WeChat***Space Secret Detective" (ID: mespace007), author: Zheng Jiani.
A few days ago, *ST Xinlian released its 2023 annual performance forecast. It is reported that in 2023, it is expected to achieve an operating income of 315.3 billion yuan-47$2.7 billion; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 300 million yuan-4500 million yuan, just a year ago in 2022, Macrolink also had a net loss of 34 in the same period1.6 billion yuan. In just one year, the profit still surprised the market. Before the Spring Festival, many listed travel companies have released annual pre-revenue, and the overall results are really good, but some travel companies still have problems. In 2024, what kind of development trends and related actions will travel companies have?
Macrolink's turnaround mainly relies on selling hotels?
On January 29, *ST Xinlian's 2023 annual results were announced, and it said that it is expected to achieve operating income of 31 in 20235.3 billion yuan-47$2.7 billion; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 300 million yuan-4500 million yuan, a net loss of 34 in the same period last year1.6 billion yuan. Among them, the impact of the company's factors on the net profit attributable to the parent company due to tax late fees, administrative penalties and other matters is -72~-10.800 million yuan. Gains on asset disposal due to the disposal of assets such as hotels38~5.700 million yuan; The hotel assets were repaid for debts, etc., resulting in debt restructuring gains44~6.600 million yuan.
From the verge of collapse to turning losses into profits, what happened behind Macrolink's "return to nirvana"?
Due to the negative net assets attributable to the parent company in 2022, on May 5, 2023, Macrolink Cultural Tourism** was put on delisting risk alert by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the abbreviation was changed from "Macrolink" to "*ST Xinlian". On May 11 of the same year, *ST Xinlian applied to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court for bankruptcy reorganization and applied to initiate the pre-reorganization procedure on the grounds that it could not pay off its debts due and obviously lacked solvency but still had reorganization value. During the reorganization period, *ST Xinlian promoted a significant increase in the company's cultural tourism revenue in the current period compared with the same period last year through a series of business measures such as expanding secondary sales categories, developing the night tour economy, and enriching experience projects. It was not until December 29 that, according to the Civil Ruling delivered by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, the ruling confirmed the completion of the implementation of the company's reorganization plan and terminated the company's reorganization procedure. After the completion of the reorganization, the company's asset-liability structure has been significantly improved, forming about 259~38.$800 million in debt restructuring gains.
When it comes to Macrolink's pre-earnings performance, alleviating liquidity pressure with hotel assets is undoubtedly a highlight of Macrolink's profitability. In 2022, after the debt crisis of Macrolink, it actively stated: "In terms of the decentralization of bulk properties of non-scenic hotels and commercials, the company will implement high-level docking and make every effort to promote it, so as to accelerate the realization of cash return and improve the company's asset-liability structure." Subsequently, Xinhualian frequently reported the news of the "blood return" of ** hotel assets.
For example, in June 2022, the Sheraton Yinchuan Xinhualian Hotel was auctioned at auction with an appraised price of 63.7 billion yuan, 44.5 billion yuan; In July of the same year, the second time ended with 3567.6 billion yuan to start shooting; October with the same 3567.6 billion for the third time. The three auctions attracted more than 30,000 onlookers on the Ali asset auction platform, but in the end, no one signed up and bid, and finally failed to bid.
In February 2023, Macrolink even threw out a 10 billion asset disposal plan. In reply to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's letter of concern, Macrolink proposed an asset transfer plan of 10 billion yuan, which intends to transfer its hotels, commercial and other bulk assets to repay the company's debts and resolve the company's liquidity risk. At that time, Macrolink planned to transfer a total of 10 non-scenic hotels, including Beijing Macrolink Regency International Hotel, Shanghai Macrolink Sofitel Hotel, Yinchuan Macrolink Ruijing Hotel, Xining Xining Sofitel Hotel, etc. Judging from the information disclosure on the official website, they are all one of its classic projects.
In addition, in June of the same year, Macrolink issued an announcement on the transfer of assets such as the Pullman Hotel of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tangshan Macrolink. According to the announcement, in order to optimize the asset-liability structure, accelerate the return of funds, and reduce the scale of interest-bearing liabilities, Tangshan Xinhualian, a wholly-owned subsidiary indirectly held by Macrolink, intends to transfer its assets such as the Pullman Hotel, and the transferee is Tangshan Cultural Tourism. After friendly negotiation, the two parties intend to sign the "Asset Transfer Agreement", and the total transaction price is 39.5 billion yuan.
