HONG KONG, Mar 29, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation Limited ("Pagoda Group" or the "Group", HKEX stock code: 2411), the largest fruit retail operator in China , has announced its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2022 ("the Year") today.

For the Year, the Group's revenue increased by 9.9% over the same period last year to RMB11,312.0 million. Revenue generated from the sales of fruits and other food products accounted for 97.1% of total revenue in 2022. The Group's gross profit increased by 13.6% to RMB1,314.3 million for the Year, and gross profit margin improved by 0.4 pp to 11.6% for the year ended December 31, 2022. Pagoda Group continued to expand its retail store network across the country, and succeeded in expanding its customer base by offering high-quality fruits and establishing a favorable pricing strategy. The Group's profit attributable to the owners of the Company increased by 40.4% YoY to RMB323.3 million, with basic earnings per share at RMB0.216 (FY2021: RMB0.154). The Board has recommended the payment of a final dividend of RMB0.076 per share for the Year.

Mr. Yu Huiyong, Chairman and Executive Director of Pagoda Group said: "I am very pleased to report that the Group has delivered stellar performance in 2022. We completed the global offering and listing in early 2023 and our H shares were successfully listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on January 16, 2023, representing a significant milestone in our corporate history. We are thrilled to present such outstanding first full year results after our successful listing. Pagoda Group is one of the few companies in the fruit industry in China that have both well-known product brands and channel brands. We adopt a multi-brand strategy and customer-centric approach and has mapped out development strategies that support our mission and core value of offering delicious fruits and enjoyable lifestyle to people in order to attract consumers of different demographics, rapidly capture market share, and continuously seize growth opportunities."

Offline Store Network Development
Despite the critical retail environment in 2022 arising from the pandemic, the Group succeeded in continuously expanding its retail store network across the country. As of December 31, 2022, the Group's offline store network had a total of 5,650 stores (FY2021: 5,249 stores) located in over 140 cities covering 22 provinces and municipalities in China.

The Group has the largest community-based fruit specialty retail network in China with OMO and store-as-warehouse features, providing consumers with a highly convenient consumption experience. It has established an extensive nationwide offline retail store network, comprising franchised stores supervised by itself, franchised stores supervised by its regional dealers, and a limited numbers of self-operated stores. Franchised stores currently consists the majority of the Group's offline store network. The Group has strategically built the franchise business model with a high degree of autonomy, a strong support system and a standardized management mechanism.

The Group provides its franchisees with strong brand, supply chain and operational support, creating a favorable entrepreneurial platform for many who dream of starting their own business. It has also established a district-based operation system. Based on the dynamic data of the surrounding shopping districts in which the stores are located, such system provides personalized product portfolio, pricing and promotional activities for stores through a smart ordering system to help franchisees achieve delicacy operation of stores and reduce their operational difficulties, and allow franchisees to grasp the operation status of their stores in real time through the store assistant information system. It implements highly uniform operation management guidance for franchisees to achieve standardized operation of stores to ensure product quality, consumer experience and the healthy development of franchisees.

Coverage and Upgrades of OMO Model
The Group continued to optimize its OMO operational model in all aspects, provide highly integrated and convenient consumption experience through online sales platforms and offline stores. During the Year, the Group had accumulated over 74 million members across all distribution channels with over 967,000 paying members, and the cumulative number of users of the WeChat mini-program reached 54 million.

The Group's offline retail stores are mainly located within 15-minute walk from the target end consumers, with significant advantages such as certain path dependency, ease to meet the personalized needs of consumers in the community and flexibility and low cost in store opening. The Group maintains a smart location identification system which can integrate parameters such as changes in the surrounding shopping district, customer traffic and spending power, helping to advise its franchisees to efficiently and precisely identify their store locations in communities with high density of residents and strong consumption. Meanwhile, the Group's offline retail stores operate with an efficient store-as-warehouse feature, enabling in-store pickup and home delivery services under the just-in-time and next-day delivery options.

