Source: China Economic Net

from product processing to independent research and development of key technologies and the creation of Chinese brands, Qian dongqi spent more than 20 years to build the Chinese sweeping robot brand cobos (603486.SH).

In May 2018, Cobos was listed on the main board, with a market capitalization of more than 140 billion yuan at its peak, and was called a "sweeping" by investors ".

In the first half of this year, Cobos's revenue was 7.144 billion yuan, up 4.72 percent from a year earlier, and its net profit was 0.584 billion yuan, down 33.4 percent from a year earlier. Due to lower-than-expected performance, Cobos's share price fell continuously, falling more than 75% from its all-time high. The company's total market value shrank by more than 100 billion yuan, and the wealth of the real controller Qian Dongqi and his son shrank by more than 75 billion yuan accordingly.

Compared with the high point, the market value of Cobos has shrunk by more than 100 billion

Profitability has fallen sharply, mainly due to a surge in selling expenses.

Cobos has always said that it is a high-tech enterprise, and innovative R & D, digitization and core technology are the inherent impression of the outside world. However, Cobos's high-tech labels mainly rely on marketing, and the real R & D investment is not much. In the first half of this year, Cobos's sales expenses reached 2.297 billion yuan, an increase of 23.66 percent over the same period last year, while R & D expenditure in the same period was only 0.39 billion yuan, an increase of 10.86 percent over the same period last year, and sales expenses were 5.88 times that of R & D expenditure.

In addition, the rising star Stone Technology (688169.SH) is menacing, surpassing Cobos in share price and market capitalization. Some netizens said that the title of "sweeping the floor" in Cobos should be changed.

From foundry to independent brand

In 1978, Qian Dongqi, who worked as a salesperson in Nanjing People's Shopping Mall, was admitted to the Physics Department of Nanjing University in the college entrance examination. after graduating from college, qian dongqi was assigned to work at the second crystal factory in nanjing. Two years later, Qian Dongqi took the theoretical problems encountered in practice and applied for a graduate student in the Department of Physics of Nanjing University.

In 1984, Qian Dongqi, a university teacher in Shantou, was unwilling to live a comfortable life in the "ivory tower" and wanted to be one of the "generation of people who promoted China's economic take-off". He resolutely put down his whip and went to Hainan.

After coming to Hainan, Qian Dongqi was assigned to a foreign trade factory, starting as a small clerk. In an order from a foreign customer to import vacuum cleaners from China, he visited the manufacturer and finally made the deal. Since then, he has started to do vacuum cleaners business.

In 1998, Qian Dongqi decided to resign and start his own business. In Xianfeng Village, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, he founded Taiyi Kai Electric Appliance, which was the predecessor of Cobos.

At the beginning of his business, Qian Dongqi led 15 employees to build the first production line step by step from scratch, mainly for foreign brands to do contract production of vacuum cleaners.

In just three years, through OEM for international brands such as Philips, Panasonic and Electrolux, Taiyikai Electric's annual revenue exceeded the 1 billion mark, and Qian Dongqi made a lot of money.

However, Qian Dongqi is not willing to live in the shadow of the brand giants forever and chooses to transform and develop independently. After years of hard work and thousands of product tests, Taiyikai Electric finally launched the first self-developed vacuum cleaner.

In 2005, the multi-stage cyclone vacuum cleaner owned by Taiyikai Electric was highly concerned by the market as soon as it was launched, and it was sought after in Germany. This was not a small move for the cheese of Dyson, the world's leading vacuum cleaner.

When Dyson saw that the vacuum cleaner market he firmly controlled was occupied by a Chinese product, he did not hesitate to initiate a patent lawsuit and took Taiyikai Electric to court.

In this regard, Qian Dongqi has long been prepared. Taiyikai Electric, which has complete intellectual property rights, has provided thousands of patent materials to fight Dyson. Therefore, even if Dyson sued from Germany to France, Taiyikai Electric could easily deal with it. The dispute ended in Dyson's defeat.

After this battle, Taiyikai Electric has gained a firm foothold in the market. The success of vacuum cleaner products has also strengthened Qian Dongqi's confidence and determination to take the road of independent brands.

In 2006, Qian Dongqi formally established the Cobos brand to enter the sweeping robot market. Since then, Cobos has its own brand and connotation. From 2008 to 2012, Cobos successively released the air purification robot "Qinbao", the window cleaning robot "Window Bao" and the home service robot "Pro Bao", gradually forming a complete product line of home service robots.

Between 2013 and 2018, domestic sales of sweeping robots grew at a compound annual rate of 58.45 per cent, with sales growing at a compound annual rate of 58.66 per cent, much faster than other home appliances. By 2018, Cobos's revenue has exceeded 5 billion yuan, and its domestic market share is as high as 40%, which is four times the second place in the industry.

