Unification sells Shanghai Starbucks to retreat to Taiwan, trading big golden chicken for small golden chicken, what is the picture?

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style )

After selling Jianlibao and Jinmailang beverage assets in succession, Uni-President Company once again opened "sell".

Yesterday, Uni-President and Starbucks jointly announced that Uni-President will sell its 50% stake in its joint venture with Starbucks in the eastern Chinese market (Shanghai Uni-President Starbucks Coffee Co., Ltd.) for about US $1.3 billion in cash. After completing the largest acquisition agreement to date, Starbucks will have 100% ownership of about 1300 stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, realizing the plan to directly sell all stores in mainland China.

Starbucks in the United States intends to expand the mainland market

Kevin Johnson, president and CEO of Starbucks Coffee, said full direct management of Starbucks 'entire Chinese mainland market would help "achieve the goal of growing the number of stores from the current 2800 to 5000 by 2021," adding that it was a key step in advancing Starbucks'"multi-faceted China market strategy to achieve Starbucks 'long-term profitable development in the Asian market."

It is understood that in 2011, Starbucks in the United States has bought back the equity of Starbucks held by Hong Kong Meixin Group in Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei and Chongqing, so that Hong Kong Meixin holds 100% of Starbucks authorized operation in Hong Kong and Macao. Then in 2015, Starbucks in the United States withdrew its authorization from Japan and changed it to direct sales, so naturally it would not let go of Shanghai Starbucks, which had a frightening profit.

The fact is that Starbucks in the United States in the implementation of the global strategy, as early as four years ago, the industry has been reported to buy back Shanghai unified Starbucks equity, planning to open the first overseas "select coffee baking workshop" in Shanghai this year, and prepared for this for a long time. The recovery of management rights in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu will not only consolidate the development of existing stores, but also better develop new businesses.

On the eve of the expiration of the licensing contract, if Uni-President Group wants to keep its stake in Shanghai Starbucks, it may not be a good thing to increase the licensing fee significantly. Under the circumstances of being unable to resist Starbucks in the United States, obtaining a beautiful sales figure will also allow Uni-President Group to withdraw from Starbucks in Shanghai and leave a beautiful figure.

Unification Starbucks Retreats to Taiwan's Overall Situation

As for the Taiwan portion, Uni-President Enterprises and Uni-President Superstore will acquire the remaining 50% stake in Uni-President Starbucks Taiwan Corporation ("Taiwan Starbucks") for approximately US$175 million, thereby owning 100% of Starbucks 'operating rights in the Taiwan market.

In the past, unified joint venture authorized companies, including PLAZA, MUJI, Heshi Shangdu, and even AT (Afternoon Tea), which is about to end, are all Japanese enterprises, and the end is dominated by unified group. However, the sale of Shanghai Starbucks this time is obviously an important part of the global layout of the United States.

It is understood that the mainland of China is currently Starbucks 'fastest-growing and most stores overseas market. East China is an important market for Starbucks in China, of which Shanghai Starbucks currently has about 1,350 stores and made a profit of 4.13 billion yuan last year. Taiwan Uni-President Starbucks was founded in 1997 and currently has about 410 stores. Last year, it made a profit of 770 million yuan. The number of stores in Shanghai is 3.3 times that of Taiwan, and the profit is 5.3 times that of Taiwan. The equity transaction of Uni-President Group is equivalent to "a big golden chicken for a small golden chicken".

Judging from Uni-President's performance in recent years, the sale of Shanghai Starbucks may be a last resort. Unified financial data in recent years show that after unified revenue reached a peak of 23.329 billion yuan in 2013, it has declined continuously for nearly three years. Its 2016 annual report shows that unified revenue last year reached 20.986 billion yuan, down 5.1% year-on-year; net profit 607 million yuan, down 27.2% year-on-year.

Taiwan's coffee market still has a lot of room for growth. At present, Taiwan's overall coffee market has reached 70 billion yuan, and Uni-President Starbucks accounts for about 10% of the market. The average number of cups Taiwanese drink each year has grown from more than 50 cups in the past to more than 122 cups. But compared with other parts of Asia, such as Japan and South Korea, where the average number of cups per year is three times higher, Taiwan has plenty of room to grow.

Unified emphasis on "focused management". President Luo Zhixian has dealt with poorly run companies many times in the past. In addition, he continued to consolidate the Group's businesses in pursuit of greater synergy. Luo Zhixian is not obsessed with blindly expanding the business territory, as long as it is a profit-making model, unclear positioning of the business body, quickly cut off, everything is profit-oriented.

However, Taiwan media also said that the profit performance of Shanghai Starbucks is good, but Unification wants to sell Shanghai Starbucks to protect Taiwan Starbucks instead, which inevitably makes people suspect. In this regard, Luo Zhixian only said that he wants to "deeply cultivate the Taiwan market" and provide Taiwan customers with a better Starbucks experience.