(Text: Xia Fenglin, Editor: Xu Zhe) The news that the old home appliance enterprises are leveraging capital to further promote the industrial layout has come again.
On the evening of December 29, Shanghai RAAS (002252., a blood products company with a market value of more than 50 billion yuanSZ) is the largest shareholder, Grifols, Sa.Grifols' ("Grifols") plan for the change of shareholding has finally made progress. After the previous stage of no controlling shareholder and actual controller, Shanghai RAAS will take Yinghaier Group Company (hereinafter referred to as "Haier Group") into the ownership. In the field of healthcare, Haier Group currently owns two listed companies, Haier Biotech and Yingkang Life, which are committed to the research and development, production and application of high-end scientific research equipment, medical devices and medical service solutions, as well as products and services.
The observer network noticed that in addition to Haier Group, the other two giants Midea Group (000333SZ), Gree Electric (000651SZ) are all in the layout of new industries. On the 19th, Gree Electric announced that it would spend 101.5 billion yuan to increase the holdings of Gree Titanium by about 2 again7.1 billion shares, after the completion of the transaction, Gree Electric will control 72 of the total share capital of Gree Titanium47% of the voting rights. Midea Group promoted the listing of its lighting and intelligent front-loading products company, Meizhi Optoelectronics.
Behind the frequent expansion of old home appliance companies through capital operations, the home appliance industry has not ushered in the full recovery expected by the industry in the year after the epidemic. According to third-party data, from January to November this year, the retail sales of China's home appliance market increased by 3 percentage points year-on-year. Although the overall recovery of the home appliance market is less than expected, high-end home appliances and self-pleasing products show good consumption vitality.
In this regard, industry analysts believe that, on the whole, the market has not ushered in a compensatory recovery of high growth this year, and it can be seen that the home appliance industry has entered a mature cycle, China's home appliance market is experiencing a consumption iteration boom, and high-end products have released strong vitality and "emerging home appliances" to meet the needs of consumer segments are becoming the new favorites of the market.
The overall situation is under pressure, and the consumption trend is changing.
Looking back at the home appliance market in 2023, the industry's expected full recovery has not come as expected. According to the statistics of Aowei cloud network, from January to November this year, the retail sales of home appliances excluding 3C products reached 735.5 billion yuan, which was less than that in 2018 and 2019 before the epidemic, of which 861.7 billion yuan in 2018 and 857.1 billion yuan in 2019.
Behind the overall pressure on the market, there is actually a set of surprising data. According to GFK Zhongyikang data, on the quality consumption side, the sales of high-end household appliances such as refrigerators of more than 10,000 yuan, washing machines of more than 6,000 yuan, dishwashers of more than 8,000 yuan, and vacuum cleaners of more than 5,000 yuan have increased continuously year-on-year in three years.
In this regard, industry analysts said that the home appliance industry, which has entered a mature cycle, is experiencing a new round of consumption iteration boom among consumers, and high-end products have released strong vitality to meet the needs of consumer segments. It should be noted here that for emerging home appliances, their high-end and popularity are almost simultaneously.
Relevant data show that during this year's "Double 11", major e-commerce platforms have ushered in the sales peak of "new home appliances". Among them, the sales of new emerging home appliances represented by Suning Tesco washing and drying sets, dishwashers, and sweeping and mopping robots increased by % year-on-year respectively. On the Jingdong platform, the turnover of ultra-thin range hoods increased by nearly 200% year-on-year;The turnover of ultra-thin built-in refrigerators increased by 150% year-on-year;The turnover of built-in steam ovens with microwave function increased by more than 100% year-on-yearThe turnover of fresh air conditioners increased by 150% year-on-yearThe turnover of ultra-thin double-bile electric water heaters that can upgrade the home life experience increased by 400% year-on-year.
In addition, in the first three quarters of this year, the growth rate of induction clamshell smart toilets reached 40%, the growth rate of heat purifiers was as high as 110%, and the growth rate of disinfection machines was as high as 354%. It is worth mentioning that driven by the rise in social demand, the market size of small household appliances in personal care and ironing has also increased significantly. The performance of the personal care category was particularly bright, with cumulative retail sales and retail volume in the first nine months increasing by 25% year-on-year, respectively2% and 167%。
Industry insiders pointed out that in the user-led era, household appliances want to impress consumers, not only need diversified, high-quality and high value-added high-end products, but also need more keen consumer insights, and through a large number of technological innovations to finally transform them into user experience.