Pagoda Group continued to explore online opportunities and has enabled convenient and diverse online shopping options to consumers through mobile APPs, WeChat mini-program, storefronts on e-commerce and social commerce platforms, as well as storefronts on third-party food delivery platforms. The Group offered differentiated products to customers opting for home delivery or in-store pickup services to effectively increase purchase frequency and coverage of consumers in the community, while encouraging consumers through social marketing and group promotions to place orders online and pick up in stores to enhance cross-selling. During the Year, approximately 27.2% of the Group's orders were placed through various online channels. The Group had approximately 10.6 million WeChat followers with its official account, 1.8 million Douyin followers and 336,000 Weibo followers. In addition, it guided store managers to establish approximately 22,500 store-based WeChat groups, pushing interesting and interactive product promotions and membership activities, and interacting and communicating with over 12.9 million community WeChat community followers in real time. Leveraging the OMO model together with strong industry expertise and insights, the Group believes that it is well positioned to satisfy the needs of consumers with evolving and increasingly fragmental consumption behaviors.

Moreover, the Group continued to develop its business-to-business (2B) fruit business by expanding 2B customer base. As of December 31, 2022, the Group's revenue from sales of fruits and other food products derived from direct sales increased by approximately 38.5% YoY to RMB723.8 million.

Brand Portfolio and Product Offerings
As one of the few companies in the fruit industry in China that have both well-known product brands and channel brands, the Group adopts a multi-brand strategy to attract consumers of different demographics and to quickly acquire market shares. Currently, the retail stores nationwide are mainly operated under two channel brands, namely "Pagoda" and "Guoduomei" . As of December 31, 2022, among all 5,650 offline retail stores, 5,533 were operated under Pagoda brand and 110 were operated under Guoduomei brand.

Pagoda Group adopts a customer-centric approach and has mapped out its development strategies supporting its mission and core value. With respect to delicious fruit products, the Group pioneered in China in establishing a comprehensive and systematic written flavor-oriented 4-grade fruit quality classification system for fruit products. In accordance with the proprietary quality system with various key metrics, fruits are rated and labeled under four categories, namely Excellent, Grade A, Grade B and Grade C, with different prices catering to different consumers. Aggregate sales of fruits under Excellent and Grade A categories accounted for approximately 70% of the total store retail sales of Pagoda stores. As of December 31, 2022, the Group had successfully introduced to the market 31 self-owned product brands that are exclusively distributed by it in China under the Excellent and Grade A categories. Pagoda Group introduced four product brands to the market and aggregate retail sales of all self-branded fruits increased by approximately 36% from 2021, and accounted for over 11% of total store retail sales of Pagoda stores in 2022.

Smart Warehousing and Supply Chain Management
For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Group had established a nationwide warehousing network that currently has 29 warehouses across China which also function as local preliminary processing and distribution centers. These preliminary processing and distribution centers were located in 29 cities with an aggregate floor area of more than 194,700sq.m. Out of the 29 preliminary processing and distribution centers,16 centers were operated by the Group, and the remaining 13 centers were operated by the Group's regional dealers by strictly following the Group's quality requirements.

Pagoda Group has established a standardized fruit quality control system across the entire industry chain from orchard to store, to ensure an advanced freshness and loss control mechanism. Through continuous optimization of operation details, the Group managed to maintain the quality and freshness of fruits from warehouses to stores, while improving the efficiency and accuracy of the delivery. On the sales side, the Group has implemented a smart product freshness management system which sets the selling time for each product according to its shelf life, helping stores make timely price adjustments and promotional strategies to reduce losses and ensure the quality and freshness of fruits to consumers. Leveraging its experience and expertise, the Group continued to strategically participate in the upstream of the industry chain. By empowering its plantation base partners with agricultural technologies, IT and capital resources and by enforcing strict quality management throughout the entire growth period of fruits, the Group is able to cultivate high-quality fruits, improve yields, and in turn, establish a Pagoda-centered large-scale, standardized network of high-quality suppliers.

The Group had received the ISO 22000 Certificates for Food Safety Management Systems from SGS SA, a world's leading testing, inspection and certification company, in the second quarter of 2022. It demonstrates the Company's ability to implement food safety protocols and requirements in connection with supplier management, compliance and risk analysis.

Mr. Yu Huiyong, Chairman and Executive Director of Pagoda Group, concluded "Going forward, China's economy is expected to continue its recovery and growth in the post-pandemic era. Capitalizing on the Group's well-recognized brand reputation, broad and diversified product offerings, stringent quality controls, sophisticated OMO operations and stable supply chain management, the Group aims to realize its vision of becoming the world's largest fruit company. The Group will continue to devise development strategies that focus on advancing its distribution channels, product brands and membership operation so as to further increase its market share and market position in the future. This would, in turn, enable Pagoda Group to enhance its competitiveness, adapt to market changes and meet consumer needs, as well as create greater value for shareholders in the long run."

About Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation Limited
Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation Limited ("Pagoda Group", HKEX stock code: 2411) is the largest fruit retail operator in China. According to Frost & Sullivan, Pagoda Group ranked first among all retailers that sold fruits in China based on fruit retail sales value in 2021. Pagoda Group has built a nationwide community-based fruit specialty retail network with OMO and store-as-warehouse features. It has also adopted a multi-brand strategy, as of December 31, 2022, its nationwide network of retail stores mainly consisted of two channel brands, namely "Pagoda" and "Guoduomei". Among all 5,650 offline retail stores, 5,533 were operated under the "Pagoda" brand and 110 were operated under the "Guoduomei" brand.


Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

HONG KONG, Mar 24, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – In the past three years, with the weakness of overseas consumption and the impact of the new crown epidemic, the pattern of overseas shopping is changing considerably. People's shopping habits gradually shift from the original cross-border e-commerce to interest e-commerce and AI e-commerce. China, the world's largest goods trader, will reopen in 2023. Thousands of buyers and sellers are flocking to the new cross-border e-commerce led by TikTok, Pinduoduo, and GigaCloud. GigaCloud Technology Inc, which went public at the end of last year, once again impresses investors with its remarkable financial performance and demonstrates its superior strength and unlimited potential.

First, Remarkable 2022 financial performance with impressive 3P Seller

On March 17, GigaCloud Technology Inc (Nasdaq: GCT) ("GigaCloud" or the "Company") released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 ("Q4-22") and the full year of 2022 ("FY22"). Total revenues were US$490 million for FY22. Net income was US$23.97 million for FY22, including US$12.48 million in Q4-22, an increase of 34% compared to last year; operating profit for the year reached US$41.84 million, including US$15.19 million in Q4-22, an increase of 35% compared to last year; meanwhile, net cash flow from operating for FY22 increased by 480% to US$49.66 million, with the growth rate far exceeding market expectations.

Regarding specific products, 3P seller GMV grew 64% year-on-year to US$258 million in FY2022. GigaCloud Marketplace GMV grew 25% year-on-year to US$518 million, with a steady growth trend in trading users, with active buyers growing 17% year-on-year to 4,156 in FY22 and active sellers growing 47% year-on-year to 560 in FY22.

GigaCloud has formed a specific brand effect in the large merchandise foreign trade industry through its technology and scale effect. In particular, the performance of 3P seller was impressive. 3P seller GigaCloud Marketplace GMV was US$257.7 million in FY22, growing significantly compared to last year. 3P seller GigaCloud Marketplace GMV represented 50% of total GigaCloud Marketplace GMV in Q4-22 for the first time, showing a rapid growth trend.

Second, GigaCloud can release great potential as China reopens in 2023 to create a prosperous cross-border trade environment

1. Global leading B2B e-commerce solution provider – GigaCloud Technology Inc (GCT.US)

GigaCloud is currently the world's most advanced B2B e-commerce solution provider, mainly providing optimal cross-border solutions that allow products to be delivered from manufacturers and online distributors to terminal customers without borders. Through its unique artificial intelligence technology, GigaCloud digitizes sellers' credit profiles and then combines that data with the capacity of local warehouses, significantly increasing the utilization of warehouses. From the perspective of sales per unit area, GigaCloud enables the delivery of more goods than competitors.

In August 2022, GigaCloud went public on NASDAQ and was one of the few cross-border e-commerce platforms with AI technology. As of March 2022, GigaCloud Marketplace, GigaCloud's unique self-built stations, had 410 active 3p sellers and 3,782 active buyers. In the 12 months ended March 31, 2022, GigaCloud Marketplace GMV was US$438 million and spend per active buyer was US$116,000, showing that users are more willing to pay.

2. Well-developed logistics systems and outstanding self-built stations

In the course of e-commerce development, logistics is the foundation and support of e-commerce development, and the importance of logistics is self-evident. And relying on traditional cross-border logistics to transport goods has been difficult to meet the current needs of the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce. The traditional cross-border logistics sends parcels to consumers, which has the disadvantages of slow delivery, slow customs clearance, easy-to-lose packages, difficult to return, etc., and is also very easy to be restricted by the immigration policies of various countries.

