F-1 1 d32239df1.htm FORM F-1 Form F-1
Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 23, 2020

Registration No. 333-                

 

 

 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM F-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

MINISO Group Holding Limited

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Not Applicable

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

 

 

 

Cayman Islands   5331   Not Applicable

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial

Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

25F, Heye Plaza, No.486, Kangwang Middle Road

Liwan District, Guangzhou 510140, Guangdong Province

The People’s Republic of China

+86 20 3622 8788

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Puglisi & Associates

850 Library Avenue, Suite 204

Newark, Delaware 19711

+1 302-738-6680

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Z. Julie Gao, Esq.

Shu Du, Esq.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

c/o 42/F, Edinburgh Tower, The Landmark

15 Queen’s Road Central

Hong Kong

+852 3740-4700

 

Haiping Li, Esq.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

46th Floor, JingAn Kerry Centre, Tower II

1539 Nanjing West Road

Shanghai

The People’s Republic of China

+86 21-61938200

 

Shuang Zhao, Esq.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

37th Floor, Hysan Place

500 Hennessy Road, Causeway bay

Hong Kong

+852 2521-4122

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:

as soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933.

Emerging growth company  

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

 

Title of each class of
securities to be registered
 

Proposed
maximum
aggregate

offering price(2)(3)

 

Amount of

registration fee

Class A Ordinary Shares, par value US$0.00001 per share(1)

  US$100,000,000   US$12,980

 

 

(1)

American depositary shares issuable upon deposit of Class A ordinary shares registered hereby will be registered under a separate registration statement on Form F-6 (Registration No. 333-                ). Each American depositary share represents              Class A ordinary shares.

(2)

Includes Class A ordinary shares that are issuable upon the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. Also includes Class A ordinary shares initially offered and sold outside the United States that may be resold from time to time in the United States either as part of their distribution or within 40 days after the later of the effective date of this registration statement and the date the shares are first bona fide offered to the public. These Class A ordinary shares are not being registered for the purpose of sales outside the United States.

(3)

Estimated solely for the purpose of determining the amount of registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933.

 

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 


Table of Contents

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion. Preliminary Prospectus Dated                 , 2020.

American Depositary Shares

 

 

LOGO

MINISO Group Holding Limited

Representing              Class A Ordinary Shares

 

 

This is an initial public offering of American depositary shares, or ADSs, of Miniso Group Holding Limited.

We are offering              ADSs to be sold in the offering. [The selling shareholders identified in this prospectus are offering an additional              ADSs. We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the ADSs being sold by the selling shareholders.]

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our ADSs or ordinary shares. Each ADS represents              of our Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00001 per share. It is currently estimated that the initial public offering price will be between US$             and US$              per ADS. Application will be made for quotation on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MNSO.”

Upon the completion of this offering, our outstanding share capital will consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Mr. Guofu Ye, our chairman of the board of directors and our chief executive officer, and Ms. Yunyun Yang, our vice president, will beneficially own 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares and 444,783,198 Class A ordinary shares, and Mr. Guofu Ye is authorized by the holders of 111,043,373 Class A ordinary shares to exercise the voting power on their behalf, which, in aggregate, represent             % of our total voting power, assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, or             % of our total voting power, assuming that the over-allotment option is exercised in full. As a result, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual because Mr. Guofu Ye and Ms. Yunyun Yang will hold more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors. Holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares have the same rights except for voting and conversion rights. Each Class A ordinary share is entitled to one vote, and each Class B ordinary share is entitled to three votes and is convertible into one Class A ordinary share. Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances.

See “Risk Factors” on page 17 to read about factors you should consider before buying the ADSs.

 

 

PRICE US$             PER ADS

 

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

     Per ADS      Total  

Initial public offering price

   $                        $                

Underwriting discount(1)

   $        $    

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

   $        $    

[Proceeds, before expenses, to the selling shareholders]

   $        $    

 

(1)

See “Underwriting” for additional information regarding underwriting compensation.

We [and the selling shareholders] have granted the underwriters the right to purchase up to an additional              ADSs to cover over-allotments.

The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs against payment in New York, New York on                 , 2020.

 

 

 

Goldman Sachs    BofA Securities

Prospectus dated                 , 2020.


Table of Contents

LOGO


Table of Contents

LOGO


Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

     Page  

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

     1  

RISK FACTORS

     17  

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     75  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     77  

DIVIDEND POLICY

     78  

CAPITALIZATION

     79  

DILUTION

     81  

ENFORCEABILITY OF CIVIL LIABILITIES

     83  

CORPORATE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

     85  

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

     87  

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

     90  

INDUSTRY

     111  

BUSINESS

     117  

REGULATION

     137  

MANAGEMENT

     149  

PRINCIPAL [AND SELLING] SHAREHOLDERS

     156  

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

     159  

DESCRIPTION OF SHARE CAPITAL

     161  

DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN DEPOSITARY SHARES

     174  

SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE

     183  

TAXATION

     185  

UNDERWRITING

     192  

EXPENSES RELATED TO THIS OFFERING

     204  

LEGAL MATTERS

     205  

EXPERTS

     206  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

     207  

INDEX TO THE CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

     F-1  

 

 

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any related free writing prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in this prospectus or in any related free writing prospectus. We [and the selling shareholders] are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy the ADSs, only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date of this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of the ADSs.

Neither we nor any of the underwriters has taken any action to permit a public offering of the ADSs outside the United States or to permit the possession or distribution of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus outside the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus must inform themselves about and observe any restrictions relating to the offering of the ADSs and the distribution of the prospectus or any filed free writing prospectus outside the United States.

Until                , 2020 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade ADSs, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the obligation of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.


Table of Contents

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

The following summary is qualified in its entirety by, and should be read in conjunction with, the more detailed information and financial statements appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to this summary, we urge you to read the entire prospectus carefully, especially the risks of investing in the ADSs discussed under “Risk Factors,” before deciding whether to invest in the ADSs. This prospectus contains information from an industry report commissioned by us and prepared by Frost & Sullivan, an independent research firm, to provide information regarding our industry and our market position. We refer to this report as the Frost & Sullivan Report.

Mission

Our mission is to enable everyone to enjoy life’s little surprises.

Overview

We are a fast-growing global value retailer offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products. Within seven years since we opened our first store in China in 2013, we have built our flagship brand “MINISO” as a globally recognized retail brand and established a massive store network worldwide. As of June 30, 2020, we served consumers primarily through our network of over 4,200 MINISO stores, of which we directly operated 129, including over 2,500 MINISO stores in China and over 1,680 MINISO stores across over 80 countries and regions in the rest of the world. Our revenue reached RMB9.0 billion (US$1.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The aggregate GMV of products sold through our network reached RMB19.0 billion (US$2.7 billion) in 2019, making us the largest global branded variety retailer of lifestyle products, according to the Frost & Sullivan Report.

Aesthetically pleasing design, quality and affordability are at the core of every product we deliver. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we offered consumers a wide selection of approximately 8,000 core SKUs, the vast majority of which are under our flagship brand “MINISO.” These products span across 11 major categories, including home decor, small electronics, textile, accessories, beauty tools, toys, cosmetics, personal care, snacks, fragrance and perfumes, and stationery and gifts. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we launched an average of over 600 SKUs per month. We continually and frequently roll out products of high appeal, high quality and high affordability, promoting a relaxing, treasure-hunting and engaging shopping experience that appeals to all demographics regardless of their cultural background and geographical location.

We pair value concepts with a touch of appeal, creativity and innovation, focusing on long-term sustainability instead of short-term profits. Our highly effective approach to retail, which mainly encompasses dynamic product development, co-branding collaborations, and an efficient supply chain, are critical to the success of our business.

 

   

Dynamic product development.    The collective efforts of product managers, designers and suppliers help us achieve dynamic product development. Our highly experienced product managers are responsible for identifying trends, co-creating product designs in collaboration with our designers, coordinating with suppliers on production and bringing the finished products to market. We have made significant investment in our design capabilities by maintaining a dedicated and capable in-house design team and partnering with capable third-party designers, and have established our MINISO Design Academy to fully integrate these design capabilities to create trendy, attractive and quality products. Our philosophy is to launch approximately 100



 

1


Table of Contents
 

new SKUs, every 7 days, carefully selected from a large library of 10,000 product ideas, which we refer to as the “711 philosophy.” We believe our efficiency and speed-to-market at large scale are difficult for competitors to replicate.

 

   

Co-branding collaborations.    Our co-branding collaborations with intellectual property (“IP”) licensors owning popular brands allow us to capitalize on cultural phenomena or influential trends in mass media by featuring their elements in our product design and adding exciting diversity to our products. Our established co-branding relationships with 17 IP licensors as of June 30, 2020, who own popular brands such as Marvel, Disney and Hello Kitty, are a strong testimony to our brand value and elevate our brand equity and awareness by unlocking new possibilities of product design. As a result, more consumers are attracted to our MINISO stores to enjoy a shopping experience replete with pleasant surprises.

 

   

Efficient supply chain.    Leveraging China’s unmatched and massive supply chain, we source directly from highly qualified manufacturers in China that can meet our sophisticated demands. Our large procurement volumes as a result of our scale further contribute to our procurement cost advantages. We maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with our suppliers by being punctual with our payments to them and helping them grow with us. In addition, we digitally integrate suppliers and streamline the supply chain process through our supply chain management system and regularly assist suppliers in improving production efficiency and cost control, which enable us to continuously optimize our supply chain in terms of efficiency. We believe our efficient supply chain sets the foundation for our competitive product pricing strategy.

We have accumulated in-depth operational know-how based on our deep insights into consumer tastes and preferences developed from serving millions of consumers on a daily basis. We use such know-how to optimize and systemize key aspects of MINISO store operation from welcoming ambience and friendly staff, to easy-to-navigate store layout, and precise product curation. Our technology augments our operational know-how by giving us deeper insights into consumer preferences. Our smart-store systems allow us to customize merchandise mix and product curation on a store level based on the analysis of consumer behavioral patterns. Our focus on delivering distinct value propositions within a relaxing and engaging shopping environment generates excitement and encourages frequent visits, allowing us to build a large and loyal base of consumers mostly from the younger generations. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, there were a total of about 416 million visits to the MINISO stores equipped with our smart-store system, over 30% of which resulted in purchases. During the same period, over 80% of the consumers visiting MINISO stores in China were under the age of 40 and about 60% of them were under the age of 30.

Our path to success in our home market, China, depends on the effectiveness and scalability of our MINISO Retail Partner model. Under this innovative model, MINISO Retail Partners mobilize their resources to open and operate MINISO stores at optimal locations and shoulder the associated capital expenditure and operating expenses, while we let them use our brand and provide them with valuable guidance on key aspects of store operation in exchange for a pre-agreed portion of in-store sales proceeds. The MINISO Retail Partners keep the remaining sales proceeds and we retain inventory ownership until in-store sale to consumers. The MINISO Retail Partner model aligns the interests and creates mutual benefits between us and the MINISO Retail Partners, where we achieve rapid store network expansion with consistent brand image and consumer experience in an asset-light manner, and our MINISO Retail Partners attain attractive investment returns. Based on a survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan, our MINISO Retail Partners generally recover their store investment in a period of 12 to 15 months after store opening. Our MINISO Retail Partners are also motivated to maintain a loyal relationship with us. As of June 30, 2020, 488 of our 742 MINISO Retail Partners had invested in MINISO stores for over 3 years.



 

2


Table of Contents

Our playbook, underpinned by a relaxing shopping experience full of delightful surprises, is designed to resonate with business partners, distributors and consumers across the globe. Since we opened our first MINISO store in China in 2013, we had expanded to over 1,680 MINISO stores in over 80 countries and regions outside of China as of June 30, 2020. We accomplished such international store expansion under flexible models tailored to local conditions, including direct operation, the MINISO Retail Partner model, and partnership with local distributors. Our insights into local consumer tastes and preferences and our sourcing capabilities enable us to meet the local demands in each international market. As a testament to our expanding international operation, our revenue from markets outside of China accounted for 32.3% and 32.7% of our total revenue for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Our revenue decreased by 4.4% from RMB9,394.9 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB8,979.0 million (US$1,270.9 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our gross profit increased by 8.8% from RMB2,511.0 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB2,732.5 million (US$386.8 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our gross margin improved from 26.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to 30.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our loss for the year decreased by 11.6% from RMB294.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB260.2 million (US$36.8 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our adjusted net profit, a non-IFRS financial measure, increased by 11.7% from RMB868.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB970.8 million (US$137.4 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. See “Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data—Non-IFRS Financial Measure.”

Our Industry

The lifestyle products market in China experienced a rapid development over the past two decades. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of China’s lifestyle products market by GMV increased from RMB2.6 trillion (US$368.0 billion) in 2015 to RMB3.7 trillion (US$523.7 billion) in 2019, representing a CAGR of 9.4%, outpaced the CAGR of 8.3% for China’s retail market during the same period. As a result of such rapid growth, China’s lifestyle products market has become one of the fastest growing markets across all retail segments.

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the lifestyle products market can be divided into three sub-markets by different type of retailers: (i) branded variety retail market; (ii) specialty retail market; (iii) groceries and general merchandise retail market. Branded variety retailers of lifestyle products generally refer to those retail companies that sell self-branded lifestyle products that cover a wide range of product categories primarily through their brick-and-mortar stores. For purposes of this prospectus, a retailer that derives over 50% of its total GMV from selling self-branded lifestyle products is referred to as a branded variety retailer.

As customers’ consumption behaviors become more rational, quality lifestyle products at affordable prices are gaining popularity. Also, consumers, especially younger generations, increasingly prefer products that could reflect their individualized preferences. These trends present substantial market opportunities and potential for branded variety retailers. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of the branded variety retail market by aggregate GMV increased from RMB50.3 billion (US$7.1 billion) in 2015 to RMB100.5 billion (US$14.2 billion) in 2019, and is estimated to further increase at a CAGR of 15.3% from 2020 to 2024.

The global branded variety retail market has also grown steadily over the past two decades. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of the global branded variety retail market by aggregate GMV increased from US$32.9 billion in 2015 to US$52.0 billion in 2019, and is estimated to continue to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2020 to 2024.



 

3


Table of Contents

Our Strengths

We believe that the following competitive strengths contribute to our success and set us apart from our competitors:

 

   

fast-growing global value retailer offering design-led lifestyle products;

 

   

frequently-refreshed product assortment with universal appeal;

 

   

highly efficient supply chain delivering extreme value-for-money;

 

   

in-depth know-how and digitalization driving operational excellence;

 

   

highly effective and scalable MINISO Retail Partner model;

 

   

globalization capabilities fueling expansion at scale; and

 

   

visionary founder and entrepreneurial management team.

Our Strategies

We aim to further grow our business by pursuing the following strategies:

 

   

expand and upgrade our store network;

 

   

enhance product development and supply chain capabilities;

 

   

deepen consumer engagement and drive omni-channel experience;

 

   

strengthen technological capabilities;

 

   

strategically explore investment and acquisition opportunities; and

 

   

leverage competitive strengths to explore new business opportunities.

Our Challenges

We face risks and uncertainties in realizing our business objectives and executing our strategies, including those relating to:

 

   

continued strength of our MINISO brand;

 

   

macro-economic factors that impact consumer demands and discretionary spendings, and the COVID-19 pandemic;

 

   

continued popularity and innovation of our products, successful launches of new products, and our anticipation of and timely responses to changes in consumer preferences;

 

   

our ability to offer high-quality products at prices that are highly appealing to consumers;

 

   

our ability to attract purchases from new and existing consumers;

 

   

successful operation of MINISO stores and expansion of our store network;

 

   

our international operations;

 

   

our reliance on retail partners and distributors to operate MINISO stores;

 

   

our reliance on third-party suppliers to provide products to us;

 

   

our strategic collaborations with IP licensors; and

 

   

product quality and liability issue.



 

4


Table of Contents

Corporate Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of the date of this prospectus consisting of our significant subsidiaries.

 

LOGO

Implication of Being a Foreign Private Issuer

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. Moreover, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. In addition, as a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE listing standards. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to the ADSs and This Offering—As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with such corporate governance listing standards.”

Implications of Being a Controlled Company

Upon the completion of this offering, our outstanding share capital will consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Mr. Guofu Ye, our chairman of the board of directors and our



 

5


Table of Contents

chief executive officer, and Ms. Yunyun Yang, our vice president, will beneficially own 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares, representing all of our issued and outstanding Class B ordinary shares, and 444,783,198 Class A ordinary shares, and Mr. Guofu Ye is authorized by the holders of 111,043,373 Class A ordinary shares to exercise the voting power on their behalf, which, in aggregate, represent             % of our total voting power, assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, or             % of our total voting power, assuming that the over-allotment option is exercised in full. As a result, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual because Mr. Guofu Ye and Ms. Yunyun Yang will hold more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors. As a “controlled company,” we are permitted to elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements. If we rely on these exemptions in the future, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements. Currently, we plan to rely on exemption with respect to the requirement that a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors.

Upon the completion of this offering, our executive officers, directors, and their affiliated entities together will hold approximately             % of our total voting power, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, or             % of our total voting power if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, without taking into account the ADSs that the existing shareholders or their affiliates may purchase in this offering. As a result of the concentration of ownership, these shareholders will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers and consolidations, amendments to our constitutional documents, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Such shareholders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Holding Company Structure

MINISO Group Holding Limited is a holding company with no material operations of its own. We conduct our operations through our subsidiaries. As a result, MINISO Group Holding Limited’s ability to pay dividends, to some extent, depends upon dividends paid by our subsidiaries. If our existing subsidiaries or any newly formed ones incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in China is permitted to pay dividends to us only out of its retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under PRC law, each of our subsidiaries in China is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in China may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to enterprise expansion funds and staff bonus and welfare funds at its discretion. The statutory reserve funds and the discretionary funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned company out of China is subject to examination by the banks designated by SAFE.



 

6


Table of Contents

Corporate Information

Our principal executive offices are located at 25F, Heye Plaza, No.486, Kangwangzhong Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou 510140, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 20 3622 8788. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1 -1104, Cayman Islands.

Investors should submit any inquiries to the address and telephone number of our principal executive offices. Our main website is www.miniso.com. The information contained on our website is not a part of this prospectus. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Puglisi & Associates, located at 850 Library Avenue, Suite 204, Newark, Delaware 19711.

Conventions that Apply to this Prospectus

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to:

 

   

“ADRs” are to the American depositary receipts which may evidence the ADSs;

 

   

“ADSs” are to the American depositary shares, each of which represents              Class A ordinary shares;

 

   

“China” or the “PRC” are to the People’s Republic of China, excluding, for the purposes of this prospectus only, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan;

 

   

“Class A ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares of par value US$0.00001 per share;

 

   

“Class B ordinary shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares of par value US$0.00001 per share;

 

   

“Core SKU” are to SKU that generates over RMB100,000 in sales for over a consecutive 12-month period;

 

   

“GMV” are to the total value of all merchandises sold by us and our retail partners and distributors to end customers, before deducting sales rebates and including the VAT and sales taxes collected from consumers, as applicable, regardless of whether the merchandises are returned;

 

   

“IFRS” are to International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board;

 

   

“ordinary shares” are to our ordinary shares, par value US$0.00001 per share, and upon and after the completion of this offering, are to our Class A and Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00001 per share;

 

   

“revenue” are to our revenue from continuing operations, excluding the revenue from discontinued operations;

 

   

“RMB” and “Renminbi” are to the legal currency of China;

 

   

“SKU” are to stock keeping unit;

 

   

“MINISO,” “we,” “us,” “our company” and “our” are to Miniso Group Holding Limited, our Cayman Islands holding company and its subsidiaries;



 

7


Table of Contents
   

“MINISO Retail Partner” are to franchisee under our MINISO Retail Partner model, a franchise-like store model with chain store characteristics, where the franchisee bears the store opening capital expenditure and store operating expenses to join our “MINISO” branded retail store franchise. Other distinguishing features of the MINISO Retail Partner model include: (1) we retain ownership of inventory in the franchisee’s store before it gets sold to consumers; (2) we provide store management and consultation services to the franchisee for a fee, which include standardized guidance in certain key aspects of store operation; and (3) the franchisee keeps the remaining portion of the in-store sales proceeds after remitting a certain portion to us;

 

   

“MINISO store” are to any of the stores operated under the “MINISO” brand name, including those directly operated by us, those operated under the MINISO Retail Partner model, and those operated under the distributor model; and

 

   

“US$,” “U.S. dollars,” “$,” and “dollars” are to the legal currency of the United States.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, all information in this prospectus assumes no exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this prospectus are made at a rate of RMB7.0651 to US$1.0000, the exchange rate in effect as of June 30, 2020 as set forth in the H.10 statistical release of The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. We make no representation that any Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all.



 

8


Table of Contents

THE OFFERING

 

Offering price

We expect that the initial public offering price will be between US$             and US$              per ADS.

 

ADSs offered by us

             ADSs (or              ADSs if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full).

 

[ADSs offered by the selling shareholders

             ADSs (or              ADSs if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full).]

 

ADSs outstanding immediately after this offering

             ADSs (or              ADSs if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full)

 

Ordinary shares issued and outstanding immediately after this offering

             Class A ordinary shares and 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares (or              Class A ordinary shares and 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full).

 

Ordinary Shares

Our ordinary shares will be divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares immediately prior to the completion of this offering. Holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares will have the same rights except for voting and conversion rights. In respect of all matters subject to a shareholder vote, each Class A ordinary share is entitled to one vote, and each Class B ordinary share is entitled to three votes, voting together as one class. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof. Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person or entity that is not an affiliate of such holder, such Class B ordinary shares shall be automatically and immediately converted into the same number of Class A ordinary shares. See “Description of Share Capital” for more information.

 

The ADSs

Each ADS represents              Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00001 per share.

 



 

9


Table of Contents
  The depositary will hold Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs. You will have rights as provided in the deposit agreement among us, the depositary and holders and beneficial owners of ADSs from time to time.

 

  You may surrender your ADSs to the depositary in exchange for Class A ordinary shares. The depositary will charge you fees for any exchange.

 

  We may amend or terminate the deposit agreement without your consent. If you continue to hold your ADSs after an amendment to the deposit agreement, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement, as amended.

 

  To better understand the terms of the ADSs, you should carefully read the “Description of American Depositary Shares” section of this prospectus. You should also read the deposit agreement, which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement that includes this prospectus.

 

Over-allotment option

We [and the selling shareholders] have granted the underwriters an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of additional ADSs.

 

Use of proceeds

We expect that we will receive net proceeds of approximately US$             million from this offering or approximately US$             million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, assuming an initial public offering price of US$              per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

  We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering (i) to expand our store network, (ii) to invest in our warehouse and logistics network, (iii) to invest in technologies and information systems, and (iv) for general corporate purposes. See “Use of Proceeds” for more information.

 

  [We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of ADSs by the selling shareholders.]


 

10


Table of Contents

Lock-up

[We and each of our directors, executive officers and existing shareholders] have agreed with the underwriters, subject to certain exceptions, not to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any ADSs, ordinary shares or similar securities for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus. See “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” and “Underwriting” for more information.

 

[Directed Share Program

At our request, the underwriters have reserved for sale, at the initial public offering price, up to an aggregate of              ADSs offered in this offering to some of our directors, officers, employees, business associates and related other persons associated with us through a directed share program.]

 

Listing

We intend to apply to have the ADSs listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MNSO.” Our ordinary shares will not be listed on any stock exchange or traded on any automated quotation system.

 

Payment and settlement

The underwriters expect to deliver the ADSs against payment therefor through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company on                 , 2020.

 

Depositary

The Bank of New York Mellon.


 

11


Table of Contents

SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA

The following summary consolidated statement of profit or loss data (other than US$ and ADS data) for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, summary consolidated statement of financial position data as of July 1, 2018, June 30, 2019 and 2020, and summary consolidated statement of cash flows data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, issued by the International Accounting Standard Board, or IASB. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results expected for future periods. You should read this Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The following table presents our summary consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands, except for share and per share data)  

Summary consolidated statements of profit or loss data:

      

Continuing operations:

      

Revenue

     9,394,911       8,978,986       1,270,893  

Cost of sales

     (6,883,931     (6,246,488     (884,133
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     2,510,980       2,732,498       386,760  

Other income

     10,468       37,208       5,266  

Selling and distribution expenses(1)

     (818,318     (1,190,477     (168,501

General and administrative expenses(1)

     (593,205     (796,435     (112,728

Other net income

     24,423       45,997       6,511  

Credit loss on trade and other receivables

     (90,124     (25,366     (3,590

Impairment loss on non-current assets

     (27,542     (36,844     (5,215
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating profit

     1,016,682       766,581       108,503  

Finance income

     7,311       25,608       3,625  

Finance costs

     (25,209     (31,338     (4,436

Net finance costs

     (17,898     (5,730     (811

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/ redeemable shares with other preferential rights

     (709,780     (680,033     (96,252
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Profit before taxation

     289,004       80,818       11,440  

Income tax expense

     (279,583     (210,949     (29,858
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Profit/(loss) for the year from continuing operations

     9,421       (130,131     (18,418

Discontinued operations:

      

Loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax

     (303,830     (130,045     (18,407
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (260,176     (36,825


 

12


Table of Contents
     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands, except for share and per share data)  

Attributable to:

      

Equity shareholders of the Company

     (290,647     (262,267     (37,121

Non-controlling interests

     (3,762     2,091       296  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (260,176     (36,825
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss per share(2)

      

—Basic

     (0.32)       (0.26)       (0.04)  

—Diluted

     (0.32)       (0.26)       (0.04)  

Earnings/(loss) per share(2)—Continuing operations

      

—Basic

     0.01       (0.12)       (0.02)  

—Diluted

     0.01       (0.12)       (0.02)  

Other comprehensive (loss)/profit for the year

     (4,834     6,361       900  

Total comprehensive loss for the year

     (299,243     (253,815     (35,925

Equity shareholders of the Company

     (296,062     (256,583     (36,317

Non-controlling interests

     (3,181     2,768       392  

Total comprehensive loss for the year

     (299,243     (253,815     (35,925
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Non-IFRS Measure(3):

      

Adjusted net profit

     868,801       970,790       137,406  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Notes:

(1)

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses were allocated as follows:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019      2020  
     RMB      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses:

        

Selling and distribution expenses

     33,097            127,743            18,081      

General and administrative expenses

     88,961            236,637            33,494      
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

           122,058                  364,380                  51,575      
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 
(2)

Our company was incorporated on January 7, 2020 during the reorganization to establish our current offshore structure and we issued 976,634,771 ordinary shares in January 2020. For purposes of calculating basic and diluted earnings/(loss) per share, the number of ordinary shares outstanding of 865,591,398 used in the calculation, which excludes 111,043,373 ordinary shares issued to share incentive awards holding vehicles as these shares are regarded as treasury shares for purposes of calculating per share data, has been retroactively adjusted to reflect the issuance of ordinary shares by our company in connection with the incorporation of our company and the reorganization as if these events had occurred at the beginning of the earliest period presented.

