Uni-President Group's second 50 years have reached new heights!

Recently, Uni-President Group announced its 2021 performance, with annual revenue of NT$473.5 billion (approximately RMB 108.8 billion), up 5.9% year-on-year, surpassing the pre-pandemic historical high of NT$447.9 billion in 2019, setting a new record.

In December 2021, Uni-President Group announced the launch of its second 50-year growth momentum. Chairman Lo Chih-hsien publicly stated that it will focus on 'lifestyle brands' as the strategic core, with manufacturing + R&D, trade + distribution, retail + experience, and alliances + M&A as the four main development axes, aiming to build an Asian circulation and lifestyle platform.

From the data, in the opening of 2022, Uni-President Group achieved a good start.

Uni-President Group's First 50 Years

In 1967, Uni-President was established in Taiwan, initially focusing on flour production. In 1972, Uni-President Enterprises divided into four business divisions: Flour, Food, Feed, and Oils. In 1975, Uni-President Enterprises established a Dairy Division after taking over the Qiaotou plant of China Dairy Company and cooperated technically with Meiji Dairy.

In 1979, Uni-President Enterprises signed a contract with The Southland Corporation to introduce 7-ELEVEN operations (authorized by Japan's 7-ELEVEN) and established a convenience store division. In 1987, Uni-President Enterprises was listed on the stock exchange, and 7-ELEVEN became an independent company, Uni-President Convenience Store Corporation. In 1989, Uni-President established a baseball team (Uni-President Lions), and together with Wei Chuan Foods (Wei Chuan Dragons), Mercuries & Associates (Mercuries Tigers), and Brother Hotel (Brother Elephants), founded the Chinese Professional Baseball League (now CPBL).

During its entrepreneurial stage, Uni-President Enterprises met market demand and satisfied consumers' need to "eat enough" with ample supply of flour, oils, instant noodles, and other products. In its early days, Uni-President Enterprises won with high efficiency and sufficient supply, successfully securing a place in the market and laying the foundation for future development.

At this point, Uni-President Group had gradually developed into a comprehensive "super battleship".

After 50 years, Uni-President Group had grown into a "super battleship" covering food, grains and oils, trade, cosmetics, packaging, logistics, investment, and other businesses. With over 5,000 7-ELEVEN stores on streets and alleys, Uni-President Enterprises and Uni-President Convenience Store Corporation joined forces, becoming the two huge and solid pillars supporting Uni-President Group.

Uni-President Group's first 50 years laid a solid "foundation" for future development.

Lo Chih-hsien, the "Tailor"

Many say that Uni-President Group Chairman Lo Chih-hsien is like a tailor holding scissors, continuously trimming the group's over 200 companies over the past decade or so. Even Lo himself says: "The unused things in the drawer are cleaned out; the group has slimmed down successfully, and the figure is getting better and better, which looks very gratifying."

Indeed, Lo's decisive "cutting away" has shaped the current Uni-President empire.

Uni-President Group began investing in factories in mainland China in 1992, and in 1998 established Uni-President Enterprises (China) Investment Co., Ltd. in Shanghai. After years of effort, Uni-President has developed well in mainland China, particularly in instant noodles, beverages, soy sauce, and other products.

However, in the past few years, Uni-President's development has not been smooth sailing. For example, in 2005, Lo acquired the beverage brand "Guangdong Jianlibao Group" in southern China, but decided to sell it in 2016; in the same year, Uni-President also sold its stake in Jinmailang in Beijing. These divestitures may have been profitable on the surface, but they also reflect some setbacks in Uni-President's development in China.

It is precisely because of his management philosophy that Uni-President is what it is today. Additionally, his management has unique aspects regarding company systems and talent: he advocates system first, talent first, which is also one of the reasons for Uni-President's success.

Furthermore, Lo himself is very frugal in daily life, yet this frugal person has created great benefits for Uni-President Group, pushing revenue to nearly NT$1 trillion and achieving a miracle of tripling market value within 10 years of succession.

In fact, for Lo, he is no longer just the "son-in-law" of Uni-President Group; he has been leading the group toward better development.

Uni-President Group's impressive performance in 2021 is the best proof. At the same time, we look forward to Lo's unique philosophy further boosting the group's market value!

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