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  during the deep adjustment period of the industry, the half-year performance of the leading liquor companies has attracted much attention from the market. on the evening of august 28, wuliangye announced its performance in the first half of 2024, achieving revenue of 50.648 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.30%; the overall performance was higher than the market's previous expectations.

adjustments in the liquor industry continued in the first half of this year, especially in the second quarter, when the domestic liquor market slowed down in the off-season, which also caused market concerns about the prospects of the liquor market. in the industry's view, wuliangye's core data in the first half of the year was overall stable and positive, showing that wuliangye's growth quality was steadily improving, and this performance also boosted the confidence of the liquor industry. at the same time, it also once again shows that there are short-term fluctuations in china's liquor industry, but the industry is improving in the long run, and the trend of concentrating on top brands and top companies has not changed.

the overall core data for the first half of the year is positive

the announcement showed that in the first half of the year, wuliangye achieved revenue of 50.648 billion yuan, breaking the 50 billion mark, an increase of 11.30% year-on-year, and realized a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 19.057 billion yuan, an increase of 11.86% year-on-year. this is also the ninth consecutive semi-annual report of wuliangye with both revenue and net profit increasing since 2016.

among them, wuliangye achieved revenue of 15.815 billion yuan in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 10.08%, and the growth rate was further expanded compared with the same period last year. the net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company in the quarter was 5.012 billion yuan, achieving double-digit growth, further increasing compared with 4.495 billion yuan in the same period last year.

in terms of business segments, the core business wuliangye products had revenue of 39.205 billion yuan in the first half of this year, an increase of approximately 11.45% year-on-year; other wine products (wuliang luzhou-flavored wine, fruit wine, dew wine, ecological wine, etc.) achieved revenue of 7.906 billion yuan, an increase of 17.77% year-on-year, both of which performed steadily.

in terms of cash flow generated from operating activities, wuliangye's net cash flow from operating activities in the first half of the year reached 13.428 billion yuan, compared with 11.330 billion yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 18.52% year-on-year. in particular, the second quarter is also the off-season for the domestic liquor industry. wuliangye's cash flow from operating activities in the second quarter reached 12.912 billion yuan, setting a record for the highest net cash flow from operating activities in the second quarter since its listing.

as one of the core indicators to measure the operating quality of an enterprise, the net cash flow generated from operating activities usually reflects the operation and profitability of the enterprise. in the second quarter of this year, the overall sales of the domestic liquor industry slowed down in the off-season, but wuliangye's performance remained resilient.

it is worth noting that due to the slow sales of the liquor market in the first half of this year, the contract liabilities, which are the reservoir of liquor companies' future performance, have also become the focus of market attention. generally speaking, as liquor companies deliver goods to downstream distributors, the contract liabilities will generally decrease with the delivery of products.

however, as of june 30, 2024, wuliangye's contract liabilities reached 8.157 billion yuan, an increase of 4.5 billion yuan from the end of the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 123.55%, and a month-on-month increase of 61.62%. in the industry's view, contract liabilities mean the real money used by dealers to purchase goods. the rapid growth of this figure also shows the recognition and support of downstream dealers for wuliangye, and also reflects the long-term confidence of the channel in wuliangye.

promoting high-quality growth through stability

this year is not an easy year for the liquor industry. the china alcoholic drinks association previously released the "2024 china liquor market mid-term research report", which shows that compared with the same period last year, more than 60% of distributors and terminal retailers reported an increase in inventory in the first half of 2024, and market pressure has increased sharply.

in the eyes of the outside world, the reason why wuliangye was able to grow against the trend and achieve the goal of "half the time and half the task" is related to the steady and high-quality growth development strategy that wuliangye's management has always adopted.

in recent years, in response to the new situation facing the liquor industry, the new management team of wuliangye has always taken "seeking progress in stability and promoting development through stability" as the main theme of its work, constantly consolidating the foundation and accumulating strength for a breakthrough. in the first half of this year, the management team of wuliangye continued to increase its adjustment efforts in products, channels, brands and other aspects.

in terms of products, in the first half of this year, the main brand of wuliangye continued to improve the "1+3" product matrix, and followed the principle of quantity-price balance for the core product, the eighth-generation wuliangye. it did not blindly pursue growth in planned quantity, optimized the market launch plan of the main brand, and increased the proportion of products such as 1618 and 39-degree wuliangye.

judging from the actual market situation, the operation of wuliangye's three main products has achieved a series of new results. the eighth generation of wuliangye has generally achieved two stability, with prices rising steadily and sales increasing steadily. according to institutional research, the market wholesale price of the eighth generation of wuliangye has been rising steadily since the beginning of this year, and the market price has also firmly stood in the thousand-yuan price range. the price increase has also brought higher profits to channel dealers and increased the enthusiasm of channel sales. during the dragon boat festival, when the industry fluctuated significantly, wuliangye's sales also maintained double-digit growth.

in addition, as a supplement to its business, wuliangye 1618 and 39 degrees have adopted a more proactive market strategy. through the combination of "banquet activities + scan code red envelopes + terminal rankings", they have achieved double growth in sales and banquets, and have also become one of wuliangye's new performance growth points in the first half of the year.

at present, wuliangye is deeply promoting supply-side structural innovation with wine body innovation and process innovation as the core, and has also launched new products with 45 degrees and 68 degrees. the former is positioned as "the leader of china's high-end medium-alcohol liquor", and the latter is aimed at "china's super-alcohol liquor model", further enriching and completing the product line to meet the increasingly diversified and segmented market needs. at the same time, as wuliangye's super-high-end product, wuliangye classic series has also been officially released, creating a product matrix with vintage as the core, and solidifying the value positioning of the entire series of classic wuliangye products.

on the channel side, in response to the current problems such as increasing pressure on the liquor channels and slowing sales, wuliangye’s management will also make channel optimization one of its key tasks in 2024. traditional channels will continue to improve quality and expand capacity, group purchase channels will continue to break the circle and increase efficiency, and new channels will continue to be enriched and improved.

judging from the situation in the first half of the year, wuliangye has done a good job in market construction around the channel ecology, firmly supporting, optimizing and strengthening merchants; it has promoted the construction of the "three stores and one family" project at a high level, completed the fifth-generation storefront upgrade of 634 specialty stores, and built 639 "wuliang nongxiang hemei wanjia" collection stores. at the same time, wuliangye's various battle zones have focused on banquet activities, seizing consumption scenarios and striving for new growth opportunities. in the first half of the year, banquet activities served nearly 3 million consumers.

on the brand side, although industry growth is not easy, wuliangye remains steadfast in its investment in the brand. not only has it dominated cctv's core ip spring festival and autumn galas, but it has also held the third wuliangye harmony and beauty culture festival, launched the wuliangye rose wedding 520 special event, launched the 2024 harmony and beauty global tour theme event, and joined hands with hunan satellite tv's "singer 2024", etc., to further achieve wuliangye's brand breakthrough and enhance its brand influence.

it is worth noting that wuliangye's steady performance in the first half of this year has also been widely recognized by the capital market. after the performance was released, many institutions issued research reports giving wuliangye a "strong recommendation" or "buy" rating. in the eyes of the outside world, stability is becoming a major feature of wuliangye at this stage, and it also shows the determination of wuliangye's management to lead the liquor industry through the cycle with long-term valueism. in the future, with wuliangye's continuous optimization of products, markets, and brands, it will seek progress in stability and promote stability through progress. i believe it will bring more surprises to the industry and the capital market.