(3)

See “—Non-IFRS Financial Measure.”



 

13


Table of Contents

The following table presents our summary consolidated statement of financial position data as of July 1, 2018, June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2020:

 

     As of July 1,      As of June 30,  
     2018      2019     2020  
     RMB      RMB     RMB     US$  
            (in thousands)  

Summary consolidated statement of financial position data:

         

Cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations

     228,106        1,546,280       2,853,980       403,955  

Inventories

     1,089,474        1,308,957       1,395,674       197,545  

Trade and other receivables

     1,755,040        830,751       729,889       103,309  

Total current assets

     3,077,276        4,511,719       4,986,599       705,807  

Total assets

     3,645,360        5,226,115       5,836,251       826,068  

Trade and other payables

     2,349,077        2,363,739       2,419,795       342,500  

Total current liabilities

     2,691,820        3,245,979       3,309,643       468,450  

Total liabilities

     3,080,747        5,340,089       6,159,297       871,792  

Total equity/(deficit)

     564,613        (113,974     (323,046     (45,724

Total equity and liabilities

     3,645,360        5,226,115       5,836,251       826,068  

The following table presents our summary consolidated statement of cash flows data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Summary consolidated statements of cash flows:

      

Net cash generated from operating activities

     1,038,471       826,484       116,981  

Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities

     (210,915     462,815       65,507  

Net cash generated from/(used in) financing activities

     619,858       (117,706     (16,660
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     1,447,414       1,171,593       165,828  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     228,106       1,686,218       238,669  

Effect of movements in exchange rates on cash held

     10,698       (3,831     (542
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     1,686,218       2,853,980       403,955  

Cash and cash equivalents of discontinued operations

     (139,938            

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of financial position

     1,546,280       2,853,980       403,955  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Non-IFRS Financial Measure

In evaluating our business, we consider and use adjusted net profit as a supplemental measure to review and assess our operating performance. The presentation of this non-IFRS financial measure is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS. We define adjusted net profit as profit/(loss) excluding (i) fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights, (ii) loss from discontinued



 

14


Table of Contents

operations, net of tax, (iii) equity-settled share-based payment expenses, (iv) employee compensation expenses related to the non-forfeitable dividends paid in connection with certain employees’ unvested restricted shares, and (v) impairment loss on non-current assets.

We present adjusted net profit because it is used by our management to evaluate our operating performance and formulate business plans. Adjusted net profit enables our management to assess our operating results without considering the impacts of the aforementioned non-cash and other adjustment items that we do not consider to be indicative of our operating performance in the future. Accordingly, we believe that the use of this non-IFRS financial measure provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management and board of directors.

This non-IFRS financial measure is not defined under IFRS and is not presented in accordance with IFRS. The non-IFRS financial measure has limitations as an analytical tool. One of the key limitations of using adjusted net profit is that it does not reflect all items of income and expense that affect our operations. Further, this non-IFRS measure may differ from the non-IFRS information used by other companies, including peer companies, and therefore its comparability may be limited.

The non-IFRS financial measure should not be considered in isolation or construed as an alternative to profit/(loss) or any other measure of performance or as an indicator of our operating performance. Investors are encouraged to review our historical non-IFRS financial measure in light of the most directly comparable IFRS measure, as shown below. The non-IFRS financial measure presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measure presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting the usefulness of such measures when analyzing our data comparatively. We encourage you to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

The following table reconciles our adjusted net profit for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020 to the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS, which is loss for the year:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Reconciliation of loss for the year to adjusted net profit:

      

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (260,176     (36,825

Add back:

      

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights

     709,780       680,033       96,252  

Loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax

     303,830       130,045       18,407  

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses

     122,058       364,380       51,575  

Employee compensation expenses related to non-forfeitable dividends related to unvested restricted shares

           19,664       2,782  

Impairment loss on non-current assets

     27,542       36,844       5,215  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Adjusted net profit

     868,801       970,790       137,406  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 


 

15


Table of Contents

Key Operating Data

We regularly review the following key operating data to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

 

    As of  
    September 30,
2018
    December 31,
2018
    March 31,
2019
    June 30,
2019
    September 30,
2019
    December 31,
2019
    March 31,
2020
    June 30,
2020
 

Number of MINISO stores

               

China

    2,159       2,254       2,273       2,311       2,384       2,543       2,535       2,533  

—Directly operated stores

    2       2       5       9       11       8       8       7  

—Third-party stores(2)

    2,157       2,252       2,268       2,302       2,373       2,535       2,527       2,526  

Overseas(1)

    1,019       1,205       1,280       1,414       1,529       1,668       1,688       1,689  

—Directly operated stores

    58       68       71       74       79       126       122       122  

—Third-party stores(2)

    961       1,137       1,209       1,340       1,450       1,542       1,566       1,567  

Total

    3,178       3,459       3,553       3,725       3,913       4,211       4,223       4,222  

 

Notes:

(1)

Overseas stores exclude a small number of stores under certain overseas businesses that we had disposed of as of June 30, 2020. We completed such business disposal during the period from December 2019 to April 2020. See “Management’s Discuss and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Discontinued Operations.” After the disposal, these excluded stores may continue to have business transactions with us.

(2)

Third-party stores include those operated under the MINISO Retail Partner model and those under the distributor model.



 

16


Table of Contents

RISK FACTORS

An investment in our ADSs involves significant risks. You should carefully consider all of the information in this prospectus, including the risks and uncertainties described below, before making an investment in our ADSs. Any of the following risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In any such case, the market price of our ADSs could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our success depends upon the continued strength of our MINISO brand. If we are unable to maintain and enhance our brands, our business and operating results may be adversely affected.

We sell our products under our own brands “MINISO” and “WonderLife.” “MINISO” is our flagship brand. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, revenue generated under our MINISO brand accounted for more than 90% of our total revenue. See “Business—Our brands, sales and marketing—Our brands.” We believe that our brands have significantly contributed to the success of our business and that maintaining and enhancing our brands is critical to retaining and expanding our consumer base. Our marketing, design, research and products are aimed at promoting awareness of our “MINISO” brand and reinforcing consumer perceptions of “MINISO” as a brand of high appeal, high quality and high affordability.

We seek to promote our brand image through marketing initiatives, including celebrity endorsement, marketing through video and short-video platforms, and key opinion leader promotion, as well as other social media-based marketing and promotion activities. Promoting and strengthening our brand image depends on our ability to adapt to a rapidly changing media environment and preferences of consumers to receiving information, including our increasing reliance on social media and online dissemination of advertising campaigns. If we do not continue to maintain and strengthen our brand image and grow the value of brands, in particular, the “MINISO” brand, we may lose the opportunity to build a critical mass of consumers. In addition, we have been continually promoting our brands and products in a very active manner. Certain consumers may perceive our MINISO brand and/or our products in different ways or even misinterpret our MINISO brand before learning more about our company, our brands and our products. If consumers or other parties claim that our marketing approach is misleading or otherwise improper, we may be subject to lawsuits or other legal proceedings, which would negatively affect our brand image, undermine the trust and credibility we have established and impose an adverse impact on our business.

Furthermore, as we continue to grow in size, expand our product offerings and extend our geographic reach, maintaining high-quality, high-appeal and high affordability of our products may be more difficult and we cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain consumers’ confidence in our brands. If consumers perceive or experience a reduction in the quality of our products, or consider in any way that we fail to deliver a consistently high quality products, our brand value could suffer, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business.

In addition, any negative publicity, with or without merits, relating to our products, shareholders, management, employees, operations, business partners, industry or products similar to ours, could materially and adversely affect consumer perceptions of our brands and result in decreased demand for our products.

We consider our trademarks, brand names and our other intellectual properties such as patents relating to product design to be material to our business. Due to the popularity of our products and our

 

17


Table of Contents

brand recognition in the retail industry in China, we have become an attractive target of copycat. We have seen copycat products on the market that attempt to cause confusion or diversion of consumer traffic from us. There are also companies that use company names that are highly similar to our corporate names used in China. If consumers misidentify copycat products as our products, our brand image and reputation could also be harmed. If we are unable to adequately protect these intellectual property rights, we may lose these rights, our brand image may be harmed, and our competitive position and business may suffer. See “—We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position” for more information.

The growth and profitability of our business depend on the level of consumer demand and discretionary spending. A severe or prolonged economic downturn in China or around the world could materially and adversely affect consumer discretionary spending and therefore adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The success of our business depends, to a significant extent, on the level of consumer demand and discretionary spending both in China and in the international markets where we operate. A number of factors beyond our control may affect the level of consumer demand and discretionary spending on merchandise that we offer, including, among other things:

 

   

general economic and industry conditions;

 

   

disposable income of consumers;

 

   

discounts, promotions and merchandise offered by our competitors;

 

   

negative reports and publicity about the retailing industry;

 

   

outbreak of viruses or widespread illness, including COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus;

 

   

unemployment levels;

 

   

minimum wages and personal debt levels of consumers;

 

   

consumer confidence in future economic conditions;

 

   

fluctuations in the financial markets; and

 

   

natural disasters, war, terrorism and other hostilities.

Reduced consumer confidence and spending cut backs may result in reduced demand for our products, in particular discretionary items. Reduced demand also may require increased selling and promotional expenses. Adverse economic conditions and any related decrease in consumer demand for our merchandise could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of trips consumers make to brick-and-mortar retailers, including MINISO stores. COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in a severe and negative impact on the Chinese and the global economy. Negative economic conditions related to this outbreak may limit the consumer confidence and the amount of disposable income available to consumers, which may impact our consumer demand. Whether the pandemic will lead to a prolonged downturn in the economy is still unknown. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the global macroeconomic environment was facing numerous challenges. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has been slowing down. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies which had been adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China, even before 2020. Unrest, terrorist threats and the potential for war in the Middle East and elsewhere may increase market volatility across the globe. There have also been concerns about the relationship

 

18


Table of Contents

between China and other countries, including but not limited to the surrounding Asian countries, which may potentially have economic impact. In particular, there is significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, many of the factors identified above also affect commodity rates, transportation costs, costs of labor, insurance and healthcare, lease costs, measures that create barriers to or increase the costs associated with international trade, changes in other laws and regulations and other economic factors, all of which may impact our cost of sales, our selling and distribution expenses, and general and administrative expenses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our success is dependent on the continued popularity of our products, our continued innovation and successful launches of new products, and our anticipation of and timely responses to changes in consumer preferences.

The success of our operations depends on our ability to continuously offer quality products that are attractive to consumers. Consumer preferences differ across and within each of the countries and regions in which we operate or plan to operate and may shift over time in response to changes in demographic and social trends, economic circumstances and the marketing efforts of our competitors. We must stay abreast of emerging consumer preferences and anticipate product trends that will appeal to existing and potential consumers. There can be no assurance that our existing products will continue to be favored by consumers or that we will be able to anticipate or respond to changes in consumer preferences in a timely manner. In particular, as we expand into new countries and regions, we may not be able to launch products that appeal to local consumers due to our lack of understanding on local cultures and lifestyles. Our failure to anticipate, identify or react to these particular preferences could adversely affect our sales performance and our profitability.

We devote significant resources to product design and development. As of June 30, 2020, we had a designer network consisting of an in-house team of 49 designers and 25 design partners, including internationally renowned independent designers, professional design studios and design academies from different countries. We have also developed a sophisticated approach to collaborate with highly popular IP licensors to create co-branded products. As of June 30, 2020, we had established co-branding relationship with 17 IP licensors owning popular brands. These efforts allow us to launch products that appeal to consumers and constantly change SKUs to respond to evolving consumer preference. However, we may not be successful in developing innovative new products, and our new products may not be commercially successful. We also cannot assure you that our co-branding initiatives will continue to be successful in the future. To the extent that we are not able to effectively gauge the direction of our key markets and successfully identify, develop and design new or improved products in response to changing market preference, our financial results and our competitive position may suffer. Moreover, there are inherent market risks associated with new product introductions, including uncertainties about marketing and consumer preference, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in introducing new products with designs that are appealing to consumers. We may expend substantial resources developing new products that may not achieve expected sales levels.

 

19


Table of Contents

If we are unable to offer our products at prices that are highly appealing to consumers or maintain competitive prices, our business and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

A critical differentiator of our business is our ability to offer value to consumers, including offering quality products at prices that are highly appealing to consumers, which is pivotal to the success of our business. We vigorously execute our pricing strategy in our daily business operations. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, more than 95% of our products had retail prices under RMB50 (US$7.08) in China. However, we face various challenges in maintaining the current price rates. For example, we may not have sufficient bargaining power in negotiating terms with our suppliers and procure products at favorable prices. As a result, we may have to price our products at higher-than-expected prices to achieve profitability. Even if we are able to price as we expected, our profit margin, if any, may be lower than our anticipation. Further, increases in raw material prices or production costs may also be shifted to us by our suppliers and result in our pressure to increase prices. Any increase in product prices may cause our sales volume to decline, and more importantly, undermine our positioning as a value retailer, making us less attractive to consumers and less competitive in the marketplace. Accordingly, the occurrence of any of the above would adversely affect our overall profitability, business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the prices of the products we sell can be influenced by general economic conditions. For example, general inflation in the prices of the products we sell could cause us to mark up prices and thereby may negatively affect our product sales. Adverse general economic conditions could also increase costs to us, such as shipping rates, freight costs and store occupancy costs and further reduce our sales or increase our cost of sales, selling and distribution expenses, or general and administrative expenses. Our pricing strategy and competitive pressure may inhibit our ability to reflect these increased costs in the prices of our products without losing competitive position, and therefore reduce our profitability and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, price reductions by our competitors may result in the reduction of our prices and a corresponding reduction in our profitability. Accordingly, we may face periods of intense competition in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our profitability and results of operations.

We are subject to additional risks in maintaining our products at appealing or competitive prices in the overseas markets. Substantially all of our products are manufactured in China and shipped to overseas markets. Countries to which we make export sales may take restrictive measures, such as trade tariffs, or anti-dumping duties and other non-tariff barriers, to protect their home markets. Any imposition of tariffs, anti-dumping duties, or other non-tariff barriers in one or more markets could result in additional costs to us and negatively affect our ability to price our products at appealing or competitive rates and/or a material reduction in our supplies of relevant products in those markets, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to offer high-quality products to consumers, our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition will be materially and negatively affected.

Offering high-quality products is essential to the success of our business. In order to ensure that we continuously offer high quality products to consumers, we engage third parties to evaluate quality control qualifications of potential suppliers before we enroll such suppliers in our supplier base. Our quality control team is involved throughout the whole process of product development and starts to play a role from as early as product design stage, to raw material selection, to product manufacturing, and finally to several layers of quality inspections. Despite the fact that we put in place several tiers of quality control measures, we cannot assure you that our products will not have any quality issues. For

 

20


Table of Contents

example, in 2019, a type of tableware sold by a MINISO store in Shanghai was found by government authority to be not in compliance with relevant specifications. We immediately removed such type of tableware from all MINISO stores in China and offered affected consumers the right to return such product. Any product quality issue may result in claims, lawsuits, fines, penalties and negative publicities, and consumers may also lose confidence in our products, which in turn would have material and adverse effects on our business, reputation, operating results and financial conditions. See also “—Should a product liability issue, recall or personal injury issue arise, it may damage our reputation and brand image, which may result in a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.”

Expanding product offerings may expose us to new challenges and more risks.

We strive to offer consumers a wide variety of merchandises that are responsive to consumers’ evolving needs and provide them with a treasure hunt shopping experience by frequently changing SKUs/product assortments in each MINISO store. Offering new SKUs, expansion into diverse new product categories and increased number of products and stock keeping units involves new risks and challenges. Our lack of familiarity with these products and lack of relevant consumer data relating to these products may make it more difficult for us to anticipate consumer demand and preferences. We may misjudge consumer demand, resulting in inventory buildup and possible inventory write-down. It may also make it more difficult for us to inspect and control quality and ensure proper handling, storage and delivery. We may experience higher return rates on new products, receive more consumer complaints about them and face costly product liability claims related to our new products, which would harm our brand and reputation as well as our financial performance. Furthermore, we may not have much purchasing power in new categories of products and we may not be able to negotiate favorable terms with suppliers. We may need to price aggressively to gain market share or remain competitive in new product categories. It may be difficult for us to achieve profitability in the new product categories and our profit margin, if any, may be lower than we anticipate, which would adversely affect our overall profitability and results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be able to recoup our investments in introducing these new product categories.

If we are unable to attract purchases from new and existing consumers, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our future growth depends on our ability to continue to attract purchases from new consumers and existing consumers. In order to retain existing consumers and attract new consumers, we strive to give consumers a relaxing and engaging shopping environment by carefully designing store layout, decoration and lighting to create a welcoming ambience for consumers. We also launched our MINISO membership program in China and plan to further expand this membership program to overseas markets. In addition, managers of our MINISO stores keep consumers constantly engaged by sharing MINISO content through WeChat chat groups and WeChat public account. However, our consumer engagement efforts may not be as effective as we anticipate. In addition, competition for consumers has intensified as competitors have moved into, or increased their presence in, our geographic markets. They may make more investments in product design and development and maintain more competitive prices. Also, the use of mobile and web-based technology that facilitates online shopping and real-time product and price comparisons will also increase the competition. We expect this competition to continue to increase. Our competitors may offer promotions or loyalty program incentives that could attract consumers who purchases our products or divide their loyalty among several retailers. If we are unable to retain the loyalty of existing consumers and attract new consumers, our revenues could decrease and we may not be able to expand our business base as planned, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

21


Table of Contents

We primarily rely on our retail partners and distributors to expand our store network. If we are unable to expand our store network successfully, our business, results of operations would be adversely affected.

We plan to expand our store network both domestically and internationally and we primarily rely on our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to realize such expansion. However, we may not be able to expand our store network as we planned. The number and timing of the stores actually opened during any given period are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. For example, we may not be able to identify MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors with sufficient resources and strong local ties to collaborate with us. If our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors fail to operate MINISO stores successfully for whatever reasons, they may not be willing or able to renew their agreements with us. As a result, the number of MINISO stores in our store network will decrease, which would negatively affect our store expansion plan.

Apart from relying on our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to expand our store network, we also establish and operate MINISO stores by ourselves. Expanding our store network through opening MINISO stores by ourselves also involves certain risks and uncertainties, such as our ability to obtain adequate funding for development and expansion costs, identify strategic markets globally, identify locations with large consumer traffic and commercial potential and secure leases on commercially reasonable terms, supply products in a timely manner to MINISO stores in different geographical locations, obtain the required licenses, permits and approvals, and recruit and retain talents with sufficient experience in the retail industry. Any risks and uncertainties listed above, either individually or in aggregate, might delay or fail our plan to increase the number of stores in desirable locations at manageable cost levels.

In addition to the above factors, our overseas expansions face additional difficulties and challenges. We have limited experience operating in overseas markets and may face competition from major, established competitors in these markets. These competitors usually have more experience and resources for their business operations in those markets. In addition, the real estate, employment and labor, transportation and logistics, regulatory, and other operating requirements in these markets differ significantly from those in China. Moreover, a number of factors could have an adverse impact on our operating results if our efforts to expand internationally are not successful. These factors include changes in market needs and product trends, economic fluctuations, political and social turbulence, relevant countries or regions’ relationships with China, changes in legal regulations or other conditions and difficulties in employing and training appropriate local management and employees. For example, our international store expansion slowed down in the first half of 2020 primarily due to the COVID-19 outbreak. There is no assurance that our international store expansion will not continue to decelerate or even fail in the future.

If we, our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors fail to successfully operate MINISO stores, our business and results of operations would be adversely affected.

As of June 30, 2020, over 90% of MINISO stores in our global network were established and operated by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors. Therefore, successful operations of MINISO stores by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors directly affect our results of operations. However, our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors are independent from us and we cannot control many factors that impact the profitability of their MINISO stores. Despite the fact that we have direct access to key operational data from MINISO Retail Partner stores, which enable us to help our MINISO Retail Partners systematically customize merchandising down to the store level and coordinate inventory management on real-time basis, we are unable to directly engage in the operation of their MINISO stores, nor do we have access to or a complete control over every aspect of their store operations. The quality of MINISO store operations may be compromised if we fail to effectively

 

22


Table of Contents

monitor the operation of MINISO stores by our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors. Even if we can effectively monitor the operation of MINISO stores by our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors, there are still a number of factors beyond our control which may results in failure by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to successfully operate MINISO stores in a manner consistent with our standards and requirements. For example, our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors may not be able to hire and effectively train qualified managers and other store operating personnel, encounter financial difficulties or fail to achieve expected level of sales, which may cause delays in making payments to us under our agreements with them. While we have the right to terminate our agreements with MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors if they breach any material provisions of these agreements, we may not be able to identify problems and take action in a timely manner. As a result, our image and reputation may suffer, and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

The successful operation of MINISO stores also hinges on the ability to provide superior shopping experience. If we, our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors are unable to provide a superior shopping experience, consumers may lose confidence in us. In order to provide such superior shopping experience, we and our MINISO Retail Partners/local distributors strive to provide consumers with a wide variety of carefully designed high quality products, frequently changing product assortment to enable a treasure hunt shopping experience, offer our products at competitive prices, and timely response to consumer demands. However, there can be no assurance that these strategies can be executed effectively. Any negative publicity or poor feedback regarding consumer service may harm our brand and reputation and in turn cause us to lose consumers and market share.

There are also a number of factors that may affect the successful operation of MINISO stores. These factors include, without limitation, our ability to maintain and enhance the quality of our products; our ability to successfully implement our pricing strategies; our ability to offer new products to timely respond to changes in market opportunities and consumer preferences; our ability to continually increase the number of items sold to consumers; our ability to retain existing consumers and attract new consumers; our ability to attract new and maintain relationships with our existing third-party suppliers and other service providers; our ability to manage costs of our operations; our ability to handle negative publicity, allegations, and legal proceedings; our ability to ensure full compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and maintain adequate and effective control, supervision and risk management over MINISO stores; and our ability to monitor the overall operation of MINISO stores. Many factors beyond our control, including macroeconomic and regulatory environment, could also adversely affect the successful operation of MINISO stores.

In the past, we, our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors shut down a small number of underperforming MINISO stores and may continue to do so in the future. We may also terminate our cooperation with MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors if their business, financial conditions and operation results are far below our expectation. In addition, if our MINISO Retail Partners and/or local distributors run into financial difficulties or even become bankrupt as a result of unsuccessful operation, negative impact of COVID-19 or whatever reason, our business and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our international operations are subject to a variety of costs and legal, regulatory, political and economic risks.

Our business and results of operations are affected by our ability to execute our globalization strategy, which primarily involves expanding into new international markets and growing our store network overseas. Our revenue from markets outside of China was RMB3,030.9 million and RMB2,934.9 million (US$415.4 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, accounting

 

23


Table of Contents

for 32.3% and 32.7% of our total revenue for the same periods, respectively. Compared with operating in our home market, China, operating internationally subject us to additional risks and challenges such as:

 

   

limited brand recognition (compared with our home market in China);

 

   

need to manage costs of securing optimal locations for MINISO stores;

 

   

difficulties encountered when setting up or leasing new warehouses and establishing overseas supply chain;

 

   

difficulty to manage logistics and inventory effectively to meet the needs of new and existing stores on a timely basis;

 

   

difficulty to find qualified partners for overseas cooperation;

 

   

inability to anticipate foreign consumers’ preferences and customs;

 

   

difficulties in hiring experienced staff and managing foreign operations;

 

   

burdens of complying with a wide variety of local laws and regulations;

 

   

political and economic instability;

 

   

trade restrictions;

 

   

lesser degrees of intellectual property protection;

 

   

tariffs and customs duties and the classifications of our goods by applicable governmental bodies; and

 

   

a legal system subject to undue influence or corruption.

Our international expansion plans will place increased demands on our operational, managerial and administrative resources. For example, we have limited experience operating in overseas markets and may face competition from major, established competitors in these markets. These competitors usually have more experience and resources for their business operations in those markets. In addition, the real estate, employment and labor, transportation and logistics, regulatory, and other operating requirements in these markets differ significantly from those in China. Moreover, a number of factors could have an adverse impact on our operating results if our efforts to expand internationally are not successful. These factors include changes in market needs and product trends, economic fluctuations, political and social turbulence, relevant countries or regions’ relationships with China, changes in legal regulations or other conditions and difficulties in employing and training appropriate management and local employees. For example, the escalation of tensions between China and India as a result of border clashes between troops from the two countries have resulted in a number of mobile apps developed by Chinese companies and operated in India being banned by the Indian government. We are unable to predict how international relations between China and India will develop, and what measures the India government will take towards products and services provided by and business operations of Chinese companies in India. There can be no assurance that we will not be targeted or affected by similar actions in the future, and our business operations and operating results in India will not be materially and adversely impacted by such actions. These increased demands and challenges may cause us to operate our business less efficiently, which in turn could cause deterioration in the performance of our existing businesses and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

 

24


Table of Contents

If our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors do not satisfactorily fulfill their responsibilities and commitments, our brand image, results of operations could be materially harmed.

Our products are sold to consumers through either our directly operated stores or through stores operated by our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors. As of June 30, 2020, over 90% of MINISO stores in our global network were established and operated by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors. We typically enter into franchise agreements with our MINISO Retail Partners or master license agreements and product sales agreements with our local distributors. These agreements set out each party’s responsibilities under different cooperation model. See “Business—Our Store Network” for more information on different types of store operation models.

