41 million units, down 8.6% year-on-year.
The report pointed out that the decline in mainframe-related revenue was mainly affected by lower profit margins of new models and rising hardware costs. The decrease in mobile game and IP-related revenue was caused by the decrease in the recharge amount of users on mobile devices.
Affected by the global chip supply shortage, not only Switch, but also game hardware shipments such as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have decreased, and overall sales have declined. In addition, the gaming divisions of Microsoft and Sony also saw a year-on-year decline in revenue in the second quarter.
- Microsoft’s gaming business revenue fell 7% year over year; Xbox hardware sales fell 11% year over year.
- Sony’s gaming business revenue fell 13% year-on-year; software sales fell 26% year-on-year; PlayStation users’ total game time fell 15% year-on-year. (Intern Zeng Xing)
Gome e-commerce “really happy” one and a half years
According to Caixin reports, Ding Wei, executive vice president of Gome’s e-commerce platform, Real Happiness, has been dismissed, the team has been largely laid off, and Zeng Zhining, CEO of Gome Butler Aftermarket, has been dismissed.
In 2017, Gome changed its name from “Gome Electric Appliances” to “Gome Retail”, shifting from its main electrical appliance platform to a full-category retail business. “E-commerce” aggregation platform.
In February 2021, when Gome founder Huang Guangyu returned, he said that “it will take 18 months to bring Gome back to its original market position.” To this end, he regards e-commerce as one of his core strategies, and hopes to benchmark the interest e-commerce platform Douyin.
- In February this year, Gome Retail said “Really Happy”. The platform has 70 million monthly active users, with an average daily active user of about 3.5 million.
- Last year, Douyin had more than 600 million daily active users.
- “Really happy” has been punished many times for violating advertising laws, and there will be 5 punished messages in 2021.
In the first half of this year, Gome reported layoffs, salary cuts, and dismissal of executives. Gome started layoffs in April, and the home furnishing industry subsidiary, Garment Home, stopped operations except for its core business, and increased the employee performance ratio from 20% to 40%, triggering a “disguised salary cut” controversy. In July this year, a large number of “really happy” employees were exposed on social platforms, saying that the company had owed employees two months’ wages.
According to the “2021 China Home Appliance Market Report”, JD.com ranked first with a market share of about 32%, followed by Suning Tesco and Tmall, respectively, with a market share of about 16% and 14%. Gome is only 5%. Suning.com was once Gome’s main rival, and its revenue last year was nearly three times that of Gome’s. (intern Xue Yujie)
OTHER NEWS
China’s Caixin Services PMI rose to 55.5% in July.
In July, the Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index increased by 1.0 percentage points from June, staying in the expansion range for the second consecutive month and hitting a new high since May 2021. In terms of sub-item data, both the business activity index and the new order index rose slightly in the expansion range, reaching the highest in the past 15 months and the past nine months, respectively.
Air China plans to raise 15 billion yuan to buy 22 aircraft.
Following the announcement of the purchase of 64 Airbus A320NEO series aircraft in early July, Air China once again proposed to raise no more than 15 billion yuan. The net proceeds after deducting the issuance expenses, of which 10.8 billion yuan will be used for the introduction of 22 aircraft projects, 42 100 million yuan to supplement working capital. According to previous Air China data, the group’s passenger turnover in June fell by more than 40% year-on-year and increased by more than 70% month-on-month.
Juneyao Airlines’ domestic flight volume in July recovered to 90% of 2019.
According to Juneyao Airlines, in the first half of the Summer Festival, Juneyao Airlines operated nearly 7,000 flights, transporting over 800,000 passengers. Among them, the domestic flight volume has recovered to 90% of the level of the same period in 2019, and the domestic flight volume at the end of July is close to the level of the same period in 2019. Juneyao Airlines plans to open new domestic, regional and international routes in the summer.
More than 10 individuals were infected with the Omicron BA.5 strain in Sanya.
- On August 2, there were 38 new confirmed cases in the mainland, 12 in Hainan and 10 in Gansu; 251 new asymptomatic infections were reported in the mainland, including 74 in Guangxi and 56 in Henan.
- Sanya, Hainan added “12+1”, which requires a negative nucleic acid certificate within 24 hours of entering a public place.
- Sichuan added “1+4” and “7.20” The social spread of the epidemic has been basically blocked.
- After the confirmed cases were found in West China Hospital, 3 rounds of nucleic acid tests were carried out and the results were all negative;
- On August 2, the hospital gradually resumed outpatient services.
- In Huairou, Beijing, a local case related to outside Beijing was found, and the trajectory involved multiple subway and bus lines.
- There were no new local confirmed cases and local asymptomatic infections in Shanghai for 3 consecutive days.
Dali supports home buyers to purchase half of the property rights first.
The Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province recently issued a notice that supports real estate development companies to sell commercial housing through “shared property rights”, and buyers can purchase no less than 50% of the property rights in advance, and the remaining property rights will continue to be held by the real estate development companies. Lease use, and then purchase the remaining property rights according to the contract between the two parties.
