Many years later, Xinhualian and its ancient town of Tongguanyao finally couldn't hold on. But after bankruptcy reorganization, can all problems be solved?
01 Not a "fig leaf".
On the evening of December 12, Macrolink (**abbreviation: *ST Xinlian, **000620) issued five announcements in a row, one is to remind investors that the company ** is at risk of delisting, and the other is to announce the bankruptcy reorganization plan of Macrolink Cultural Tourism and its two holding subsidiaries, Changsha Xinhualian Tongguanyao and Beijing Xinhualian Land.
Caption: Macrolink announcement.
Macrolink pointed out in the announcement that due to the macroeconomic downturn and its own debt pressure, the company is facing a serious shortage of liquidity, a large number of mature debts can not be repaid, etc., and has fallen into a serious operating and debt crisis.
According to the financial report data, in the first three quarters of 2023, Macrolink's operating income not only showed a downward trend, but only 267.3 billion yuan, down 1427%, and it still continues to lose money, and the net profit loss attributable to the parent company is as high as 175.8 billion yuan. Even, Macrolink's asset-liability ratio is as high as 10214%, and the net assets are even more negative, and in May 2023, Macrolink will also be put on delisting risk warning by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
It is worth noting that although the word "cultural tourism" in the company's full name is quite eye-catching, Xinhualian is a real estate developer dressed in cultural tourism. Taking the 2019 annual report as an example, Macrolink achieved an operating income of 119 in that year8.8 billion yuan, of which real estate business income accounted for 7604%。In the first half of 2023, under the background of the real estate market falling into a freezing point and the cultural tourism market being hot, the proportion of real estate business will still reach 4537%。
Macrolink, which was listed in 2011 through the backdoor listing of ST Shengfang, was mainly engaged in the development and sales of real estate, residential and commercial real estate in the early stage of listing, and later gradually transformed its development strategy to "cultural tourism + real estate". With the help of the "cultural tourism + real estate" business model, Macrolink can use cultural tourism projects to obtain land at low cost, and use it as a marketing gimmick for real estate projects to realize the value-added of real estate projects.
With the business model of "cultural tourism + real estate", Macrolink has also had a highlight moment. In 2018, Macrolink's revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company both hit new highs since listing, reaching 1400.1 billion and 118.6 billion yuan. Among them, the income of real estate business and other businesses in cultural tourism increased by 84 respectively88% and 10953%。However, since 2019, with the turn of the real estate industry, Macrolink's operating performance has begun to decline off a cliff.
If the real estate business has dragged down the operating performance, it is understandable, after all, it is not only Xinhualian, but also a number of real estate-based cultural and tourism enterprises such as OCT A. However, in the face of a strong recovery in the cultural tourism market in 2023, the huge losses of the cultural tourism business are a bit unspeakable. Xinhualian's 2023 interim report shows that the loss scale of the Tongguanyao Ancient Town Project Company is as high as 39.5 billion yuan.
I thought that with the help of the recovery of the cultural tourism market in 2023, Macrolink's cultural tourism business could hedge the real estate business, but I didn't expect that the cultural tourism business was not a "fig leaf", but a "drag oil bottle". So, as the beginning of Xinhualian's strategic transformation, why did Tongguanyao Ancient Town fall to this?
02 Broken jars
Let's take a look at a few notes from Xiaohongshu:
The user "I'm going to grow up" wrote, "Changsha Tongguanyao Ancient Town, really don't go!."Lightning protection!The shops inside are not open, there are almost zero projects to play, a street is just me and my boyfriend, the first time I think watching people is also an attraction, no one has to see, and it cost me 88 tickets, I want to cry without tears".
User "jeff jp" wrote, "If you want to learn about the history of Changsha Tongguan Kiln, appreciate the treasures of Tongguan Kiln, and visit the ruins of the ancient kiln, you should go to Changsha Tongguan Kiln National Archaeological Site Park, not the newly built Xinhualian Tongguan Kiln Ancient Town." The newly built ancient town is a leisure and entertainment scenic spot, mainly antique architectural entertainment performances and local food, under the brand of Tongguan kiln, and there is not much characteristic."
The user "Meow Fairy" wrote, "I came to watch the fireworks and iron flowers, the fireworks are very beautiful, but the time is very short, and it is not worth waiting for such a late." Tongguanyao Ancient Town should still be difficult to develop."
Similar voices abound on the Xiaohongshu platform. What's even more unexpected is that when Tongguanyao Ancient Town just opened in 2018, it was frantically complained by tourists because most of the merchants had not opened and the high consumption of food and beverages, and Xinhualian also apologized for this. Now that many years have passed, the ancient town of Tongguanyao is still doing its own thing, and there is a feeling of "broken jars and broken falls".
What is intriguing is that although tourists on the Internet have complained about Tongguanyao Ancient Town, it has won many awards. For example, in the 2023 interim report, it was disclosed that Tongguanyao Ancient Town won awards such as the Best Night Consumption Gathering Demonstration Area at the 7th China Cultural Tourism Consumption Dragon Bird Award and the Top Ten Typical Application Scenarios of Smart Cultural Tourism in Changsha in 2023. In the business world, market share and business performance are the last word, and these false names are nothing more than self-deception.
According to the original plan of Xinhualian, the Tongguanyao Ancient Town project, which cost 10 billion yuan, is committed to building a classic tourism product that integrates Tang culture, ceramic culture, Huxiang culture and modern atmosphere, and has become the largest cultural tourism complex project in Changsha, Hunan Province and one of the tourist resort centers radiating the whole country. Xinhualian's ambition has also been recognized by Hunan Province and Changsha City, and the Tongguanyao Ancient Town Project has also been listed as a key project in Hunan Province and Changsha City.
