High-tech investments are paying off.
Written byFeng Wanyu.
EditGao Yan.
In the face of the development of the market, the change of the track, and the acceleration of transformation have become the choice of most real estate companies. At present, the real estate industry has entered a stage of deep transformation.
On October 27, the No. 14 document on affordable housing was issued, namely the "Guiding Opinions on the Planning and Construction of Affordable Housing", proposing to promote the establishment of a new transformation and development model for the real estate industry.
In the continuous transformation of real estate enterprises, Xinhu Zhongbao has become the "champion" of the post-real estate era by laying out strategic transformation in advance, including the transformation of high-tech investment to digital economy + high-end manufacturing, and the transformation of real estate business from asset-heavy development to real estate asset management business.
Layout transformation in advance and smoothly ride through the industry cycle
When it comes to transformation, Xinhu Zhongbao is the first real estate company in China to take a step forward in transformation.
In 2019, China's real estate market was still in a period of upward development, and real estate companies in the industry were still keen on scale competition. In that year, Xinhu Zhongbao transferred a number of real estate projects located in East China and Northeast China to Sunac China and Greentown China, cashing out nearly 20 billion yuan.
This "unusual" behavior has been misinterpreted by the outside world as surviving with a broken arm.
However, in fact, at that time, the domestic real estate market had accelerated its tightening, and under the influence of the policy of "housing for living, not speculation", the growth rate of the transaction area of commercial housing in the country continued to slow down that year, and the sales volume grew steadily. The real estate investment attribute has gradually weakened, and the consumption attribute has gradually strengthened.
In the face of the continuous deep adjustment of the real estate industry and the impact of the credit crisis, the insight and decision-making power of the management are often the determination of a company when the tide fades. In 2019, Huang Wei, the actual controller of Xinhu Zhongbao, has been prepared for a long time and has always adopted a more restrained development attitude towards real estate, and began to consciously reduce investment in 2019, transform to asset-light, and cultivate new industries to gradually replace the dominant position of real estate in the future.
An industry insider close to Xinhu Zhongbao said, ".Boss Huang has a strong sense of risk, and he has invested in more industries before, so he doesn't dare to put all his weight on real estate, nor does he take ** land. In 2019, he believed that from the perspective of the policy environment of 'housing for living, not speculation', the high-leverage and high-turnover business model of real estate was unsustainable, so he consciously began to prepare for transformation.
Xinhu began to plan a way out early on. Since 2019, Xinhu has begun to reduce its real estate allocation on a large scale. Over the years, Xinhu has not been active in the land market.
Even this year, Xinhu Zhongbao still maintains the previous cautious style of land acquisition. According to the announcement of the operating data for the third quarter of 2023 released by Xinhu Zhongbao, from January to September 2023, the new land reserve of Xinhu Zhongbao is only 10060,000 square meters, with a new construction area of only 22420,000 square meters, of which the company's equity added 5 land reserves070,000 square meters, with an additional construction area of 1130,000 square meters.
It is precisely by virtue of the deep insight and advance layout of the actual controller Huang Wei that Xinhu Zhongbao, an old real estate company, can survive smoothly in the follow-up rolling real estate.
In 2021, the real estate industry experienced an overall negative growth, and in 2022, the overall profit margin of the industry continued to decline and bottomed out, and all profit margin indicators of enterprises have fallen to the lowest level in history. More than 70% of real estate companies have encountered the dilemma of reducing revenue and profits, nearly half of the net profit of enterprises has suffered losses, and more than 90% of real estate companies have seen a decline in net profit margin and net profit margin attributable to the parent company.
At a time when many real estate companies are crazy about their operating cash flow and funds, Xinhu Zhongbao's operating cash flow, according to its 2022 financial report, will continue to be positive in 2022, with a net inflow of 3.4 billion yuan for the whole year. This is also the third year that Xinhu has had positive operating cash flow.
Orderly exit, orderly substitution
At present, Xinhu Zhongbao has completely clarified its own transformation direction. On May 23 last year, Lin Junbo, chairman of Xinhu Zhongbao, pointed out that Xinhu Zhongbao's positioning is real estate + investment, and the implementation of two strategic transformations, namely the transformation of real estate investment to high-tech and advanced manufacturing investment and the transformation of real estate development to real estate asset management model.
Orderly exit and orderly substitution" is Xinhu Zhongbao's plan for the real estate sector. On the one hand, we will do fine and excellent real estate development business. Continue to accumulate high-quality resources and grasp the structural opportunities in the core regional market. On the other hand, we will actively cultivate the real estate asset management business and realize the transformation of the real estate business from an asset-heavy and high-leverage model to an asset-light and low-leverage model.
In the past few years, due to the low activity of Xinhu Zhongbao in the public land market and the active increase in the investment field, it was once thought that it would withdraw from the real estate industry. But in fact, this is only because Xinhu Zhongbao "has food in his hands and does not panic in his heart".
Compared with the high turnover model of other real estate companies, Xinhu Zhongbao has "less but finer" land. The land reserve of Xinhu Zhongbao is mainly concentrated in the economically developed area of the Yangtze River Delta with Shanghai as the center, and the cost of land acquisition in the early years was low, and the land price is now not what it used to be. And 70% of its stock real estate projects are also in the economically active Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions, and their value is self-evident.
