Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1560
Pinduoduo’s Administrative Expenses Soar
In the fourth quarter of last year, when the core business of its peers was sluggish, Pinduoduo maintained high growth. Quarterly revenue and net profit increased by more than 40% year-on-year, and the final annual revenue exceeded 130.5 billion yuan and profit exceeded 31.5 billion yuan.
The re-investment of JD.com and Ali prevented Pinduoduo from getting what it wanted in the third quarter. In the last three months of last year, Pinduoduo’s revenue was 39.82 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.24%.
- The core online marketing revenue is about 31 billion yuan, which is 125% of JD.com in the same period (the previous value was 149%);
- The sum of marketing and commission income is about 43.53% of Ali’s during the same period (53.31% of the previous value).
Therefore, although Pinduoduo’s management said at the performance meeting that it “always invests very prudently” and “invests very prudently”, at least the financial statements leave signs of expanding investment. The sales expense ratio in the current quarter returned to 44% (the previous value was 39%), and the “three expenses” (marketing, administration, R&D) accounted for nearly 55% of the revenue (the previous value was 49%)
Among them, although the proportion of administrative expenses is low, the scale has nearly tripled to 1.64 billion yuan, mainly due to the increase in equity incentive expenses, and the equity incentive expenses for employees of relevant departments reached 1.279 billion yuan (224 million yuan in the same period in 2021). In the past, Pinduoduo did not go all out to buy vegetables and the team expanded rapidly. Administrative expenses and equity incentive expenses increased steadily. It is unclear whether the sharp increase in equity incentives is related to Temu, or because management will revise the equity incentive plan in 2021 to expand the annual increase in the number of shares from 1% to 3%.
In short, coupled with Pinduoduo’s increased marketing investment due to betting on the shopping season and consumption rebound, the operating profit margin fell by 7 percentage points to 22.89% in the fourth quarter of last year. The numbers are still excellent, but the margin of beating the market is not as great as investors think. So after the financial report was released, Pinduoduo’s stock price fell by more than 10%.
When asked by analysts whether the decline in profit margins was affected by Temu, Pinduoduo, which made a net profit of more than 30 billion yuan last year, said that its international business is still in a very early stage and has not seen a significant financial impact so far.
Temu was launched in the United States on September 1 last year, Canada on February 9 this year, and Australia and New Zealand on March 13. The UK site is likely to be launched later this month. According to InsiderIntelligence data, from November to December last year, the number of unique visitors to Temu has reached 41 million. Sensor Tower analysts said that as of January this year, there were about 11 million monthly active users, a 47% increase from last December’s shopping season.
They mitigate the impact of different cultural and regulatory environments with low prices, a convenient returns experience, and a growing selection. At least not yet, they are not a core target of multinational legislatures or business regulators.
According to the previous continuous tracking of “LatePost”, the unit price of Temu customers in November last year was only about 20 US dollars, and it exceeded 35 US dollars in February this year. Based on the news from many domestic media, Temu seems to be unable to cope with the continuous growth of orders. Last week, several Temu investment managers notified the warehouse to stop receiving goods, temporarily closed the pre-sale mode, and suspended the launch of new products. (Gong Fangyi, Lin Guangying)
Banks become high-risk investments
Credit Suisse bond investors have discovered that in a country known for protecting bank customers, their own rights can also be directly zeroed out. As part of UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse for more than US$3 billion, Credit Suisse’s AT1 bonds with a face value of about US$17.2 billion were directly zeroed, and investors did not get a penny.
AT1 bonds are financing products launched by the banking industry to meet specific regulatory indicators after the 2008 financial crisis. The order of repayment is generally after deposits, general creditors and subordinated debts, and before ordinary shareholders. The previous collapse of Silicon Valley Bank also protected depositors, regardless of the interests of shareholders for the time being.
The interests of Credit Suisse shareholders have also been discounted by 40%. Credit Suisse closed Friday with a market capitalization of about $6 billion. In order to speed up the transaction and stop the brewing financial crisis, the Swiss Federal Ministry of Finance, the Swiss National Financial Administration and the Swiss National Bank jointly initiated. They also provided excess guarantees for UBS and Credit Suisse, giving the two banks unlimited access to the SNB’s liquidity facility.
After the transaction is completed, UBS Group’s total assets will reach 5 trillion US dollars. Switzerland saved a bank that was too big to fail and created a bank that might be too big to save. (Gong Fangyi)
Japan and South Korea resume chip raw material trade, pressure comes to Chinese suppliers
After nearly four years of stalemate, trade relations between Japan and South Korea have begun to ease. Japan has agreed to lift export restrictions on key materials for the South Korean chip industry, and South Korea will withdraw its prosecution to the WTO on export controls.