We believe consumers expect the same quality of our products regardless of whether they visit a store operated directly by us or by a MINISO Retail Partner or a local distributor, so we provide operational guidelines on key aspects of store operations ranging from frontline store-level staff training, store layout, merchandise mix, interior design, inventory management, to pricing recommendation so as to maintain our uniform image as a value brand across MINISO stores. However, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in monitoring store operations by our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors and detecting any and all inconsistencies with our brand image or values or noncompliance with the provisions of our cooperation agreements by them. For example, our local distributors may deviate from our pricing strategy and sell our products at higher prices without our consent, which will jeopardize our brand positioning and image. Our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors may also breach other provisions of the agreements with us or otherwise engage in illegal actions or misconducts. See “—Illegal actions or misconduct of our MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, third-party suppliers or other service providers, or any failure by them to provide satisfactory products or services could materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.” Any noncompliance by our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors with our operational guidelines could, among other things, diminish the overall shopping experience delivered to consumers, negatively affect our brand reputation or demands for our products.

If we fail to maintain the relationship with our MINISO Retail Partners or our local distributors or fail to attract new MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors to join our store network, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

As of June 30, 2020, over 90% of MINISO stores globally are operated by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors. As a result, maintaining the relationship with and attracting new MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to join our store network are critical to our business and results of operations. However, we may not be able to maintain our relationship with MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, if our existing products or new products fail to attract consumers, our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors may experience sales declines. As a result, they may not be able to generate investment returns as they expected, and thus choose not to renew their agreements with us. Sales declines or unsuccessful operation of MINISO stores could also arise from failures by our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to lease premises in optimal locations with large consumer traffic and commercial potentials, hire and train qualified store managers or other sales personnel, insufficient experience in operating retail stores, and lack of overall store management experience, among others. Although we are able to provide management and consultation services to support their store operation, we cannot assure you that with these supports our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors will be able to successfully operate MINISO stores. As a result, our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors may terminate their agreements with us or choose not to renew such agreements with us. In addition, we

 

25


Table of Contents

may also be unable to continuously offer attractive terms or economic benefits to our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors. As a result, our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors may not be effectively motivated to sell more products or continue the cooperative relationships with us. If our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors decide to shut down MINISO stores they opened, we will refund the corresponding deposit to them. If our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors decide to shut down a large number of MINISO stores within a very short period of time, we may need a large amount of cash to refund the deposits. As a result, we may experience liquidity risks. In addition, we may not be able to attract a sufficient number of new MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors to join our network and open MINISO stores, which will negatively affect our future business growth. The occurrence of any of the above could have a material and adverse effect on our expansion plans, business prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

Illegal actions or misconduct of our MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, third-party suppliers or other service providers, or any failure by them to provide satisfactory products or services could materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

Our reputation and operation may be harmed by illegal or unsatisfactory actions taken by our MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, third-party suppliers, and other third parties over which we have limited control. Any failure to obtain the requisite licenses and approvals from governmental authorities, delay in delivery of our products, damage to our products during the course of delivery and inappropriate actions taken by deliverymen of our delivery service providers might cause consumer complaints and negative publicities. Any failure of our product suppliers to ensure product quality or to comply with our quality standards or other laws and regulations could also interrupt our operations, result in claims against us, subject us to damages and harm our reputation and brand image.

In addition, if our MINISO Retail Partners or local distributors engage in any unlawful activities, fail to provide a satisfactory shopping experience, or are involved in any claims, allegations, lawsuits, litigations, administrative penalties or other legal proceedings, with or without merits, no matter whether we are a party or not, we might also be subject to reputational risks. For example, a local distributor in Canada engaged in fraudulent activities and caused harm to our reputation, our business and results of operations in Canada. Despite the fact that we have representatives in our overseas markets and such representatives, among other responsibilities, supervise the operating activities of our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors, we cannot assure you that similar incidents would not happen in the future. We also cannot guarantee that our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors will fully comply with relevant provisions in our agreements with them regarding various operational standards. If any of our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors engage in any type of illegal actions or misconducts, our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

In the event that we become subject to claims caused by actions taken by our MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, third-party suppliers, and other third parties. We may seek compensation from or take other actions against the relevant MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, third-party suppliers, or other service providers. However, such compensation may be limited. For example, we may not be able to get fully compensated from our suppliers in case that our losses attributed to their actions exceed the maximum amount of indemnification we are able to seek from them. If no claim can be asserted against our MINISO Retail Partners, suppliers or other service providers, or amounts that we claim cannot be fully recovered from our MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, suppliers or other service providers, we may be required to bear such losses and compensation at our own costs, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

26


Table of Contents

Our operations have been and may continue to be affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

Our business and financial performance have been adversely affected by the outbreaks of COVID-19. The global COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve and we cannot anticipate with any certainty the length or severity of the effects of COVID-19. As of the date of this prospectus, our business has been adversely affected by COVID-19 pandemic primarily in the following aspects:

 

   

MINISO store operations:    Since the beginning of 2020, outbreaks of COVID-19 have resulted in the temporary closure of many corporate offices, retail stores and manufacturing facilities across China. Normal economic life throughout China was sharply curtailed. In response to COVID-19, the Chinese government took a number of actions, such as extending the Chinese New Year holiday, quarantining individuals infected with or suspected of having COVID-19, imposing travel restrictions, encouraging employees of enterprises to work remotely from home, and cancelling public activities, among others. To protect the health and well-being of our employees and consumers and in support of efforts to control the spread of the outbreak, we and our MINISO Retail Partners started to temporarily close MINISO stores in China in late January and reduced operating hours at stores that remained open. We also closed our headquarters and offices and made remote working arrangements. These unplanned store closures, combined with planned closures in observance of the Chinese New Year holiday, resulted in peak closures of over 60% of MINISO stores in China in early February. Since that time, the vast majority of MINISO stores and our headquarters and offices have been reopened in a disciplined manner. As of June 30, 2020, more than 95% of MINISO stores in China were open and operating under normal business hours. As of June 30, 2020, there were only a few MINISO stores in Beijing that remain closed due to a resurgence of the outbreak in June 2020. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve globally, MINISO stores in overseas markets have also been impacted by store closures, reduced opening hours and/or reduced consumer traffic. As of June 30, 2020, over 20% of MINISO stores in overseas markets were closed. MINISO stores that remained open were operating at reduced hours under elevated safety protocols as a result of varying levels of travel and public health restrictions in different parts of the world, as well as low foot and vehicle traffic overall. Such negative impact of the COVID-19 also negatively affected our store network expansion and, in the first half of 2020, we experienced slowdown in the increase in the number of MINISO stores in the overseas market and a slight decrease in the number of MINISO stores in China. See “Business—Our Store Network.”

 

   

Operating results and other financial metrics:    Negative impact of COVID-19 on our business operations in China has resulted in a decrease in our revenue. Our revenue generated from China decreased by 5.0% from RMB6,364.0 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB6,044.1 million (US$855.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our revenue generated from China as a percentage of our total revenue also decreased from 67.7% in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to 67.3% in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. While the duration of the pandemic, disruption to our business and related financial impact cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, we currently expect that our consolidated results of operations for the rest of 2020 calendar year will be significantly affected with potential continuing impact of the COVID-19 in subsequent periods.

In addition to the above impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic also caused delays in our payments to suppliers, negatively affected and may continue to negatively affect the financial viability of our suppliers, MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors and other business partners, which may result in interruptions to our supply chain and difficulties for us to collect receivables, and adversely impacted our business and results of operations. The COVID-19 pandemic also negatively affected our supply chain such as manufacturing, warehousing and shipping of our products. See “—We are subject to certain risks relating to the warehousing and shipment of our products” and “—We rely on third-party

 

27


Table of Contents

suppliers to provide products to us. If we fail to manage and expand our relationships with third-party suppliers, or otherwise fail to procure products on favorable terms, our business and growth prospects may suffer” for more information. In addition, our inventory level was also negatively affected. See “—If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected” for more information.

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a rapidly evolving situation. While many of the restrictions on movement within China and other countries have been relaxed, there is great uncertainty as to the future progress of the disease. Currently, there is no vaccine or specific anti-viral treatment for COVID-19. Relaxation of restrictions on economic and social life could lead to new cases which may lead to the reimposition of restrictions. Our business operations, results of operations and financial condition could be further adversely affected if a wide spread of COVID-19 happens again in the locations where we have business operations.

Our revenue per MINISO store has experienced, and may continue to experience, significant fluctuation from period to period.

Our revenue growth historically was largely driven by the expansion of our MINISO store network. Our revenue per MINISO store has fluctuated significantly historically with a decrease of 19.8% from the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The decrease was primarily due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and an increasing number of new stores being opened in lower-tier cities and under penetrated locations as we continued to expand our footprint in China and globally, as well as increased competition issues we faced in 2019 and 2020. The impacts of COVID-19 and intensifying market competition resulted in a negative growth of same-store sales, while our store expansion led to a change in store mix. Same-store sales of MINISO stores in China decreased by 3.8% in the second half of 2019, compared to that in the second half of 2018, primarily due to increased competition in China. Same-store sales of MINISO stores in China decreased by 32.6% in the first half of 2020, compared to that in the first half of 2019, primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19. Changes in same-store sales refer to the changes in retail sales of existing MINISO stores in a particular period from the corresponding period in previous year by comparing the retail sales of existing MINISO stores that maintain full operation during the two periods. We believe that revenue per MINISO store is a better operating measure of our per store performance, and do not intend to further disclose same-store sales figures in the future.

A variety of factors may cause fluctuation in our revenue per MINISO store, including the following:

 

   

the size and the geographic location of MINISO stores;

 

   

decrease in store openings and closure of stores;

 

   

change in our store mix, including PRC versus international markets, breakdown in different tier cities in China, and breakdown in different locations within the same tier cities;

 

   

MINISO stores’ ability to maintain and increase sales to existing consumers, attract new consumers and satisfy consumer demands;

 

   

the frequency of consumer visits to MINISO stores and the quantity and mix of products consumers purchase;

 

   

the pricing of our products or change in our pricing strategies or those of our competitors;

 

   

timing and costs of marketing and promotional programs organized by us and/or our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors;

 

   

our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors’ ability to manage inventory and provide superior consumer experience;

 

   

the competition that we and/or our MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors face in the markets, for example, the entry of new competitors, introduction of new products or services by competitors and their marketing efforts;

 

28


Table of Contents
   

epidemics and pandemics, such as the COVID-19 outbreak;

 

   

economic and geopolitical conditions in China and overseas markets; and

 

   

seasonal variations in demand.

We may continue to experience significant fluctuation in our same-store sales and change of our store mix in the future. As a result, you may not be able to rely on our historical revenue per MINISO store as an indication of our future performance. Our revenue per MINISO store may further decrease and is not expected to grow significantly in the near future.

We rely on third-party suppliers to provide products to us. If we fail to manage and expand our relationships with third-party suppliers, or otherwise fail to procure products on favorable terms, our business and growth prospects may suffer.

We source our products from third-party suppliers. As of June 30, 2020, we had over 600 domestic and overseas suppliers. Our suppliers work closely with our designers and product managers in product design and manufacturing so that we can seamlessly provide consumers with ever-changing merchandises across the global market. We strive to establish mutually beneficial relationships with our suppliers. We typically enter into two-year framework agreements with our suppliers and place orders under these framework agreements. These framework agreements are usually renewable upon mutual agreement between us and our suppliers. We cannot assure you that our current suppliers will continue to sell products to us on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, after the term of the current agreement expires. Even if we maintain good relationships with our suppliers, their ability to supply products to us in sufficient quantity, in a timely manner and at competitive prices may be adversely affected by economic conditions, labor actions, regulatory or legal decisions, customs and import restrictions, natural disasters or other causes. For example, the outbreak of COVID-19 in China in early 2020 resulted in temporary business closures of certain of our suppliers and tight liquidity of a few of our suppliers, which led to delays in supplying products to MINISO stores. As of June 30, 2020, product supplies had almost resumed normal operation. As COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving, we cannot assure you that product supply delays would not happen again. In addition, in the event that we are not able to purchase a sufficient quantity of merchandise at favorable prices, our revenues and cost of revenues may be materially and adversely affected.

We generally require our suppliers not to cooperate with certain of our competitors. However, we cannot assure you that our suppliers will fully comply with this requirement. Cooperating with our competing brands without our consent could lead to a leakage of confidential information that is critical to our product design and business operations or otherwise harm our competitive positions and business operations.

Our suppliers typically provide us a payment term of 30 days. If our suppliers cease to provide us with favorable payment terms, our requirements for working capital may increase and our operations may be materially and adversely affected. We will also need to establish new supplier relationships to ensure that we have access to a steady supply of products on favorable commercial terms. If we are unable to develop and maintain good relationships with suppliers that would allow us to obtain a sufficient amount and variety of quality merchandise on acceptable commercial terms, it may inhibit our ability to offer sufficient products sought by consumers, or to offer these products at competitive prices. Any adverse developments in our relationships with suppliers could materially and adversely affect our business and growth prospects. Any disputes with suppliers could adversely affect our reputation and subject us to damages and negative publicity. Furthermore, we purchased products on an arm’s length basis from related-party suppliers and may continue to do so in the future. We cannot rule out the possibility that there will be other parties alleging that these transactions were not conducted on an arm’s length basis. In addition, as part of our growth strategy, we plan to further expand our product offerings. If we fail to manage our relationship with existing suppliers and attract new suppliers to cooperate with us due to any reason, our business and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

 

29


Table of Contents

We have undertaken strategic collaborations with IP licensors. If we fail to expand or maintain our collaboration with IP licensors, or our existing collaboration with any of our IP licensors is terminated or curtailed, or if we are no longer able to benefit from such business collaborations, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Strategic collaborations with IP licensors is a key strategy for us to expand our product offerings. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we had entered into collaboration with 17 IP licensors owning popular brands to jointly develop products for consumers and offered approximately 2,300 co-branded core SKUs across 11 product categories that were highly sought after by consumers. If we are unable to expand or maintain our collaboration with these IP licensors in the future, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected. To the extent we cannot maintain our cooperative relationships with any of these IP licensors, it may be very difficult for us to identify qualified alternative IP licensors, which may divert significant management attention from existing business operations and adversely impact our daily operation and consumer experience. Our cooperation with IP licensors may also be adversely affected by negative publicities regarding our IP licensors, which could negatively affect our reputation, business and results of operations.

In addition, the license agreements we entered into with IP licensors contain extensive and detailed provisions setting forth scope of licenses, such as categories and sub-categories of products authorized to use licensed IPs and various excluded sub-categories of products, number of products within each categories that are allowed to use licensed IPs, territories where sales of co-branded products are allowed, among others. We, our employees and our business partners may inadvertently breach such IP protection provisions and therefore subject us to liabilities under our agreements with IP licensors. Disputes may also arise due to reasons that we are unable to foresee. If we are unable to resolve disputes with IP licensors, we may not be able to continue our cooperation with our IP licensors, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business and operating results.

Our agreements with IP licensors generally have a term of two years. If we are unable to sell all of the co-branded products in our inventory within a reasonable period of time after the expiration of relevant agreements, we will not be able to continue to sell those products and may have to destroy our inventories. As a result, we may have to write down such inventories, which would result in negative impacts on our operating results and financial conditions. See “—If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected” for more information on inventory related risks.

Should a product liability issue, recall or personal injury issue arise, it may damage our reputation and brand image, which may result in a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

Products that we sell could become subject to contamination, product tampering, mislabeling, recall or other damage. Products that we sell could also lead to personal injuries. Product liability or personal injury claims may be asserted against us with respect to any of the products we sell. A successful product liability claim against us could require us to pay a substantial monetary award and the coverage limits under our insurance programs and the indemnification amounts available to us may not be adequate to protect us against claims. We may also not be able to maintain this insurance on acceptable terms in the future. Our agreements with our suppliers generally require our suppliers to deposit certain amount of money in our bank account to ensure their compliance with the agreements with us and compensate us for any losses we may incur as a result of product defects. However, such limited amounts may not be sufficient to cover our losses arising from product liability issues. Although we may seek indemnification or contribution from our suppliers in certain circumstances, we cannot assure you that we will be able to receive indemnification or contribution in full in a timely manner, or at all. Moreover, a government investigation of product quality issues, product liability or personal injury

 

30


Table of Contents

claims, even if unsuccessful or not fully pursued, could generate substantial negative publicity about our products and business, which would have material adverse effect on our reputation, brand, business, prospects and operating results, and these effects could persist over the long term.

In the future, we may at various times, voluntarily or involuntarily, initiate a recall if any of our products prove to be defective or noncompliant with applicable laws and regulations. Such recalls, whether voluntary or involuntary, could involve significant expense and could adversely affect our brand image in our target markets, as well as our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We have return and exchange policies in place which allow consumers to return or exchange products they purchased. For example, in China, consumers can return the product they purchased within seven days of purchase or exchange the products they purchased within 15 days of purchase. In addition, we provide warranties for most of the products we sell, subject to certain conditions, such as warranty only applies to normal use. The length of warranty period varies between different categories of products. For example, in China, we generally provide a warranty term of six months for electronic accessories we sell to consumers. The occurrence of any material defects in our products could make us liable for damages and warranty claims. In addition, we could incur significant costs to correct any defects, warranty claims or other problems, including costs related to product recalls. Any negative publicity related to the perceived quality of our products could affect our brand image, decrease distributor and consumer demand, and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. While our warranty is limited to repairs and returns, warranty claims may result in litigation, the occurrence of which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

If we are unable to manage our growth or execute our strategies effectively, our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Our business has continued to grow in recent years, and we expect continued growth in our business and revenues. We plan to further expand and upgrade our store network both in China and globally and enhance our product development and supply chain capabilities. We face certain risks in executing these strategies and we cannot assure you that we will be able to execute our growth strategies successfully and realize our expected growth. For example, as we continue to expand our store network and increase our product offerings, we will need to work with a large number of new suppliers, MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors efficiently and establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with our existing and new suppliers, MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors. New products we are going to offer in the future may also not be accepted by the market. To support our growth, we also plan to deepen consumer engagement, provide consumers with omni-channel experience, and accelerate digital transformation of MINISO stores. See “Business—Our Strategies.” All these efforts will require significant managerial, financial and human resources. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively manage our growth or to implement all these measures successfully or that our new business initiatives will be successful. If we are not able to manage our growth or execute our strategies effectively, our expansion may not be successful and our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, our results of operations, financial condition and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected.

Our scale and business model require us to manage a large volume of inventory effectively. We depend on our demand forecasts for various kinds of products to make purchase decisions and to manage our inventory. Demand for products, however, can change significantly between the time inventory is ordered and the date by which we target to sell it. Demand may be affected by seasonality, new product launches, changes in product cycles and pricing, product defects, changes in consumer

 

31


Table of Contents

spending patterns, changes in consumer tastes with respect to our products and other factors, and consumers may not order products in the quantities that we expect. In addition, when we begin selling a new product, we may not be able to accurately forecast demand. The procurement of certain types of inventory may require significant lead time and prepayment, and they may not be returnable.

Our inventories have increased from RMB1,309.0 million as of June 30, 2019 to RMB1,395.7 million (US$197.5 million) as of June 30, 2020. Our inventory turnover days were 63 days for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and 78 days for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our inventory turnover days for a given period are equal to average balances of inventories calculated from the beginning and ending balances of the period divided by cost of sales during the period and then multiplied by the number of days during the period. The increase in inventory turnover days mainly reflected the adverse impact from COVID-19 on our overseas store operation and supply chain in the first half of 2020. In addition, as we plan to continue expanding our product offerings, we expect to include more products in our inventory, which will make it more challenging for us to manage our inventory effectively and will put more pressure on our warehousing system.

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, we may be subject to a heightened risk of inventory obsolescence, a decline in inventory values, and significant inventory write-downs or write-offs. To reduce our inventory level, we usually choose to sell certain of our products at lower prices, which may lead to lower gross margins. High inventory levels may also require us to commit substantial capital resources, preventing us from using that capital for other important purposes. Any of the above may materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

On the other hand, if we underestimate demand for our products, or if our suppliers fail to supply quality products in a timely manner, we may experience inventory shortages, which might result in missed sales, diminished brand loyalty and lost revenues, any of which could harm our business and reputation.

We are subject to certain risks relating to the warehousing and shipment of our products.

Before delivery of our products to MINISO stores, we store them in warehouses we leased in China and other countries. If any accidents, including fires, were to occur, causing damage to our finished products or our warehouses, our ability to supply products to MINISO stores on time and our market reputation, financial condition, results of operations or business could be materially and adversely affected. We often outsource the delivery of our products to MINISO stores and to our online consumers to third-party logistics and transportation companies. Relying on these third parties increases the risk that we may fail to deliver finished products on time. The efficient operation of MINISO stores depends on the timely receipt of products from our warehouses. Such logistics services could be suspended and thereby interrupt the supply of our products if unforeseen events occur which are beyond our control, such as COVID-19, poor handling of and damage to our finished products, transportation bottlenecks and/or labor strikes. For the warehouses we leased in China, we had to temporarily shut down those warehouses in February 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Our logistics and transportation service providers were also negatively affected by COVID-19. As a result, delivery of products from warehouses to MINISO stores were delayed. In March 2020, delivery of products to MINISO stores was resumed as normal. As of June 30, 2020, certain warehouses we leased in other countries such as India remained shut down and transportation and logistics services provided by relevant service providers in overseas markets also experienced service interruptions, which negatively affected the delivery of products to local MINISO stores and therefore the sales volumes in local MINISO stores. If our products are not delivered on time or are delivered in a damaged state, our market reputation could be adversely affected. These third parties may also employ personnel who may be represented by labor unions. Disruptions in the delivery of products due to work stoppages by employees or contractors of any of these third parties could delay the timely

 

32


Table of Contents

receipt of products. There can be no assurance that such stoppages or disruptions will not occur in the future. The occurrence of any of these problems alone, or together, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or business.

If we fail to successfully implement our e-commerce initiative, our business and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

The retail industry continues to rapidly evolve and consumers increasingly embrace e-commerce. As a result, the portion of total consumer expenditures with retailers occurring through e-commerce platforms is increasing. We have been implementing our e-commerce initiative to capture additional consumer base and provide our existing consumers new shopping experience. Our e-commerce initiative includes expanding our online offerings and broadening our online sales channels by collaborating with e-commerce platforms. To implement our e-commerce initiative, we will also cooperate with retail platforms and leverage our vast network of store-based communities to allow consumers to conveniently place orders with their store of choice, ultimately to provide consumers with seamless omni-channel shopping experience. We cannot assure you that we will be able to make, improve, or develop attractive, user-friendly and secure online sales channels that offer a wide assortment of merchandise at affordable prices with rapid and low-cost delivery options. We may also not be able to continually meet the changing expectations of online shoppers, developments in online and digital platform merchandising and related technology. All of these could place us at a competitive disadvantage, result in the loss of e-commerce and other sales, harm our reputation, and have a material adverse impact on the growth of our e-commerce business, reputation and results of operations. In addition, if our e-commerce channels or our other client-facing technology systems do not function as designed or experience cyber-attacks, we may experience a loss of consumer confidence, data security breaches, lost sales, or be exposed to fraudulent purchases, any of which could adversely affect our business, reputation and results of operations. See “—Failure to protect personal or confidential information against security breaches could subject us to significant reputational, financial and legal consequences and substantially harm our business and results of operations.”

We face intense competition. We may not be able to maintain or may lose market share and consumers if we fail to compete effectively.

The retail industry is intensely competitive and has low entry barriers. We compete for consumers, product suppliers and IP licensors. Our current or potential competitors include (i) traditional retailers, including specialty retail stores, supermarkets, and department stores; (ii) online retailers; and (iii) variety retailers competing with us locally. See “Business—Competition.” In addition, new and enhanced technologies may increase the competition in the retail industry. New competitive business models may appear, for example based on new forms of social media or social commerce. Increased competition may reduce our margins and market share and impact brand recognition, or result in significant losses.

Some of our current or future competitors may have more operating experience, greater brand recognition, better supplier relationships, larger consumer bases, higher penetration in certain regions or greater financial, technical or marketing resources than we do. Those smaller companies or new entrants may be acquired by, receive investment from or enter into strategic relationships with well-established and well-financed companies or investors which would help enhance their competitive positions. Some of our competitors may be able to secure more favorable terms from suppliers, devote greater resources to marketing and promotional campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing or inventory policies and devote substantially more resources to their websites, mobile apps and systems development than us. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors, and competitive pressures may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

33


Table of Contents

We may not be able to sustain our historical growth rates.

We have experienced rapid growth since our inception in 2013. However, there is no assurance that we will be able to maintain our historical growth rates in future periods and it is difficult to evaluate our future prospects based on our historical performance. Our revenue growth may slow or our revenues may decline for any number of possible reasons and some of them are beyond our control, such as decreased consumer spending, increased competition, slowdown in the growth or contraction of the retail or online retail industry in China and around the world, emergence of alternative business models, changes in government policies or general economic conditions, and natural disasters or virus outbreaks. We will continue to expand our store network and product offerings and may explore new operating models to bring greater convenience and better experience to consumers and increase consumer base and number of transactions. Implementation of our expansion plan and execution of our new business initiatives are subject to uncertainty and the total number of SKUs sold and number of transacting consumers may not grow at the rate we expect for the reasons stated above. In addition, there may be particular complexities, regulatory or otherwise, associated with our expansion into new product categories or new markets. If our growth rate declines, investors’ perceptions of our business and business prospects may be adversely affected and the market price of our ADSs could decline.

Our return and exchange policies may negatively affect our results of operations.

We have adopted consumer-friendly return and exchange policies that make it convenient and easy for consumers to return or exchange the products they purchased. For example, MINISO stores in China typically allow consumers to return the products within seven days of purchase and exchange products within 15 days of purchase. For the products purchased on our online shopping mall, consumers generally have a term of 30 days to return or exchange products after a purchase. We may also be required by law to adopt new or amend existing return and exchange policies from time to time. These policies improve consumers’ shopping experience and promote consumer loyalty, which in turn help us acquire and retain consumers. However, these policies also subject us to additional costs and expenses which we may not recoup through increased revenue. Our ability to handle a large volume of returns is unproven. If our return and exchange policy is misused by a significant number of consumers, our costs may increase significantly and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. If we revise these policies to reduce our costs and expenses, consumers may be dissatisfied, which may result in loss of existing consumers or failure to acquire new consumers at a desirable pace, which may negatively affect our results of operations.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may lead to volatility in our results of operations.

