Because of its excellent taste, high-quality milk products and fast and effective marketing strategies, McQuor has been praised by consumers as the "Internet celebrity milk C-position", and has become the "leader" of Xinjiang's dairy industry. However, the good times did not last long, and since falling into the whirlpool of the "propylene glycol incident", the already stressful profit model has been even worse, and it has slipped directly from the hot list to the deep pit of losses.
And that's not all, the turmoil has escalated. In just three months, McGuire and its parent company have been caught in a judicial "chain array", and have been included in the list of executors by the court for 7 consecutive times, with a total amount of nearly 1 billion yuan. Such a situation of "lice are not afraid of itching" can't help but make people wonder: Is this going to rot to the end?
It was performed 4 times in a row in three months
McGuire turned on the "high-frequency mode" on the execution list. Every time the bell rings, it is like a snowball rolling down the hill with a heavy blow, and the frequency is jaw-dropping.
Tianyancha APP shows that on January 24, the shares of McQuor Group were referred to as "McQuor", 002719SZ) was initiated by the Changji Municipal People's Court for a litigation case with an enforcement subject amount of 926653 yuan, and the case number is (2024) Xin 2301 Zhi 644.
Only ten days ago, that is, on January 15, the same court listed McGuire as the person subject to execution, and the amount involved in the case was as high as 4513858 yuan, and the case number was (2024) Xin 2301 Zhi 360.
In addition, across geographical areas, McGuire also encountered an enforcement case at the Shunyi District People's Court of Beijing on January 2, with the subject matter of enforcement being 157789 yuan, and the case number was (2024) Jing 0113 Zhi 248. This case shows that there are potential legal risks in McGuire's business operations across the country.
Dating back to an earlier point in time, on November 3, 2023, the Changji Municipal People's Court opened the enforcement procedure for a case in which the subject matter of enforcement was 206523 yuan, the case number is (2023) Xin 2301 Zhi 7131.
In other words, since November 2023, McGuire has been included in the list of persons subject to execution by different courts for 4 consecutive times in just three months, and the total amount involved is as high as about 580480,000 yuan.
This series of judicial developments undoubtedly shows that McGuire is caught in a series of complex and geographically wide-ranging legal disputes. At the same time, for McGuire, which has been mired in losses, it will have a direct impact on its capital chain, and it will also expose the company's loopholes in contract performance and debt management.
According to one analyst, this series of intensive and frequent executions not only poses a serious challenge to McGuire's cash flow position, but also has a negative effect on its business reputation and capital market performance.
From a legal point of view, these cases reflect that the company's internal controls in risk management, contract performance and debt repayment may be inadequate, and need to be improved and perfected urgently. For investors, such a high frequency of legal disputes is undoubtedly a major threat to McGuire's credit rating, which may lead to higher financing costs and capital operation blockages, which will affect the company's long-term development and strategic cooperation layout, and the risk of stock price fluctuations will also increase with the decline in investor confidence. The above-mentioned analyst said.
From the consumer's point of view, McGuire's frequent legal disputes may also have a subtle negative impact on the brand image, resulting in a decline in consumer trust and indirectly weakening the market competitiveness and sales performance of the product.
The founder's family is in trouble
This is not only McGuire's dilemma, but also a long story of twists and turns in the family business. The complex disputes and challenges faced by the founder's family seem to have left this once glorious brand in a quagmire.
The parent company of McQuor is Xinjiang McQuor Group, which was founded in 1993 by Li Yuhu, who raised 5,000 yuan in 1988 and set up a small food workshop in Changji City to produce cakes, biscuits and other foods, and sell them under the brand name of "McQuor".
After obtaining the "first pot of gold", Li Yuhu decided to expand his business, entered the dairy industry in 2002, and established Xinjiang Maiquor Dairy, which is the predecessor of Maiguire.
In 2012, McGuire submitted an application for listing; In January 2014, it landed in the capital market. When McGuire went public, Li Yuhu was 76 years old. Subsequently, he handed over the business to his three sons.
Under the governance of the second generation, McGuire only had the peak moment of operating income and net profit increase in the second year of listing, and although the operating income increased year by year, the net profit fell all the way to a serious loss.
In 2018 and 2019, McGuire fell into losses for two consecutive years, with losses of 15.4 billion yuan, 6046490,000 yuan, triggering the delisting risk warning, wearing the hat of *ST.
At the critical moment, the rise of live streaming and grass marketing made the golden sign of "Xinjiang Milk" like an invincible star in the hands of Super Mario, which made McGuire instantly resurrected with full blood and became the representative of Xinjiang Internet celebrity milk.
However, the outbreak of the food additive "propylene glycol" incident in June 2022 directly knocked McGuire down. The company was fined 731510,000 yuan.
Without any surprise, McGuire also fell into the quagmire of losses again. In 2022, the company had a net loss of 35.1 billion yuan, the worst profit level in the past ten years; In the first three quarters of 2023, the company had a net loss of 6,354980,000 yuan.
Today, it is not only McQuor that is in trouble, but also the parent company behind it, Xinjiang McQuor Group, and the entire Li family.
Tianyancha APP shows that on January 24, Xinjiang McQuor Group Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Non-staple Food Co., Ltd., Urumqi Baoyide***Urumqi and Yongfu*** added a new information on the person subject to execution, and the execution target was 4More than 600 million yuan, the enforcement court is the People's Court of Pidu District, Chengdu.
