Written by|Planet
Source|Beduo Finance
On September 5, Lecang Logistics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lecang Logistics") passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and disclosed the information set (i.e. prospectus) after passing the hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. CITIC Securities and ABC International is its joint sponsor.
Founded in 2004, Lecaang Logistics started as a freight forwarding company and gradually grew into an integrated cross-border maritime logistics service provider. At present, the services of Lecang Logistics have covered all major aspects of cross-border logistics such as package collection, warehousing and sorting, customs clearance, cross-border shipping, warehousing transfer and last-mile delivery.
Beido Finance learned that Lecang Logistics was listed on the New Third Board on November 27, 2015 with the securities abbreviation of "Lecang.com". At that time, Lecang Logistics was called "the first share of the New Third Board shipping e-commerce platform". The stock code is 838349.
Nearly seven years after being listed on the New Third Board, Lecai Logistics was delisted in April 2022 on the grounds that "the low liquidity of the New Third Board shares will make it difficult for it to raise funds publicly to continue to support business development and strategic needs." Six months later, it moved to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to seek listing.
It should be pointed out that there are not a few logistics groups seeking to go public in the near future. Among them, Jitu Express submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June, aiming to be listed on the main board; SF Holdings submitted listing materials to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August this year, planning to accelerate its overseas market layout in the form of "A+H".
Looking at the wider cross-border shipping track, the listing process of Jinjiang Shipping, a subsidiary of Shanghai International Port Group (SH:600018), which is engaged in international and domestic maritime container transportation business, also reached the registration submission stage in early August and was successfully completed. Listing is just around the corner.
In fact, the logistics and shipping market has gradually regained its composure in recent years, and the background of each company on the track has gradually emerged. In this competition for listing, how should Lecai Logistics tell the story of shipping?
1. The growth rate of segmented tracks has "suddenly stopped", and people want to buy ships to consolidate their competitiveness.
According to the Drewry and Frost & Sullivan Report, China's cross-border logistics service market is growing steadily. Due to capacity shortages and port congestion caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, cross-border logistics service freight rates have increased significantly from 2020 to 2021, and China's cross-border logistics service market has increased significantly to US$367 billion in 2021.
As the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on China's cross-border logistics service market weakens, China's cross-border logistics service market will shrink to US$353.8 billion in 2022. It is expected to shrink further in 2023, but will still be higher than before the epidemic in 2019. level, and grow steadily from 2023 to 2027.
It should be pointed out that China’s cross-border logistics service market is fragmented. In terms of revenue in 2022, the top fifteen logistics service providers collectively hold only 12.2% of the market share, while Lecaang Logistics ranks fifteenth with a market share of approximately 0.2%. In addition, Lecang Logistics is also the fifth largest private cross-border maritime logistics service provider in China.
Lecang Logistics stated in the prospectus that cross-border shipping is a key link in cross-border logistics. In terms of providing cross-border shipping services in a self-operated manner, the company deploys its own ships or charters ships to provide services directly to customers; For cross-border shipping services provided by third parties, it cooperates with third-party shipping companies to purchase shipping space for customers.
After years of layout, Lecaang Logistics has a global logistics network, with a service network covering Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Australia, and Japan. Indonesia and other countries. In 2021, Boya International Shipping, a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Lecang Logistics, launched a self-operated cross-border shipping service business between China and the United States.
In order to expand the resources and capabilities related to ship operations, Lecang Logistics spares no effort in purchasing ships.
In June 2022, Lecan Logistics signed two shipbuilding agreements to order two first-hand ultra-large container ships with a capacity of 14,700 TEU at a total consideration of US$281 million, which are expected to be delivered in 2025.
In July 2023, Lecang Logistics signed a memorandum of agreement to purchase another second-hand ship with a capacity of 1.38 tons, and purchased containers of different specifications and functions to further expand capacity and take advantage of favorable ships in the current market downturn price, the vessel is due for delivery in August 2023.
2. The performance is like riding a "roller coaster", and the gross profit level has improved.
However, the cross-border logistics service industry is highly cyclical and characterized by significant fluctuations in market freight rates. In 2021, Luchang Logistics seized the market opportunities brought about by the shortage of shipping supply and began to operate its own cross-border logistics services, and achieved impressive performance.
2020. In 2021 and 2022, the operating income of Lecang Logistics will be 782 million yuan, 4.195 billion yuan and 4.608 billion yuan respectively; the profits during the year will be 27.540 million yuan, 392 million yuan and 386 million yuan respectively; adjusted under non-IFRS EBITDA was 42.038 million yuan, 456 million yuan and 460 million yuan respectively.
While revenue and profits are growing simultaneously, Lecaang Logistics' gross profit level is also quite impressive. From 2020 to 2022, Lecang Logistics achieved gross profits of 63.786 million yuan, 457 million yuan, and 545 million yuan respectively, with corresponding gross profit margins of 8.2%, 10.9%, and 11.8% respectively. The gross profit margin has steadily increased.
Since the second half of 2022, market freight rates have begun to drop significantly, and Lecaang Logistics has chosen to suspend the provision of self-operated cross-border logistics services. Although the company said that this was only an adjustment to its service supply strategy and a timely adjustment of its current business focus in response to major changes in market conditions, this move inevitably affected its performance.
Lecang Logistics achieved revenue of 454 million yuan in the first four months of 2023, a decrease of 77.44% from 2.011 billion yuan in the same period of 2022; profit during the period was 83.990 million yuan, a decrease of 63.21% from 228 million yuan in the same period of 2022; adjusted EBITDA was 103 million yuan, a decrease of 57.74% from 244 million yuan in the same period in 2022.
In addition, Lecang Logistics' gross profit has also dropped from 259 million yuan in the first four months of 2022 to 114 million yuan in the same period of 2023. However, Lecang Logistics' gross profit margin has been optimized, increasing from 12.9% in the same period in 2022 to 25.1%, mainly due to the increase in the proportion of revenue generated from ship rental services with higher gross profit margins.
Lecang Logistics stated in its prospectus that as of April 30, 2023, the utilization rates of the company's own ships and chartered ships were 93.8% and 100.0% respectively. In the future, it will continue to monitor current freight rates, actively assess customer needs, and remain open to providing self-operated cross-border shipping services when market conditions are favorable.