Our operations in countries outside China are conducted primarily in the local currencies of those countries or regions. We prepare our consolidated financial statements in RMB for reporting purposes. Foreign currency-denominated amounts such as the US dollar, Euro, Japanese yen and other foreign currencies are translated into RMB using exchange rates for the current period. In recent years, fluctuations in currency exchange rates that were unfavorable have had adverse effects on our reported results of operations. As a result of such translations, fluctuations in currency exchange rates from period-to-period that are unfavorable to us may result in our consolidated financial statements reflecting significant adverse period-over-period changes in our financial performance or reflecting a period-over-period improvement in our financial performance that is not as robust as it would be without such fluctuations in the currency exchange rates. Such unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations will adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, foreign currency-denominated cash and cash equivalents are exposed to fluctuations in the value of RMB against the currencies in which these cash and cash equivalents are denominated. As a result of the fluctuations in currency exchange rate, we recorded net foreign exchange gain of RMB12.6 million and RMB14.2 million (US$2.0 million) for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

 

34


Table of Contents

We may purchase products or services with a currency other than the local currency. When we must acquire the currency to pay for such products or services and the exchange rates for the payment currency fluctuate in a manner unfavorable to us, our cost of sales may increase and we may be unable or unwilling to shift the costs to the products we sell, which will have an adverse effect on our gross profit. Consequently, unfavorable fluctuations in currency exchange rates have and may continue to adversely affect our results of operations.

Our success depends on the continuing and collaborative efforts of our management team and other key personnel, and our business may be severely disrupted if we lose their services.

Our success heavily depends upon the continued services of our management. In particular, we rely on the expertise and experience of Mr. Guofu Ye, our chairman and chief executive officer, and other executive officers. If one or more of our senior management were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we might not be able to replace them easily or at all, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. If any of our senior management joins a competitor or forms a competing business, we may lose consumers, suppliers, know-how and key professionals and staff members. Our senior management has entered into employment agreements and confidentiality and non-competition agreements with us. However, if any dispute arises between our officers and us, we may have to incur substantial costs and expenses in order to enforce such agreements or we may be unable to enforce them in a timely manner, or at all. In addition, there may have been negative publicities about our management, which could negatively affect our reputation, brand image and business operations. Furthermore, we do not have key-man insurance for any of our executive officers or other key personnel. Events or activities attributed to our executive officers or other key personnel, and related publicity, whether or not justified, may affect their ability or willingness to continue to serve our company or dedicate their full time and efforts to our company and negatively affect our brand and reputation, resulting in an adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

Competition for qualified personnel is often intense. If we are unable to recruit, train and retain sufficient qualified personnel while controlling our labor costs, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to continue to conduct and expand our operations depends on our ability to attract and retain a large and growing number of qualified personnel globally. Our ability to meet our labor needs, including our ability to find qualified personnel to fill positions that become vacant, while controlling labor costs, is generally subject to numerous external factors, including the availability of a sufficient number of qualified persons in the work force of the markets in which we operate, unemployment levels within those markets, prevailing wage rates, changing demographics, health and other insurance costs and adoption of new or revised employment and labor laws and regulations. If we are unable to locate, attract or retain qualified personnel, or manage leadership transition successfully, the quality of service we provide to consumers may decrease and our financial performance may be adversely affected. In addition, if our costs of labor or related costs increase for other reasons or if new or revised labor laws, rules or regulations or healthcare laws are adopted or implemented that further increase our labor costs, our financial performance could be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to conduct our marketing activities effectively, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We have incurred expenses on a variety of different marketing and brand promotion efforts designed to enhance our brand recognition and increase sales of our products. For example, we recently engaged two celebrities as our spokespersons to promote our brands. We incurred promotion and advertising expenses of RMB85.6 million and RMB128.4 million (US$18.2 million) for the fiscal

 

35


Table of Contents

years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. However, there is no assurance that our brand promotion and marketing activities will be well-received by consumers and result in the levels of product sales that we anticipate. Under extreme situations, our marketing efforts through celebrity endorsement may have a material adverse effect on our brand image. For example, any misconducts by our celebrity spokespersons or any negative publicities that our celebrity spokespersons are involved in, either directly or indirectly, may result in the public’s negative perception of our brands and thus adversely affect our reputation, business and results of operations. In addition, we have been continually promoting our brands and products in a very active manner. Certain consumers may perceive our MINISO brand and/or our products in different ways or even interpret our MINISO brand as a Japanese brand before learning more about our company, our brands and our products. If consumers or other parties claim that our marketing approach is misleading or otherwise improper, we may be subject to lawsuits or other legal proceedings, which would negatively affect our brand image, undermine the trust and credibility we have established and impose an adverse impact on our business. Marketing approaches and tools in the consumer products market in China are evolving, which further requires us to enhance our marketing approaches and experiment with new marketing methods to keep pace with industry developments and consumer preferences. Failure to refine our existing marketing approaches or to introduce new marketing approaches in a cost-effective manner could reduce our market share, cause our revenues to decline and negatively impact our profitability.

Unfavorable fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of raw materials to our third-party suppliers could cause material production delays or materially increase our cost of sales.

The success of our overall business depends in part on the ability of third-party suppliers to timely obtain sufficient quantities of the necessary raw materials, of sufficient quality, at commercially acceptable prices to process and manufacture our products. Generally, unfavorable fluctuations in price, quality, or availability of necessary raw materials could have a negative effect on our gross profit margins and our ability to deliver our products to the market in a timely manner. If supplies of the necessary raw materials substantially decrease or if there are significant increases in prices of such raw materials, our third-party suppliers may incur additional costs to acquire sufficient quantities of these materials in order to maintain our product offering schedules. We may have to increase the retail prices of our products due to the increase in their procurement prices. Moreover, increases in wages and labor costs in China and other countries in Asia may also lead to material increases in our cost of sales, thereby decreasing our gross profit margins. Any of the above may materially and adversely harm our business, brand image, financial condition, results of operations or reputation.

We may not be able to prevent others from unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We consider our copyrights, trademarks, trade names, internet domain names, patents and other intellectual property rights invaluable to our ability to continue to develop and enhance our brand recognition. We have invested significant resources to develop our own intellectual property. Failure to maintain or protect these rights could harm our business. We rely on a combination of patents, patent applications, trade secrets, including know-how, copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property licenses, contractual rights and any other agreements to establish and protect our proprietary rights in our products. In addition, we enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements with our employees and business partners. See “Business—Intellectual Property.” Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated. In addition, there can be no assurance that our patent and trademark applications will be approved, that any issued patents or registered trademarks will adequately protect our intellectual property, or that such patents and trademarks will not be challenged by third parties or found by a judicial authority to be invalid or unenforceable. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory

 

36


Table of Contents

interpretation. Confidentiality, invention assignment and non-compete agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights.

Due to the popularity of our products and our brand recognition in the retail industry in China, we have become an attractive target of copycat. We have seen copycat products on the market that attempt to cause confusion or diversion of consumer traffic from us. We have also brought a lawsuit against a third party that infringed our trademark rights and engaged in unfair competition. Any unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties may adversely affect our current and future revenues and our reputation. However, preventing unauthorized uses of intellectual property rights could be difficult, costly and time-consuming and the steps we take may be inadequate to prevent the infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managerial and financial resources, and could put our intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or narrowed in scope. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation, and even if we do prevail, we may not obtain a meaningful recovery. In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors. Any failure in maintaining, protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may need to defend ourselves against patent, trademark or other proprietary rights infringement or unfair competition claims, which may be time-consuming and would cause us to incur substantial costs. We may also suffer from negative publicities relating to intellectual property infringement claims.

Companies, organizations or individuals, including our competitors, may hold or obtain patents, trademarks or other proprietary rights that would prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. Additionally, we may receive from time to time letters alleging infringement of patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights by us and we may be involved in intellectual property right infringement claims. For example, we have been and may continue to be involved in intellectual property lawsuits, in particular, lawsuits alleging that certain of our products infringed other parties’ utility model patents or design patents. Some of those claims involve products that were designed by our suppliers or third-party designers. We have provisions in our agreements with suppliers or third-party designers requiring them to indemnify us all costs and expenses arising from claims that the products they manufacture or design infringe third parties’ intellectual property rights. Furthermore, historically certain of our subsidiaries, related parties, franchisee stores were involved in disputes regarding trademark, copyright and unfair competition with third parties and we may continue to be involved in such disputes or subject to lawsuits.

Intellectual property related negative publicities, with or without merits, may also harm our brand image and reputation. For example, there are negative publicities alleging that our company logo involves plagiarism. Although our company logo has been duly registered as a trademark and we are not involved in any intellectual property lawsuits relating to our company logo, these negative publicities could still adversely affect our brand image and reputation.

Additionally, our applications and uses of intellectual property rights relating to our design, product, software or other technologies could be found to infringe upon existing intellectual property ownership and rights. We may also fail to own or apply for key trademarks in a timely fashion, or at all, which may damage our reputation and brand.

 

37


Table of Contents

We rely on our information systems to process transactions, summarize results and manage our business. Any malfunction of our systems could harm our ability to conduct our operations.

We depend on a variety of information technology systems, including systems owned and managed by third-party vendors, for the efficient functioning of our business, including, without limitation, transaction processing and the management of our employees, facilities, logistics, inventories, stores and client-facing digital applications and operations. See “Business—Technology capabilities” for more information. Our technology systems may not deliver desired results or may do so on a delayed schedule. For example, when we first installed our major store operation system, SAP Enterprise Resource Planning system, or SAP ERP system, to certain MINISO stores upon entering into a new overseas market, our SAP ERP system experienced functionality issues. Although such issues were resolved in a timely manner, we cannot assure you we would not encounter similar issues in the future. In addition, large volume transaction during peak seasons such as Chinese New Year could also cause functionality issues of our SAP ERP system or system of other third-parties that are connected to our SAP ERP system. Any improper functioning of our SAP ERP system could cause interruptions of store operations. Daily operations of MINISO stores relies on SAP ERP system. If we are unable to maintain our cooperation with the provider of our SAP ERP system, we may not be able continue to effectively use such SAP ERP system in our business operations and we may also not be able to find any suitable alternatives at commercially reasonable terms in a timely manner. As a result, our business operations, results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected. Additionally, our technology systems are subject to damage or interruption from power surges and outages, facility damage, physical theft, computer and telecommunications failures, inadequate or ineffective redundancy, malicious code (including computer viruses, worms, ransomware, or similar), cyberattacks (including account compromise; phishing; denial of service attacks; and application, network or system vulnerability exploitation), software upgrade failures or code defects, natural disasters and human error. Design defects or damage or interruption to these systems may require a significant investment to fix or replace, disrupt our operations, result in the loss or corruption of critical data, and harm our reputation, all of which could materially adversely affect our business or results of operations.

We also rely heavily on our information technology staff. Failure to meet these staffing needs may negatively affect our ability to fulfill our technology initiatives while continuing to provide maintenance on existing systems. We rely on third parties to maintain and periodically upgrade many of these systems so that they can continue to support our business. We license the software programs supporting many of our systems from independent software developers. The inability of these vendors, developers or us to continue to maintain and upgrade these systems and software programs could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations if we were unable to convert to alternate systems in an efficient and timely manner and could expose us to greater risk of a cyberattack. In addition, costs and delays associated with the implementation of new or upgraded systems and technology, including the migration of applications to the cloud, or with maintenance or adequate support of existing systems also could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations, fail to operate as designed, result in the potential loss or corruption of data or information, disrupt operations and affect our ability to meet business and reporting requirements and adversely affect our profitability.

If we fail to adopt new technologies to cater to changing consumer requirements or emerging industry standards, or if our efforts to invest in the development of new technologies are unsuccessful or ineffective, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

To remain competitive, we need to continue to stay abreast of evolving industry trends and to enhance and improve our technology accordingly. Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to identify, develop, acquire or license leading technologies useful in our business, and respond to

 

38


Table of Contents

technological advances and emerging industry standards and practices in a cost-effective and timely way. In recent years, we invested in the development of many new technologies and business initiatives. See “Business—Technology capabilities.” The investments in new technologies entail significant technical and business risks. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully develop or effectively use new technologies, recoup the costs of developing new technologies or adapt our websites, mobile apps, proprietary technologies and systems to meet consumer requirements or emerging industry standards. If we are unable to develop technologies successfully or adapt in a cost-effective and timely manner in response to changing market conditions or consumer requirements, whether for technical, legal, financial or other reasons, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Failure to protect personal or confidential information against security breaches could subject us to significant reputational, financial and legal consequences and substantially harm our business and results of operations.

The protection of consumer, employee, supplier, MINISO Retail Partner, local distributors and company data is critical to our business. A significant breach of consumer, employee, supplier, MINISO Retail Partner, local distributor or company data could attract a substantial amount of media attention, damage our relationships with consumers and our reputation and result in lost sales, fines or lawsuits. Throughout our operations, we receive, retain and transmit certain personal information that consumers provide to purchase products or services, enroll in promotional programs, participate in our membership program, or otherwise communicate and interact with us. To enhance store security and better understand consumers’ consumption preference, we have engaged service providers to collect consumers’ personal information in MINISO stores in China through the application of certain new technologies. During such information collection process, we take necessary steps and strive to comply with relevant PRC laws and regulations with respect to privacy and personal data protection. If we fail to fully comply with applicable privacy, data security and personal information protection laws, regulations, policies or other requirements, we may be subject to civil or regulatory liabilities or challenged for a potential infringement which may subject us to significant legal, financial and operational consequences.

In addition, certain aspects of our operations depend upon the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. Although we deploy a layered approach to address information security threats and vulnerabilities designed to protect confidential information against data security breaches, a compromise of our data security systems or of those of businesses with whom we interact, which results in confidential information being accessed, obtained, damaged or used by unauthorized or improper persons, could harm our reputation and expose us to regulatory actions and claims from consumers, financial institutions, payment card associations and other persons, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations. In addition, a security breach could require that we expend substantial additional resources related to the security of information systems and disrupt our business.

As we implement our e-commerce initiative, we face heightened risks in the secure storage of confidential information and its secure transmission over public networks. For the orders and payments made through our e-commerce channels, consumers’ personal information is collected. Online payments for our products are settled through third-party online payment services. We also share certain personal information about consumers with contracted third-party couriers, such as their names, addresses, phone numbers and transaction records. In addition, we have accumulated a large volume of data, which cover consumer’s browsing and consumption behavior information, product manufacturing and sales information, warehousing and distribution information, consumer service information, among others. Maintaining complete security for the storage and transmission of confidential information on our technology system is essential to maintaining our operating efficiency and consumer confidence as well as complying with the applicable laws and standards.

 

39


Table of Contents

We have adopted security policies and measures, including encryption technology, to protect our proprietary data and consumer information. However, advances in technology, the expertise of hackers, improper use or sharing of data, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology that we use to protect confidential information. Our security measures may be undermined due to the actions of outside parties, employee error, malfeasance, or otherwise, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our data systems and misappropriate business and personal information. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems change frequently and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Any such breach or unauthorized access could result in significant legal and financial exposure, damage to our reputation, and potentially have an adverse effect on our business.

The regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding, with the frequent imposition of new and changing requirements. In China, the PRC Constitution, the PRC Criminal Law, the General Principles of the PRC Civil Law and the PRC Cyber Security Law protect individual privacy in general, which require certain authorization or consent from Internet users prior to collection, use or disclosure of their personal data and also protection of the security of the personal data of such users. As we implement our e-commerce initiative and promote our loyalty programs in overseas market, we may become subject to new laws and regulations applying to the solicitation, collection, processing or use of personal or consumer information that could affect how we store, process and share data with consumers, suppliers and other third parties. For example, in May 2018 the European Union’s new regulation governing data practices and privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation, or the GDPR, became effective and substantially replaced the data protection laws of the individual European Union member states. The law requires companies to meet more stringent requirements regarding the handling of personal data of individuals in the EU than were required under predecessor EU requirements. In the United Kingdom, a Data Protection Bill that substantially implements the GDPR also became law in May 2018. The law also increases the penalties for non-compliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to 20.0 million Euros or 4% of a company’s worldwide turnover, whichever is higher. In the United States, various federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory organizations, may expand current laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding privacy, data protection, information security. For example, California recently enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, which, among other things, requires new disclosures to California consumers and afford such consumers new abilities to opt out of certain sales of personal information. Outside of the European Union and the U.S., many countries and territories have laws, regulations, or other requirements relating to privacy, data protection, information security, and consumer protection, and new countries and territories are adopting such legislation or other obligations with increasing frequency. Compliance with changes in privacy and information security laws and standards may result in significant expense due to increased investment in technology and the development of new operational processes. If we or those with whom we share information fail to comply with these laws and regulations or experience a data security breach, our reputation could be damaged and we could be subject to additional litigation and regulatory risks.

We may, from time to time, be subject to legal proceedings during the course of our business operations. Our directors, management, shareholders and employees may also from time to time be subject to legal proceedings, which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.

From time to time, we are subject to allegations, and may be party to legal claims and regulatory proceedings, relating to our business operations inside and outside China, such as our cooperation with MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, suppliers, landlords or other third parties, labor disputes

 

40


Table of Contents

with our employees, intellectual property infringement claims, product defect claims, and tort claims. Such allegations, claims and proceedings may be brought by third parties, including consumers, suppliers, employees, business partners, governmental or regulatory bodies, competitors or other third parties, and may include class actions. For example, we are currently involved in certain labor disputes and intellectual property infringement claims, and disputes with MINISO Retail Partners in the United States. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action lawsuits, is difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits may seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, and the magnitude of the potential loss relating to such lawsuits may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. We may incur significant expenses related to such proceedings, which may negatively affect our operating results if changes to our business operations are required. There may also be negative publicity associated with litigation that could decrease consumer acceptance of our product offerings, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or whether we are ultimately found liable. In addition, our directors, management, shareholders and employees may from time to time be subject to litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings and/or negative publicity or otherwise face potential liability and expense in relation to commercial, labor, employment, securities or other matters, which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. As a result, litigation may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or liquidity.

After we become a publicly listed company, we may face additional exposure to claims and lawsuits. These claims could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate and defend, regardless of the merits of the claims. In some instances, we may elect or be forced to pay substantial damages if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to defend against these claims, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may make acquisitions, establish joint ventures and conduct other strategic investments, which may not be successful.

To further expand our business and strengthen our market-leading position, we may tap into new market opportunities or enter into new markets by forming strategic alliances or making strategic investments and acquisitions. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including difficulties in integrating the operations and personnel of the acquired companies, distraction of management from overseeing our existing operations, difficulties in executing new business initiatives, entering markets or lines of business in which we have no or limited direct prior experience, the possible loss of key employees and consumers and difficulties in achieving the synergies we anticipated or levels of revenue, profitability, productivity or other benefits we expected. These transactions may also cause us to significantly increase our interest expense, leverage and debt service requirements if we incur additional debt to pay for an acquisition or investment, issue common stock that would dilute our current shareholders’ percentage ownership, or incur asset write-offs and restructuring costs and other related expenses. Acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investments involve numerous other risks, including potential exposure to unknown liabilities of acquired or investee companies. In connection with acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic investments outside China, we may from time to time, in some instances enter into foreign currency contracts or other derivative instruments to hedge some or all of the foreign currency fluctuation risks, which subjects us to the risks associated with such derivative contracts and instruments. No assurance can be given that our acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic investments will be successful and will not materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Any lack of requisite approvals, licenses or permits applicable to our business may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In accordance with the relevant laws and regulations in jurisdictions in which we operate, we are required to maintain various approvals, licenses, permits and filings to operate our business, including

 

41


Table of Contents

but not limited to business license, food operation license, commercial franchise filing, and fire safety inspection. These approvals, licenses, permits and filings are obtained upon satisfactory compliance with, among other things, the applicable laws and regulations.

As of the date of this prospectus, we, as a franchiser engaging in franchise activities in relation to our core brand “MINISO,” had completed commercial franchise filing pursuant to relevant PRC laws. In addition, we also franchised other parties to engage in business operations using our “WonderLife” brand. As advised by JunHe LLP, our PRC legal adviser, PRC laws and regulations require a franchiser to have at least two directly operated stores and has operated each of the two directly operated stores for over one year before engaging in franchising activities. Our PRC legal adviser also advised us that a franchiser is required to make filings with relevant government authorities within 15 days after entering into the first franchising agreement. When we engaged in franchising activities under “WonderLife” brand, we did not satisfy the legal requirement mentioned above, nor did we make relevant filings on time. As advised by our PRC legal adviser, if a franchiser engages in franchising activities without meeting the legal requirement mentioned above, relevant government authority may require such franchiser to make rectifications, confiscate incomes from illegal operations, impose a fine ranging from RMB100,000 to RMB500,000, and make announcements. We are currently making adjustments to our business operations under “WonderLife” brand so as to carry out relevant activities in a compliant manner. We established our first directly operated “WonderLife” store in June 2020, which is expected to commence operation in September 2020. We plan to establish and operate the second directly operated store in the fourth quarter of 2020 and make the commercial franchise filing one year after the commencement of operation of these two stores. Before we are in full compliance with relevant legal requirements, we may be subject to a confiscation of all franchise fees we have received since June 2018, the date when we commenced commercial franchising activities under “WonderLife” brand, and are going to receive in the future until we are in full compliance. In addition, we may also be imposed a maximum aggregate fine up to RMB500,000.

In addition, as of the date of this prospectus, we have not obtained the certificate for fire control inspection for one of our directly operated MINISO stores in China. As a result, such store may be subject to fines or suspension of operations. We are taking rectification measures now, but we cannot assure you that such non-compliance can be rectified in a timely manner. There is also a likelihood that we may have to relocate to other premises to continue the operations of such MINISO store.

If government authorities in jurisdictions where we operate require additional licenses or permits or provides more strict supervision requirements in the future, or if we have to obtain relevant licenses or permits in a short period of time, there is no guarantee that we would be able to obtain such licenses or permits or meet all the supervision requirements in a timely manner, or at all.

We are subject to risks in relation to our business reorganizations.

We have conducted a few business reorganizations. See “Corporate History and Structure—Corporate History—Reorganizations.” We may in the future continue to reorganize our business or conduct other reorganization transactions. Conducting reorganization transactions involve risks and uncertainties. We cannot assure you that all business reorganization transactions we have completed or will conduct in the future will yield our expected results, provide anticipated strategic benefits or otherwise enhance shareholder value. We may even not be able to complete contemplated transaction as planned due to a number of factors that may be beyond our control, including, among other factors, market conditions, industry trends, the interest of third parties in our business, shareholder approval and the availability of financing. The process of exploring strategic alternatives may be time consuming and disruptive to our business operations. Reorganization transactions may also lead to loss of qualified employees. Although we have disposed of certain of our business operations, we cannot assure you that we would not be negatively affected by such discontinued operations. Any business

 

42


Table of Contents

practice or operational activity engaged by the discontinued operations or other parties that were involved in our business reorganizations, if challenged as inconsistent with best practice, improper or unlawful, may have a negative impact on our reputation due to the historical association or involvement in the reorganizations. For any new business we may acquire in the future, there may also be potential liabilities that we may not be able to discover in a timely manner, which may also negatively affect our business operations. If we are unable to effectively manage risks and uncertainties in connection with reorganization transactions, our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations could be adversely affected.

If we fail to remediate our material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.

Prior to this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The material weakness identified is our company’s lack of sufficient financial reporting and accounting personnel with an appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the application of IFRS and SEC reporting requirements to formalize, implement and operate key controls over financial reporting process in order to prepare, review and report financial information, and to properly address complex accounting issues and related disclosures in accordance with IFRS and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC. The material weakness, if not remediated timely, may lead to material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements in the future. Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control for purposes of identifying and reporting material weaknesses and other control deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional deficiencies may have been identified.

Following the identification of the material weakness and other significant control deficiencies, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remediate these deficiencies. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address these deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, and we cannot conclude that they have been fully remediated. Our failure to correct these deficiencies or our failure to discover and address any other deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our financial statements and impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could significantly hinder our ability to prevent fraud.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will be subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, requires that we include a report from management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report in our second annual report on Form 20-F after becoming

 

43


Table of Contents

a public company. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue an adverse report if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, once we have become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. Generally speaking, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, it could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and could also impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. As a result, our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as the trading price of the ADSs, may be materially and adversely affected. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

Our leased property interest may be defective and such defects may negatively affect our right to such leases.

We currently lease several premises in China. Ownership certificates or other similar proof of certain leased properties have not been provided to us by the relevant lessors. Therefore, we cannot assure you that such lessors are entitled to lease the relevant real properties to us. It is also likely that the construction of such leased properties was illegal and such properties may be ordered by relevant government authorities to be demolished. If any of the foregoing happens, we may not be able to continue to use such leased properties and have to relocate to other premises. We cannot assure you that suitable alternative locations are readily available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and if we are unable to relocate our operations in a timely manner, our operations may be adversely affected. In addition, we also lease properties in other jurisdictions and may be subject to similar issues or risks.

In addition, under the PRC laws and regulations, all lease agreements are required to be registered with the local land and real estate administration bureau. The lease agreements for some of our leased properties in China have not been registered with the relevant PRC government authorities. Although failure to do so does not in itself invalidate the leases, we may be subject to fines if we fail to rectify such non-compliance within the prescribed time frame after receiving notice from the relevant PRC government authorities. The penalty ranges from RMB1,000 to RMB10,000 for each unregistered lease, at the discretion of the relevant authority. In the event that any fine is imposed on us for our failure to register our lease agreements, we may not be able to recover such losses from the lessors.

We have limited insurance coverage, which could expose us to significant costs.

We maintain certain insurance policies to safeguard against various risks and unexpected events associated with our business and operations, including property insurance covering inventory and

 

44


Table of Contents

warehouse. Miniso Hong Kong Limited also maintains commercial general liability insurance. We also provide social security insurance including pension insurance, unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance, maternity insurance and medical insurance for our employees. Additionally, we provide accident insurance for certain employees we dispatched to overseas countries. However, insurance companies in China currently offer limited business-related insurance products. We do not maintain business interruption insurance, nor do we maintain key-man life insurance. We cannot assure you that our insurance coverage is sufficient to prevent us from any loss or that we will be able to successfully claim our losses under our current insurance policy on a timely basis, or at all. If we incur any loss that is not covered by our insurance policies, or the compensated amount is significantly less than our actual loss, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may need additional capital, and financing may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all.