In this context, the birth of overseas warehouses greatly solves the emergence of such problems. Overseas warehouses are established locally and used to store goods, so warehouses can directly dispatch goods after buyers place orders, which not only reduces the logistics costs of cross-border e-commerce merchants, but also avoids the drawback of long waiting time for buyers. Therefore, having a perfect warehouse and logistics network is the most favorable strength for cross-border e-merchants.

GigaCloud has operated 21 large-scale warehouses in North America, Europe, and four Asian countries. The warehouses have significantly optimized buyers' shopping experience while also greatly reducing merchants' high logistics costs and delivery time. GigaCloud currently has a total storage space of over 4 million square feets, covering 11 destination ports, with more than 10,000 containers per year, and has strong logistics and transportation advantages.

Meanwhile, GigaCloud also has the best AI system currently available, which can generate seller ratings and credit profiles through transaction volume and reasonably allocate warehouse delivery times based on credit ratings, thus significantly improving warehouse utilization. At the same time, GigaCloud also has an extensive shipping and trucking network, providing customers with fixed rates below market standards (FedEx, UPS) despite high shipping rates running at high costs.

GigaCloud's largest market is now mainly in the U.S. The Company also has in-depth cooperation with Rakuten in Japan, Walmart and Amazon in the U.S., and Wayfair in the U.K.. Moreover, the GigaCloud Marketplace, the Company's self-built station, has done quite well. In 2020, GigaCloud Marketplace had 210 active third-party sellers and 1,689 active buyers. Furthermore, GigaCloud Marketplace GMV reached over US$190 million. The number is still growing. As of March 2022, there were over 3,700 active buyers on the GigaCloud Marketplace, with GigaCloud Marketplace GMV exceeding US$440 million. The average annual expenditure per buyer on GigaCloud was US$116,000, showing outstanding microtargeting.

3. GigaCloud's current share price is cost-efficient and its P/B is low

GigaCloud currently has 3 main businesses, Gigacloud 1P, Off-platform ecommerce and GigaCloud 3P, which account for 45.45%, 30.81% and 23.74% of the Company's revenues, respectively. According to the prospectus, GigaCloud's total revenues in the past three years (2019, 2020, 2021) were US$122 million, US$276 million, and US$414 million, representing 125.3% and 50.4% year-over-year growth in 2020 and 2021, respectively; gross profits were US$22.2 million, US$75.1 million, and US$89.6 million, with 238% and 19.3% year-on-year growth in 2020 and 2021, respectively, representing 18.1%, 27.3% and 21.6% of total revenues, respectively. Under the global pandemic of Covid-19 and lingering weakness in overseas consumption, having such a growth trend is already a good achievement for the Company.

As of the closing quotation on March 17, 2023, GigaCloud's share price was US$5.27 per share, the after-hours price was US$5.26 per share, and the P/B was 1.098X. Amazon (AMZN.US)'s P/B is 6.94X, and Ebay's P/B is 4.38X. Regarding the P/B, GigaCloud's current share price is cost-efficient. From the perspective of the P/E, GigaCloud's P/ETTM is 9.31X, and P/ELYR is 9.31X, which are at the average of the industry level.

4. Global consumption is weak, while China market has more development opportunities

Most sellers are adopting a conservative stocking strategy in 2022 due to weak overseas consumption and shipping costs still running at a high level. According to the data from YUGUO's research, 64% of sellers are reducing the amount of stocking, 22% are preparing normally, and only 14% said they would increase the amount of stocking for the peak season.

In addition, cross-border logistics enterprises have also suffered setbacks. High inflation in Europe and the U.S., changing overseas tariff policies, and frequent overseas inspection and supervision have harmed some goods, logistics routes, and even prices. According to the data from Shanghai Shipping Exchange, Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) exceeded 5,000 points in January 2022, while the index dropped to 1,031.42 points as of January 13, 2023, with a significant decline in shipping prices.

With the rise in logistics and various labor costs, several cross-border platforms also raised the fees for related services last year: Tiktok shop launched a cross-border store margin policy, Amazon raised FBA fees for multiple stations, and Pinduoduo's TEMU also reduced the proportion of shipping costs borne by the platform itself. Due to the dual pressure of platform and logistics, the number of containers in the U.S. in December 2022 was 19.3% lower than in December 2021, according to data published by Descartes, with a significant surplus of shipping space. Although the liner transport companies took the initiative to reduce the actual capacity allocation, transport prices continued to fall as supply outpaced demand.