Judging from the expectations of many institutions, this high-quality, diversified consumer demand will be further expanded, and the market in 2024 may further continue this trend.
M&A investment is frequent, planning transformation.
Facing new consumption trends and consumption scenarios, China's home appliance industry has undergone a series of profound changes in the mature cycle, but on the other hand, as a manufacturing industry, it is difficult for the word "home appliances" to arouse too high attention and enthusiasm in the market. Observer.com noticed that home appliance giants began to expand to more popular and "hard technology"-oriented industries.
On the evening of December 29, Grifols, S., the largest shareholder of Shanghai RAAS, a blood products company with a market value of more than 50 billion yuana.The planning of the shareholding change has finally progressed. After the previous stage of no controlling shareholder and actual controller, Shanghai RAAS will take Yinghaier Group Company (hereinafter referred to as "Haier Group") into the ownership. In the field of healthcare, Haier Group currently owns two listed companies, Haier Biotech and Yingkang Life, which are committed to the research and development, production and application of high-end scientific research equipment, medical devices and medical service solutions, as well as products and services. The actual control of Shanghai RAAS will undoubtedly further improve the layout of Haier Group's blood ecological industry chain.
In the same month, Haier officially announced that it would be about 6Acquired 100% equity interest in Carrier Commercial Refrigeration for a consideration of US$400 million, taking the next step in the refrigeration field.
Coincidentally, on the evening of December 19, Gree Electric announced that it would spend 101.5 billion yuan to increase the holdings of Gree Titanium by about 2 again7.1 billion shares, after the completion of the transaction, Gree Electric will control 72 of the total share capital of Gree Titanium47% of the voting rights. However, the capital market is not optimistic about Gree Electric's increase in Gree Titanium. The day after the announcement, the share price of Gree Electric Appliances **exceeded 7% * The market value evaporated by more than 10 billion.
Then, late at night on December 21, Gree Electric released its 2023 performance forecast, with a net profit of 27 billion yuan to 29.3 billion yuan attributable to the parent company, an increase of 10% year-on-year2% to 196%, and said that it will always focus on the main business of air conditioning, continue to carry out industrial transformation, and continue to make efforts in diversified fields such as high-end equipment, industrial products, and green energy.
But this is not the first time Gree has proposed diversification. For many years before, Gree's diversification was mainly focused on household appliances, which obviously did not succeed. In the first half of this year, Gree Electric's operating income was 9923.7 billion yuan, of which 7.0 billion54% from air conditioning, 219% * for household appliances.
In recent years, Midea Group, one of the three giants of white electricity, won a controlling stake in Kelu Electronics through a fixed increase, and then threw out 147.3 billion yuan of Hekang New Energy shareholding plan. At the same time, the plan of the giant, with a market value of nearly 400 billion yuan, to land on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is still advancing, and if the listing is successful, it will become another white power giant that has achieved the "A+H" pattern after Haier Smart Home. At the same time, Midea Group promoted the listing of its lighting and intelligent front-loading product company, Meizhi Optoelectronics.
It is worth mentioning that on the downstream product side, home appliance companies also have layouts. Previously, when the prefabricated dishes were on fire, Gree Electric Appliances established Zhuhai Gree prefabricated food equipment technology development, and Midea entered the German robot company KUKA in early 2015, and successively launched C-end home robots and B-end industrial robot products.
Behind the frequent mergers and acquisitions and investment and the promotion of industrial layout, home appliance giants are in full swing to explore and find future increments in the downturn of the home appliance industry, and when these explorations can help home appliance giants achieve diversification, it will take longer to give an answer. Southwest ** research report said that in the long run, the rapid growth period of the domestic market has passed, and in the process of seeking progress in the traditional main business and market stability, multi-dimensional search for new breakthroughs, layout of diversified business or long-term issues for the development of home appliance companies.
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