Qian Dongqi's family wealth has shrunk by more than 75 billion

On May 28, 2018, Cobos was successfully listed on the SSE at an issue price of $20.02 per share, and the stock price of Cobos was once in a state of break after the listing, closing at $17.68 per share at the end of April 2020. In the second half of 2020, with the "lazy economy" and other concepts of hot, Cobos share price also ushered in a sustained rise, the end of July 2021 hit a new high of 250.31 yuan/share, up as much as 1315.78 percent, Cobos also has the title of "sweeping the floor.

In 2019, Qian Cheng took over as CEO of Cobos and took full charge of Cobos's sweeping robot and other businesses. Another important identity of Qian Cheng is the son of Qian Dongqi, the founder of Cobos. At this point, Cobos officially completed the "second generation" succession.

In 2020, thanks to the pull of consumer demand at home, coupled with product expansion, Cobos's operating performance has increased significantly, stimulating the secondary market share price surge, Cobos market value once exceeded 140 billion yuan, by investors as "sweeping the floor".

Cobos's share price rose sharply, with the company's real controller benefiting the most. It is reported that Cobos's actual controllers are Qian Dongqi, Qian Cheng and his son, who together hold 66.6 percent of the company. At the peak of Cobos's market capitalization, Qian Dongqi and his son's holding wealth exceeded 96 billion.

with the continuous emergence of competitors in the industry and the continuous emergence of competitors, cobos's performance is facing a test. after a sharp decline in net profit, the company's share price has fallen continuously. now the share price is only over 50 yuan, with a market value of more than 30 billion yuan left. from the peak, the company's real controller Qian dongqi and his son's wealth has shrunk by over 75 billion yuan.

On August 31, Cobos's major shareholder Suzhou Chuangling Wisdom Investment Management Co., Ltd. proposed to repurchase the company's shares for no more than 0.15 billion yuan to enhance investor confidence.

"Sweeper" title change?

The situation of Cobos is not only related to the industry environment, but also to its own operation. Cobos, who started out in trade, has long been suspected of "emphasizing marketing and neglecting research and development.

financial report data show that in 2022, Cobos's sales expenses will reach 4.623 billion yuan, accounting for 34.7 percent of the total cost; the current research and development expenses are only 0.744 billion yuan, less than 1/5 of the sales expenses, accounting for only 5.3 percent of the total cost.

In terms of the number of patents, by the end of 2022, Cobos had obtained 1540 authorized patents, including 531 invention patents. During the same period, industry competitor Stone Technology obtained a total of 1664 intellectual property rights, including 122 invention patents, 451 utility model patents and 408 design patents.

Public information shows that Stone Technology was established in July 2014 and is a company focusing on the research and development and production of intelligent cleaning robots and other intelligent appliances. As a much younger company than Cobos, Stone Technology has surpassed the industry's "big brother" Cobos in the number of patents.

Because of insufficient investment in research and development, coupled with a large number of competitors catching up, product homogeneity is serious, although the current Cobos still has certain advantages in the industry, but the leading advantage is not obvious.

Statistics show that in 2022, in terms of the market share of online sales of sweeping robots in the domestic market, the market share of Cobos, Stone, Cloud Whale, Xiaomi and Search will be 39.98, 21.53, 15.07, 9.19 and 6.8 respectively. In terms of market share of domestic market sales, cobos, Stone, Cloud Whale, Xiaomi, and Chase City accounted for 34.56 percent, 16.97 percent, 15.21 percent, 13 percent, and 5.46 percent, respectively.

From an industry perspective, the robotics market is on the decline. In the first half of this year, the overall demand of the clean electrical appliance industry was sluggish, and the growth slowed down significantly.

according to the data of oviyun network, 2018 to 2020 is the stage of rapid development of sweeping robots, with annual sales exceeding 6 million units. Sales of sweeping robots began to decline in 2021, falling to 5.78 million units, and further falling to 4.414 million units in 2022.

Cobos's semi-annual report mentioned that the company's global sweeping robot market in the first half of the year fell 4.9 percent year-on-year, and the domestic sweeping robot market fell 0.6 percent year-on-year. The average online retail price of base station products decreased by 8.4 percent year-on-year, while the same online price decreased by 15.7 percent year-on-year. The washing machine business is also facing price pressure, Cobos brand Tianke washing machine domestic average price decline significantly.

In the secondary market, due to the lower-than-expected performance of the 2023 semi-annual report, Cobos's share price fell to just over 50 yuan, with a market value of 0.3 billion.

By contrast, in the first half of this year, Stone Technology achieved revenue of 3.374 billion yuan, an increase of 15.41 percent over the same period last year, and net profit of 0.7394 billion yuan, an increase of 19.93 percent over the same period last year.

stimulated by double-digit growth in revenue and net profit, Stone Technology ushered in a rise in its share price in the secondary market, with its share price rising by more than 300 yuan, and the company's total market capitalization was close to 40 billion yuan.

By comparison, the rising star Stone Technology is coming in a big way, surpassing Cobos in share price and market capitalization. Some netizens said that the title of "sweeping the floor" in Cobos should be changed.

Source: Shandong Business Daily, Subao News Network