Economic Observer reporter Li Huaqing In the past week, Zhengbang Technology (002157.SZ), a large A-share pig farmer, attracted attention because of an announcement of cross-border cooperation with an estimated investment amount of 40 billion yuan. Its stock price first experienced a one-word limit and then In the continuous decline, some investors accused Zhengbang Technology of "painting big cakes", "playing word games, eating ugly", and "hot spots", and some investors believed that investors misunderstood the content of the announcement and had nothing to do with Zhengbang Technology, which can be judged from a rational point of view At this stage, it is impossible for Zhengbang Technology to invest 40 billion yuan in new energy fields such as photovoltaics and wind power.
Lawyer Wang Huaitao, director of Shanghai Xingu Law Firm, told the Economic Observer.com reporter that from the content of Zhengbang Technology’s announcement, Zhengbang Technology did not constitute a false statement and was suspected of being a hot spot, but Zhengbang Technology then explained the cooperation model more clearly, which is enough to make Rational investors have a correct understanding of the cooperation project, "so we believe that it is unlikely that the regulatory authorities will initiate an investigation into whether Zhengbang Technology's announcement on June 18 constitutes a misleading statement."
After the stock price roller coaster, for Zhengbang, what is more critical is how to get out of the "pig cycle" down period, the impact on performance, reduce the debt ratio, and improve liquidity. As of press time, the market value of Zhengbang Technology has fallen below 20 billion yuan. The cumulative loss of Zhengbang Technology in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 has exceeded 21.2 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2022 is as high as 97%.
From standing on the new energy outlet to being a small "landlord"
On June 18, Zhengbang Technology announced that it signed a carbon neutral comprehensive smart energy project cooperation agreement with State Power Investment Group Co., Ltd. Zhejiang Branch (hereinafter referred to as "State Power Investment Zhejiang Branch"). Zhengbang Technology introduced in the announcement, SPIC Zhejiang Branch regards the company as an important strategic partner and will make a unified plan for the company's land and energy, striving to build about 10 million kilowatts of ecological photovoltaic, wind power, distributed and centralized integrated smart energy within three years, It is estimated that the total investment will reach about 40 billion yuan. The two parties will actively promote the implementation of distributed solar photovoltaic power generation, and actively promote agricultural and photovoltaic complementary, building photovoltaic integration and other models.
As soon as the announcement came out, it caused great repercussions in the stock market. On June 20, the first trading day after the announcement, the share price of Zhengbang Technology rose by the limit.In the stock bar, the sentiments of investors can be roughly divided into two groups. One is rejoicing and believes that Zhengbang Technology wants to cross-border photovoltaic and wind power, and also embraces the "thighs" of SPIC. The new energy track is a popular track. , judging from the performance of the stock price on the first trading day, it can be said that the saying "stands on the tuyere, pigs can take off".The other faction is pessimistic and questioned, where did the funds for the cooperation between Zhengbang Technology and SPIC come from?Question whether Zhengbang Technology has the ability to cross-border new energy.
Just on June 20, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern to Zhengbang Technology, asking it to explain the background, purpose and specific methods of cooperation with State Power Investment Corporation, and whether it matches the company's current and future development; The scale of the expected investment, the expected impact of this cooperation on the company, and on this basis, combined with the company's operating conditions, liquidity and funding sources (if any), explain whether there are insufficient funds to support the project. risk.
On June 21 and June 22, Zhengbang Technology received two regulatory letters. One was that Zhengbang Technology did not timely return the 1.102 billion yuan temporarily used to supplement working capital to the 2019 public issuance of convertible corporate bonds to raise funds. The 2.44 billion yuan temporarily used to supplement working capital was not returned to the special account for raising funds from non-public issuance of stocks in 2020 in a timely manner, which violated regulatory regulations.The other is that the share guarantee ratio of the controlling shareholder of Zhengbang Technology in the GF Securities account is lower than the closing line, and the shares of Zhengbang Technology are passively reduced; In the liquidation line, the shares of Zhengbang Technology were also passively reduced, and the total number of shares reduced reached 1.11% of the total share capital of Zhengbang Technology, which violated regulatory regulations.
At the same time, Zhengbang Technology's 40 billion yuan cross-border cooperation agreement has insufficient stamina to boost the stock price. Since June 21, as of press time, Zhengbang Technology's stock price has fallen for 4 consecutive days.
On the evening of June 22, Zhengbang Technology replied to the letter of concern from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, saying that in view of the company’s current capital shortage, the cooperation with State Power Investment Corporation is currently mainly promoted in the form of leasing. The company has a roof area of more than 20 million square meters and more than 30 million land resources. Ten thousand mu, there are many available space resources, sufficient sunlight, and good solar energy natural endowment, which can be fully utilized to develop green and clean energy such as photovoltaic power generation.In the early stage of the project, the investment and construction were mainly carried out by the State Power Investment Corporation. The company collected funds by leasing the roof, and there was no capital outflow. Through this project, cash backflow can be achieved. In the later stage, under suitable conditions, the two parties will gradually explore other models such as equity cooperation. .