We believe our cash and cash equivalents and our anticipated cash flows from operations will be sufficient to meet our current and anticipated needs for general corporate purposes for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, need additional cash resources in the future if we experience changes in business conditions or other developments. We may also need additional cash resources in the future if we find and wish to pursue opportunities for investment, acquisition, capital expenditure or similar actions. If we determine in the future that our cash requirements exceed the amount of cash and cash equivalents we have on hand, we may seek to issue equity or equity linked securities or obtain debt financing. The issuance and sale of additional equity would result in further dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could result in operating covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

We have granted, and may continue to grant, options and other types of awards under our share incentive plan, which may result in increased equity-settled share-based payment expenses.

In order to attract and retain qualified employees, provide incentives to our directors and employees, and promote the success of our business, we have granted share incentive awards to our directors, officers and employees. As of the date of this prospectus, 77,184,632 restricted shares and option to purchase 9,394,000 ordinary shares had been granted and outstanding, excluding restricted shares or options that were forfeited or canceled after the relevant grant dates. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, we recorded RMB122.1 million and RMB364.4 million (US$51.6 million) in equity-settled share-based payment expenses, respectively.

We believe the granting of share-based awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based awards to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with equity-settled share-based payment expenses may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Changes in international trade policies, or the escalation of tensions in international relations, particularly with regard to China, may adversely impact our business and operating results.

Recently there have been heightened tensions in international relations. The U.S. government has made statements and taken certain actions that may lead to potential changes to U.S. and international trade policies towards China. In January 2020, the “Phase One” agreement was signed between the United States and China on trade matters. However, it remains unclear what additional actions, if any, will be taken by the U.S. or other governments with respect to international trade

 

45


Table of Contents

agreements, the imposition of tariffs on goods imported into the U.S., tax policy related to international commerce, or other trade matters. Any unfavorable government policies on international trade, such as capital controls or tariffs, or the U.S. dollar payment and settlement system may affect the demand for our products, impact the competitive position of our products, prevent us from selling products in certain countries, or even our participation in the U.S. dollar payment and settlement system, which would materially and adversely affect our international operations, results of operations and financial condition. If any new tariffs, legislation and/or regulations are implemented, or if existing trade agreements are renegotiated or, in particular, if the U.S. government takes retaliatory trade actions due to the recent U.S.-China trade tension, such changes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Recently, the U.S. government escalated tensions between the U.S. and China by revoking Hong Kong’s special trading status and further sanctioning Chinese companies such as Huawei. In addition, the tension between China and India as a result of border clashes between troops of China and India have also resulted in a number of mobile apps developed by Chinese companies and operated in India being banned by the Indian government. We are unable to predict how international relations between China and other countries will develop. To the extent tensions in international relations between China and other countries escalate, our international operations, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, financial and economic sanctions and similar laws, and noncompliance with such laws can subject us to administrative, civil and criminal fines and penalties, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, financial and economic sanctions and similar laws and regulations in various jurisdictions in which we conduct activities, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. Any non-compliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering or financial and economic sanctions laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, and severe administrative, civil and criminal sanctions, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

We sell our products to many countries or regions. Certain countries, regions, or individual counterparties with which we trade or operate in, or may trade or operate in the future, may be or become the subject of economic sanctions of one or more countries that may have jurisdiction over all or portions of our operations. Although we have adopted a policy of complying with all sanctions laws applicable to us, we have operations in a large number of countries, and there is no assurance we will be successful in complying with these types of laws, including sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls, or OFAC, Her Majesty’s Treasury of the United Kingdom, the European Union and its Member States, and others.

In particular, in early 2017, our Hong Kong branch entered into a five-year international agency contract with a North Korean company under which the North Korean company purchased our products and operated a store in Pyongyang, North Korea under the “Miniso” brand. We terminated the international agency contract and our relationship with the North Korean company in August 2017. During this brief period in 2017, we sold approximately RMB0.6 million in store decoration materials and products to the North Korean company.

North Korea is subject to sanctions programs implemented and enforced by various jurisdictions, including China, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States. Certain of these sanctions were enacted

 

46


Table of Contents

pursuant to resolutions of the United Nations Securities Council, or the UNSC. These UNSC resolutions direct United Nations member states to implement sanctions on North Korea, including prohibitions on exports of luxury goods and the formation of joint ventures. While sanctions are implemented and enforced at the national level, the sanctions are monitored by a UN Panel of Experts for North Korea, which periodically issues public reports that include information on observed violations of the sanctions and encourages member states to bring enforcement actions.

A report from the UN Panel of Experts for North Korea dated March 5, 2018 included information about the Miniso brand store in Pyongyang as a possible violation of the sanctions prohibiting the sale of luxury goods and the establishment and maintenance of joint ventures. A second report from the UN Panel of Experts dated March 5, 2019 noted the continued operation of the Pyongyang store (as of July 2018) and the existence of a possible joint venture between us and the North Korean company as a violation of sanctions. Subsequent to our being named in the UN reports, we provided cease and desist letters to the North Korean company instructing them to cease using our brand name or trade dress; we also contacted the UN Panel of Experts to explain that our exports to North Korea were not luxury goods, that we had terminated our relationship with the North Korean company in August 2017, and that we had not entered into any joint venture with a North Korean company. We were also contacted by Hong Kong and Japanese enforcement authorities and provided them with similar information. Although we have terminated the international agency contract and our relationship with the North Korean company and provided cease and desist letters to the North Korean company instructing it to cease using our brand name or trade dress, the North Korean company may not follow our instruction and continue to illegally use our brand name or trade dress in the North Korea.

We may be subject to sanctions enforcement actions as a result of our prior sales to North Korea or other activities, which could subject us to fines or other civil or criminal penalties and could be material to our results of operations. Although we have not been named in the subsequent UN reports issued in August 2019 and March 2020, we cannot assure you that we will not be named in any UN reports or subject to other sanctions in the future. If that were to happen, our international operations, results of operations, financial condition, or even our participation in the U.S. dollar payment and settlement system would be materially and adversely affected. The United States has also since September of 2017 maintained a “secondary sanctions” regime against North Korea, pursuant to which there is authority to impose U.S. blocking sanctions against entities engaged in targeted transactions involving North Korea, including any significant exportation of goods, services, or technology to North Korea, whether or not such transactions fall within U.S. jurisdiction in any way. Imposition of U.S. blocking sanctions against us would effectively exclude us from the U.S. dollar economy and would have a materially adverse effect on our business.

Furthermore, any violation of economic sanctions, or even an alleged or suspected violation, could harm our reputation and cause financial institutions or other counterparties to refuse to do business with us. Our relationships with very few international financial institutions have been affected as a result of the UN reports, as they have sought details about our business with sanctioned parties, and future events could have a further impact. Such events could also cause some investors to sell or avoid purchasing our securities, to be consistent with their internal investment policies or to avoid reputational damage. All of these may negatively affect our business, our results of operations, or the trading price of our ADSs. In addition, changes in economic sanctions laws in the future could also adversely impact our business and investments in the ADSs.

 

47


Table of Contents

Natural disasters and unusual weather conditions, power outages, pandemic outbreaks, terrorist acts, global political events and other serious catastrophic events could disrupt business and result in lower sales and otherwise materially adversely affect our financial performance.

In addition to the impact of COVID-19, natural disasters, such as fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, unusual weather conditions, power outages, other pandemic outbreaks, terrorist acts or disruptive global political events, or similar disruptions could materially adversely affect our business and financial performance. Uncharacteristic or significant weather conditions can affect consumer shopping patterns, which could lead to lost sales or greater than expected markdowns and materially adversely affect our results of operations. These events could result in server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability to operate our platforms and sell our products. These events could also result in increases in fuel (or other energy) prices or a fuel shortage, delays in opening new stores, the temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, the temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of products from some domestic and overseas suppliers, the temporary disruption in the transport of goods to overseas, delay or increased transportation costs in the delivery of goods to our warehouses or stores, the inability of consumers to reach or have transportation to stores directly affected by such events, the temporary reduction in the availability of products in stores and disruption of our utility services or to our information systems. These events also can have indirect consequences such as increases in the costs of insurance if they result in significant loss of property or other insurable damage. To the extent these events result in the closure of one or more of stores or our administrative offices or impact one or more of our key suppliers, our operations and financial performance could be materially adversely affected. Our headquarters is located in Guangzhou, where most of our directors and management and the majority of our employees currently reside. Most of our system hardware and back-up systems are hosted in facilities located in Guangzhou. Consequently, if any natural disasters, health epidemics or other public safety concerns were to affect Guangzhou, our operation may experience material disruptions, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

A majority of our operations are located in China. Accordingly, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.

The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China are still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

 

48


Table of Contents

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The retail industry is highly sensitive to general economic changes. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the Chinese government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to a reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed since 2010, and the impact of COVID-19 on the global and Chinese economy in 2020 is likely to be severe. Any prolonged slowdown in the global and Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our products and services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.

The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value.

Our PRC subsidiaries are foreign-invested enterprises and are subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign-invested enterprises as well as various Chinese laws and regulations generally applicable to companies incorporated in China. However, since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and which may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, and any failure to respond to changes in the regulatory environment in China could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

Litigation and negative publicity surrounding China-based companies listed in the U.S. may result in increased regulatory scrutiny of us and negatively impact the trading price of the ADSs and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, including our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and prospects.

We believe that litigation and negative publicity surrounding companies with operations in China that are listed in the U.S. have negatively impacted stock prices for such companies. Various equity-based research organizations have published reports on China-based companies after examining, among other things, their corporate governance practices, related party transactions, sales practices and financial statements that have led to special investigations and stock suspensions on national

 

49


Table of Contents

exchanges. Any similar scrutiny of us, regardless of its lack of merit, could result in a diversion of management resources and energy, potential costs to defend ourselves against rumors, decreases and volatility in the ADS trading price, and increased directors and officers insurance premiums and could have a material adverse effect upon our business, including our results of operations, financial condition, cash flows and prospects.

We may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and service any debt we may incur. Current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated after-tax profits upon satisfaction of relevant statutory conditions and procedures, if any, determined in accordance with Chinese accounting standards and regulations. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds until the total amount set aside reaches 50% of its registered capital. For a detailed discussion of applicable PRC regulations governing distribution of dividends, see “Regulation—Regulation Related to Foreign Exchange and Dividend Distribution—Regulation on Dividend Distribution.” Additionally, if our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

To address the persistent capital outflow and the Renminbi’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter of 2016, the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, have implemented a series of capital control measures in the subsequent months, including stricter vetting procedures for China-based companies to remit foreign currency for overseas acquisitions, dividend payments and shareholder loan repayments. For instance, the Circular on Promoting the Reform of Foreign Exchange Management and Improving Authenticity and Compliance Review, or the SAFE Circular 3, issued on January 26, 2017, provides that the banks shall, when dealing with dividend remittance transactions from domestic enterprise to its offshore shareholders of more than US$50,000, review the relevant board resolutions, original tax filing form and audited financial statements of such domestic enterprise based on the principal of genuine transaction. The PRC government may continue to strengthen its capital controls and our PRC subsidiaries’ dividends and other distributions may be subject to tightened scrutiny in the future. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

In addition, the Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules provide that a withholding tax at a rate of 10% will be applicable to dividends payable by Chinese companies to non-PRC-resident enterprises unless reduced under treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions where the non-PRC resident enterprises are tax resident. See “—If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.”

 

50


Table of Contents

Increases in labor costs and enforcement of stricter labor laws and regulations in China may adversely affect our business and our profitability.

China’s overall economy and the average wage in China have increased in recent years and are expected to continue to grow. The average wage level for our employees has also increased in recent years. We expect that our labor costs, including wages and employee benefits, will continue to increase. Unless we are able to pass on these increased labor costs to those who pay for our services, our profitability and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, we have been subject to stricter regulatory requirements in terms of entering into labor contracts with our employees and paying various statutory employee benefits, including pensions, housing fund, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance to designated government agencies for the benefit of our employees. Pursuant to the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules, employers are subject to stricter requirements in terms of signing labor contracts, minimum wages, paying remuneration, determining the term of employee’s probation and unilaterally terminating labor contracts. In the event that we decide to terminate some of our employees or otherwise change our employment or labor practices, the PRC Labor Contract Law and its implementation rules may limit our ability to effect those changes in a desirable or cost-effective manner, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

In October 2010, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the PRC Social Insurance Law, effective on July 1, 2011 and amended on December 29, 2018. On April 3, 1999, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Funds, which was amended on March 24, 2002 and March 24, 2019. Companies registered and operating in China are required under the Social Insurance Law and the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Funds to apply for social insurance registration and housing fund deposit registration within 30 days of their establishment and to pay for their employees different social insurance including pension insurance, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance to the extent required by law. We could be subject to orders by the competent labor authorities for rectification and failure to comply with the orders may further subject us to administrative fines.

As the interpretation and implementation of labor-related laws and regulations are still evolving, we cannot assure you that our employment practices do not and will not violate labor-related laws and regulations in China, which may subject us to labor disputes or government investigations. We cannot assure you that we have complied or will be able to comply with all labor-related law and regulations including those relating to obligations to make social insurance payments and contribute to the housing provident funds. If we are deemed to have violated relevant labor laws and regulations, we could be required to provide additional compensation to our employees and our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material and adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. The value of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in China’s political and economic conditions and by China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. We cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or

 

51


Table of Contents

PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Any significant appreciation or depreciation of Renminbi may materially and adversely affect our revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. For example, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive into Renminbi to pay our operating expenses, appreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, a significant depreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce the U.S. dollar equivalent of our earnings, which in turn could adversely affect the price of our ADSs.

Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.

PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our offshore offerings to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries subject to the approval from governmental authorities and limitation of amount, or we may make additional capital contributions to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China. Any loans to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China, which are treated as foreign-invested enterprises under PRC law, are subject to PRC regulations and foreign exchange loan registrations. For example, loans by us to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits, i.e., the difference between its total amount of investment and its registered capital, or certain amount calculated based on elements including capital or net assets and the cross-border financing leverage ratio (“Macro-prudential Management Mode”) under relevant PRC laws and the loans must be registered with the local counterpart of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, or filed with SAFE in its information system. According to the Circular of the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Adjusting the Macro-prudent Adjustment Parameter for Cross-border Financing issued on March 11, 2020, the limit for the total amount of foreign debt under the Macro-prudential Management Mode is increased to two and a half times from two times of their respective net assets. Moreover, any medium or long-term loan to be provided by us to our PRC subsidiaries must also be registered with the NDRC.

We may also decide to finance our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China by means of capital contributions. These capital contributions shall go through registration procedures from competent administration for market regulation. SAFE issued the Circular on the Management Concerning the Reform of the Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, which took effect on June 1, 2015. SAFE Circular 19 allows for the use of RMB converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital for equity investments in the PRC provided that such usage shall fall into the scope of business of the foreign-invested enterprise, which will be regarded as the reinvestment of foreign-invested enterprise. In addition, SAFE promulgated the Circular Regarding Further Promotion of the Facilitation of Cross-Border Trade and

 

52


Table of Contents

Investment on October 23, 2019, or SAFE Circular 28, pursuant to which all foreign-invested enterprises can make equity investments in the PRC with their capital funds in accordance with the law. As SAFE Circular 28 is new and the relevant government authorities have broad discretion in interpreting the regulation, it is unclear whether SAFE will permit such capital funds to be used for equity investments in the PRC in actual practice.

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or record-filings on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans to our PRC subsidiaries or future capital contributions by us to our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China. As a result, uncertainties exist as to our ability to provide prompt financial support to our PRC subsidiaries when needed. If we fail to complete such registrations or record-filings, our ability to use foreign currency, including the proceeds we received from our initial public offering, and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize cash generated from our revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our revenues are dominated in RMB. Under our current corporate structure, our company in the Cayman Islands may rely on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China are able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from SAFE, subject to the condition that the remittance of such dividends outside of the PRC complies with certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation, such as the overseas investment registrations by our shareholders or the ultimate shareholders of our corporate shareholders who are PRC residents. But approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities or delegated banks is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us or our PRC resident beneficial owners to liability and penalties under PRC law.

SAFE requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. In addition, such PRC residents or entities must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes certain material events. According to the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Policies for the Foreign Exchange Administration of Direct Investment released on February 13, 2015 by the SAFE, local banks will examine and handle foreign exchange registration for overseas direct investment, including the initial foreign exchange registration and amendment registration, under SAFE Circular 37 from June 1, 2015. See

 

53


Table of Contents

“Regulation—Regulation Related to Foreign Exchange and Dividend Distribution—Regulation on Foreign Currency Exchange.”

We are committed to complying with and to ensuring that our shareholders and beneficial owners who are subject to these regulations will comply with the relevant SAFE rules and regulations. However, due to inherent uncertainty in the implementation of the regulatory requirements by the PRC authorities, such registration might not be always practically available in all circumstances as provided in those regulations. As of the date of this prospectus, Mr. Guofu Ye, Mr. Minxin Li and Ms. Yunyun Yang, who directly or indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company, have completed the initial foreign exchange registrations and are communicating with the bank designated by SAFE regarding updating their registration as required in connection with a recent restructuring of their respective offshore special purpose vehicles, which may not be completed in a timely manner, or at all.

In addition, we have notified all shareholders or beneficial owners who directly or indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company and are known to us as being PRC residents to complete their registration with or to obtain approval by the local SAFE, the National Development and Reform Commission, or the NDRC, or MOC branches. However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents holding direct or indirect interests in our company, nor can we compel our beneficial owners to comply with applicable registration or approval requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents have complied with, and will in the future make, obtain or update any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE, NDRC and MOC regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE, NDRC and MOC regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

China’s M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for certain acquisitions of PRC companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

A number of PRC laws and regulations have established procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. In addition to the Anti-monopoly Law itself, these include the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006, which was amended in 2009, and the Rules of the Ministry of Commerce on Implementation of Security Review System of Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Security Review Rules, promulgated in 2011. These laws and regulations impose requirements in some instances that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. In addition, the Anti-Monopoly Law requires that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. Moreover, the Security Review Rules specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by MOFCOM, and prohibit any attempt to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the relevant regulations to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including approval from MOFCOM, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

 

54


Table of Contents

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to the Notice on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly Listed Company, issued by SAFE in February 2012, employees, directors, supervisors and other senior management participating in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. We and our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been granted restricted shares, or options are subject to these regulations. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China and limit these subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors and employees under PRC law.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various government-sponsored employee benefits plans as required by PRC regulations may subject us to penalties.

Companies operating in China are required to participate in various government-sponsored employee benefit plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where our employees are based. The requirements of employee benefit plans have not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations. We have not made contributions in full to social insurance and housing provident fund for some of our employees based on relevant PRC regulations. If we are determined by local authorities to fail to make adequate contributions to any employee benefits as required by relevant PRC regulations, we may face late fees or fines in relation to the underpaid employee benefits. In addition, our provision for these liabilities may not be adequate, particularly in light of the recent tightening regulations. As a result, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Discontinuation of any of the government subsidies or imposition of any additional taxes and surcharges could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our PRC subsidiaries have received financial subsidies from PRC local government authorities. The financial subsidies result from discretionary incentives and policies adopted by PRC local government authorities. Local governments may decide to change or discontinue such financial subsidies at any time. The discontinuation of such financial subsidies or imposition of any additional taxes could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with a “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a PRC resident enterprise. The implementation rules define the term “de facto management body” as the

 

55


Table of Contents

body that exercises full and substantial control over and overall management of the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. In 2009, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT issued a circular, known as Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although Circular 82 only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners like us, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.

We believe that none of our entities outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” If the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, we will be subject to the enterprise income tax on our global income at the rate of 25% and we will be required to comply with PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations. In addition, gains realized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or our ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. It is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of our company would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

We may not be able to obtain certain benefits under relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.

We are a holding company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and as such rely on dividends and other distributions on equity from our PRC subsidiaries to satisfy part of our liquidity requirements. Pursuant to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, a withholding tax rate of 10% currently applies to dividends paid by a PRC “resident enterprise” to a foreign enterprise investor, unless any such foreign investor’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for preferential tax treatment. Pursuant to the Arrangement between the PRC and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion on Income, such withholding tax rate may be lowered to 5% if a Hong Kong resident enterprise owns no less than 25% of a PRC enterprise. According to the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues concerning the “Beneficial Owner” in Tax Treaties, which became effective in April 2018, whether a resident enterprise is a “beneficial owner” that can apply for a low tax rate under tax treaties depends on an overall assessment of several factors, which may bring uncertainties to the applicability of preferential tax treatment under the tax treaties. Furthermore, the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Enterprises to Enjoy Treatments under Tax Treaties, which became effective in January 2020, requires non-resident enterprises to determine whether they are qualified to enjoy the preferential tax treatment under the tax treaties, file relevant report with the tax authorities and retain the relevant materials for future inspection. There are also other conditions for enjoying the reduced

 

56


Table of Contents

withholding tax rate according to other relevant tax rules and regulations. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Taxation.” In the future we intend to re-invest all earnings, if any, generated from our PRC subsidiaries for the operation and expansion of our business in China. Should our tax policy change to allow for offshore distribution of our earnings, we would be subject to a significant withholding tax. We cannot assure you that our determination regarding our qualification to enjoy the preferential tax treatment will not be challenged by the relevant tax authority or we will be able to complete the necessary filings with the relevant tax authority and enjoy the preferential withholding tax rate of 5% under the arrangement with respect to dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiaries to our Hong Kong subsidiary.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

In February 2015, SAT issued the Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Resident Enterprises, or SAT Public Notice 7. SAT Public Notice 7 extends its tax jurisdiction to not only indirect transfers but also transactions involving transfer of other taxable assets, through the offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. In addition, SAT Public Notice 7 provides certain criteria on how to assess reasonable commercial purposes and has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity through a public securities market. SAT Public Notice 7 also brings challenges to both the foreign transferor and transferee (or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer) of the taxable assets. Where a non-resident enterprise conducts an “indirect transfer” by transferring the taxable assets indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, the non-resident enterprise being the transferor, or the transferee, or the PRC entity which directly owned the taxable assets may report to the relevant tax authority such indirect transfer. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10% for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise. On October 17, 2017, SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Non-resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source, or SAT Bulletin 37, which came into effect on December 1, 2017. The SAT Bulletin 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of the withholding of nonresident enterprise income tax.

We face uncertainties on the reporting and consequences of future private equity financing transactions, share exchanges or other transactions involving the transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises. The PRC tax authorities may pursue such non-resident enterprises with respect to a filing or the transferees with respect to withholding obligation, and request our PRC subsidiaries to assist in the filing. As a result, we and non-resident enterprises in such transactions may become at risk of being subject to filing obligations or being taxed under SAT Public Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37, and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with them or to establish that we and our non-resident enterprises should not be taxed under these regulations, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

57


Table of Contents

If the custodians or authorized users of controlling non-tangible assets of our company, including our corporate chops and seals, fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets, our business and operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Under PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions are executed using the chops or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with the relevant branch of the Administration of Industry and Commerce. Although we usually utilize chops to enter into contracts, the designated legal representatives of each of our PRC subsidiaries have the apparent authority to enter into contracts on behalf of such entities without chops and bind such entities. All designated legal representatives of our PRC subsidiaries, are members of our senior management team who have signed employment agreements with us or our PRC subsidiaries under which they agree to abide by various duties they owe to us. In order to maintain the physical security of our chops and chops of our PRC entities, we generally store these items in secured locations accessible only by the authorized personnel in the legal or finance or other functional departments of each of our subsidiaries. Although we monitor such authorized personnel, there is no assurance such procedures will prevent all instances of abuse or negligence. Accordingly, if any of our authorized personnel misuse or misappropriate our corporate chops or seals, we could encounter difficulties in maintaining control over the relevant entities and experience significant disruption to our operations. If a designated legal representative obtains control of the chops in an effort to obtain control over any of our PRC subsidiaries, we or our PRC subsidiaries would need to pass a new shareholder or board resolution to designate a new legal representative and we would need to take legal action to seek the return of the chops, apply for new chops with the relevant authorities, or otherwise seek legal redress for the violation of the representative’s fiduciary duties to us, which could involve significant time and resources and divert management attention away from our regular business. In addition, the affected entity may not be able to recover corporate assets that are sold or transferred out of our control in the event of such a misappropriation if a transferee relies on the apparent authority of the representative and acts in good faith.

The audit report included in this prospectus is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, our investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Auditors of companies that are registered with the SEC and traded publicly in the United States, including our independent registered public accounting firm, must be registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB, and are subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess their compliance with the relevant professional standards. Because our auditor is located in the Peoples’ Republic of China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the PRC authorities, our auditor is not currently inspected by the PCAOB. In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB, the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States and the PRC, respectively. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges. On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. However, it remains unclear what further actions the SEC and the PCAOB will take to address the problem. On April 21, 2020, the SEC and the PCAOB issued another joint statement reiterating the greater risk that disclosures will be insufficient in many emerging markets, including China, compared to those made by

 

58


Table of Contents

U.S. domestic companies. In discussing the specific issues related to the greater risk, the statement again highlights the PCAOB’s inability to inspect audit work paper and practices of accounting firms in China, with respect to their audit work of U.S. reporting companies. On June 4, 2020, the U.S. President issued a memorandum ordering the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the memorandum that includes recommendations for actions that can be taken by the executive branch and by the SEC or PCAOB on Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges and their audit firms, in an effort to protect investors in the U.S. On August 6, 2020, the PWG released a report recommending that the SEC take steps to implement the five recommendations outlined in the report. In particular, to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfill its statutory mandate, or NCJs, the PWG recommends enhanced listing standards on U.S. stock exchanges. This would require, as a condition to initial and continued exchange listing, PCAOB access to work papers of the principal audit firm for the audit of the listed company. Companies unable to satisfy this standard as a result of governmental restrictions on access to audit work papers and practices in NCJs may satisfy this standard by providing a co-audit from an audit firm with comparable resources and experience where the PCAOB determines it has sufficient access to audit work papers and practices to conduct an appropriate inspection of the co-audit firm. The report permits the new listing standards to provide for a transition period until January 1, 2022 for listed companies, but would apply immediately to new listings once the necessary rulemakings and/or standard-setting are effective. After we are listed on the NYSE, if we fail to meet the new listing standards before the deadline specified thereunder due to factors beyond our control, we could face possible de-listing from the NYSE, deregistration from the SEC and/or other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our ADS trading in the United States.

