On March 31, hyaluronic acid giant Bloomage Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Bloomage Biotechnology") released its 2020 annual financial report.
The financial report shows that Bloomage Biotech achieved operating income of 2.633 billion yuan in 2020***, a year-on-year increase of 39.63%; net profit was 646 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.29%.
“One drop of hyaluronic acid stock solution can lock 6,000 times of water molecules.” Hyaluronic acid (scientific name: hyaluronic acid), a celebrity in the medical beauty circle, is actually the human body’s own substance. Studies have shown that hyaluronic acid can improve the nutritional metabolism of human skin and make the skin smooth, elastic and tender. Therefore, hyaluronic acid is widely used in the fields of skin care and medical beauty, and was once considered the "Moutai of women".
It is reported that the current hyaluronic acid market is still dominated by overseas companies. The three domestic hyaluronic acid A-share giants Bloomage Biotech, Amic, and Haohai Biotech occupy one-third of the global share. The annual operating income of Bloomage Biotech is the highest among the "Three Musketeers".
Bloomage Biotech was founded in 2000, formerly known as Bloomage Freda Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., mainly engaged in the production of hyaluronic acid, and officially listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in 2019. Currently, it is mainly engaged in four major businesses: raw material products, medical terminal products, functional skin care products, and functional food.
The first attempt to reach consumers can be traced back to the lipstick and facial mask launched by Bloomage Biotech and the Forbidden City in 2018. Since then, Huaxi Biotechnology has gradually entered the public eye with its four core functional skin care brands Runbaiyan, Quadi, Mibel, BM Muscle and other sub-brands, and has also completed its transformation from the To B track to the To The successful transformation of C track.
According to the financial report, these four core brands have brought approximately 1.27 billion yuan in revenue to Huaxi Biotechnology, and their categories include disposable liquids, various creams, lotions, facial masks, hand masks, eye masks, etc. product. Among them, the Runbaiyan brand achieved the highest operating income of 565 million yuan, followed by Quadi, Mibel, and BM Muscle.
According to statistics, functional skin care products bring the largest contribution to Huaxi Biotech’s annual revenue. In 2020, its functional skin care products *** achieved annual revenue of 1.346 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the total revenue. Other businesses such as raw material products accounted for approximately 26.7% of the total revenue, and medical terminal products accounted for approximately 22%.
Functional skin care products refer to products that target different skin problems such as sensitive skin, damaged skin barrier, facial redness, acne, etc. In this segment, there are already Winona, Yuze, and Avène. , La Roche-Posay and other competing products. In order to better achieve differentiated competition, Bloomage Biotech is committed to building the brand image of "the world's leading hyaluronic acid brand", using hyaluronic acid as the entry point to enter this track.
Open Xiaohongshu and search for "Huaxi Biotechnology". The screen is full of "domestic products planted by Li Jiaqi." The fiercely competitive market also forces Huaxi Biotech to carry out marketing and promotion at all costs. In 2020, affected by the epidemic, Bloomage Biotech also invested in the wave of omni-channel digital marketing, using public domain traffic such as Tmall, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, and cooperating with top anchors on KOL platforms such as Li Jiaqi to promote sales growth . In addition, Bloomage Biotechnology has also launched large-scale activities such as "Beauty Testimony and Wisdom Hyaluronic Acid" and "Flash Mob Video Fan Interaction".
However, the large-scale marketing actions also brought huge sales expenses. According to report statistics, Bloomage Biotech's sales expenses in 2020 totaled nearly 1.1 billion yuan, accounting for about 40% of total operating revenue, an increase of about 111% from the previous year, and online service promotion alone cost nearly 500 million yuan. .
Clearly, marketing costs eat into profits. However, the report claims that this expense is a strategic investment to build brand power. Overall, it is still at a comparable level to the same industry and within a benign and reasonable range.
But functional skin care products are far from the ultimate battlefield for Huaxi Biotechnology. The financial report shows that Bloomage Biotech is determined to build a personal health consumer products business group. Therefore, Bloomage Biotech has successively launched the food terminal brand "Black Zero" and the hyaluronic acid drink brand "Shuijiquan" this year to lay out the terminal food and beverage track.
However, the debate on whether oral hyaluronic acid is a real beauty or an IQ tax has never stopped. Whether the food terminal business will become the fourth largest business segment of Bloomage Biotechnology, and whether "hyaluronic acid + food" can become a The new trend in 2021 is also a highlight worthy of our continued attention in 2021.