“Stock King” Kweichow Moutai (600518.SH) handed over a semi-annual report that slightly exceeded expectations.
On the evening of August 2, Kweichow Moutai released its 2023 semi-annual report. Revenue for the reporting period was 69.58 billion yuan, up 20.76% year on year; net profit was 35.98 billion yuan, up 20.76% year on year. Compared with the previously disclosed operating data report, revenue was slightly lower than the forecast of 70.6 billion yuan, and net profit slightly exceeded expectations of 35.6 billion yuan.
By product, Maotai Liquor and its range of liquors contributed 59.28 billion yuan and 10.07 billion yuan respectively, up 18.6% and 32.6% year-on-year respectively.
By channel, the direct sales channel and the wholesale channel contributed 31.42 billion yuan and 37.93 billion yuan in revenue respectively, up 50% and 3.6% year-on-year respectively. Direct sales accounted for 45%, compared to only 36% in the same period last year.
Theoretically, the proportion of direct sales channels with better profit performance increased. Kweichow Moutai's net profit performance should be superior to revenue performance, but the growth rate of the two was synchronized during the reporting period, at 20.76%.
This may be related to the increase in expenses of Kweichow Moutai during the reporting period. Its sales expenses increased by 18.52% and management expenses by 5.43%.
Since Ding Xiongjun, the current chairman of Kweichow Moutai, took office, Kweichow Moutai's channel reforms and new product launches have continued.
On July 29, after cooperating with Mengniu, Kweichow Moutai once again joined hands with Zhongjie Group to launch a new ice cream product at a price of 29 yuan. However, the logic of selling ice cream is not similar to selling alcohol, especially Maotai liquor; it remains to be seen how much growth this part of the business can bring.
It is also worth noting that during the reporting period, Kweichow Moutai's operating costs increased sharply by 25.52% year on year to 5.71 billion yuan. In the financial report, this was due to “increased sales volume, increased production costs, and changes in product structure in the current period.”
There was also a major change in its contract liabilities section, down 52.6% from the previous year to 7.33 billion yuan. The explanation given in the financial report was “mainly due to a decrease in pre-paid purchase prices by dealers.”
The change in this column indicates that Kweichow Moutai dealers may have changed their payments.
A food and beverage analyst at an AMC brokerage firm in Beijing told Xinfeng (ID: TradeWind01) that the Kweichow Moutai dealer payment pace has not changed, and that payments are made on a monthly basis.
ID: TradeWind01 (ID: TradeWind01) asked relevant people in Kweichow Moutai about the costs and changes in the contract liabilities section, but no response has been received as of press time.