It can be found that although some non-scenic hotels have failed to gain the favor of capital, as the capital market has begun to re-examine the tourism hotel sector, Macrolink is also getting "redemption" from it.
Tourism enterprises will collectively make profits in 2023
With the successive disclosure of annual performance forecasts by listed tourism companies, it is obvious that at the moment when travel restrictions are relaxed and domestic tourism is booming, many tourism companies have seen significant growth in revenue and profit. Traditional reception-oriented tourist attractions, hotels, travel agencies and other major trend tourism enterprises are all "good news" to the market.
In the past three years, traditional tourist destinations have been hit the hardest by the restrictions on people's travel, and they have naturally generated the largest revenue**.
For example, on February 1, Fosun Tourism and Culture Group released a profit forecast for 2023. Benefiting from the relaxation of travel restrictions worldwide and the effective implementation of the Company's strategy, Fosun Tourism's business segments continued to maintain strong recovery momentum. In 2023, the Group's tourism operating revenue1 (at constant exchange rates) is expected to increase by no less than 15% compared to 2022; This is an increase of no less than 25% compared to 2019, significantly exceeding the pre-pandemic performance. The Group's profit attributable to shareholders of the Company in 2023 is expected to be no less than RMB2RMB7.0 billion, compared with the loss attributable to shareholders of the Company in 2022 of RMB54.5 billion yuan to turn losses into profits.
Similarly, on January 22, Xiangyuan Cultural Tourism announced that it expects a net profit of 1$4.5 billion to $16.5 billion yuan, an increase of 599 compared with the same period last year51% to 696%, deducting non-attributable net profit of 1$2.1 billion to $14.1 billion yuan, the company turned losses into profits. The company said that compared with the same period last year, the company has completed a major asset restructuring, the scale of assets and sales revenue have increased significantly, and the operating performance has increased significantly compared with the same period last year before the restructuring.
Among the significant growth of various tourist destinations, the performance of landscape scenic spots is particularly prominent, and most of them have shown explosive growth year-on-year.
For example, on January 30, the board of directors of Huangshan Tourism Development Co., Ltd. issued a pre-profit announcement on the 2023 annual results of "Huangshan Tourism". According to the announcement, the company expects to achieve a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of 360 million yuan to 460 million yuan in 2023, compared with -13,197 yuan in the same period last year$260,000. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent company before non-recurring gains and losses was -18,228180,000 yuan. It is expected that the net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses will be 335 million yuan to 430 million yuan in 2023, and the company will turn losses into profits.
Not only that, as the ice and snow tour of Changbai Mountain enters the fast lane, the number of tourists received by Changbai Mountain Scenic Area in 2023 will increase significantly compared with the same period of the previous year, and the company's revenue will increase by about 4% compared with the same period of the previous year3.4 billion yuan. Changbaishan is expected to achieve a net profit of 1$3.6 billion to $14.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33699% to 35442%, deducting non-attributable net profit of 1$3.4 billion to $14.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year turnaround. Similarly, Tianmu Lake expects to achieve an attributable net profit of 14 billion to 15.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 58942% to 66329%；Non-attributable net profit is deducted 13 billion to 14.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 94686% to 106765%。
In addition, on January 23, Three Gorges Tourism released its 2023 annual performance forecast, which is expected to achieve a net profit of 1300 million to 1700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 289864% to 38213%, an increase of about 29 to 38 times. Three Gorges Tourism said that since 2023, the domestic tourism market has shown a strong recovery trend, and the number of tourists receiving night tours in two dams and one gorge and the Yangtze River is 216750,000, an increase of 367 over the same period in 202208%, an increase of 75 over the same period in 201917%, the total revenue and profit of the comprehensive tourism service business increased significantly.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that under the background of the accelerated recovery of the tourism market and the gradual increase in consumer confidence, a number of listed travel companies with main travel agencies have also started the development momentum of "singing". According to the latest performance forecast released by Utrust Tourism, Utrust Tourism is expected to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 23 million yuan to 34.5 million yuan in 2023, turning losses into profits year-on-year. In addition, CYTS is also expected to turn around its losses in 2023, with a net profit attributable to owners of the parent company of 1$8.4 billion.