As one of the first private enterprises to participate in the renovation of Shanghai's old city in 2001, Xinhu Zhongbao entered the Shanghai land market through the renovation project.
In 2001, Xinhu took over the resettlement and demolition of one of the largest old city renovation projects within the Inner Ring Road of Shanghai, Dongxin Village, and became one of the successful cases of Shanghai's old renovation project - Xinhu Pearl CityIn 2002, Xinhu took over the old city renovation project of Qing-12 plot in Zhabei District at that time, and launched a quality project - Xinhu Qinglan International after many years.
At present, Xinhu Zhongbao's projects in the four inner rings of Shanghai are progressing smoothly. The fourth bid of the third phase of Xinhu Pearl City has been fully sold, with a sales revenue of 12.5 billion yuan, and the second phase of Qinglan International has completed sales at two openings in 2021, achieving a sales revenue of 7.5 billion yuan. The Rainbow project has completed the land acquisition and obtained the construction permit to enter the construction stageThe Yalong Project has been acquired.
In terms of the transformation of the real estate business, Xinhu Zhongbao has increased the output of asset-light business in the capacity of project manager or in the form of brand output, and transformed into a real estate asset management company with development and management capabilities. "Focus on expanding cooperation with third parties, especially state-owned assets and urban investment companies, and truly give full play to the advantages of mixed ownership. Regain development opportunities through an asset-light model. Xinhu mentioned in the 2022 annual report.
Since 2019, Xinhu Zhongbao has begun to optimize its asset structure and begin to transform to an asset-light operation model. In July 2019, Xinhu Zhongbao gave the corresponding rights and interests of Ouling Industry and Shanghai Mabao to Sunac at a price of about 6.7 billion yuanFrom December 2019 to April 2020, Xinhu Zhongbao transferred three assets** to Greentown China. At the same time, Xinhu Zhongbao also relies on the premium ability of the company's brand, and jointly develops with third-party enterprises and other joint ventures in Yueqing, Shangrao and other projects, forming a multi-party cooperation and investment, and the company's first-class asset-light operation cooperation model.
Forward-looking layout, high-tech investment has entered the payback period
Since 2015, Xinhu Zhongbao has begun to invest in high-tech enterprises. In 2019, Xinhu Zhongbao embarked on the transformation road with the general direction of "increasing technology and reducing real estate".
Specifically, high-tech investment is divided into two areas: digital economy and high-end manufacturing.
According to its 2022 annual report, the projectPreviously, its investment in high-tech enterprises has exceeded 10 billion yuan.
Digital economyXinhu Zhongbao continues to guide traditional enterprises to digital transformation and accelerate the agglomeration of digital enterprises. Today, it has formed a relatively large scale and system, and many of the invested companies have world-leading domestic independent controllable technology and digital technology.
For example, Xinhu Zhongbao has a forward-looking layout of the blockchain industry and invests to build Web30 as the core, to create the future digital ecology of Qulian technology;Boost Bangsheng Technology, a leading enterprise in intelligent data implementation with millions of cluster throughput and millisecond-level latency;Incubate the leading domestic and international first-class digital printing industry leader Honghua Digital;The layout is deeply rooted in cloud native, combined with the loose coupling characteristics of containers and underlying resources, and creates a "one cloud and multiple cores" information innovation cloud solution.
High-end manufacturing fieldIt mainly includes two major industrial chains, including new energy battery anode materials, fluorine chemicals and digital jet printing. Taking Honghua Digital Technology invested by Xinhu Zhongbao as an example, the company's textile digital printing business is the largest in the world, and it is known as the "best champion" in the field of digital printing.
As an important shareholder, Xinhu Zhongbao and Honghua Digital Technology jointly established Honghua Baijin Qianyin, and established a digital green empowerment platform for the fashion industry in Huzhou. "When the conditions are ripe, the company will replicate Honghua's new textile ecological chain in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other developed regions of the textile industry. Xinhu Zhongbao mentioned in the 2022 annual report.
InNew energy anode material industry, Xinhu Zhongbao was laid out early. For example, in November 2021, Xinhu Zhongbao Zhongbao's new energy key materials management headquarters project was settled in the second phase of Quzhou Haichuang Park, mainly engaged in the research and development and sales of new material technology, and plans to produce key components of lithium electrolyte nationwide. Qufarui New Energy Materials, invested by Xinhu Zhongbao, will take advantage of the gathering advantages of Quzhou's new material industry to requisition 450 acres of land in Quzhou Zhizao New Town, and form an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of new high-performance anode materials after reaching production.
Such a "dotted" investment is also creating a solid value for Xinhu Zhongbao to resist the industry. From 2019 to the third quarter of 2022, the investment income of Xinzhongbao was 364.4 billion, 460.9 billion, 357.4 billion, 207.6 billion, accounting for more than 100% of net profit, respectively.
According to itsIn the 2022 interim report, Xinhu Zhongbao's investment in high-tech enterprises has exceeded 10 billion yuan, and 3 of the invested enterprises have landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, 1 has landed on the GEM, and 1 has passed the issuance review meeting, and about 10 invested companies will enter the IPO in the next 3 years or so.
Advance layout, orderly iteration, and precise investment. Industry analysts believe that every step of Xinhu Zhongbao has made a good demonstration for contemporary real estate companies to go through the cycle, and such an atypical real estate company with a unique vision is expected to become the "champion" of the post-real estate era in the context of the deep transformation of the industry.
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