Chips are South Korea’s pillar industry, accounting for about 20% of its total exports. In the field of key upstream materials, Japan controls more than half of the global market supply, especially the three types of products such as fluoropolyimide, photoresist, and high-purity hydrofluoric acid. South Korea’s dependence on Japanese manufacturers is more than 90%.
However, Japan only restricts South Korea from local direct mining. For example, although South Korea cannot directly import photoresist from Japan, it can still purchase photoresist products in large quantities through a subsidiary of Japanese manufacturer JSR in Belgium. Some specific implementation rules were later relaxed or postponed by officials.
In response to Japan’s export controls, South Korean chip manufacturers such as Samsung and SK Hynix are actively cultivating local suppliers, while also focusing more on other regions such as China. According to a report released by the Federation of Korean Economists (FKI), about 29.3% of South Korea’s imports of raw materials and parts will come from China in 2020, mainly semiconductors, power batteries, rare earths and medical supplies.
Unlike Japanese manufacturers who control key technologies, the attractiveness of China’s supply chain comes more from the price factor. The easing of trade disputes between Japan and South Korea may affect the orders of some Chinese suppliers who had previously benefited.
After the trade war between Japan and South Korea in 2019, Chinese chemical manufacturer Dofluoride successfully cut into the supply chain of the two major Korean chip manufacturers. Its semiconductor-grade hydrofluoric acid shipped 2,627 tons that year, a five-fold increase from the previous year. many.
We asked people related to DoFD for their views on the specific impact of the incident, but no response was received as of press time. (Qiu Hao)
Traditional automakers are struggling in the electric vehicle market
Mercedes-Benz plans to invest billions of dollars in the next few years to renovate its car factories in China, Germany and Hungary to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, German auto media Automobilwoche reported. Mercedes-Benz will be ready for full electrification by 2030, subject to market conditions.
Volkswagen brand leader Thomas Schaefer said in an interview with the same media that in response to competition from Tesla and BYD, Volkswagen will launch an entry-level electric car with a price of less than 20,000 euros, which will be available in the market as early as 2026 .
The latest developments of the two traditional car companies show their struggles in the transition to new energy sources: Mercedes-Benz did not choose to directly build a new electric vehicle factory, and imposed market conditions before full electrification; Volkswagen had a similar situation as early as 2018 The low-cost electric vehicle plan (“MEB entry”, also to compete with Tesla at the time), is now being mentioned again, but it may not be officially launched until 2026.
On the one hand, this sense of struggle comes from the huge burden brought by the past success of traditional car companies: the production and sales of electric vehicles require new technologies, supply chains, channels and service networks, which means that a lot of money, manpower and time are needed to establish And maintenance. The popularity of electric vehicles will also weaken the market demand and profit margins of fuel vehicles, and affect the cash flow and profitability of traditional car companies.
On the other hand, the reforms necessary for transformation will inevitably face many internal resistances. Volkswagen used to be the most resolute electric reformer among traditional car companies. After its former CEO Diess took the helm in 2018, he launched various reforms, including discontinuing the Phaeton, launching the ID series of electric models, reducing costs and laying off 10,000 people. However, under the opposition and doubts of labor unions, shareholders and other parties, Diess lost the position of CEO of the Volkswagen brand and Volkswagen Group in 2020 and 2022. (Qiu Hao)
Know later丨An all-terrain vehicle manufacturer went public this week, and its income mainly comes from overseas markets
There were at least 4 IPOs for A shares this week.
- Hongyuan Pharmaceutical: a manufacturer of raw materials and pharmaceutical intermediates. From 2018 to January 6, 2021, Hongyuan Pharmaceutical’s revenues were 1.329 billion yuan, 1.574 billion yuan, 1.303 billion yuan and 699 million yuan respectively. Revenue growth of 18% in 2019 will decline by 17% in 2020. During the IPO process in 2017, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a warning letter to it. In 2019, Hongyuan Pharmaceuticals was fined about 250,000 yuan for violating standards and regulations during random inspections of drugs produced by Hongyuan Pharmaceuticals. It closed down 16.10% today.
- Tongdahai: Government information construction service provider, customers include the Supreme People’s Court and nearly 3,000 people’s courts at all levels in 25 regions across the country. From 2019 to January to June 2022, Tongdahai’s comprehensive gross profit margins will be 56.49%, 58.66%, 56.65% and 49.68%, respectively. It closed up 17.40% today.