Buy an iPhone online at the Shanghai Apple Store, and it will arrive in as little as 3.5 hours.
Apple launched the “Flash Delivery” service for Apple Store retail stores in Shanghai (currently this service is only available in Shanghai), covering multiple product categories such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The “flash delivery” service costs 45 yuan and can be delivered within 3.5 hours. The delivery time of the previously provided delivery service is generally within 7 to 10 working days. According to research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple’s sales ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell from third to fourth in the second quarter.
Shares of major global semiconductor companies fell on Tuesday (August 3).
Pelosi’s trip caused anxiety in Asian financial markets. On August 3, TSMC shares closed down 2.4%, and United Microelectronics fell 3%.
- Shares of other semiconductor companies around the world were also affected, with Germany’s Infineon down 2.3% and Dutch companies ASML and BESI down 3% to 4%, as Taiwan accounted for the largest share of all countries in the world in integrated circuit production capacity.
China’s 1.032 billion people are online.
According to the “Digital China Development Report (2021)” released by the Cyberspace Administration of China recently, the number of Chinese netizens will increase to 1.032 billion in 2021, and the Internet penetration rate will increase to 73%. In terms of Internet governance, since 2019, more than 67,000 illegal and illegal applications have been removed from the shelves.
The Fortune Global 500 was released, and the total revenue of Chinese companies on the list surpassed that of the United States for the first time.
In the new list, the revenue of Chinese companies on the list accounted for 31% of the total revenue of the 500 companies on the list, surpassing the United States for the first time. In terms of revenue, Walmart has become the world’s largest company for the ninth consecutive year, and Amazon ranks second. A total of 145 Chinese companies are on the list, of which State Grid ranks third, and PetroChina and Sinopec rank fourth and fifth respectively. In terms of profitability, Apple is not the most profitable company, ranking second, followed by Saudi Aramco.
Ferrari’s second-quarter sales rose 29 percent to 3,455.
Ferrari’s second-quarter revenue, profit and shipments all exceeded 20%, setting a record. Car shipments increased by nearly 30% to 3,455 units, of which shipments in the Chinese market more than doubled. Ferrari raised its full-year revenue forecast to 4.9 billion euros after record results.
AMD’s revenue rose sharply in the second quarter, but profits fell.
AMD’s second-quarter revenue was $6.55 billion, up 70% year-on-year. The sharp increase in revenue was mainly affected by the strong growth of its data center business. Net profit was US$447 million, down nearly 40% year-on-year, which was related to the acquisition of Xilinx. AMD kept its full-year revenue forecast unchanged, but expects third-quarter revenue to be subdued due to a softening PC market.
Caterpillar’s second-quarter revenue rose 11% year-on-year, missing market expectations.
Caterpillar, known as a barometer of the global economy, posted about $14.2 billion in revenue in the second quarter, below market expectations. The company’s sales of construction equipment in the Asia-Pacific region fell 17% due to the outbreak in China and a sluggish real estate market in the second quarter. Caterpillar forecast on Tuesday (August 2) that China’s demand for excavators above 10 tons will continue to decline in the future, which accounts for 5% to 10% of its total revenue.
Uber doubled its revenue in the second quarter and turned a profit from a year-on-year loss.
Uber’s second-quarter revenue was $8.073 billion, double the year-ago period. The net loss was about 2.6 billion US dollars, and the net profit in the same period last year was about 1.1 billion US dollars. Compared with the turnaround, more than 60% of the losses were related to its investment. Uber’s monthly activity and total trips increased by more than 20% in the second quarter. The company’s CEO said, “More than 70% of new drivers choose to join Uber to cope with the rising cost of living due to inflation.”
EA’s second-quarter net profit rose 52% year-on-year.
Electronic Arts’ second-quarter revenue was US$1.767 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14%; net profit was US$311 million, an increase of more than half year-on-year. Two popular games, FIFA football and F1 racing, drove revenue and profit growth. CFO Chris Suh said user stickiness from the player community also supported the quarter’s results.
OATLY reported revenue of $178 million in the second quarter, but losses widened.
OATLY’s oat milk revenue in the second quarter was US$178 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.8%. Among them, the Asian market has the fastest growth in revenue, accounting for about a quarter of the total revenue. Revenue growth was driven by expanding global demand for oat milk. Net loss widened year-on-year, with an overall loss of US$159 million in the first half. Its oat milk sales increased by nearly 30% to over 100 million liters; in terms of sales channels, retail accounted for more than half.
Airbnb’s net profit in the second quarter was US$379 million, turning losses into profits year-on-year.
Airbnb released a financial report saying that revenue in the second quarter was US$2.104 billion, a year-on-year increase of 58%; net profit was US$379 million, a year-on-year turnaround. On May 24 this year, Airbnb announced that it would withdraw from the mainland Chinese market. The explanation is that “consolidate the base and cultivate yuan”, that is, to adjust the business and provide comprehensive services for outbound tourism.
Text | Gong Fangyi, intern Zeng Xing, and intern Xue Yujie
Editor | Gong Fangyi
The title picture comes from the movie “Living Corpse”
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