On May 18, Mavericks (NASDAQ: NIU) announced the 2020 first quarterly report on schedule.
In the first quarter, total operating income was 233 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 33.4%, falling within the performance guidance decline range of 25% -45%, but higher than Bloomberg’s consensus expectation of 230 million yuan. The net loss was RMB 30 million, down 320% year-on-year; the adjusted net loss was RMB 20 million, down 227.4% year-on-year.
Interestingly, on the day of the financial report, Maverick Electric closed up 2.87%, and rose as much as 13.73% on the following trading day.
The hard way to grow
Speaking of Niu Dian Technology or Maverick Electric, Li Yinan may be an unavoidable topic.
At the age of 15, he was admitted to the current junior class of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He joined Huawei after graduation. At the age of 23, he was promoted to Huawei engineer in only two days. He was promoted to chief engineer in half a month. He was promoted to deputy general manager of the Central Research Department in half a year. He was promoted to chief engineer of Huawei and president of the Central Research Department in two years. As the vice president of Huawei, the shareholding once climbed to second only to Ren Zhengfei, and once became a popular candidate for successor, comparable to the male lead in Shuangwen.
However, the reality is that Li Yinan finally carried the name of “Huawei Rebel”. After he left Huawei, the harbor network he founded changed from Huawei’s agents to Huawei’s opponents, and was pursued by Huawei. In 2006, it ended with a 1.7 billion yuan acquisition.
Soon, Li Yinan became Baidu CTO. Li Yanhong, who digs him at a high salary, said highly: “There are no more than three people who can be Baidu CTOs in the world, and Li Yinan is one of them.”
But Baidu is not the final destination of Li Yinan. He later became the CEO of China Mobile’s 12580 and became a partner of Jinshajiang Venture Capital … After many years, Li Yinan finally chose to start a business.
On April 7, 2015, Li Yinan issued a post on his personal real-name authentication Weibo, saying, “We have been brewing for a long time, and we are willing to return everything to zero and start again on the entrepreneurial road”-the Mavericks project officially started.
At that time, Li Yinan brought his own gold aura. With his reputation and reputation in the industry, the A round received US $ 50 million in round A investment from Jiyuan Capital, IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital.
On June 1, 2015, Li Yinan said at Niu Dian ’s new product launch conference: “My life is up and down like a roller coaster.”
When Li Yinan said this, it was not known whether he had seen the steep descent orbit in front of him. However, by his appearance, the Mavericks N1 has created a “crowdfunding myth” that completed 72 million yuan and sold 15,000 vehicles in half a month.
Just two days later, Li Yinan was taken away by the police at Shenzhen Airport on suspicion of insider trading.
Niudian Technology is only one year old. The Maverick electric car has just been born, and it seems that it will be disbanded.
Although Mavericks barely survived through various methods of financing, the questions of “Can Niu Dian Technology survive” and “How long can Maverick electric vehicles last?” The Mavericks team can only bear the burden in the “post-Li Yinan era”, silently conducting research and overseas expansion, and there is no noise in China.
Until Li Yinan was sentenced in January 2017, released from prison in December of the same year, and gave up the position of CEO, Mavericks has been in a deep loss.
Years of losses and development channels require a lot of money, and the brand image needs to be saved urgently. The two years of “missing” in marketing also need to be replenished as soon as possible-three major factors have prompted Mavericks to accelerate the pace of listing.
On October 19, 2018, Maverick Electric was listed on the NASDAQ.
Founder Li Yinan stood behind the crowd and smiled extremely brightly. But the person who pressed the listing button was not him. Without Li Yinan’s blessing, can the Mavericks survive on their own?
In 2019, Mavericks successfully turned losses into profits, which gave investors confidence to a certain extent, but lost money again in the first quarter of 2020.
Financial report data shows that the operating cost of Mavericks is always high. Even after the recent sharp decline, the operating cost rate is still as high as 70%.
Continuing to reduce operating costs is the most critical aspect for Mavericks to maintain a positive net profit.
In terms of operating costs, the distribution of the three expenses is relatively reasonable, and the growth rate of R & D expenses is relatively fast. It is worth noting that the growth rate of marketing expenses of Mavericks has not been high, indicating that it has not adopted advertising bombing marketing strategies.
On the premise of almost no increase in marketing expenses, the operating income of 2018 and 2019 has achieved a large year-on-year increase in each quarter, indicating that its brand has a certain degree of market recognition.
However, it is still because the high operating costs have squeezed other expenses, and the R & D expense ratio of Mavericks is still low. Except for the first quarter of this year, as the operating income decreased to nearly 10%, the ratio was almost always below 4%.
For the main intelligent sectionFor the technical Mavericks, it is necessary to have sufficient funds for research and development, but the pain of operating costs still needs to be solved urgently.
