After 23 years in the ham business, a sudden turn has led to entry into the big health sector. Today's focus is on Jinhua Ham, which as early as last year divested its ham business and entered big health by taking control of Zhongyu Capital. Consequently, its financial reports this year have been impressive, with revenue and profit growth completely reversing last year's decline of over 20 million yuan in revenue. Perhaps soon, Jinhua Ham will remove its 'First Ham Stock' label. As a local specialty enterprise in Zhejiang, Jinhua Ham's ham business has not been easy. Meanwhile, Fuling Zhacai, listed in 2010 and also a specialty producer, has strengthened its core business over the years, with last year's non-GAAP net profit being 21 times that of Jinhua Ham. With the decline of its ham main business, Jinhua Ham has been 'fickle' in recent years, sequentially venturing into new energy, coal, and other sectors. This time, it has jumped into the big health business, which is somewhat surprising. Strictly speaking, Jinhua Ham lacks resources and accumulation in the big health field, so the company simply hired Yu Bo, the controller of Zhongyu Capital, as chairman and president, while Shi Yijun became an absentee owner, reaping the dividends from the big health industry. It is foreseeable that the big health business will take a long cycle to truly contribute to the company's performance. Two Specialty Enterprises: One Goes Left, One Goes Right Local specialty enterprises all have ambitions, usually setting grand goals to go national and global at inception. Zebra Consumption has noted that local specialties are actually not easy to do, especially food products, as regional dietary habits and customs objectively limit the consumer base. Take Fuling Zhacai (002507.SZ) as an example. In its early development, it developed pickled mustard products based on the dietary habits of the Sichuan-Chongqing region, so the market influence was very limited. In the last century, the massive wave of migrant workers brought this regional specialty to all parts of the country. Everything is difficult without dedication, but Fuling Zhacai has turned a small mustard head into various forms and flavors. After product structure adjustments, it has become easier to cover more consumer groups. Fuling Zhacai's third-quarter report this year shows that revenue for the first three quarters was 1.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32%, with gross margin reaching 46.8%; the third quarter alone brought in 430 million yuan, a 35% increase year-on-year. In contrast, Jinhua Ham (002515.SZ) has taken bigger steps, having sequentially entered new energy, coal, and e-commerce in recent years. The urgency to diversify may be due to seeing the ceiling of the ham business. In last year's annual report, Jinhua Ham achieved revenue of 161 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.08%, and net profit decreased by 9.20% to 19.8963 million yuan, with ham business revenue dropping by over 20 million yuan compared to the previous year. After previous diversification setbacks, Jinhua Ham has now gone all in, directly embracing the big health industry. The company first transferred all ham assets and debts to a new company, Jinhua Jinhua Ham, and disposed of unrelated assets. Then it invested 600 million yuan to take control of Zhongyu Capital and invited Yu Bo of Zhongyu Capital to serve as chairman and president. In June this year, Jinhua Ham's food business was divested, and big health became the company's new main business. Embracing Big Health for Quick Money? While Fuling Zhacai is still diligently slicing pickled mustard, Jinhua Ham has reaped significant gains within half a year of entering the big health sector. Jinhua Ham's semi-annual report this year shows that its revenue for the first half was 191 million yuan, with revenue from the pharmaceutical and medical industry reaching 50.0126 million yuan. This may be a 'welcome gift' from Yu Bo, who hails from the Jiuding system. Since this year, Jinhua Ham and its controlled subsidiary Zhongyu Capital have implemented a dazzling array of capital operations, making a striking presence in the capital market. Zebra Consumption has noticed that this year, besides acquiring Diaolong Data to enter medical big data, Jinhua Ham has also entered the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, acquiring a majority stake in Ruiyi Technology and 2.56% of Laikangning, and setting up funds with a management scale of 2.8 billion yuan in the industrial investment fund sector. Financial data for the first half of this year shows that revenue from ham business, investment management, and pharmaceutical and medical industry accounted for 47.35%, 20.82%, and 26.25% respectively, with the latter two becoming one of Jinhua Ham's true main businesses. Jinhua Ham's 'ambition' extends to overseas markets, targeting the US-listed company NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ticker: NBY). On November 14, its controlled subsidiary Zhongyu Capital invested $27.06 million to acquire 37.14% of the shares, successfully becoming the largest shareholder. This means Jinhua Ham indirectly controls this clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the global anti-infection market. Of course, the dazzling acquisitions and mergers are not over. According to Zhongyu Capital's strategy, this strategic layout battle is just the beginning. It is said that the fund management scale this year is to reach over 24.5 billion yuan. Yu Bo of Zhongyu Capital has also stated in advance that before Jinhua Ham acquired the equity of Zhongyu Capital, Zhongyu Capital promised that from 2017 to 2019, its annual net profit would not be less than 250 million yuan, 320 million yuan, and 420 million yuan respectively. The task is heavy and time is tight. For the aggressive Yu Bo, promises must be kept and actions must be swift. Regardless, it seems now that the entry of Zhongyu Capital has undoubtedly opened a window for Jinhua Ham. Source: Zebra Consumption (ID: banmaxiaofei) -END-