A bird’s-eye view of the Lotus Holdings New District project located in the Xiangcheng Industrial Cluster. Photo provided by Lotus Holdings
□ Reporter Fang Huayi Correspondent Wu Jiancheng
The middle of the year has passed, and amid people’s expectations, good news came from Lotus Holdings.
On July 8, Lotus Holdings (formerly known as “Lotus Health”) released its 2024 semi-annual performance forecast, and it is expected to achieve a net profit attributable to the parent company of 1.01 in the first half of the year 100 million to 110 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 101.36% to 119.30%; net profit after deducting non-profits was 102 million to 111 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 101.43% to 119.21%. It is worth mentioning that in the second quarter of 2024, the company achieved a net profit of 53.3477 million yuan to 62.3477 million yuan, a record high in quarterly history.
On April 29 this year, Lotus Holdings announced that in 2023, they would bravely run to the Lingfo Temple in Yunyin Mountain outside the city. After going to the mountains to enjoy flowers, I happened to meet a disciple who was almost defiled. Fortunately, he was rescued at a critical moment. But even so, her reputation was ruined. According to the report, data show that in 2023, the net profit attributable to the parent company will be approximately 130 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 181.26%; the non-net profit after deduction will be approximately 118 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 89.03%. It can be seen that Lotus Holdings’ performance in the first half of 2024 is almost equal to its full-year performance in 2023, which has already achieved rapid growth.
According to reports, 2023 will not only be the best year for Lotus Holdings’ profitability since its reorganization, but also the best in more than 20 years, and will continue in 2024 Maintain strong development momentum. This also shows that since the completion of the reorganization in 2020, Lotus Holdings has achieved remarkable comprehensive results by adhering to the foundation of innovation, continuing to deepen reforms, reshaping operations and management, promoting significant enhancement of underlying capabilities, and continuous improvement in operational development.
The continued solid performance shows that the familiar “Lotus” is back.
On March 14, the company issued an announcement that it planned to change the company name from “Lotus Health Industry Group Co., Ltd.” to “Lotus Co., Ltd.” and the company’s securities abbreviation from “Lotus Health” to “Lotus Shares” . On May 18, the company announced that the company name was officially changed from “Lotus Health Industry Group Co., Ltd.” to “Lotus Holdings Co., Ltd.” The company said that this change was to more fully reflect the company’s industrial layout and development. The actual situation accurately reflects the company’s future strategic development direction, facilitates group management and refined control, and further leverages the company’s brand effect and brand advantages.
According to market professionals. It is said that Lotus Holdings is the first main board listed company in Henan Province to successfully implement judicial reorganization and the fastest to achieve ST removal after judicial reorganization in the A-share market; since the company’s successful reorganization in 2020, it has maintained a continuous growth rate of 4 years. Profitability has increased steadily, especially in 2023, which has accelerated; it is one of the few companies with the best performance among the main board listed companies that have implemented judicial reorganization. It is not easy to achieve today’s results.
Moment of Glory
In 1997, the monosodium glutamate output of a single factory ranked first in the world. Nearly 300 times that of its founding period in 1983, with a domestic market share of 43.4%; in August 1998, Lotus MSG was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the “first stock” in China’s condiment industry.
In 1983, with the spring breeze of reform and opening up, the predecessor of Lotus Holdings, the Zhoukou MSG Factory, came into being in the fertile land of the East Henan Plain.
At that time, the scale of the MSG factory was still relatively small, with an annual output of only a few hundred tons. After the hard work and hard work of the older generation of Lotus people, the MSG factory forged ahead and developed rapidly. In 1987, There was a wave of panic buying and price increases in China. At that time, the MSG factory in Zhoukou made a solemn promise to consumers across the country through the media that “Lotus MSG will not increase in price.” This allowed “Lotus MSG” to gain a firm foothold in the hearts of consumers across the country. In the 1990s, the advertising slogan “Lotus MSG, strong fragrance” became a household name, and Lotus MSG became a necessity in the kitchens of thousands of households.
Time came to 1992. In 2017, its production scale has expanded from 0.4 thousand tons in the initial stage of establishment to 40,000 tons, ranking first in the industry in the country and ranking among the top four in the world. At the same time, the company has successfully applied high-biotin fermentation technology.In some key production processes, unique inventions and creations have been made to bring fermentation technology to the world’s advanced level. In 1995, Lotus MSG production capacity was expanded again to 120,000 tons, becoming “No. 1 in China and No. 2 in the world.” In 1997, the MSG output of a single factory ranked first in the world, nearly 300 times that of the founding period in 1983, with a domestic market share of 43.4%. In August 1998, Lotus MSG was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the “No. 1″ in China’s condiment industry. share”. In 2001, Lotus MSG was already the largest MSG production and export base in China. At its peak, taxes paid by Lotus MSG once accounted for 67% of Xiangcheng’s fiscal revenue.
