Hai-O riding high on China connection

Hai-O riding high on China connection

Tags: Changyu Pioneer Wine Co Ltd | China | Chinese herbs | Chinese medicated wines | Extensive network in China | Hai-O Enterprise Bhd | Tan Kee Hock

Written by Tony C H Goh
Monday, 19 October 2009 11:23

KUALA LUMPUR: HAI-O ENTERPRISE BHD [], widely known as a wholesaler and retailer of Chinese herbs and medicine, is now looking at expanding its reach in the wine, liquor and liqueur business by leveraging on its strong network in China.

“Currently, wines and liquor are considered as the second-liner products carried by the retail division. But with the current market trend towards drinking of red wine in the country, we foresee huge potential,” Hai-O’s general manager Tan Kee Hock said at the third Yantai International Wine Festival in Yantai, China, recently.

Hai-O has an extensive network in China, with business dealings dating back to 1975, particularly with Changyu Pioneer Wine Co Ltd, China’s oldest vineyard, which was established in 1892 and its biggest wine producer based in the wine-producing region of Yantai, Shandong province.

“As the sole distributor of Changyu’s wines in Malaysia, we are allocating a big portion of our promotion and advertising budget to raise awareness,” said Tan, who is in charge of the Chinese medicated wines, cooking wines, healthcare food and beverages division of the company.

Among Changyu products under the sole agency rights of Hai-O are Ling Zhi Medicated Liquor, Tze Pao San Pian Chiew, Te Zhi San Pian Chiew, Changyu Cabernet Dry Red Wine, Changyu Cabernet, Gernischt Dry Red Wine and Changyu Ice Wine.

While seeking to grow its wine and liquor business, multi-level marketing (MLM), wholesale and retailing are still the main contributors to Hai-O’s growth and revenue. It is exposed to all mainstream segments of Malaysia’s population, with the retail segment basically aimed at the Chinese, while MLM is mainly Malay-based.

For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2009 (FY09), Hai-O’s revenue increased 16% to RM435.2 million from RM373.8 million in the previous year. Net income rose 7% to RM52 million. The higher revenue reflects strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar and the promotion of house-based products from the retail division.

The wholesale and retail division contributed RM16.8 million to the group revenue of RM148.6 million in the first quarter ended July 31, 2009 (1QFY10), down 11.2% from RM18.9 million in the previous quarter and 16.9% or RM20.2 million in the same period last year.

But given the promising potential of the wine industry in China, Hai-O believes its strategy of leveraging on the biggest wine company in the fast-developing Asian giant is likely to pay off. Hai-O has seen its share price jumping nearly 30% over the past three weeks to RM7.02 last Friday when it added another 12 sen, with 38,600 shares done.

Yantai is the largest wine-producing region in China, accounting for around 35% or one in every three bottles of wine produced there. The wine industry in China is the world’s 10th largest grape wine producer, and the only Asian country that produces grape wine on a commercial scale.

Other major grape wine players in China include Sino-French joint venture, Dynasty Winery Ltd and China Great Wall Wine Co, Ltd. Collectively, these top three wine producers control 40% of China’s wine market. Besides Shandong, some other famous wine-producing regions are found in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

While growth in the traditional wine consumer countries has remained flat in the last 10 years, experts estimate that China would be the world’s most active wine market with a 36% growth through 2010. Over the same period, total global wine consumption is expected to grow at only 9.15%.

Research data from British research institute ISWR/DGR showed that based on current trends, total global wine consumption will reach 100 million litres by 2010, with China accounting for 5.58 million litres.

In a recent report on the company, RHB Research remained upbeat on Hai-O’s prospects going forward, even when there was a visible slowdown of the company’s retail and wholesale business.

This was largely due to the strong performance of its main business segment of MLM, for which the number of members has ballooned to more than 110,000 from 70,000 a year ago.

The company is well on track to surpass its internal target of 10% earnings growth in FY10. “Taking into account the robust 1QFY10 results and better-than-expected MLM sales, we raised our FY10-12 earnings forecasts by 22% to 28%,” said RHB.

“Hai-O’s attractiveness lies in its strong dividend payout policy of at least 50% of net earnings. Traditionally, the company has paid out above and beyond that amount, averaging 65% over the past five financial years.

“We project gross dividend per share for FY10 and FY11 to be at 54.5 sen and 57 sen, or a yield of 9.6% and 10%, respectively,” the research house added.

Some of the key risks include an unexpected reduction in dividend payout ratio to below 50% and the MLM division’s revenue coming in below expectations.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 19, 2009.