Financial News Agency, November 13 (Reporter Chen Kang)Two months after the actual controller was changed, Yasui Foods (603345.SH) announced on November 11 that it would repurchase the company's shares for the first time through a centralized bidding transaction.

At the performance briefing held today, the company mentioned that the repurchase of shares is intended to be used exclusively for employee stock ownership plans or equity incentive plans within an appropriate time in the future. The total amount of shares repurchased shall not be less than 100 million yuan and not more than 200 million yuan. All directors, supervisors, and executives of the company, controlling shareholders, actual controllers, and shareholders holding 5% or more of the shares will not reduce their holdings of the company over the next 3 months, 6 months, or during the implementation of the repurchase plan.

Before the company announced the change in the actual controller (September 10), controlling shareholders and executives all frequently reduced their share holdings. From June 2022 to June 2023, the controlling shareholding ratio of Guoli Minsheng fell from 31.77% to 25%, reducing its holdings by nearly 20 million shares; during this period, the shareholding ratios of Chairman Liu Mingming and General Manager Zhang Qingmiao also fell to 4.19% and 2.31%.

At the performance meeting, Yasui Foods stated, “This change in equity is a change in the upper shareholding structure of the controlling shareholder. It does not involve changes in the shares of Yasui Foods held by Guoli Minsheng, that is, it does not involve changes in their shares in listed companies, nor does it touch on an offer to buy.” The company once again stated that the change in the actual controller will not adversely affect the company's production, operation and sustainability, nor will it cause changes in the company's business structure.

In terms of performance, the overall growth of Yasui Foods was stable. Net profit increased by more than 60% in the first three quarters, continuously strengthening the layout of the prepared food sector. The company mentioned at the performance meeting that the Honghu Yasujing factory, the first professional prepared vegetable production base, has been capped, and considering two major products as the main focus: one is bullfrogs, which have a large market size, and the other is Honghu's local specialty lotus root products.

Judging from sales channels, Yasui Foods has five types of sales models: distribution, supermarkets, special sales, e-commerce, and new retail. Distribution revenue accounted for more than 80% in the first three quarters, and revenue from supermarkets and new retail sales all declined year-on-year. At the performance meeting, the company mentioned that the trend of differentiation among various channels in the FMCG market is becoming more obvious. The company has stopped cooperating with Carrefour and Backgammon supermarkets in the supermarket channel, and Yonghui, Wumei, Su Guo, and Da Runfa (revenue) have all declined to varying degrees.

In order to further consolidate the advantages of dealers, Yasui Foods held 5 large-scale dealer meetings nationwide from September to mid-November to promote this year's key products, the Lock Fresh Pack series and the Marunzhizun series, all of which are high-end products.

A reporter from the Financial Association News Agency learned from the performance conference that currently, Yasui Foods follows a three-way business strategy that goes hand in hand with quick-frozen hot pot ingredients, quick-frozen rice products, and quick-frozen prepared dish products, and a channel strategy that takes into account omni-channel power on the BC side; this year, the company started with B-side channels and chose high-end restaurants, fresh supermarkets, and stores with high consumption levels to break through with specialty products. As the peak season approaches, the company will increase spending on offline and online promotion of new products.