- Taotao Vehicle Industry: A manufacturer of off-highway recreational vehicles. The company’s own brand sales account for more than 50%, and export revenue accounts for more than 98%. The company’s customers are mainly distributed in North America and Europe. In the first half of 2022, the company’s operating income was 770 million yuan, a decrease of 16.46% from the same period last year. Taotao Motors plans to raise 650 million yuan.
- Suqian Liansheng: light stabilizer manufacturer. In 2022, the operating income will be 1,792,366,700 yuan, an increase of 3.36% over the previous year, and an average of more than 50% of the products are sold to overseas markets. It plans to raise 538 million yuan.
Hong Kong stocks have at least 1 IPO this week.
- Jiachuang Real Estate: a boutique residential property developer, listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange by way of “introduction”, mainly developing and selling residential properties in Dongguan, Huizhou and Foshan. For the 2020-2022 fiscal year ending March 2022 and the six months ending September 2022, the average gross profit margin of Jiachuang Real Estate is higher than 70%, much higher than other listed real estate companies.
There are at least 4 IPOs in US stocks this week.
- Shengfeng Development: Shengfeng Logistics, a Chinese land transportation company. Revenue for the first six months of 2022 is $167 million and net profit is $2.455 million. It plans to raise US$13.5 million.
- Yangufang Inter Group: Chinese oatmeal food company Yangufang, the main products are oatmeal products and oatmeal nutrition and health products. The revenue for fiscal year 2020, fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2022 will be US$24.0897 million, US$29.837 million and US$36 million, respectively. It plans to raise US$19 million.
- Mangoceuticals: An American pharmaceutical company that develops, markets, and sells a variety of men’s health products and services primarily through telemedicine platforms. It plans to raise USD 5 million.
- Golden Heaven Group holdings: Chinese amusement park operator Jinsheng Amusement Co., Ltd. manages and operates six amusement projects in southern China. In the 2022 fiscal year, Jinsheng Amusement achieved revenue of 41.7882 million US dollars, an increase of 8.49% compared with the 2021 fiscal year, and realized a net profit of 14.3283 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.51%. Raising up to $10 million. (Intern Chang Junfei)
OTHER NEWS
BOSS Zhipin said that the user activity of job hunting and recruitment at the beginning of this year reached a new high.
According to the management, from January to February 2023, BOSS direct employment will add about 9 million new and complete users (that is, users who have posted at least one job application intention or job posting information). During this period, user activity hit a new high, and the proportion of blue-collar users continued to increase. , The number of newly released jobs in the urban service industry increased by more than 40% year-on-year. It is expected that the revenue in the first quarter of this year will increase by 9.8% to 11.6% year-on-year. However, some analysts pointed out that due to the lower-than-expected cash flow, the real expansion needs of enterprises may not recover as quickly as imagined.
Douyin is a video application Qingtao that is very similar to “Bilibili”.
Douyin recently launched a video platform called “Qingtao”, which is described in the application introduction as a “video platform for young people’s interest and knowledge”. Users can log in directly with their Douyin account. Qingtao mainly focuses on knowledge content, the content duration is generally 5-30 minutes, the content is displayed in a double-column waterfall, and the user group is targeted at young people. These are one of the “labels” of station B.
Netease and Enlight Media want to use AI in the fields of games and animation.
Recently, NetEase’s official Weibo announced the launch of the first AI co-creation game design event in “Infinite Tribulation”, with technical support provided by NetEase Fuxi Lab. On the other hand, Enlight Media said today that overseas animation production teams are exploring the application of ChatGPT in business, and have participated in the test of Baidu Wenxin Yiyan. After this news, the company’s stock price rose by 18%.
TikTok has more than 150 million active users in the United States.
On March 23, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi will attend a hearing of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee as scheduled. According to media reports, Zhou Shouzi will disclose at the hearing that TikTok has more than 150 million active users in the United States, trying to explain the importance of TikTok to the daily lives of Americans. The last time TikTok announced that the number of active users in the United States was about 100 million, the latest population of the United States was about 332 million.
Each sub-brand of BYD may operate independently.
According to 36 Krypton, BYD has made a number of organizational adjustments since the beginning of the year. The teams, projects, operations and product teams of various new energy vehicle brands such as Dynasty, Ocean, and Denza have been separated from the engineering institute, and their own independent brand research institutes have been established. At present, key personnel in each research institute have been in place. BYD is also simultaneously adjusting the autonomous driving R&D system and integrating multiple R&D departments to solve the problem of repeated investment and consumption of resources.
Patek Philippe plans to cut 30% of stores worldwide.