China is the world's largest country in goods trade. As China reopens in 2023, China is expected to bring extraordinary vitality to the global market. According to data from Intelligence Research Group, from 2017 to 2022, the market size of China's export cross-border e-commerce has remained stable at more than 75%, and the market size of China's imported cross-border e-commerce is RMB 3.2 trillion in 2021, accounting for 22.54% of the total cross-border e-commerce market size.

As the market penetration of global e-commerce continues to rise, the Chinese market will release more significant potential. With the high-quality transformation and upgrading of the domestic manufacturing industry, the production quality and efficiency of domestic processing and manufacturing are significantly improved. As "Made in China" moves to the international stage, it will also drive the rapid growth of China's cross-border e-commerce demand.

Third, with the rapid recovery of cross-border e-commerce, GigaCloud will usher in a bright future

Cross-border e-commerce is the most direct way of economic trade between countries, and its strategic position is unshakable. Although the global economy is slightly weak at present, the domestic market scale of cross-border e-commerce has maintained steady growth year-round. In addition, in January 2023, China's Ministry of Finance and three other departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Tax Policy of Goods Returned from Cross-border E-commerce Export" to introduce VAT, consumption tax and tariff exemptions to encourage the development of cross-border e-commerce, which will increase the business volume of cross-border e-commerce and drive domestic export business. In addition, as China reopens in 2023 after epidemic, the cross-border trade is expected to return to the pre-epidemic state.

GigaCloud has formed a specific brand effect in the large merchandise foreign trade industry. The self-built stations and AI algorithms for warehousing and logistics have brought cost advantages to sellers and established a unique strength in the ecology. The total revenue of GigaCloud Marketplace, the Company's self-built station, has grown at a high rate of more than 50% in the past three years against a background of global epidemic and sluggish market environment, demonstrating the Company's competitiveness. From the 2022 financial report, 3P Seller has also gradually become a profit growth point for the Company. 3P seller GigaCloud Marketplace GMV represented 50% of total GigaCloud Marketplace GMV in Q4-22 for the first time, showing a rapid growth trend. However, a certain interest rate spread exists between the Company's current share price and its real value. Compared with Amazon and eBay, GigaCloud's current P/B (1.098X) appears to be more valuable. With the extensive self-built warehouse layout and cutting-edge digital technology, GigaCloud will stand out from its competitors by leveraging its unique advantages and will bring long-term and stable investment returns to investors.


Copyright 2023 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

HONG KONG, Mar 8, 2023 – (ACN Newswire) – CROSSTEC Group Holdings Limited (HKEX stock code: 3893) has officially appointed Mr. Lam Wing Hung as the Chief Executive Officer with effect from 13 March 2023, this change follows Mr. Lam's appointment as Acting Chief Executive Officer in the last three months. Mr. Lam currently is an Executive Director of the Group, the Finance Director and the joint Company Secretary of the Company.

Mr. Lam Wing Hung, joined the Group as Financial Controller in April 2017. He has been appointed as an Executive Director and promoted to Finance Director of the Company with effect from 16 September 2022. He has also been the Company Secretary of the Company and several subsidiaries of the Company since 25 March 2022. Mr. Lam has over 10 years of experience in auditing, accounting and corporate management with international exposure. Mr. Lam will report directly to Mr. Hu Xiongjie, the Chairman of the Board. Mr. Hu said: "We are confident that Mr. Lam's appointment will continue and stabilize the development of the Company. Mr. Lam will also play a key role in our business strategy and management, capturing new opportunities arising from closer connectivity between internal staff and external customers."

Mr. Lam Wing Hung said, "I am pleased to take up this important role and look forward to working together with all my colleagues to deliver our best in achieving business success."

In the new appointment, the Board believes that Mr. Lam will be responsible for driving the growth agenda for the development of the Company, continuing to reinforce the Group's commitment to serve their clients and shareholders.

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About CROSSTEC Group Holdings Limited
CROSSTEC Group Holdings Limited is principally engaged in the provision of bespoke and total interior design solutions to the retail stores and property facilities of global luxury brands, which covers a wide range of services including millwork and furniture provision, facade development and fabrication, interior solutions, design, maintenance and project consultancy. The Group has been conducting its business since 1999 and has been developing its business to China, US, Europe, Middle East and other Asian countries. Please visit www.crosstec.com.hk for details.


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