So far, the 40 billion yuan cross-border cooperation project of Zhengbang Technology has been reduced from being a new energy outlet to being a "small landlord" in the expectation of some shareholders.Who should be responsible for the expected gap has also become one of the points of contention among investors in the stock bar.Although some people accuse Zhengbang Technology, some people think that understanding the cooperation agreement as Zhengbang Technology's investment of 10 billion yuan in new energy fields such as photovoltaics and wind power is self-misleading by some people's wishful thinking. invest.
Lawyer Wang Huaitao told the reporter of Economic Observer.com that whether the announcement of a listed company constitutes a misleading statement depends not only on the content of the announcement, but also on the impact of the announcement on the market after the announcement and whether it has been identified as a misleading statement by the regulatory authorities.
"The content of the announcement (referring to the cooperation agreement with State Power Investment Corporation announced by Zhengbang Technology on June 18) is indeed likely to make market investors realize that Zhengbang Technology caters to market hot spots, that is, Zhengbang Technology is suspected of being a 'hot spot'. However, under the Shenzhen Stock Exchange After issuing the letter of concern, Zhengbang Technology announced on June 22 that it disclosed the actual cooperation content and business model with State Power Investment Zhejiang Company, which is enough for rational market investors to have a correct investment understanding of the project cooperation." Lawyer Wang Huaitao said that in his opinion, it is extremely unlikely that the regulatory authorities will follow up on whether there are misleading statements in Zhengbang Technology’s announcement on June 18.
On June 22, the reporter interviewed Zhengbang Technology about the cooperation project with State Power Investment Corporation, and asked about its possible investment amount and the specific form of cooperation with State Power Investment Corporation Zhejiang Branch in the fields of photovoltaic, wind power and integrated energy. The cooperation project will have an impact on the company. impact, etc., no reply has been received as of press time.
In the pig breeding industry, Zhengbang Technology is not only announcing cooperation with energy companies.In April this year, Tianbang Foods (002124.SZ), a large pig farmer, announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd., a national energy group. The two parties will cooperate in photovoltaic, biomass power generation and other dimensions. Chairman and President Zhang Banghui pointed out at the signing ceremony that biomass power generation can turn the original "environmental protection issues" into resources, and photovoltaic power generation can make full use of the company's pig farm roof. Electricity can help Tianbang Foods achieve carbon neutrality as soon as possible.
It is worth noting that, unlike Zhengbang Technology, Tianbang Foods has not introduced its strategic cooperation with the National Energy Group Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. through the channels announced by the listed company.
performance crisis
Judging from the current business status of Zhengbang Technology, it is indeed unrealistic to invest additional investment in the new energy industry at this stage.
Zhengbang Technology is mainly engaged in the production and sales of feed, live pigs and veterinary drugs, of which pig breeding is the core business. In 2021, the income from the breeding business will account for 60% of the total revenue, and the income from the feed business will account for 34.57% of the total revenue. .
In the pig breeding industry, due to the fluctuation of market supply and demand, there is a "pig cycle". Since the first half of 2019, the domestic pig market price has risen rapidly, and the pig price in 2020 will continue to be high.However, after entering 2021, with the recovery of domestic pig production capacity, the price of live pigs has fallen sharply, entering the downward phase of the cycle.In 2021, the commodity pig price of Zhengbang Technology will drop from 32.65 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year to 15.17 yuan/kg at the end of the year. The price will be cut in half, and the pig breeding business will suffer serious losses.
On the A-share market, Muyuan, Wen's, New Hope, Tianbang Food and Zhengbang Technology are all well-known large pig farmers. The gross profit margin of the pig breeding business of Nianzhengbang Technology is the lowest, as low as -45.88%, followed by Tianbang Foods, which is -33.6%. The gross profit margin of the pig breeding business of Muyuan Co., Ltd. is still maintained at 17.48%.
In 2021, Zhengbang Technology will be called the "Pigsty Loss King" with a loss of over 18.818 billion yuan.In the first quarter of 2022, Zhengbang Technology's net profit attributable to listed companies was -2.433 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of -1249.73%.
Under the pressure of performance, financial pressure also broke out.In addition to the fact that Zhengbang Technology has to use special fundraising funds to supplement working capital as mentioned earlier in this report, on June 9, Zhengbang Technology announced that some commercial bills were overdue due to lack of liquidity. As of the date of the announcement, the overdue amount was 542 million yuan, or face litigation, arbitration and other risks due to overdue reasons.In the first quarter of 2022, Zhengbang Technology's asset-liability ratio was as high as 97%.
At present, the trend of the "pig cycle" has a profound impact on the "blood volume" of Zhengbang Technology.The research report of the Donghai Futures Research Institute believes that it is expected that the slaughter of commercial pigs will continue to decline in June, July and August this year, and in the second half of the year, with the arrival of the National Day and the season of pickling, the demand for pork will increase, and the pig cycle will be at a low point. or already present.