According to media reports, Patek Philippe plans to reorganize its global retail distribution network, which will eventually reduce about 30% of its stores. The reduction plan started as early as last year. Taking the UK as an example, the number of dealers was reduced from 40 to 25 last year, including some prestigious high-end jewelers. At present, Patek Philippe has two exclusive stores in mainland China, located in Beijing and Shanghai respectively. Last year, it also invested 100 million yuan to establish its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai.
Passenger traffic on international routes in China increased by 756% year-on-year in February.
According to the data of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the passenger traffic volume in February 2023 was 43.2 million, a year-on-year increase of nearly 40%, of which 706,000 were international routes, a year-on-year increase of 756%. In February, cargo and mail traffic increased by 4.8% year-on-year, of which international routes decreased by 5.2% year-on-year.
Wuxi adjusted the housing purchase restriction policy.
According to Wuxi’s release, residents who work in Wuxi but have not paid social security and individual taxes in Wuxi can purchase a new commercial housing set by providing proof of residence for half a year or more. The new “Ten Measures of Tin” supports the purchase of improved housing by resident families who have already settled down in the urban area of Wuxi, and optimizes the scope of housing purchase restrictions and adjusts the purchase restriction areas. Prior to this, Yangzhou introduced 8 measures to support the property market, canceling restrictions on the purchase of new houses and restrictions on the sale of second-hand houses.
Qualcomm promised to be the first customer of TSMC’s U.S. factory.
Following Apple and Nvidia, Qualcomm announced that it will be the first customer of TSMC’s 4nm chips in the US. TSMC announced at the end of 2022 that it will build a factory in Arizona, USA, and begin mass production of 4nm chips in 2024. Although TSMC stated at the earnings call in January this year that the cost of building a factory in the United States may be at least four times that of Taiwan, China, and may damage this year’s profitability, it seems that there is no shortage of orders for the time being.
GM’s market share in China has shrunk by one-third in seven years.
According to media reports, GM’s market share in China has fallen from about 15% in 2015 to 9.8% in 2022, the first time since 2004 that its market share has fallen below 10%, and its revenue has also dropped by nearly 10% from its peak in 2014. Seventy percent. The report pointed out that the trend had started before the epidemic, partly because of the rise of domestic brands in China. Although GM has been downplaying the status of its Chinese business, it also hopes to have a place in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
Kai-fu Lee formed a new AI company.
Kai-fu Lee announced on March 19 that he is preparing to form a new company, Project AI 2.0, saying that funds and computing power will be in place one after another, and he will invite top talents in the fields of large models and multimodality to join. In his speech last week, he mentioned that AI 2.0 will improve productivity in many fields, including search engines, e-commerce/advertising, Metaverse/games, finance, games, etc.
Japan sends people overseas to learn the most cutting-edge semiconductor technology.
According to Nikkei reports, Japan plans to send young researchers to Europe and the United States to learn cutting-edge semiconductor technologies below 2nm starting this year, including IBM in the United States and imec, a semiconductor research institute in Belgium. According to reports, the move is aimed at cultivating talents and reviving Japan’s cutting-edge semiconductor industry. In 2019, about 82,000 people in Japan are engaged in semiconductor-related manufacturing, which is more than half that of 20 years ago. We have previously reported that a number of major chip manufacturers are facing a shortage of manufacturing talents in the United States.
In order to expand production capacity, Airbus plans to increase recruitment.
Airbus plans to boost production of its best-selling A320neo from 45 a month to 75 by 2026. In order to cope with the increase in production, Airbus expects to recruit 13,000 new employees around the world this year. Among them, in Germany, the second largest production base, Airbus has hired 3,500 employees for two consecutive years. Airbus once laid off 15,000 employees during the epidemic, so it began to face manpower shortage after the aviation industry gradually recovered.
Central banks around the world have cooperated to increase dollar liquidity.
On March 19, the Federal Reserve issued the latest statement that it will increase liquidity for the global market through standing US dollar liquidity swap agreements with the Bank of England, Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, and Swiss National Bank. Starting from March 20, major central banks will adjust the operating frequency of the seven-day dollar swap agreement from once a week to once a day, and this measure will last at least until the end of April. During the worst period of the 2008 financial crisis and the new crown epidemic, central banks in many places around the world also adopted similar measures.
Research team launches app that prevents AI from stealing copyrights.
A research team at the University of Chicago has launched a free app, Glaze, to protect intellectual property from AI theft. Its working principle can be roughly understood as that the image modified by the application is almost indistinguishable under human observation, but it can distort its appearance from the perspective of AI. Because the way artificial intelligence perceives things is fundamentally different from that of humans.
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