As early as December 20 last year, Xinjiang McQuor Group Co., Ltd. and its shareholding Xinjiang Hengjia Real Estate Development added information on the person subject to execution, and the execution target 4More than 800 million yuan, involving the dispute between Dongfang ** and the above-mentioned company's pledged **, the enforcement court is the Shanghai Financial Court.
The total amount of enforcement involved in the above two cases by Xinjiang McQuor Group exceeded 9400 million yuan.
The risk information also shows that Xinjiang McQuor Group also has a number of dishonest judgment debtors, consumption restriction orders and equity freezing information.
Complete one's misery. On October 25 last year, Lan Shili, the former richest man in Hubei, pointed out that in the process of applying for state compensation, it was necessary to focus on investigating the relevant legal responsibilities of Li Yong, the actual controller of McGuire, and take back the control of Siam Air and Thai Eastern Airlines.
It is understood that in 2015, Lan Shili cooperated with the Li brothers to acquire Thai Eastern Airlines, and later the two sides collapsed, and the Li brothers reported to ** that Lan Shili was suspected of contract fraud. Lan Shili embarked on a tortuous road.
Can we stage a counterattack again?
In the face of the ensuing judicial enforcement and family disputes, the industry can't help but ask: Is McGuire really "not afraid of itching when there are more lice" and chooses to rot to the end?
An in-depth look at McGuire's current business predicament shows that the root cause of its rapid expansion and improper capital operation lies in it. In the past few years, McGuire has rapidly expanded its market share through mergers and acquisitions, but while expanding its scale, it has also accumulated a large amount of debt, and the capital chain is tight like a "sword of Damocles hanging over its head", which may trigger a debt crisis once the market environment changes or poor management.
On the one hand, after the listing, the Li family did not focus on consolidating and expanding the main dairy business of McGuire in Xinjiang, but instead promoted the rapid expansion of the bakery business, resulting in the rapid expansion of McGuire's rising costs and huge financial pressure.
For example, in 2015, McGuire spent 300 million yuan to acquire Zhejiang Xinmeixin Food Industry, a bakery food company, but after the merger, Xinmeixin only increased revenue but not profits, and the net profit changed from an annual profit of 10 million yuan before the acquisition to a loss. McGuire had to make a provision for goodwill impairment of 201 from 2017 to 201910,000 yuan, 11.6 billion yuan, 1360490,000 yuan, which also directly led to the company's losses for two consecutive years and wearing stars and hats.
On the other hand, since its establishment in 2002, McGuire's milk supply rate has been extremely low, especially in the five years of "throwing money" into the country's bakery, and it has not seized the opportunity of ranch investment in China's dairy industry.
For example, McGuire said in the prospectus that it intends to use 62.05 million yuan to raise funds for the "2,000 cow ecological breeding base construction project", and the project has been under construction since 2012 and is expected to reach the scheduled state of use on July 31, 2016.
However, it was not until December 2021 that the project reached 100% progress. The self-owned ranch that could have been done in four years, McGuire was stunned, and it took nine years to put together this puzzle completely.
As the amount of the subject matter continues to rise, the outside world has become deeply worried about the solvency and future development prospects of McGuire. Although the saying "lice are too much and not afraid of itching" shows a seemingly fearless attitude, in the real business environment, such a dense and high number of execution records undoubtedly put heavy pressure on McGuire.
In the face of such a grim situation, will McGuire be able to find a new vitality and a way out again?
Chen Chen, a dairy industry person, believes that for McGuire, what is urgently needed is strategic adjustment and internal reform, including but not limited to optimizing asset structure, improving operational efficiency, strengthening the profitability of core business, and seeking diversified financing channels to alleviate debt pressure. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the transparency of information disclosure and repair and rebuild corporate credit, because the confidence of consumers and investors is the key to enterprises getting out of the predicament.
An active response at the judicial level is also indispensable. Micro should actively cooperate with the enforcement work of local courts, handle all kinds of litigation disputes openly and fairly, reduce the impact of negative public opinion as much as possible, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises. At the same time, with the help of legal means to solve the problems left over from history, to clear the obstacles for the long-term development of the enterprise.
Write at the end
Some people say that if it had not been hit by the "propylene glycol incident" in 2022, McGuire would have been able to seize a new round of development opportunities with the golden sign of "Xinjiang milk".
However, the wrong decisions of the past will eventually pay a price. The current crisis faced by McGuire is not a cold day, and the high amount of enforcement money combined with the legal disputes of family members has put this once glorious company into an unprecedented predicament, and the future direction is also uncertain.
For any listed company, it is its unshirkable obligation to safeguard the rights and interests of shareholders, protect the interests of consumers and practice social responsibility. Today's McGuire needs to come up with practical solutions, actively defuse the crisis, and restore market trust in order to get out of the current predicament.
As an important part of people's livelihood, the dairy industry has always received great attention from policies and markets. The crisis incident has also sounded the alarm for the entire industry, reminding enterprises to adhere to the bottom line of compliance operation and improve the level of internal control management while pursuing scale expansion. McGuire is now facing an existential test, which is not only related to the short-term survival of the company, but also related to the foundation and direction of its long-term development. (Source: Tianyancha, McGuire official WeChat).