In the same environment, the difference between the "big in and big out" of tourism enterprises
On the whole, after being impacted by the trend of tourism recovery, turning losses into profits has become the "main theme" of listed tourism enterprises. Not only have the large-scale leading tourism companies begun to record new highs, but even *ST Xinlian, which was once close to triggering the delisting warning, has also turned losses into profits and started to make money. Behind the "good news", what is the secret of the profitability of tourism enterprises?
On the one hand, from the perspective of the reasons for the change in performance, the strong recovery of the tourism market in 2023 is the main reason. With the tourism industry moving from the epidemic to the post-epidemic recovery stage, the recovery and restart of the tourism industry has also directly promoted the prosperity of the scenic spot market. Zhou Mingqi, Strategic Advisor of the World Tourism Forum in China, said: "Looking at the overall performance of the tourism market in 2023, there are both restorative factors and consumer compensatory sentiment, and tourism products are diversified, and parity types and high-end services coexist. ”
For example, on January 24, the performance forecast released by Lijiang Co., Ltd. showed that the company is expected to achieve a net profit of 2$1.5 billion to $2400 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 57351% to 64136%。The number of tourists received rebounded significantly, and the company's three ropeways received a total of 612 tourists100,000 person-times, a year-on-year increase of 21567%。According to the staff of Lijiang Co., Ltd., "the good performance in 2023 is mainly due to the increase in the number of tourists. At the same time, the company is also increasing marketing efforts, strengthening marketing management, and improving service capabilities and quality. ”
On the other hand, in response to the strategy and focusing on the main business, most travel companies take **hotel assets as their core income**. The pandemic has caused a major impact on the travel industry, and the problem of arrears has further exacerbated the plight of travel companies. Under this opportunity, many cultural and tourism enterprises have begun to accelerate the transfer of hotel-related projects and assets.
For example, in June 2023, Fosun Tourism signed an equity transfer agreement with Goldman Sachs Group, ** part of the equity of Thomas Cook, Casa Cook, Cook's Club brand and overseas business. In this regard, Fosun Tourism replied that the transaction is to review and optimize its business portfolio, so as to continue to strengthen its asset structure and focus more on the growth of its core business segments. In fact, since June last year, Fosun Tourism has been questioned by international rating agencies for its weak liquidity and excessive leverage. For the first party, "reluctantly abandoning" the two major resort hotel brands of Casa Cook and Cook's Club may also be a consideration to reduce the company's asset-liability ratio and alleviate liquidity concerns.
All beings, some people will be happy and some will be worried in 2023. Under the crazy roll of cultural tourism, there are many tourism companies that have not reported "good news" for a long time, because of the comparison, what is the reason for these gaps?
For travel companies that mainly operate travel agencies, it may be because of the slow recovery of outbound travel. Although outbound tourism will resume in 2023, there is still a certain distance between the two compared to the popularity of domestic tourism. For example, Caesars Tourism, a leading outbound tourism company, as of now, although Caesars has not disclosed its profit and loss in 2023, but observing the first three quarters of 2023, it can be found that Caesars Tourism's assets totaled 24800 million yuan, total liabilities 33500 million yuan, net assets of -8700 million yuan; Considering that it is not easy to achieve business improvement and reduce losses or turn losses into profits in the first quarter, it is speculated that there may still be a hole in negative equity in 2023.
For local tourism enterprises, it may be the continuous accumulation of negative traffic in the regional tourism market, which has also affected the passenger flow of local tourism enterprises to a certain extent. For example, in the first half of 2023, negative news such as black tour guides and forced shopping in Yunnan's tourism market have been frequently exposed, and word of mouth has plummeted. According to the performance forecast released by Yunnan Tourism, unlike Huangshan Tourism and other enterprises that disclose business data such as passenger flow in detail, Yunnan Tourism only uses words such as "good recovery momentum of traditional tourism business" in the performance forecast. This also shows that the recovery of tourist flow in scenic spots is relatively insufficient, which has also become one of the reasons for the continuation of the loss in performance.