The PCAOB’s inspections of other firms outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The lack of PCAOB’s inspections in China prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating audits and quality control procedures of any auditors operating in China, including our auditor. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our financial statements.

As part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law, in particular China’s, in June 2019, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced bills in both houses of the U.S. Congress, which if passed, would require the SEC to maintain a list of issuers for which the PCAOB is not able to inspect or investigate an auditor report issued by a foreign public accounting firm. The proposed Ensuring Quality Information and Transparency for Abroad-Based Listings on our Exchanges (EQUITABLE) Act prescribes increased disclosure requirements for these issuers and, beginning in 2025, the delisting from U.S. national securities exchanges of issuers included on the SEC’s list for three consecutive years. On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Senate passed S. 945, the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or Kennedy Bill. On July 21, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which contains provisions comparable to the Kennedy Bill. If either of these bills is enacted into law, it would amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to direct the SEC to prohibit securities of any registrant from being listed on any of the U.S. securities exchanges or traded “over-the-counter” if the auditor of the registrant’s financial statements is not subject to PCAOB inspection for three consecutive years after the law becomes effective. Enactment of any of such legislations or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause investor uncertainty for affected issuers, including us, the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected,

 

59


Table of Contents

and we could be delisted if we are unable to cure the situation to meet the PCAOB inspection requirement in time. It is unclear if and when any of such proposed legislations will be enacted. On June 4, 2020, the U.S. President issued a memorandum ordering the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the memorandum that includes recommendations for actions that can be taken by the executive branch and by the SEC or PCAOB on Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges and their audit firms, in an effort to protect investors in the U.S. Furthermore, there have been recent media reports on deliberations within the U.S. government regarding potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets. If any such deliberations were to materialize, the resulting legislation may have material and adverse impact on the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States.

If additional remedial measures are imposed on the “big four” PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging such firms’ failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could fail to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

Starting in 2011 the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in the PRC, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.

In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. A first instance trial of the proceedings in July 2013 in the SEC’s internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC, although that proposed penalty did not take effect pending review by the Commissioners of the SEC. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the Commissioner had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they fail to meet specified criteria, the SEC retains authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Remedies for any future noncompliance could include, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a single firm’s performance of certain audit work, commencement of a new proceeding against a firm, or, in extreme cases, the resumption of the current proceeding against all four firms. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms’ failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act,

 

60


Table of Contents

including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of the ADSs from the NYSE or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of the ADSs in the United States.

Risks Related to Our ADSs and This Offering

There has been no public market for our shares or ADSs prior to this offering, and you may not be able to resell our ADSs at or above the price you paid, or at all.

Prior to this initial public offering, there has been no public market for our shares or ADSs. We will apply to list our ADSs on the NYSE. Our shares will not be listed on any exchange or quoted for trading on any over-the-counter trading system. If an active trading market for our ADSs does not develop after this offering, the market price and liquidity of our ADSs will be materially and adversely affected.

Negotiations with the underwriters will determine the initial public offering price for our ADSs which may bear no relationship to their market price after the initial public offering. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our ADSs will develop or that the market price of our ADSs will not decline below the initial public offering price.

The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

The trading price of the ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States. The securities of some of these companies, including internet-based companies, have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in their trading prices. The trading performances of other Chinese companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States in general and consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance.

In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for the ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following:

 

   

actual or anticipated variations in our revenues, earnings and cash flow;

 

   

the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections;

 

   

announcements of new investments, acquisitions, strategic partnerships or joint ventures by us or our competitors;

 

   

announcements of new offerings, solutions and expansions by us or our competitors;

 

   

failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of our company, changes in financial estimates by securities analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

 

61


Table of Contents
   

detrimental adverse publicity about us, our services or our industry;

 

   

announcements of new regulations, rules or policies relevant to our business;

 

   

additions or departures of key personnel;

 

   

release of lockup or other transfer restrictions on our outstanding equity securities or sales of additional equity securities;

 

   

potential litigation or regulatory investigations; and

 

   

other events or factors, including those resulting from war, epidemics, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events.

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which the ADSs will trade.

In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The concentration of our share ownership among executive officers, directors, and principal shareholders and their affiliated entities will likely limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transaction that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our executive officers, directors, and their affiliated entities together beneficially own over 85.7% of our outstanding ordinary shares on an as-converted basis prior to this offering. Upon the completion of this offering, our executive officers, directors, and their affiliated entities together will hold approximately         % of our total voting power, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, or         % of our total voting power if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, without taking into account the ADSs that the existing shareholders or their affiliates may purchase in this offering. As a result of the concentration of ownership, these shareholders will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers and consolidations, amendments to our constitutional documents, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Such shareholders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Because our initial public offering price is substantially higher than our net tangible book value per share, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution.

If you purchase ADSs in this offering, you will pay more for your ADSs than the amount paid by our existing shareholders for their ordinary shares on a per ADS basis. As a result, you will experience

 

62


Table of Contents

immediate and substantial dilution of approximately US$             per ADS, representing the difference between the initial public offering price of US$             per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated public offering price range shown on the front cover of this prospectus, and our net tangible book value per ADS as of June 30, 2020, after giving effect to the net proceeds we receive from this offering. See “Dilution” for a more complete description of how the value of your investment in the ADSs will be diluted upon the completion of this offering.

Our proposed dual-class voting structure will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and the ADSs may view as beneficial.

Immediately prior to the completion of this offering, we will have a dual-class ordinary share structure. Our ordinary shares will be divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to three votes per share. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any transfer of Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person or entity that is not an affiliate of such holder, such Class B ordinary shares shall be automatically and immediately converted into the equal number of Class A ordinary shares.

Immediately prior to the completion of this offering, all of the 328,290,482 ordinary shares held by Mini Investment Limited, an entity controlled by Mr. Guofu Ye, the chairman of our board of directors and our chief executive officer, and Ms. Yunyun Yang, our vice president, will be re-designated as Class B ordinary shares. Upon the completion of this offering, Mr. Guofu Ye and Ms. Yunyun Yang will beneficially own an aggregate of 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares and 444,783,198 Class A ordinary shares, and Mr. Guofu Ye is authorized by the holders of 111,043,373 Class A ordinary shares to exercise the voting power on their behalf, which, in aggregate, will represent             % of our total voting power, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, or representing             % of our total voting power if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full. Therefore, upon the completion of this offering, Mr. Guofu Ye and Ms. Yunyun Yang will continue to have decisive influence over matters requiring shareholders’ approval, including election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or sale of our company or our assets. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and the ADSs may view as beneficial.

The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for the ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have previously announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of the ADSs.

 

63


Table of Contents

Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of the ADSs.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. As it is in the short seller’s interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market.

Public companies that have substantially all of their operations in China have been the subject of short selling. Much of the scrutiny and negative publicity has centered on allegations of a lack of effective internal control over financial reporting resulting in financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud. As a result, many of these companies are now conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations and, in the interim, are subject to shareholder lawsuits and/or SEC enforcement actions.

It is not clear what effect such negative publicity could have on us. If we were to become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we could have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. While we would strongly defend against any such short seller attacks, we may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short seller by principles of freedom of speech, applicable state law or issues of commercial confidentiality. Such a situation could be costly and time-consuming, and could distract our management from growing our business. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could severely impact our business operations, and any investment in the ADSs could be greatly reduced or even rendered worthless.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding the ADSs, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.

The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of the ADSs could adversely affect their market price.

Sales of substantial amounts of the ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of the ADSs and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of the ADSs. Upon the completion of this offering, we will have                 Class A ordinary shares and 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares

 

64


Table of Contents

issued and outstanding, among which                  Class A ordinary shares are in the form of ADSs, which are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. The remaining ordinary shares outstanding will be available for sale, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. Certain holders of our ordinary shares may cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares, subject to the applicable lock-up period. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of these registered shares in the form of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Because the amount, timing, and whether or not we distribute dividends at all is entirely at the discretion of our board of directors, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.

Although we currently intend to distribute dividends in the future, the amount, timing, and whether or not we actually distribute dividends at all is entirely at the discretion of our board of directors.

Our board of directors has discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in the ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that the ADSs will appreciate in value after our initial public offering or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in the ADSs, and you may even lose your entire investment in the ADSs.

We will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and, as a result, may rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

Upon the completion of this offering, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE because Mr. Guofu Ye, our chairman of the board of directors and our chief executive officer, and Ms. Yunyun Yang, our vice president, will own more than 50% of our total voting power. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely, and may rely, on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors or that we have to establish a nominating committee and a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. If we rely on these exemptions in the future, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements. Currently, we plan to rely on exemption with respect to the requirement that a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors.

 

65


Table of Contents

There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject United States investors in our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares to significant adverse United States income tax consequences.

We will be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year if either (a) 75% or more of our gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income or (b) 50% or more of the value of our assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year produce or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). Based upon our current and expected income and assets, including goodwill and other unbooked intangibles not reflected on our balance sheet (taking into account the expected proceeds from this offering) and projections as to the market price of our ADSs immediately following the offering, we do not expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.

While we do not expect to become a PFIC, because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test may be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs, fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years. The determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will also depend, in part, on the composition of our income and assets. In addition, the composition of our income and assets will also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets and the cash raised in this offering. If we determine not to deploy significant amounts of cash for active purposes, our risk of being a PFIC may substantially increase. Because PFIC status is a factual determination made annually after the close of each taxable year, there can be no assurance that we will not be a PFIC for the current taxable year or any future taxable year.

If we are a PFIC in any taxable year, a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations”) may incur significantly increased United States income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares to the extent such distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the United States federal income tax rules, and such U.S. Holder may be subject to burdensome reporting requirements. Further, if we are a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. Holder holds our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares, unless we were to cease to be a PFIC and the U.S. Holder were to make a “deemed sale” election with respect to the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. For more information see “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations” and “Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”

Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could have a material adverse effect on the rights of holders of our ADSs.

Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association contain certain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions, including a provision that grants authority to our board of directors to establish and issue from time to time one or more series of preferred shares without action by our shareholders and to determine, with respect to any series of preferred shares, the terms and rights of that series, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our Class A ordinary shares, including those in the form of ADSs. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of the opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions.

 

66


Table of Contents

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Law (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors owed to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors owed to us under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have the standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies (other than the memorandum and articles of association, the register of mortgages and charges and special resolutions passed by the company’s shareholders). Our directors have discretion under our memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of our board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders, see “Description of Share Capital—Differences in Corporate Law.”

You may experience difficulties in effecting service of legal process, enforcing foreign judgments or bringing actions in China against us or our management named in the prospectus based on foreign laws.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, however, we conduct substantially all of our operations outside the United States and a majority of our assets are located in China. In addition, all our directors and officers reside within China for a significant portion of the time and all of them are PRC nationals. As a result, it may be difficult for you to effect service of process upon us or our management residing in China. In addition, China does not have treaties providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts with the Cayman Islands and many other countries and regions. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in China of judgments of a court in any of these non-PRC jurisdictions in relation to any matter not subject to a binding arbitration provision may be difficult or impossible.

 

67


Table of Contents

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. See also “—Risks Related to Our ADSs and This Offering—You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law” for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.

You may experience dilution of your holdings due to inability to participate in rights offerings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. However, we cannot make such rights available to you in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.

You may not receive cash dividends if the depositary decides it is impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary will pay cash dividends on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our Class A ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.

 

68


Table of Contents

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from this offering and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds of this offering, and our management will have considerable discretion in deciding how to apply these proceeds. You will not have the opportunity to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately before you make your investment decision. You must rely on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds of this offering. Our management has discretion over the use of proceeds we receive from this offering, and we could spend the proceeds we receive from this offering in ways our ADS holders may not agree with or that do not yield a favorable return, or no return at all. Our actual use of these proceeds may differ substantially from our plans, if any, in the future. We cannot assure you that the net proceeds will be used in a manner that would improve our results of operations or increase our ADS price, nor that these net proceeds will be placed only in investments that generate income or appreciate in value.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of the ADSs generally when our share register or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

Upon completion of this offering, we will become a public company and expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, the NYSE, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly.

As a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the number of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

In addition, we will incur expenses in relation to management assessment according to requirements of Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We also expect to incur additional significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC.

 

69


Table of Contents

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to United States domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

 

   

the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the SEC of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K;

 

   

the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents, or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act;

 

   

the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time; and

 

   

the selective disclosure rules by issuers of material nonpublic information under Regulation FD.

We will be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the NYSE. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with such corporate governance listing standards.

After we are listed on the NYSE, we will be subject to the NYSE’s corporate governance listing standards. However, the NYSE’s rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE’s corporate governance listing standards. If we choose to follow home country practices in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they would otherwise enjoy under the NYSE’s corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs are voted.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our shareholders. As a holder of our ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. As an ADS holder, you will only be able to exercise the voting rights carried by the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the Class A ordinary

 

70


Table of Contents

shares underlying your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. If we ask for your instructions, then upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for your instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions you give, but it is not required to do so. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares, and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders to convene a general meeting will be seven days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the shares underlying your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our post-offering memorandum and articles of association that will become effective immediately prior to completion of this offering, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We [have agreed] to give the depositary notice of shareholder meetings at least [35] days in advance of such meetings. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the shares underlying your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the shares underlying your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting. Except in limited circumstances, the depositary for our ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote the Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, which could adversely affect your interests.

Forum selection provisions in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association [and our deposit agreement with the depositary bank] could limit the ability of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, ADSs or other securities to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us, our directors and officers[, the depositary bank, and potentially others].

Our post-offering memorandum and articles of association provide that the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum within the United States for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. [Our agreement with the depositary bank also provides that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, the state courts in New York County, New York) is the exclusive forum within the United States for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act.] However, the enforceability of similar federal court choice of forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings in the United States, and it is possible that a court could find this type of provision to be inapplicable, unenforceable, or inconsistent with other documents that are relevant to the filing of such lawsuits. If a court were to find the federal choice of forum provision contained in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may

 

71


Table of Contents

incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. If upheld, the forum selection clause in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association[, as well as the forum selection provisions in the deposit agreement,] may limit a security-holder’s ability to bring a claim against us, our directors and officers[, the depositary bank, and potentially others] in his or her preferred judicial forum, and this limitation may discourage such lawsuits. In addition, the Securities Act provides that both federal and state courts have jurisdiction over suits brought to enforce any duty or liability under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accepting or consent to this forum selection provision does not represent you are waiving compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The exclusive forum provision in our post-offering memorandum and articles of association will not operate so as to deprive the courts of the Cayman Islands from having jurisdiction over matters relating to our internal affairs.

[We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, or to terminate the deposit agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders.

We are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of the ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders. We and the depositary may agree to amend the deposit agreement in any way we decide is necessary or advantageous to us. Amendments may reflect, among other things, operational changes in the ADS program, legal developments affecting ADSs or changes in the terms of our business relationship with the depositary. In the event that the terms of an amendment impose or increase fees or charges (other than in connection with foreign exchange control regulations, and taxes and other governmental charges, delivery and other such expenses) or materially prejudice an existing substantial right of the ADS holders, ADS holders will only receive 30 days’ advance notice of the amendment, and no prior consent of the ADS holders is required under the deposit agreement. Furthermore, we may decide to terminate the ADS facility at any time for any reason. For example, terminations may occur when our ADSs are delisted from the stock exchange in the United States on which our ADSs are listed and we do not list our ADSs on another stock exchange in the United States, nor is there a symbol available for over-the-counter trading of our ADSs in the United States. If the ADS facility will terminate, ADS holders will receive at least [90] days’ prior notice, but no prior consent is required from them. Under the circumstances that we decide to make an amendment to the deposit agreement that is disadvantageous to ADS holders or terminate the deposit agreement, the ADS holders may choose to sell their ADSs or surrender their ADSs and become direct holders of the underlying Class A ordinary shares, but will have no right to any compensation whatsoever.]

[Your rights to pursue claims against the depositary as a holder of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement.

Under the deposit agreement, any legal suit, action or proceeding against or involving us or the depositary, arising out of or relating in any way to the deposit agreement or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of owning the ADSs may only be instituted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, in the state courts in New York County, New York), and you, as a holder of our ADSs, will have irrevocably waived any objection which you may have to the laying of venue of any such proceeding, and irrevocably submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts in any such action or proceeding.

The depositary may, in its sole discretion, require that any dispute or difference arising from the relationship created by the deposit agreement be referred to and finally settled by an arbitration conducted under the terms described in the deposit agreement, although the arbitration provisions do

 

72


Table of Contents

not preclude you from pursuing claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or such state courts if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction). See ‘‘Description of American Depositary Shares’’ for more information.]

[ADS holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (or, if the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a particular dispute, in the state courts in New York County, New York) have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine claims arising under the deposit agreement (including claims arising under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act) and in that regard, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our Class A ordinary shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before investing in the ADSs.

If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and / or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not enforced, to the extent a court action proceeds, it would proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.]

[The depositary for the ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, except in limited circumstances, which could adversely affect your interests.

Under the deposit agreement for the ADSs, if you do not vote, the depositary will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs at shareholders’ meetings unless:

 

   

we have instructed the depositary that we do not wish a discretionary proxy to be given;

 

73


Table of Contents
   

we have informed the depositary that there is substantial opposition as to a matter to be voted on at the meeting;

 

   

a matter to be voted on at the meeting may have a material adverse impact on shareholders; or

 

   

the voting at the meeting is to be made on a show of hands.

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that if you do not vote at shareholders’ meetings, you cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our company. Holders of our Class A ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.]

 

74


Table of Contents

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Prospectus Summary,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.” Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Risk Factors,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

 

   

our mission, goals and strategies;

 

   

our future business development, financial conditions and results of operations;

 

   

the expected growth of the retail market and the market of branded variety retail of lifestyle products in China and globally;

 

   

our expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our products;

 

   

our expectations regarding our relationships with consumers, suppliers, MINISO Retail Partners, local distributors, and our other business partners;

 

   

competition in our industry;

 

   

our proposed use of proceeds; and

 

   

relevant government policies and regulations relating to our business and our industry.

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our expectations are generally set forth in “Prospectus Summary—Our Challenges,” “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business,” “Regulation” and other sections in this prospectus. You should read thoroughly this prospectus and the documents that we refer to with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from and worse than what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

This prospectus contains certain data and information that we obtained from various government and private publications. Statistical data in these publications also include projections based on a number of assumptions. The branded variety retail market in China and other countries and regions may not grow at the rate projected by market data, or at all. Failure of this market to grow at the projected rate may have a material and adverse effect on our business and the market price of the ADSs. In addition, the rapidly evolving nature of this industry results in significant uncertainties for any projections or estimates relating to the growth prospects or future condition of our market. Furthermore, if any one or more of the assumptions underlying the market data are later found to be incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on these assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

 

75


Table of Contents

The forward-looking statements made in this prospectus relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this prospectus. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this prospectus and the documents that we refer to in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.

 

76


Table of Contents

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of approximately US$            , or approximately US$             if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us. These estimates are based upon an assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS, which is the midpoint of the price range shown on the front page of this prospectus. A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us from this offering by US$            , assuming the number of ADSs offered by us, as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses payable by us.

The primary purposes of this offering are to create a public market for our shares for the benefit of all shareholders, retain talented employees by providing them with equity incentives and obtain additional capital. We plan to use the net proceeds of this offering to expand our business operations as follows:

 

   

approximately             % to expand our store network;

 

   

approximately             % to invest in our warehouse and logistics network;

 

   

approximately             % to invest in technologies and information systems; and

 

   

the balance for general corporate purposes, which may include investing in sales and marketing activities, expanding and upgrading our office space and facilities by acquiring land to build an office building, funding working capital needs and potential strategic investments and acquisitions, although we have not identified any specific investments or acquisition opportunities at this time.

The foregoing represents our current intentions based upon our present plans and business conditions to use and allocate the net proceeds of this offering. Our management, however, will have significant flexibility and discretion to apply the net proceeds of this offering. If an unforeseen event occurs or business conditions change, we may use the proceeds of this offering differently than as described in this prospectus. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to the ADSs and This Offering—We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from this offering and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.”

Pending any use described above, we plan to invest the net proceeds in short-term, interest-bearing, debt instruments or demand deposits.

[We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of ADSs by the selling shareholders.]

In using the proceeds of this offering, we are permitted under PRC laws and regulations as an offshore holding company to provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries only through loans or capital contributions, subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these government registrations or approvals on a timely basis, or at all. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our offshore offerings to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.”

 

77


Table of Contents

DIVIDEND POLICY

Although we intend to distribute dividends in the future, the amount, timing, and whether or not we actually distribute dividends at all are at the discretion of our board of directors.

Our board of directors has discretion on whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our board of directors. In either case, all dividends are subject to certain restrictions under Cayman Islands law, namely that our company may only pay dividends out of profits or share premium account, and provided always that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if we decide to pay dividends, the form, frequency and amount will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors that the board of directors may deem relevant.

We are a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. We may rely on dividends from our subsidiaries in China for our cash requirements, including any payment of dividends to our shareholders. PRC regulations may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends to us. See “Regulation—Regulation Related to Foreign Exchange and Dividend Distribution—Regulation on Dividend Distribution.”

If we pay any dividends on our Class A ordinary shares, we will pay those dividends which are payable in respect of the Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs to the depositary, as the registered holder of such Class A ordinary shares, and the depositary then will pay such amounts to the ADS holders in proportion to the Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs held by such ADS holders, subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, including the fees and expenses payable thereunder. See “Description of American Depositary Shares.” Cash dividends on our Class A ordinary shares, if any, will be paid in U.S. dollars.

 

78


Table of Contents

CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization as of June 30, 2020:

 

   

on an actual basis;

 

   

on a pro forma basis to reflect (i) the automatic re-designation of 328,290,482 ordinary shares held by Mini Investment Limited as 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (ii) the automatic re-designation of all of our remaining 648,344,289 ordinary shares as 648,344,289 Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, and (iii) the automatic conversion and re-designation of all of our issued and outstanding 117,666,836 Series A preferred shares into 117,666,836 Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and

 

   

on a pro forma as adjusted basis to reflect (i) the automatic re-designation of 328,290,482 ordinary shares held by Mini Investment Limited as 328,290,482 Class B ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (ii) the automatic re-designation of all of our remaining 648,344,289 ordinary shares as 648,344,289 Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering, (iii) the automatic conversion and re-designation of all of our issued and outstanding 117,666,836 Series A preferred shares into 117,666,836 Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis immediately prior to the completion of this offering; and (iv) the sale of              Class A ordinary shares in the form of ADSs by us in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated range of the initial public offering price shown on the front cover of this prospectus, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, assuming the underwriters do not exercise the over-allotment option.

You should read this table together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus and the information under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

 

     As of June 30, 2020  
     Actual     Pro Forma     Pro Forma
As Adjusted(1)
 
     RMB     US$     RMB     US$     RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Indebtedness:

             

Long-term borrowings

     15,207       2,152       15,207       2,152       

Redeemable shares with other preferential rights

     2,381,327       337,055                   

Equity:

             

Share capital

     69       10       78       11       

Additional paid-in capital(1)

     162,373       22,982       2,543,691       360,036                                         

Other reserves

     625,984       88,602       625,984       88,602       

Accumulated losses

     (1,125,055     (159,241     (1,125,055     (159,241     

Non-controlling interests

     13,583       1,923       13,583       1,923       
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total equity(2)

     (323,046     (45,724     2,058,281       291,331       
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total capitalization(3)

     2,073,488       293,483       2,073,488       293,483       
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

79


Table of Contents

 

Notes:

(1)

The pro forma as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only. Our additional paid-in capital, total equity and total capitalization following the completion of this offering are subject to adjustment based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

(2)

A US$1.00 increase/(decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS, the mid-point of the estimated range of the initial public offering price shown on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase/(decrease) each of additional paid-in capital, total equity and total capitalization by US$             million.

(3)

Total capitalization is the sum of total indebtedness and total equity.

 

80


Table of Contents

DILUTION

If you invest in the ADSs, your interest will be diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per ADS and our net tangible book value per ADS after this offering. Dilution results from the fact that the initial public offering price per ordinary share is substantially in excess of the book value per ordinary share attributable to the existing shareholders for our presently outstanding ordinary shares.

Our net tangible book value as of June 30, 2020 was approximately US$(56) million, representing US$(0.06) per ordinary share as of that date and US$             per ADS, or US$0.29 per ordinary share and US$             per ADS on a pro forma basis. Net tangible book value represents the amount of our total assets, less the amount of our intangible assets and total liabilities. Pro forma net tangible book value per ordinary share is calculated after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all of our issued and outstanding convertible preference shares. Dilution is determined by subtracting pro forma net tangible book value per ordinary share, after giving effect to the additional proceeds we will receive from this offering, from the assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ordinary share, which is the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range set forth on the front cover of this prospectus adjusted to reflect the ADS-to-ordinary share ratio, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

Without taking into account any other changes in pro forma net tangible book value after June 30, 2020, other than to give effect to our sale of the ADSs offered in this offering at the assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS, which is the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range, after deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of June 30, 2020 would have been US$            , or US$             per ordinary share and US$             per ADS. This represents an immediate increase in net tangible book value of US$             per ordinary share and US$             per ADS to the existing shareholders and an immediate dilution in net tangible book value of US$             per ordinary share and US$             per ADS to investors purchasing ADSs in this offering. The following table illustrates such dilution:

 

     Per Ordinary
Share
    Per ADS  

Assumed initial public offering price

   US$                   US$                

Net tangible book value as of June 30, 2020

   US$ (0.06   US$    

Pro forma net tangible book value after giving effect to the conversion of our preferred shares

   US$ 0.29     US$    

Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after giving effect to the conversion of our preferred shares and this offering

   US$       US$    

Amount of dilution in net tangible book value to new investors in this offering

   US$       US$    

A US$1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of US$             per ADS would increase (decrease) our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value after giving effect to this offering by US$            , the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS after giving effect to this offering by US$             per ordinary share and US$             per ADS and the dilution in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per ordinary share and per ADS to new investors in this offering by US$             per ordinary share and US$             per ADS, assuming no change to the number of ADSs offered by us as set forth on the front cover of this prospectus, and after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

81


Table of Contents

The following table summarizes, on a pro forma as adjusted basis as of June 30, 2020, the differences between existing shareholders and the new investors with respect to the number of ordinary shares (in the form of ADSs or shares) purchased from us, the total consideration paid and the average price per ordinary share and per ADS paid before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. The total number of ordinary shares does not include Class A ordinary shares underlying the ADSs issuable upon the exercise of the over-allotment option granted to the underwriters.