The outside world must be installed first
Due to the high-end intelligent route, Mavericks ’user base is very limited.
According to the data of the “2019 White Paper on the Development of China’s Electric Vehicle Industry”, in 2018, Maverick Electric’s market share was only 1%, and there were more than 10 two-wheeled electric vehicle companies with sales of more than one million, while Maverick Sales are only 340,000. Affected by the epidemic, people’s consumption level has generally decreased, and the sales of calves in the country have also decreased.
In the first quarter, the company ’s sales of electric scooters in the Chinese market were 34,316, a year-on-year decline of 43.5%; the number of authorized franchise stores in China was 1,033, as of December 31, 2019 Compared with 17 fewer.
In contrast, Mavericks performed well in the international market, with 5,844 units sold, up 5.9% year-on-year; the number of distributors in the company ’s international sales network increased to 33, covering 42 countries.
There is a huge difference between internal and external performance. Should the Mavericks think about wanting to be safe first?
Frost & Sullivan, a well-known consulting company, predicts that the compound growth rate of China’s electric two-wheelers from 2019 to 2023 will reach 7.22%, and the market size may exceed 108.99 billion yuan. It is a pity that China’s huge market is still in the blue ocean period.
Fortunately, the direction of market and policy development is still good for Mavericks. The “Technical Specifications for Safety of Electric Bicycles” revised in 2018 clearly stipulates that the weight of electric bicycles including batteries shall not exceed 55kg. This rule forced companies that used heavy lead batteries to use lithium batteries more.
The high cost of lithium batteries will increase the overall price of electric two-wheelers to a certain extent. The Mavericks used lithium batteries from the beginning, and will not be impacted.
In the post-epidemic era, people have given more consideration to travel safety, and some mid- to long-distance commuters chose to ride on electric two-wheelers. Among them, there are many consumers who value quality, appearance, performance rather than price. The Mavericks are working hard at this time and may reap a batch of loyal users.
However, in addition to being too “noble”, so many people are discouraged, MavericksThe previously exclusive field of smart technology was also attacked. After the implementation of the new national standard, the e-bike industry has undergone a major reshuffle, which has also given new players an excellent opportunity to enter.
The No. 9 robot backed by the Xiaomi ecological chain released the first electric car on December 17, 2019. Its appearance, technology and publicity posters all directly declare war on Mavericks Electric. At the beginning, the No. 9 robot showed that it produced electric bicycles that comply with the new national standard. However, the previous series of models produced by Mavericks have been discontinued because they did not meet the new national standard. .
In addition to the ninth robot with the slogan “True Intelligence”, the old electric car leader Yadi electric car also reached out to the high-end market. I’m afraid Mavericks can no longer dream of sitting back in the high-end electric bike market.
Maverick Ecological Chain
Liu Niu, CEO of Maverick Electric, once said, “Not only is the manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles, Maverick Electric ’s vision is to redefine the way cities in China and the world travel.”
The official website of Mavericks said, “Maverick Electric is the first lifestyle brand company in the field of urban mobility in China, spreading technology, trends, and freedom. style, freedom) brand concept. ”
Since its establishment in 2014, Mavericks has gradually established a brand ecological chain with electric bicycles as the core, including sports bicycles, peripherals, accessories, smart services, and insurance. In the first quarter, Mavericks peripherals, accessories and service revenue increased by 5.5% year-on-year, contributing to the company ’s cash inflow.
But these branch businesses are ultimately for the pillar business. As long as the core products are well developed, long-term development is possible.
For this reason, Maverick Electric has newly put into operation in the global R & D and manufacturing base at the end of 2019, and has officially entered the operational stage in the first quarter of this year. In January 2020, Maverick Electric showcased the world ’s first self-driving three-wheel electric motorcycle TQi produced by Mavericks and RQi, the first straddle electric motorcycle produced by Mavericks at CES. It is worth mentioning that both vehicles support 5G communication.
The company expects its second quarter revenue to reach 585 million to 655 million yuan, an increase of 10% to 23% year-on-year. Bloomberg’s 7 analysts tracking Maverick Electric and 4 brokers tracking Mavericks all gave a “buy” rating-this may be the reason why the stock price still rose despite the large quarterly loss.
It’s just that the road of intelligent technology research and development is extremely long and lonely. It requires long-term investment and the return is not so fast.
Li Yinan said that Niu Dian Technology was his last venture.
Despite retreating behind the scenes, Li Yinan is still the company’s largest shareholder. As of the release of the quarterly report, Li Yinan still holds 39.5% of Mavericks’ shares through Glory Achievement Fund Limited and has 28% of the voting rights.
I do n’t know if this “old father” is satisfied with the growth and development of his last child.