After many ups and downs
Lotus Condiment Industrial Park in 2021 It will be officially put into production in 2022 and will be fully operational in 2022. The “exiting the city and entering the park” work has been completed, promoting the company to accelerate into a new stage of high-quality development.
As a national brand, “Lotus” has had both glorious moments and twists and turns. In 2003, due to various factors in internal management and external environment, as well as the influence of rumors that “MSG is harmful to the human body”, Lotus MSG, which had been profitable since its listing, suffered losses, which also paved the way for its many years of twists and turns.
In 2020, with the joint efforts of local governments, courts, and professional institutions, the company was able to complete judicial reorganization and relieve heavy debts and other historical burdens , and gradually move towards the right track of development. Immediately afterwards, through a series of major measures such as reshaping governance, deepening reform, and consolidating innovation, we continued to make efforts. The Lotus Condiment Industrial Park was officially put into operation in 2021 and fully opened in 2022. The work of “exiting the city and entering the park” has been completed, promoting The company has accelerated into a new stage of high-quality development. The overall appearance of “Lotus” has been completely renewed, its endogenous power has been significantly enhanced, its business development has continued to improve, and its profitability has continued to improve.
An old employee who has worked for “Lotus” for 23 years wrote in his notes: “The road has no trace, and the traveler has no boundaries. Follow ‘Lotus’ all the way. , in an ordinary position, the “Lotus Ark” is safely sailing on the sea, and the dreams of the “Lotus” people are woven into a web of ideals and spread across the vast wilderness! ”
Last October, “Lotus” celebrated its 40th birthday. The “Lotus”, which has just passed its forties, is blooming with new youthful vitality. With a new attitude and vigorous pace, it has entered a new stage of increasing speed, expanding scale, improving quality and increasing efficiency.
Blooming again
“Lotus” has also become an “Internet celebrity” and has appeared on WeChat for many times. Hot search on Bo and Baidu. Netizens commented that “Lotus” is returning to the center stage and becoming one of the representatives of the revival of domestic brands.
In recent years, the company has focused on its main business, persisted in consolidating innovation, deepened reform, continued to cultivate new advantages, promoted incremental expansion of the business system, and achieved achieved positive results. Especially in 2023, the company’s business development will accelerate.
Relying on the company’s comprehensive advantages such as the company’s national enterprise technology center, postdoctoral research station, and national wheat processing technology R&D sub-center, we will seize new opportunities with the rise of domestic products and continue to expand new products. In product research and development and new channel construction, on the basis of consolidating flagship products such as monosodium glutamate and chicken essence, we have developed a series of compound condiments such as fresh matsutake mushrooms and hot pot bases, and a series of liquid condiments such as local soy sauce, cooking wine, and vinegar to further enrich the product system. In particular, Lotus Matsutake Fresh has been recognized by many consumers as soon as it was launched online and offline, and has become the second “Lotus MSG” created by the company.
In addition, “Lotus” has also officially entered the high-end water drinking market, successively launching mineral water, soda water, children’s water and other series of products, striving to provide consumers with more Multiple healthy and high-quality products will inject new impetus into the company’s high-quality development.
With the continuous development and widespread application of digital technologies such as big data, 5G, and AIGC, the accelerated promotion of online shopping, live broadcasts, videos, digital culture, etc. The development of new digital consumption formats has become an important engine for stimulating consumption. Lotus Holdings is deeply promoting the construction of rejuvenation, digitalization, internationalization, intelligence and sceneization, and is further promoting digital marketing work to promote the coordinated development of online new retail and offline business.
In recent years, “Lotus” has actively seized the rise of domestic products and digital marketing opportunities. Especially with the rise of domestic brands, “Lotus” has actively explored new channels, Create new hits. Offline, it actively develops retail channels such as supermarkets and supermarkets, and online promotes and sells products through mobile Internet platforms such as live broadcasts, so that more consumers can see and buy “Lotus”‘s good products. “Lotus” has also become an “Internet celebrity” and has been searched on Weibo and Baidu many times. Netizens commented that “Lotus” is returning to the center stage and becoming one of the representatives of the revival of domestic brands.
Li Houwen, chairman of Lotus Holdings, said that what “Lotus” wants to do is not to become a temporary “Internet celebrity”, but to be a lasting “long-term celebrity”. As a domestic brand, it must first insist on improving product quality and persist in the long-term principles, adhere to the spirit of ingenuity, constantly polish products, improve customer experience and services, and provide consumers with trustworthy products and services. At the same time, in terms of business management, we must be good at keeping integrity and innovation, and proactively keep up with market changes and the development of the times. pace, actively seize new opportunities, and continuously iterate and innovate, so that enterprises can gain lasting vitality and achieve longer-term development