 

     Ordinary Shares
Purchased
   Total Consideration     Average
Price Per
Ordinary
Share
     Average
Price Per
ADS
 
     Number    Percent    Amount      Percent  

Existing shareholders

                                   US$                                 US$                    US$                

New investors

         US$                     US$        US$    
  

 

  

 

  

 

 

    

 

 

      

Total

         US$          100.0     
  

 

  

 

  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

The pro forma as adjusted information discussed above is illustrative only. Our net tangible book value following the completion of this offering is subject to adjustment based on the actual initial public offering price of the ADSs and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

 

82


Table of Contents

ENFORCEABILITY OF CIVIL LIABILITIES

Cayman Islands

We are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands as an exempted company with limited liability. We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands to take advantage of certain benefits associated with being a Cayman Islands exempted company, such as:

 

   

political and economic stability;

 

   

an effective judicial system;

 

   

a favorable tax system;

 

   

the absence of exchange control or currency restrictions; and

 

   

the availability of professional and support services.

However, certain disadvantages accompany incorporation in the Cayman Islands. These disadvantages include but are not limited to:

 

   

the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States and these securities laws provide significantly less protection to investors as compared to the United States; and

 

   

Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to sue before the federal courts of the United States.

Our constitutional documents do not contain provisions requiring that disputes, including those arising under the securities laws of the United States, between us, our officers, directors and shareholders, be arbitrated.

A majority of our assets and operations are located in China. All of our directors and officers are nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United States and substantially all of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for a shareholder to effect service of process within the United States upon these individuals, or to bring an action against us or these individuals in the United States, or to enforce against us or them judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

We have appointed Puglisi & Associates, located at 850 Library Avenue, Suite 204, Newark, Delaware 19711, as our agent upon whom process may be served in any action brought against us under the securities laws of the United States.

Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP, our counsel as to Cayman Islands law, has advised us that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands would (i) recognize or enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers that are predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or the securities laws of any state in the United States, or (ii) entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands against us or our directors or officers that are predicated upon the federal securities laws of the United States or the securities laws of any state in the United States.

Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP has informed us that although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the federal or state courts of the United States (and the Cayman Islands are not a party to any treaties for the reciprocal enforcement or recognition of such judgments), the courts of the Cayman Islands will, at common law, recognize and

 

83


Table of Contents

enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute based on the principle that the judgment of the competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which such judgment has been given, provided such judgment (i) is final and conclusive, (ii) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (iii) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands. However, the Cayman Islands courts are unlikely to enforce a judgment obtained from the U.S. courts under civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities law if such judgment is determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands to give rise to obligations to make payments that are penal or punitive in nature. A Cayman Islands court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

PRC

JunHe LLP, our counsel as to PRC law, has advised us that there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of China would:

 

   

recognize or enforce judgments of United States courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States; or

 

   

entertain original actions brought in each respective jurisdiction against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

JunHe LLP has further advised us that the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments are provided for under the PRC Civil Procedures Law. PRC courts may recognize and enforce foreign judgments in accordance with the requirements of the PRC Civil Procedures Law based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. China does not have any treaties or other form of reciprocity with the United States or the Cayman Islands that provide for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In addition, according to the PRC Civil Procedures Law, courts in the PRC will not enforce a foreign judgment against us or our directors and officers if they decide that the judgment violates the basic principles of PRC law or national sovereignty, security, or public interest. As a result, it is uncertain whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce a judgment rendered by a court in the United States or in the Cayman Islands. Under the PRC Civil Procedures Law, foreign shareholders may originate actions based on PRC law against a company in China for disputes if they can establish sufficient nexus to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction, and meet other procedural requirements, including, among others, the plaintiff must have a direct interest in the case, and there must be a concrete claim, a factual basis and a cause for the suit. It will be, however, difficult for U.S. shareholders to originate actions against us in the PRC in accordance with PRC laws because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and it will be difficult for U.S. shareholders, by virtue only of holding the ADSs or ordinary shares, to establish a connection to the PRC for a PRC court to have jurisdiction as required under the PRC Civil Procedures Law.

 

84


Table of Contents

CORPORATE HISTORY AND STRUCTURE

Corporate History

We commenced our business operations in 2013 and established Miniso (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., or Miniso Guangzhou, our current PRC holding company and one of our major operating entities in China, in October 2017. After Miniso Guangzhou was established, businesses that were originally conducted by our predecessor entity in China and related assets and liabilities were transferred to Miniso Guangzhou and its subsidiaries in China during the period from November 2017 to November 2018. Miniso Guangzhou also acquired the equity interests in certain companies that were ultimately controlled by Mr. Guofu Ye.

In December 2017, Miniso Guangzhou established Miniso (Hengqin) Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. in China, which serves as a licensor that licenses other parties the right to use our trademarks in China.

In May 2018, Miniso Guangzhou acquired all equity interest of (i) Miniso International (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., or Miniso International, which was established in China in May 2017 by our predecessor entity, and (ii) Miniso Youxuan Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., or Miniso Youxuan, which was established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Miniso International in China in August 2017. Miniso International primarily engages in international trade businesses. Miniso Youxuan and its subsidiaries are primarily responsible for implementing our e-commerce initiative.

During the period from September 2018 to November 2018, we (i) acquired 67% of the equity securities of PT. Miniso Lifestyle Trading Indonesia, which was established in January 2017 in Indonesia by a company controlled by Mr. Guofu Ye, (ii) established MIHK Management Inc. as the holding company of our business operations in Canada, (iii) acquired 100% of the equity securities of USA Miniso Depot Inc., which was established by an individual on behalf of Mr. Guofu Ye in the United States, and (iv) acquired 100% of the equity securities of Miniso Life Style Private Limited, which was established in June 2017 in India by a company controlled by Mr. Guofu Ye. The main businesses operated by these subsidiaries are as follows:

 

   

PT. Miniso Lifestyle Trading Indonesia primarily engages in selling our products to local distributors, which in turn sell our products to local consumers.

 

   

MIHK Management Inc. conducts business operations in Canada through its subsidiaries. Prior to the establishment of Miniso Canada, our local distributors operated MINISO stores in Canada.

 

   

USA Miniso Depot Inc. serves as the holding company of our business operations in the United States and operates our business in the United States through its subsidiaries.

 

   

Miniso Life Style Private Limited primarily engages in import and export business, local distributions, and franchising activities.

In addition to the above overseas operations, we also conduct business operations through subsidiaries in Japan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland and Singapore. Besides, our products are sold in a number of other overseas markets such as Mexico, Philippines and Thailand through MINISO stores operated by our MINISO Retail Partners and/or local distributors.

During a reorganization in 2020, we established our current offshore holding structure. Specifically, we established Miniso Group Holding Limited, or Miniso Group, in Cayman Islands in January 2020 as our offshore holding company. In the same month, Miniso Group further established in British Virgin Islands (i) Miniso Universal Holding Limited, or Miniso Universal, as our offshore holding company of our operations in China, and (ii) Miniso Global Holding Limited, or Miniso Global, as our offshore holding company of our overseas operations. In February 2020, Miniso Universal further established Miniso Development Hong Kong Limited, or Miniso Development HK, in Hong Kong to (a) hold Miniso Guangzhou, our PRC holding company, and (b) engage in overseas operations

 

85


Table of Contents

through entering into master license agreements and product sales agreements with overseas MINISO Retail Partners and local distributors.

After the completion of the reorganization in 2020, Miniso Global became the offshore holding company of our overseas operations and hold our overseas subsidiaries directly or indirectly through Miniso Investment Hong Kong Limited, or Miniso Investment HK, a subsidiary we established in Hong Kong in November 2017. Miniso Hong Kong Limited, or Miniso HK, which we established in Hong Kong in January 2018, currently serves as a licensor that licenses the right to use our trademarks to overseas parties. Miniso HK also enters into intellectual property related agreements for our overseas operations.

In May 2019, our board of directors approved a plan to dispose of certain loss-making subsidiaries that operate the NOME business, Minihome business, MINISO African business and MINISO German business within one year, and the results of these operations are included as discontinued operations accordingly. We completed the disposal of these businesses during the period from December 2019 to April 2020. The NOME business was disposed to Mr. Guofu Ye. The NOME business, which had over 200 stores, was operated under the NOME brand and engaged in the sales of clothing products and other lifestyle items, and was in competition with another company which operated similar business under the same brand. As of the date of this prospectus, substantially all of the NOME stores have closed, and the small number of remaining stores, which are no longer operated under the NOME brand, are expected to be closed by the end of October 2020. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Discontinued Operations.”

Corporate Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure as of the date of this prospectus consisting of our principal subsidiaries.

 

LOGO

 

86


Table of Contents

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected consolidated statement of profit or loss data (other than US$ and ADS data) for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, selected consolidated statement of financial position data as of July 1, 2018, June 30, 2019 and 2020, and selected consolidated statement of cash flows data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB. We have not included the selected financial information as of and for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2016, 2017 and 2018, as we qualify as an issuer that adopts IFRS as issued by the IASB for the first time and are permitted to present selected financial information for the two most recent financial years as opposed to the five most recent financial years. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results expected for future periods. You should read this Selected Consolidated Financial Data section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this prospectus.

The following table presents our selected consolidated statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands, except for share and per share data)  

Selected consolidated statements of profit or loss data:

      

Continuing operations:

      

Revenue

     9,394,911       8,978,986       1,270,893  

Cost of sales

     (6,883,931     (6,246,488     (884,133
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     2,510,980       2,732,498       386,760  

Other income

     10,468       37,208       5,266  

Selling and distribution expenses(1)

     (818,318     (1,190,477     (168,501

General and administrative expenses(1)

     (593,205     (796,435     (112,728

Other net income

     24,423       45,997       6,511  

Credit loss on trade and other receivables

     (90,124     (25,366     (3,590

Impairment loss on non-current assets

     (27,542     (36,844     (5,215
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating profit

     1,016,682       766,581       108,503  

Finance income

     7,311       25,608       3,625  

Finance costs

     (25,209     (31,338     (4,436

Net finance costs

     (17,898     (5,730     (811

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights / redeemable shares with other preferential rights

     (709,780     (680,033     (96,252
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Profit before taxation

     289,004       80,818       11,440  

Income tax expense

     (279,583     (210,949     (29,858
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Profit/(loss) for the year from continuing operations

     9,421       (130,131     (18,418

Discontinued operations:

      

Loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax

     (303,830     (130,045     (18,407
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (260,176     (36,825

 

87


Table of Contents
     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands, except for share and per share data)  

Attributable to:

      

Equity shareholders of the Company

     (290,647     (262,267     (37,121

Non-controlling interests

     (3,762     2,091       296  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (260,176     (36,825
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss per share(2)

      

—Basic

     (0.32)       (0.26)       (0.04)  

—Diluted

     (0.32)       (0.26)       (0.04)  

Earnings/(loss) per share(2)—Continuing operations

      

—Basic

     0.01       (0.12)       (0.02)  

—Diluted

     0.01       (0.12)       (0.02)  

Other comprehensive (loss)/profit for the year

     (4,834     6,361       900  

Total comprehensive loss for the year

     (299,243     (253,815     (35,925

Equity shareholders of the Company

     (296,062     (256,583     (36,317

Non-controlling interests

     (3,181     2,768       392  

Total comprehensive loss for the year

     (299,243     (253,815     (35,925
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Non-IFRS Measure(3):

      

Adjusted net profit

     868,801       970,790       137,406  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Notes:

(1)

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses were allocated as follows:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019      2020  
     RMB      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses:

        

Selling and distribution expenses

     33,097        127,743        18,081  

General and administrative expenses

     88,961        236,637        33,494  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

     122,058        364,380        51,575  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 
(2)

Our company was incorporated on January 7, 2020 during the reorganization to establish our current offshore structure and issued 976,634,771 ordinary shares in January 2020. For purposes of calculating basic and diluted earnings/(loss) per share, the number of ordinary shares outstanding of 865,591,398 used in the calculation, which excludes 111,043,373 ordinary shares issued to share incentive awards holding vehicles as these shares are regarded as treasury shares for purposes of calculating per share data, has been retroactively adjusted to reflect the issuance of ordinary shares by our company in connection with the incorporation of our company and the reorganization as if these events had occurred at the beginning of the earliest period presented.

(3)

See “Prospectus Summary—Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data—Non-IFRS Financial Measure.”

 

88


Table of Contents

The following table presents our selected consolidated statement of financial position data as of July 1, 2018, June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2020:

 

     As of July 1,      As of June 30,  
     2018      2019     2020  
     RMB      RMB     RMB     US$  
            (in thousands)  

Selected consolidated statements of financial position data:

         

Cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations

     228,106        1,546,280       2,853,980       403,955  

Inventories

     1,089,474        1,308,957       1,395,674       197,545  

Trade and other receivables

     1,755,040        830,751       729,889       103,309  

Total current assets

     3,077,276        4,511,719       4,986,599       705,807  

Total assets

     3,645,360        5,226,115       5,836,251       826,068  

Trade and other payables

     2,349,077        2,363,739       2,419,795       342,500  

Total current liabilities

     2,691,820        3,245,979       3,309,643       468,450  

Total liabilities

     3,080,747        5,340,089       6,159,297       871,792  

Total equity/(deficit)

     564,613        (113,974     (323,046     (45,724

Total equity and liabilities

     3,645,360        5,226,115       5,836,251       826,068  

The following table presents our selected consolidated statement of cash flows data for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Selected consolidated statements of cash flows data:

      

Net cash generated from operating activities

     1,038,471       826,484       116,981  

Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities

     (210,915     462,815       65,507  

Net cash generated from/(used in) financing activities

     619,858       (117,706     (16,660
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     1,447,414       1,171,593       165,828  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     228,106       1,686,218       238,669  

Effect of movements in exchange rates on cash held

     10,698       (3,831     (542
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     1,686,218       2,853,980       403,955  

Cash and cash equivalents of discontinued operations

     (139,938            

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of financial position

     1,546,280       2,853,980       403,955  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

89


Table of Contents

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the section entitled “Selected Consolidated Financial Data” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. This discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and the timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Overview

We are a fast-growing global value retailer offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products. Within seven years since we opened our first store in China in 2013, we have built our flagship brand “MINISO” as a globally recognized retail brand and established a massive store network worldwide. As of June 30, 2020, we served consumers primarily through our network of over 4,200 MINISO stores, of which we directly operated 129, including over 2,500 MINISO stores in China and over 1,680 MINISO stores across over 80 countries and regions in the rest of the world. Our revenue reached RMB9.0 billion (US$1.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The aggregate GMV of products sold through our network reached RMB19.0 billion (US$2.7 billion) in 2019, making us the largest global branded variety retailer of lifestyle products, according to the Frost & Sullivan Report.

Aesthetically pleasing design, quality and affordability are at the core of every product we deliver. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we offered consumers a wide selection of approximately 8,000 core SKUs, the vast majority of which are under our flagship brand “MINISO.” These products span across 11 major categories, including home decor, small electronics, textile, accessories, beauty tools, toys, cosmetics, personal care, snacks, fragrance and perfumes, and stationery and gifts. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we launched an average of over 600 SKUs per month. We continually and frequently roll out products of high appeal, high quality and high affordability, promoting a relaxing, treasure-hunting and engaging shopping experience that appeals to all demographics regardless of their cultural background and geographical location.

We pair value concepts with a touch of appeal, creativity and innovation, focusing on long-term sustainability instead of short-term profits. Our highly effective approach to retail, which mainly encompasses dynamic product development, co-branding collaborations, and an efficient supply chain, are critical to the success of our business.

Our revenue decreased by 4.4% from RMB9,394.9 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB8,979.0 million (US$1,270.9 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our gross profit increased by 8.8% from RMB2,511.0 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB2,732.5 million (US$386.8 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our gross margin improved from 26.7% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to 30.4% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our loss for the year decreased by 11.6% from RMB294.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB260.2 million (US$36.8 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our adjusted net profit, a non-IFRS financial measure, increased by 11.7% from RMB868.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB970.8 million (US$137.4 million) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. See “Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data—Non-IFRS Financial Measure.”

 

90


Table of Contents

Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

Our business and results of operations are affected by a number of general factors that impact the overall consumption and market for lifestyle products, including, among others, overall economic trends and related impact on consumer behavior, production and procurement costs, and the competitive environment. Unfavorable changes in any of these general conditions could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

While our business is influenced by these general factors, our results of operations are more directly affected by the following company-specific factors.

Store Network Expansion in China

Our ability to expand our store network, especially in China, is a key driver of our revenue growth. Our revenue generated from China was RMB6,364.0 million and RMB6,044.1 million (US$855.5 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, accounting for 67.7% and 67.3% of our total revenue for the same periods, respectively. Outside of seven MINISO stores directly operated by us, substantially all of the MINISO stores were operated under the MINISO Retail Partner model in China as of June 30, 2020. Our store network expansion in China is primarily sustained by our continued success in enticing them to open more MINISO stores at optimal locations. As a result, the number of MINISO stores in China increased from 2,311 as of June 30, 2019 to 2,533 as of June 30, 2020. The expansion of our store network has been negatively affected by the COVID-19. See “Business—Our Store Network” and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our operations have been and may continue to be affected by COVID-19 pandemic” for more information on the impact of the COVID-19 on the expansion of our store network.

Our mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationships with MINISO Retail Partners are largely attributable to our powerful brand, easy-to-operate model and attractive returns. Our innovative MINISO Retail Partner model allows the MINISO Retail Partners to rely on the strength of our “MINISO” brand and receive substantial store management guidance from us, while reaping sizeable financial reward from product sales. Based on a survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan, MINISO Retail Partners generally recover their store investment in a period of 12 to 15 months after store opening. They are thus incentivized to re-invest their capital with us and to mobilize resources to expand our store network.

Globalization Strategy

Our results of operations are affected by our ability to execute our globalization strategy, which primarily involves expanding into new international markets and growing our store network overseas. Our revenue from markets outside of China was RMB3,030.9 million and RMB2,934.9 million (US$415.4 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, accounting for 32.3% and 32.7% of our total revenue for the same periods, respectively. In the majority of the international markets, we expand our store network by using the distributor model. Depending on factors such as market environment and local regulations, we also utilize direct operation and the MINISO Retail Partner model for international store network expansion. The significant revenue contribution from international markets demonstrates the appeal of our “MINISO” brand across geographical and cultural boundaries and testifies to the success of our globalization strategy. The number of MINISO stores outside of China increased from 1,414 as of June 30, 2019 to 1,689 as of June 30, 2020. The expansion of our store network has been negatively affected by the COVID-19. See “Business—Our Store Network” and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our operations have been and may continue to be affected by COVID-19 pandemic” for more information on the impact of the COVID-19 on the expansion of our store network.

 

91


Table of Contents

Revenue per MINISO store

While we continue to expand our store network, our results of operations are also affected by revenue per MINISO store. Our revenue per MINISO store, which is calculated by dividing (x) revenue of MINISO brand (excluding Africa and Germany) by (y) the average of number of stores at the beginning and the end of the relevant period. Our revenue per MINISO store has fluctuated significantly historically, and may continue to fluctuate in future periods. As a fast-growing global value retailer, we expect to continue to face intense competition in a variety of the markets we operate. Our ability to successfully leverage our competitive strengths, including our ability to continue to offer high appeal, high quality and high affordability products, take a disciplined approach in store network expansion, develop highly efficient supply chain, deepen consumer engagement and strengthen technical capability will all affect our revenue per MINISO store, our business operation and results of operations.

Product Value Propositions

We primarily generate revenues from sales of aesthetically pleasing, high-quality and affordable lifestyle products that are responsive to the evolving tastes and needs of consumers. Our dynamic product development and the resulting exceptional product value propositions to consumers have contributed to our growth and brand affinity. Our product managers identify relevant market trends and collaborate closely with our designers and suppliers to develop products that reflect an optimal balance of appeal, quality and price. Furthermore, our co-branding collaborations with IP licensors owning popular brands unlock exciting product design possibilities and elevate our brand awareness. As a result of our distinct approach to product design and development, we maintained a live portfolio of around 8,000 core SKUs spanning 11 categories, with an average of over 600 SKUs launched per month in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Efficient Supply Chain

Our ability to manage an integrated and seamless supply chain significantly impacts the results of our operations, as cost-effective procurement sets the foundation for our competitive product pricing, and efficient planning affects our speed to market. Leveraging China’s unmatched massive supply chain in the lifestyle product sector, we source from highly qualified suppliers who are able to meet our sophisticated demands. As part of our efforts to optimize supply chain, we build mutually beneficial relationships with our suppliers by procuring products in large volumes, being punctual with our payments to them and guiding them towards better production efficiency and enhanced cost control. In addition, we digitally integrate suppliers through our supply chain management system to better coordinate with them and streamline the supply chain process for enhanced productivity. These strengths of our supply chain have led to sustained advantages in both procurement cost and efficiency, which allows us to price competitively. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, more than 95% of our products had retail prices under RMB50 (US$7.08) in China.

Impact of COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 has severely impacted China and the rest of the world. Our business and operations have also been affected as a result. In an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, many countries, including China, have taken precautionary measures, such as imposing travel restrictions, quarantining individuals infected with or suspected of having COVID-19, encouraging employees of enterprises to work remotely, and cancelling public activities, among others.

Operations of our directly operated stores and MINISO Retail Partner stores in China have been adversely impacted by the foregoing measures, suffering from temporary store closures mainly from February through April 2020 and reduction of operating hours on occasion. Our product shipment has

 

92


Table of Contents

also been adversely impacted, with certain of our warehouses in the PRC being temporarily closed, which caused suspension of our product shipments to overseas distributors. Our MINISO stores and warehouses in China have resumed normal operation since March 2020. As of June 30, 2020, more than 95% of MINISO stores in China were open and operating under normal business hours. As a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on our operation in China, our revenue generated from the PRC decreased by 5.0% from RMB6,364.0 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB6,044.1 million (US$855.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Our overseas operations have been adversely impacted since late March 2020 following the spread of COVID-19 around the world, with most MINISO stores overseas being temporarily closed since late March 2020. Overseas MINISO stores have been gradually resuming normal operations. As of June 30, 2020, over 20% of MINISO stores in overseas markets were closed. As a result, our revenue generated from overseas markets decreased by 3.2% from RMB3,030.9 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB2,934.9 million (US$415.4 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

While the duration of the pandemic, disruption to our business and related financial impact cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, we currently expect that our consolidated results of operations for the rest of calendar year 2020 will be significantly affected with potential continuing impact of the COVID-19 in subsequent periods. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our operations have been and may continue to be affected by COVID-19 pandemic.”

Key Components of Results of Operations

Revenue

We primarily derive our revenue from sales of lifestyle products through sales to MINISO Retail Partners, sales to distributors, retail sales in directly operated stores and through online channels. Other sources of revenue mainly include license fees from MINISO Retail Partners and distributors, and sales-based royalties and sales-based management and consultation service fees income from MINISO Retail Partners. The following table sets forth the components of our revenue by amounts and percentages of our total revenue for the periods presented:

 

     For the fiscal year
ended,

June 30, 2019
     For the fiscal year ended,
June 30, 2020
 
 
     RMB      %      RMB      US$      %  
     (in thousands, except for percentages)  

Revenue:

              

Sales of lifestyle products

     8,464,669        90.1        8,055,414        1,140,170        89.7  

License fees, sales-based royalties, and management and consultation service fees

     612,602        6.5        587,644        83,176        6.6  

Others

     317,640        3.4        335,928        47,547        3.7  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

     9,394,911        100.0        8,978,986        1,270,893        100.0  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

93


Table of Contents

The following table breaks down our revenue by geographic region for the periods presented:

 

     For the fiscal year
ended,

June 30, 2019
     For the fiscal year ended,
June 30, 2020
 
 
     RMB      %      RMB      US$      %  
     (in thousands, except for percentages)  

Revenue:

              

China

     6,363,998        67.7        6,044,100        855,487        67.3  

Other Asian countries excluding China

     1,738,348        18.5        1,428,035        202,125        15.9  

Americas

     1,049,334        11.2        1,221,058        172,830        13.6  

Europe

     124,600        1.3        172,169        24,369        1.9  

Others

     118,631        1.3        113,624        16,082        1.3  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

     9,394,911        100.0        8,978,986        1,270,893        100.0  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Cost of Sales

Our cost of sales consists of carrying amount of inventories sold and inventory write-down. Our cost of sales was RMB6,883.9 million and RMB6,246.5 million (US$884.1 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. In the same periods, our carrying amount of inventories sold accounted for 98.7% and 98.9% of our cost of sales, respectively.

Gross Profit and Margin

The following table sets forth our gross profit and gross margin for the periods presented:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019      2020  
     RMB      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands, except for percentage)  

Gross profit

     2,510,980        2,732,498        386,760  

Gross margin (%)

     26.7        30.4        30.4  

Other Income

Other income consists of tax refund and government grants. Government grants mainly represented unconditional cash awards granted by the local authorities in the PRC.

Selling and Distribution Expenses

Selling and distribution expenses primarily consist of (i) payroll and employee benefits, which cover salaries, wages and bonus, contributions to social security contribution plan, welfare expenses, and equity-settled share-based payment expenses, (ii) depreciation and amortization expenses, (iii) logistics expenses, (iv) promotion and advertising expenses, (v) licensing expenses, and (vi) other expenses. Our selling and distribution expenses were RMB818.3 million and RMB1,190.5 million (US$168.5 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses primarily consist of (i) payroll and employee benefits, which cover salaries, wages and bonus, contributions to social security contribution plan, welfare expenses, and equity-settled share-based payment expenses, (ii) depreciation and amortization expenses, (iii) tax

 

94


Table of Contents

and surcharges, (iv) finance and legal service fees, (v) traveling expenses, and (vi) other expenses. Our general and administrative expenses were RMB593.2 million and RMB796.4 million (US$112.7 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Other Net Income

Other net income mainly consists of net foreign exchange gain, investment income from other investments and scrap income.