How to do a good job in cultural tourism enterprises in 2024"**
Affected by "revenge travel", most of the domestic head scenic spots have strong performance, turning losses into profits and even hitting new highs. It is worth noting that in the face of market changes and challenges, the "best way" of choosing to divest non-core businesses and focus on the main business has become one of the main ways for tourism enterprises to make profits. In 2024, how to further "reduce, adjust, transfer, and add" to do a solid job in enterprises" may become a new topic faced by cultural and tourism enterprises.
From heavy to light
In recent years, due to the emphasis on strategic asset restructuring and professional integration of enterprises, many tourism enterprises have continuously invested in the construction of cultural tourism projects. However, due to the heavy investment and slow return on investment of large-scale tourism projects, it is undoubtedly "worse" for the debt of tourism enterprises. In this regard, tourism enterprises can start from the operation mode to accelerate the transformation and leap of enterprises from heavy assets to light assets.
Taking Zhangjiajie tourism as an example, due to the depreciation and amortization of Dayong Ancient City and financial expenses, although it has doubled its passenger flow and revenue, it has not been able to turn around its losses. According to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's reply to the inquiry letter for the 2022 annual report, the annual depreciation and amortization of assets, financial expenses and other costs in Dayong Ancient City have exceeded 200 million yuan in two years, and the amount of hard costs is huge, which seriously drags down the company's profits. As a major project with a cumulative investment of more than 2.5 billion yuan, its profitability is difficult to be optimistic at present. In 2022, the revenue of Dayong Ancient City will only be 417360,000 yuan, of which the largest proportion is 192 parking lot service income250,000 yuan. Compared with investing money, the income of the ancient city is a drop in the bucket. In the first half of 2023, the performance of Dayong Ancient City has not risen. Number of ticket buyers: 1270,000 people, operating income of 254200,000 yuan, a slight increase year-on-year, difficult to produce qualitative changes.
Expedited "check-out".
Taking Gubei Water Town as an example, although the number of tourists in Gubei Water Town decreased in 2018, the net profit was as high as 30.8 billion yuan, a significant increase of 169 over the same period last year84%, while the significant increase in net profit was mainly affected by the increase in investment income of the participating real estate companies. Now with the downturn in the real estate industry, this model is unsustainable, and now the inventory of these real estate businesses has become a burden. Based on this, in addition to dealing with non-core assets, tourism enterprises may focus more on the development of major policy-oriented cultural tourism projects such as cultural tourism characteristic towns.
For example, in September 2023, CYTS announced that its holding subsidiary, Wuzhen Tourism Co., Ltd., plans to list and transfer its holdings of Tongxiang Puyuan Tourism***3724% equity, listed ** not less than the appraised value of 25427470,000 yuan, and clearly mentioned in the announcement that this move will "reduce the overall real estate risk of listed companies". It is reported that Puyuan Company also includes the development and sales of residential real estate business, and as of June 30, 2023, Puyuan Company's real estate inventory is 37$8.9 billion.
Create differentiated assets
Although travel companies are speeding up the pace of asset disposal, it is still difficult to dispose of assets. For example, the Sheraton Yinchuan Xinhualian Hotel went through three legal auctions, and finally failed to sell. Not only hotel assets, but also many travel companies** will also face difficulties when it comes to their shares.
Taking Xi'an Tourism as an example, in 2021, Xi'an Tourism planned to sell the entire equity of Diebe County Zagana Ecotourism Cultural Development and Diebe County Zagana Health Care Real Estate held by the company at an appraisal price of 9104030,000 yuan was transferred, but the plan to sell assets was eventually shelved. Among them, in addition to the dilemma brought about by high costs and high tax burdens, the problem of asset homogeneity also poses an insurmountable obstacle. Therefore, in terms of output, it is also beneficial for tourism enterprises to do a good job in asset differentiation
To sum up, after three years of deep depression, the entire tourism market in 2023 will recover significantly compared with 2022, and the market will also show the phenomenon of "many profiteers". At the same time, behind the scenery is the "loss" of some tourism enterprises. However, whether it is a profit or a loser, it all conveys the signal of the separation of the main and auxiliary businesses and the repair of the balance sheet with heavy assets as the main way. In the long run, in the face of the gradually improving macro environment and the experience of self-adjustment of tourism enterprises, Space Secret Exploration will maintain optimistic expectations for the development of tourism enterprises in 2024. It is expected that individuals will meet prosperity in innovation, and the overall will achieve "few losers" while maintaining "many profiteers".