According to Xinhualian's calculations at that time, the average annual revenue and average annual net profit of the Tongguanyao Ancient Town project will reach 83.2 billion and 27.9 billion yuan. The self-confidence of Xinhualian first comes from the location advantage, which is adjacent to Tongguan Kiln Ruins Park and Tongguan Ancient Town in the north, Xiangjiang River in the west, and high-quality tourism resources such as Shaoshan, Former Residence and Former ResidenceThe second is the cultural heritage, Changsha copper kiln has a history of 1,000 years, is the birthplace of Chinese ceramic underglaze;The third is product design, which integrates sightseeing, catering, accommodation, shopping, transportation, commerce, entertainment, performing arts, and exhibitions.
I have to admit that Xinhualian is good at "storytelling", at least from the perspective of "paper strength", Tongguanyao Ancient Town does have a certain development potential, which has also been recognized by the capital market. In 2015, Xinhualian launched a fixed increase, planning to raise no more than 4.5 billion yuan, of which 1.8 billion yuan will be used for the first phase of the Tongguan kiln project. However, I am afraid that Xinhualian itself did not expect that the fixed increase, which was originally quite smooth, finally collapsed because the sponsor Southwest ** was investigated by the case, which can be described as a trick.
The failure of financing has also increased the financial pressure of Macrolink, which has also laid the groundwork for today's bankruptcy reorganization. According to the financial report data, the scale of Xinhualian's interest-bearing liabilities in 2016 increased from 182 in 20153.4 billion yuan increased to 2474.8 billion yuan, an increase of 3572%。The interest-bearing debt ratio also increased by 188 percentage points to 5552%。After the opening of the project, the operating performance fell significantly short of expectations, which made Macrolink finally go bankrupt under huge financial pressure.
03 Change the soup without changing the dressing
According to Macrolink's concept, through this bankruptcy reorganization, on the one hand, it can resolve the debt crisis of Macrolink and its two core subsidiaries as a whole, and completely resolve the risk of delistingOn the other hand, it will focus on the main business of cultural tourism and divest non-performing assets to improve asset structure and increase profitability.
However, after solving the debt crisis, can Tongguanyao Ancient Town really get back on track?
It can be seen from the complaints of users on the Xiaohongshu platform that user experience is a major problem faced by Tongguanyao Ancient Town. First of all, the scenic spot has no characteristics at all, and does not fully show the traditional ceramic culture of Tongguan kiln, but because it has added too many commercial elements, the whole ancient town has a bit of a nondescript feeling;Secondly, the spatial layout and circulation design in the scenic area are unreasonable, and tourists need to spend a lot of physical strength in the process of visitingThird, most of the shops are closed, and the overall atmosphere of the scenic spot is deserted.
In addition to user experience, Tongguanyao Ancient Town also faces the "common problem" of all failed ancient town projects - the lack of brand power. Ten years ago, because of the success of Wuzhen, many investors took a fancy to the cake of "Guzhen Economy", and interpreted Mr. Lu Xun's "take-it-ism" to the fullest, but ignored that the brand value based on cultural heritage is the foundation of Wuzhen's success, and the building of this brand value did not happen overnight.
Milestone pointed out in the article "Zhangjiajie: Broken Dreams of "Dayong"" that looking at China's 5,000-year history, areas with rich history and humanities abound, and it is not difficult to dig out cultural stories. But the difficulty lies in whether these stories are well-known to the world, whether they are recognized by the world, and whether they can attract the world, which is essentially a manifestation of brand value, such as Mao Dun and Mu Xin in Wuzhen.
Macrolink also emphasized brand and marketing in the business plan of the reorganization plan of Tongguanyao Ancient Town. On the one hand, Tongguanyao Ancient Town strives to be promoted to a national tourist resort and a 5A-level tourist attraction;On the other hand, Tongguanyao Ancient Town will increase the investment of new channels and innovate content production and dissemination.
Caption: Macrolink announcement.
However, increasing marketing is not necessarily a good thing for Tongguanyao Ancient Town in the short term. After all, the efficiency of information dissemination is beyond imagination, and when there are still "slots" in the user experience, it will cause an uproar. Just like the hasty opening at the beginning, many tourists were deceived.
Moreover, names such as international tourist resorts and 5A-level tourist attractions can only play the role of icing on the cake, and the improvement of brand awareness and reputation is still based on user experience and word-of-mouth marketing. Just like the Zibo barbecue that exploded at the beginning of this year, it does not have these gorgeous "names", but it has been widely recognized by tourists with its good user experience.
What is embarrassing is that in the business plan, Xinhualian also mentioned improving the business format of the scenic spot, enhancing the atmosphere of commercial points, and focusing on completing the investment promotion of commercial blocks. As a scenic spot that has been open for nearly five years, it is still attracting investment, and at the moment when China's economic prosperity is not good, who will invest real money in a project that has almost been falsified?
Reminiscent of the Puyuan Scenic Area of CYTS and the Dayong Ancient City of Zhangjiajie, the "cake" of the ancient town economy is more suitable for storytelling, but it is actually difficult to turn the story into reality. In fact, the improvement measures mentioned in Macrolink's business plan have also been tried by other Guzhen projects, but it is still difficult to improve. The building of Guzhen's brand value is by no means possible overnight, and what is needed is perseverance.
For Macrolink, if it is really to safeguard the interests of the shareholders of the listed company, it should first separate the ancient town of Tongguanyao from the listed company system to reduce the operating pressure of the listed company, and then put it into the listed company after the brand and market cultivation of the project are perfect. Otherwise, the final result can only be a change of soup without a change of medicine.