Taxation

Our income tax expense represented a significant portion of our profit before taxation for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, primarily because of the occurrence of two large non-tax deductible expense items in those two periods, namely fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights and equity-settled share-based payment expenses. Our fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights totaled RMB709.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and RMB680.0 million (US$96.3 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Our equity-settled share-based payment expenses totaled RMB122.1 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and RMB364.4 million (US$51.6 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands

Pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Cayman Islands and the BVI, we are not subject to any income tax in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Hong Kong

Under the current Hong Kong Inland Revenue Ordinance, our Hong Kong subsidiaries are subject to Hong Kong profits tax at the rate of 16.5% on their taxable income generated from the operations in Hong Kong. A two-tiered profits tax rates regime was introduced in 2018 where the first HKD2 million of assessable profits earned by a company will be taxed at half of the current tax rate (8.25%) whilst the remaining profits will continue to be taxed at 16.5%. There is an anti-fragmentation measure where each group will have to nominate only one company in the group to benefit from the progressive rates.

The PRC

Under the Corporate Income Tax (“CIT”) Law, our subsidiaries established in the PRC are subject to a unified statutory CIT rate of 25%. A subsidiary established in Hengqin New Area of Zhuhai, a pilot free trade zone in the PRC, met the criteria for a preferential income tax rate of 15%.

United States

Under United States Internal Revenue Code, our subsidiaries established in United States are subject to a unified Federal CIT rate of 21% and variable state income and franchise tax depends on which state the subsidiaries has nexus with. Most of subsidiaries in United States are operated in the state of California, and thus they will be subject to state income tax rate of 8.84%.

Indonesia

Our subsidiary incorporated in Indonesia elected to pay profit tax at 0.5% of gross revenue for the fiscal years 2018 and 2019. In the following years, our subsidiary is subject to the prevailing statutory

 

95


Table of Contents

tax rate on taxable income. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the statutory tax rate will be progressively lowered to 22% for fiscal year 2020 and 2021, and 20% starting from fiscal year 2022 onwards.

India

Under the Income Tax Act 1961 enacted in India, our subsidiary incorporated India is subject to a profit tax rate of 26%.

Canada

Under the Canadian federal and provincial tax rules, our subsidiaries incorporated in Canada are subject to the combined Canadian federal and provincial statutory income tax rates ranging from 23% to 31% depending on the location of the operation.

Discontinued Operations

In May 2019, our board of directors approved a plan to dispose of the NOME business, Minihome business, MINISO African business and MINISO German business within one year, and the results of these operations are included as discontinued operations accordingly. We continued to actively manage these operations until the disposal transactions completed. We completed the disposal of the NOME business, Minihome business and MINISO African business during the period from December 2019 to March 2020, and the MINISO German business in April 2020. The NOME business was disposed to Mr. Guofu Ye. The NOME business, which had over 200 stores, was operated under the NOME brand and engaged in the sales of clothing products and other lifestyle items, and was in competition with another company which operated similar business under the same brand. As of the date of this prospectus, substantially all of the NOME stores have closed, and the small number of remaining stores, which are no longer operated under the NOME brand, are expected to be closed by the end of October 2020. Our loss from discontinued operations, net of tax was RMB303.8 million and RMB130.0 million (US$18.4 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

 

96


Table of Contents

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total revenue for the periods presented. This information should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The results of operations in any period are not necessarily indicative of our future trends.

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     %     RMB     US$     %  
     (in thousands, except for percentages)  

Continuing operations:

          

Revenue

     9,394,911       100.0       8,978,986       1,270,893       100.0  

Cost of sales

     (6,883,931     (73.3     (6,246,488     (884,133     (69.6
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     2,510,980       26.7       2,732,498       386,760       30.4  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Other income

     10,468       0.1       37,208       5,266       0.4  

Selling and distribution expenses(1)

     (818,318     (8.7     (1,190,477     (168,501     (13.3

General and administrative expenses(1)

     (593,205     (6.3     (796,435     (112,728     (8.9

Other net income

     24,423       0.3       45,997       6,511       0.5  

Credit loss on trade and other receivables

     (90,124     (1.0     (25,366     (3,590     (0.3

Impairment loss on non-current assets

     (27,542     (0.3     (36,844     (5,215     (0.4

Operating profit

     1,016,682       10.8       766,581       108,503       8.5  

Finance income

     7,311       0.1       25,608       3,625       0.3  

Finance costs

     (25,209     (0.3     (31,338     (4,436     (0.3

Net finance costs

     (17,898     (0.2     (5,730     (811     (0.1

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights

     (709,780     (7.6     (680,033     (96,252     (7.6

Profit before taxation

     289,004       3.1       80,818       11,440       0.9  

Income tax expense

     (279,583     (3.0     (210,949     (29,858     (2.3

Profit/(loss) for the year from continuing operations

     9,421       0.1       (130,131     (18,418     (1.4

Discontinued operations:

          

Loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax

     (303,830     (3.2     (130,045     (18,407     (1.4
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (3.1     (260,176     (36,825     (2.9

Attributable to:

          

Equity shareholders of the Company

     (290,647     (3.1     (262,267     (37,121     (2.9

Non-controlling interests

     (3,762     (0.0     2,091       296       0.0  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Loss for the year

     (294,409     (3.1     (260,176     (36,825     (2.9
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Non-IFRS Measure(2):

          

Adjusted net profit

     868,801       9.2       970,790       137,406       10.8  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

97


Table of Contents

 

Notes:

(1)

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses were allocated as follows:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019      2020  
     RMB      RMB      US$  
     (in thousands)  

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses:

        

Selling and distribution expenses

     33,097        127,743        18,081  

General and administrative expenses

     88,961        236,637        33,494  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

     122,058        364,380        51,575  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 
(2)

See “Prospectus Summary—Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data—Non-IFRS Financial Measure.”

Fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 compared to fiscal year ended June 30, 2019

Revenue

Our revenue decreased by 4.4% from RMB9,394.9 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB8,979.0 million (US$1,270.9 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, which was attributable to a decrease in sales of lifestyle products by 4.8% from RMB8,464.7 million to RMB8,055.4 million (US$1,140.2 million), as well as a decrease in revenue from license fees, sales-based royalties, and management and consultation service fees by 4.1% from RMB612.6 million to RMB587.6 million (US$83.2 million).

The decrease in our revenue was mainly attributable to the negative impact of COVID-19 on our PRC and international operations during the period. As a result of the temporary store closures, reduction of operating hours and shipment suspensions caused by COVID-19, our revenue generated from the PRC decreased by 5.0% from RMB6,364.0 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB6,044.1 million (US$855.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, and our revenue generated from international markets decreased by 3.2% from RMB3,030.9 million to RMB2,934.9 million (US$415.4 million) during the same period. See “—Impact of COVID-19.”

During the period, the total number of MINISO stores, including those in China and international markets, increased from 3,725 as of June 30, 2019 to 4,222 as of June 30, 2020. Most of the new stores were opened in the second half of 2019 calendar year before the outbreak of COVID-19. Our revenue per MINISO store, however, decreased by 19.8% from RMB2.7 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB2.2 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, mainly due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and to a lesser extent, due to our new store expansion in lower-tier cities and under-penetrated locations as we continued to expand our store network and some competition issues we faced in 2019 and 2020. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our revenue per MINISO store has experienced, and may continue to experience, significant fluctuations from period to period.”

Cost of sales

Our cost of sales decreased by 9.3% from RMB6,883.9 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB6,246.5 million (US$884.1 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Gross profit

Gross profit increased by 8.8% from RMB2,511.0 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB2,732.5 million (US$386.8 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, and gross margin increased from 26.7% to 30.4% during the same period. The increase in gross margin was mainly

 

98


Table of Contents

driven by (i) a decrease in our applicable value-added tax rate, and (ii) our expanding co-branded product offering and its associated higher gross margin during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

Other income

Our other income increased by 255.4% from RMB10.5 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB37.2 million (US$5.3 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, which was primarily due to the receipt of a substantial amount of government grants in April 2020.

Selling and distribution expenses

Our selling and distribution expenses increased from RMB818.3 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB1,190.5 million (US$168.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Excluding equity-settled share-based payment expenses, our selling and distribution expenses increased by 35.3% from RMB785.2 million to RMB1,062.7 million (US$150.4 million) during the same period. The increase was primarily attributable to (i) an increase in licensing expenses from RMB21.9 million to RMB109.5 million (US$15.5 million), as a result of our expanding co-branding collaborations, (ii) an increase in depreciation and amortization expense from RMB154.5 million to RMB214.5 million (US$30.4 million) due to us having more directly operated stores overseas, and (iii) an increase in promotion and advertising expenses from RMB85.6 million to RMB128.4 million (US$18.2 million) in connection with our large-scale media promotional events during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.

General and administrative expenses

Our general and administrative expenses increased by 34.3% from RMB593.2 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB796.4 million (US$112.7 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in payroll and employee benefits from RMB348.6 million to RMB549.8 million (US$77.8 million), driven by a substantial increase in equity-settled share-based payment expenses. Excluding equity-settled share-based payment expenses, our general and administrative expenses increased by 11.0% from RMB504.2 million to RMB559.8 million (US$79.2 million) during the same period, with payroll and employee benefits increasing from RMB259.7 million to RMB313.2 million (US$44.3 million).

Other net income

Our other net income increased from RMB24.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB46.0 million (US$6.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, mainly due to an increase in investment income from other investments.

Credit loss on trade and other receivables

Our credit loss on trade and other receivables was RMB90.1 million and RMB25.4 million (US$3.6 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The credit loss during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 was primarily attributable to the loss allowance made for trade receivables from an overseas distributor due to the deterioration of its financial status during the period.

Impairment loss on non-current assets

Our impairment loss on non-current assets was RMB27.5 million and RMB36.8 million (US$5.2 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. We record impairment loss on non-current assets of directly operated stores.

 

99


Table of Contents

Operating profit

As a result of the foregoing, we recorded operating profit of RMB766.6 million (US$108.5 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to RMB1,016.7 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

Finance income

Our finance income increased by 250.3% from RMB7.3 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB25.6 million (US$3.6 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The increase was mainly due to a substantial increase in interest income from bank deposits.

Finance costs

Our finance costs increased by 24.3% from RMB25.2 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 to RMB31.3 million (US$4.4 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, mainly due to an increase in interest on our lease liabilities and loans and borrowings.

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights

Our fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights were a loss of RMB709.8 million and a loss of RMB680.0 million (US$96.3 million) in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The change was primarily due to the fact that the valuation of the paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights increased less in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 relative to the valuation increase in the previous fiscal year, which resulted from a lesser increase in the equity valuation of our business.

Income tax expense

We recorded income tax expense of RMB210.9 million (US$29.9 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to RMB279.6 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

Profit/(loss) from continuing operations

As a result of the foregoing, we recorded a loss of RMB130.1 million (US$18.4 million) from continuing operations in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to a profit of RMB9.4 million from continuing operations in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

Loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax

We recorded a loss for the year from discontinued operations, net of tax of RMB130.0 million (US$18.4 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to RMB303.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

Loss for the year

As a result of the foregoing, we recorded a loss of RMB260.2 million (US$36.8 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to a loss of RMB294.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

 

100


Table of Contents

Adjusted net profit

As a result of the adjustments laid out under “Prospectus Summary—Summary Consolidated Financial and Operating Data—Non-IFRS Financial Measure,” our adjusted net profit was RMB970.8 million (US$137.4 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, compared to RMB868.8 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.

Selected Quarterly Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our unaudited quarterly results of operations for each of the eight quarters from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020. We have prepared the unaudited quarterly consolidated financial statements on the same basis as we have prepared our audited consolidated financial statements. The unaudited quarterly consolidated financial statements for each of the eight quarters from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020 include all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, that our management considered necessary for a fair statement of our financial position, the results of operations and cash flows for the quarters. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period. The following quarterly financial data for the quarters indicated are qualified by reference to and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes which are included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

    For the three months ended,  
    September 30,
2018
    December 31,
2018
    March 31,
2019
    June 30, 2019     September 30,
2019
    December 31,
2019
    March 31,
2020
    June 30,
2020
 
    (RMB in thousands)  

Continuing operations:

             

Revenue

    2,253,163       2,446,262       2,179,543       2,515,943       2,988,800       2,803,843       1,633,127       1,553,216  

Cost of sales

    (1,682,070     (1,806,865     (1,581,215     (1,813,781     (2,051,554     (1,916,493     (1,104,659     (1,173,782

Gross profit

    571,093       639,397       598,328       702,162       937,246       887,350       528,468       379,434  

Other income

    167       8,451       1,426       424       3,144       241       155       33,668  

Selling and distribution expenses(1)

    (175,591     (204,003     (205,393     (233,331     (306,105     (339,213     (271,928     (273,231

General and administrative expenses(1)

    (116,768     (166,813     (146,485     (163,139     (212,817     (228,359     (179,374     (175,885

Other net (loss)/income

    (128     (268     609       24,210       14,765       23,868       (11,178     18,542  

Credit (loss)/reversal on trade and other receivables

    (3,048     (1,540     (83,802     (1,734     (9,609     (14,105     (4,745     3,093  

Impairment loss on non-current assets

    (9,712     (13,494     (3,781     (555                 (21,567     (15,277

Operating profit/(loss)

    266,013       261,730       160,902       328,037       426,624       329,782       39,831       (29,656

Finance income

    157       1,096       2,006       4,052       4,077       7,698       5,224       8,609  

Finance costs

    (5,114     (6,454     (6,706     (6,935     (6,331     (7,216     (7,059     (10,732

Net finance costs

    (4,957     (5,358     (4,700     (2,883     (2,254     482       (1,835     (2,123

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights

          (39,308     (99,179     (571,293     (338,706     (493,061     153,061       (1,327

Profit/(loss) before taxation

    261,056       217,064       57,023       (246,139     85,664       (162,797     191,057       (33,106

Income tax expense

    (70,144     (72,104     (51,627     (85,708     (105,934     (42,431     (20,899     (41,685

Profit/(loss) for the period from continuing operations

    190,912       144,960       5,396       (331,847     (20,270     (205,228     170,158       (74,791

 

101


Table of Contents
    For the three months ended,  
    September 30,
2018
    December 31,
2018
    March 31,
2019
    June 30, 2019     September 30,
2019
    December 31,
2019
    March 31,
2020
    June 30,
2020
 
    (RMB in thousands)  

Discontinued operations:

               

(Loss)/profit for the period from discontinued operations, net of tax

    (25,354     (52,144     (106,481     (119,851     (62,578     (1,783     (98,225     32,541  

Profit/(loss) for the period

    165,558       92,816       (101,085     (451,698     (82,848     (207,011     71,933       (42,250

Non-IFRS Measure(2):

               

Adjusted net profit

    214,098       234,221       144,418       276,064       402,524       389,781       136,038       42,447  

 

Notes:

(1)

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses were allocated as follows:

 

    For the three months ended,  
    September 30,
2018
    December 31,
2018
    March 31,
2019
    June 30,
2019
    September 30,
2019
    December 31,
2019
    March 31,
2020
    June 30,
2020
 
    (RMB in thousands)  

Selling and distribution expenses

    3,654       9,886       9,778       9,779       22,646       22,244       39,722       43,131  

General and administrative expenses

    9,820       26,573       26,284       26,284       61,442       60,040       57,652       57,503  

 

(2)

 

    For the three months ended,  
    September 30,
2018
    December 31,
2018
    March 31,
2019
    June 30,
2019
    September 30,
2019
    December 31,
2019
    March 31,
2020
    June 30,
2020
 
    (RMB in thousands)  

Reconciliation of profit/(loss) for the period to adjusted net profit:

               

Profit/(loss) for the period

    165,558       92,816       (101,085     (451,698     (82,848     (207,011     71,933       (42,250

Add back:

               

Fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights / redeemable shares with other preferential rights

          39,308       99,179       571,293       338,706       493,061       (153,061     1,327  

Loss/(profit) for the period from discontinued operations, net of tax

    25,354       52,144       106,481       119,851       62,578       1,783       98,225       (32,541

Equity-settled share-based payment expenses

    13,474       36,459       36,062       36,063       84,088       82,284       97,374       100,634  

Employee compensation expenses related to non-forfeitable dividends related to unvested restricted shares

                                  19,664              

Impairment loss on non-current assets

    9,712       13,494       3,781       555                   21,567       15,277  
 

 

 

 

Adjusted net profit

    214,098       234,221       144,418       276,064       402,524       389,781       136,038       42,447  
 

 

 

 

 

102


Table of Contents

Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuation, typically with relatively stronger performance in the quarters ended September 30 and December 31. As a result of the negative impact of COVID-19, we slowed down our store expansion both in China and globally, and our revenue and cost of sales decreased significantly, during the quarters ended March 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020. See “—Impact of COVID-19.”

Selected Balance Sheet Items

Trade and Other Receivables

Our trade and other receivables mainly include trade receivables, amounts due from related parties, miscellaneous expenses due from MINISO Retail Partners and distributors, VAT recoverable, rental deposits, and prepayments for inventories. As of June 30, 2019 and 2020, our trade and other receivables were RMB830.8 million and RMB729.9 million (US$103.3 million), including trade receivables of RMB409.1 million and RMB329.9 million (US$46.7 million), respectively. The decrease in trade receivables was primarily due to the disruption of our overseas operation and the associated slowdown in product sales in the first half of 2020 resulting from the adverse impact of COVID-19. Our trade receivables turnover days were 18 and 15 days in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The decrease in trade receivables turnover days was mainly due to better working capital management. Trade receivables turnover days for a given period are equal to average trade receivables calculated from the beginning and ending balances of the period divided by revenues during the period and then multiplied by the number of days during the period. Amounts due from related parties included in trade and other receivables were RMB140.7 million and RMB14.1 million (US$2.0 million) as of June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. These were mainly cash advances to related parties for the purposes of completing our corporate restructuring, and the outstanding balances have been fully repaid to us as of the date of this prospectus.

Inventories

Our inventories include finished goods and low-value consumables. As of June 30, 2019 and 2020, our inventories were RMB1,309.0 million and RMB1,395.7 million (US$197.5 million), respectively, remaining relatively stable. Our inventory turnover days were 63 and 78 days in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The increase in inventory turnover days mainly reflected the adverse impact from COVID-19 on our overseas store operation and supply chain in the first half of 2020. Our inventory turnover days for a given period are equal to average balances of inventories calculated from the beginning and ending balances of the period divided by cost of sales during the period and then multiplied by the number of days during the period.

Trade and Other Payables

Our trade and other payables primarily include trade payables, payroll payable, accrued expenses, other taxes payable, deposits, and amounts due to related parties. As of June 30, 2019 and 2020, our trade and other payables were RMB2,363.7 million and RMB2,419.8 million (US$342.5 million), including trade payables of RMB591.3 million and RMB483.3 million (US$68.4 million), respectively. The decrease in trade payables was mainly due to the disruption of our overseas operation and the associated slowdown in inventory procurement in the first half of 2020 resulting from the adverse impact of COVID-19. The increase in other payables from RMB1,772.4 million as of June 30, 2019 to RMB1,936.5 million (US$274.1 million) as of June 30, 2020 was primarily due to the increase in deposits as a result of an increased number of stores. Our trade payables turnover days were 29 and 31 days in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The increase in trade payables turnover days was due to the adverse impact from COVID-19. Trade payables turnover days for a given period are equal to average trade payables calculated from the beginning and ending balances of the period divided by cost of sales during the period and then multiplied by the number of days during the period.

 

103


Table of Contents

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Cash Flows

The following table sets forth a summary of our cash flows for the years presented:

 

     For the fiscal year ended June 30,  
     2019     2020  
     RMB     RMB     US$  
     (in thousands)  

Net cash generated from operating activities

     1,038,471       826,484       116,981  

Net cash (used in)/generated from investing activities

     (210,915     462,815       65,507  

Net cash generated from/(used in) financing activities

     619,858       (117,706     (16,660
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

     1,447,414       1,171,593       165,828  

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     228,106       1,686,218       238,669  

Effect of movements in exchange rates on cash held

     10,698       (3,831     (542
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of cash flows

     1,686,218       2,853,980       403,955  
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents of discontinued operations

     (139,938            

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year as presented in the consolidated statement of financial position

     1,546,280       2,853,980       403,955  

To date, our primary sources of liquidity have been cash flows from operations. Our cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations were RMB1,546.3 million and RMB2,854.0 million (US$404.0 million) as of June 30, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations comprise cash at bank and on hand, demand deposits with banks and other financial institutions, and short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible into known amounts of cash.

As of June 30, 2020, we had 3 unsecured bank loans from PRC banks with a remaining term of maturity of under 1 year and an aggregate principal amount of RMB400.0 million (US$56.6 million), and unsecured bank loans from U.S. banks with an aggregate principal amount of US$1.4 million that are maturing in April 2022. One unsecured bank loan for RMB200.0 million (US$28.3 million) had become repayable on demand as of June 30, 2020 due to one of our subsidiaries not meeting certain financial covenants of the loan. All of the three unsecured bank loans from PRC banks were fully repaid in July 2020.

As of June 30, 2020, 31%, 66% and 3% of our cash and cash equivalents from continuing operations were denominated in U.S. dollars, Renminbi, and other currencies, respectively. For restrictions and limitations on liquidity and capital resources as a result of our corporate structure, see “Holding Company Structure.”

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents and our anticipated cash flows from operations will be sufficient to meet our anticipated working capital requirements and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months. After this offering, we may decide to enhance our liquidity position or increase our cash reserve for future investments through additional capital and finance funding. The issuance and sale of additional equity would result in further dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could result in operating covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

In utilizing the proceeds we expect to receive from this offering, we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, establish new PRC subsidiaries and make capital contributions

 

104


Table of Contents

to these new PRC subsidiaries, make loans to our PRC subsidiaries, or acquire offshore entities with operations in China in offshore transactions. However, most of these uses are subject to PRC regulations. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of this offering to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business” and “Use of Proceeds”.

Operating Activities

Net cash generated from operating activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 was RMB826.5 million (US$117.0 million). This amount was primarily attributable to loss of RMB130.1 million (US$18.4 million) for the year from continuing operations adjusted for certain non-cash items, primarily consisting of (i) fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights of RMB680.0 million (US$96.3 million), (ii) equity-settled share-based payment expenses of RMB364.4 million (US$51.6 million), (iii) depreciation and amortization of RMB268.7 million (US$38.0 million), and (iv) impairment loss on non-current assets of RMB36.8 million (US$5.2 million) and changes in certain working capital accounts that affected operating cash flows, primarily consisting of (i) a RMB50.3 million (US$7.1 million) increase in trade and other payables, (ii) a RMB120.2 million (US$17.0 million) increase in trade and other receivables, (iii) a RMB86.7 million (US$12.3 million) increase in inventories, (iv) cash flows from discontinued operations of RMB68.1 million (US$9.6 million), and (v) a RMB29.0 million (US$4.1 million) decrease in contract liabilities. The increase in trade and other payables was mainly due to the increase in deposits as a result of an increased number of stores. The increases in trade and other receivables and inventories were primarily caused by the disruption of our overseas operation and the associated slowdown in product sales in the first half of 2020 resulting from the adverse impact of COVID-19.

Net cash generated from operating activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 was RMB1,038.5 million. This amount was primarily attributable to a profit of RMB9.4 million for the year from continuing operations adjusted for certain non-cash items, primarily consisting of (i) fair value changes of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights of RMB709.8 million, (ii) depreciation and amortization of RMB191.8 million, (iii) equity-settled share-based payment expenses of RMB122.1 million, and (iv) impairment loss on non-current assets of RMB27.5 million, and changes in certain working capital accounts that increased operating cash flows, primarily consisting of (i) a RMB509.9 million increase in trade and other payables, and (ii) a RMB119.0 million increase in contract liabilities, partially offset by a RMB392.8 million increase in inventories. The increase in trade and other payables was mainly due to the increase in deposits as a result of an increased number of stores. The increase in inventories was mainly due to the growth of our lifestyle product sales.

Investing Activities

Net cash generated from investing activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 was RMB462.8 million (US$65.5 million), consisting primarily of proceeds from disposal of other investments and repayment from the controlling shareholder, partially offset by payments for purchases of other investments and property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and cash disposed in connection with discontinued operations.

Net cash used in investing activities in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 was RMB210.9 million, consisting primarily of payment for purchases of other investments and property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, cash flows from discontinued operations and cash advances to related parties, partially offset by proceeds from disposal of other investments and proceeds from repayment from the controlling shareholder.

 

105


Table of Contents

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 was RMB117.7 million (US$16.7 million), primarily due to payment of the capital element and interest element of lease liabilities and dividend payments, partially offset by proceeds from loans and borrowings from third parties.

Net cash generated from financing activities in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 was RMB619.9 million, primarily due to proceeds from paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights and proceeds from capital injection from shareholders, partially offset by cash flows from discontinued operations, capital and interest payments on lease liabilities and repayment of loans and borrowings.

Capital Expenditures

Our capital expenditures are primarily incurred for the purposes of purchasing IT systems and renovating MINISO stores that we directly operated. Our capital expenditures were RMB116.1 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 and RMB57.0 million (US$8.1 million) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. We intend to fund our future capital expenditures with our existing cash balance, short-term investments and anticipated cash flows from operations. We will continue to make well-planned capital expenditures to meet the expected growth of our business.

Contractual Obligations

As of June 30, 2020, our capital commitment amounted to RMB13.5 million (US$1.9 million), mainly arising from certain purchase contracts of software signed with suppliers. The majority of this capital commitment is due within one year.

Other than as shown above, we did not have any significant capital and other commitments, long-term obligations or guarantees as of June 30, 2020.

Off-Balance Sheet Commitments and Arrangements

We have not entered into any financial guarantees or other commitments to guarantee the payment obligations of any third parties. In addition, we have not entered into any derivative contracts that are indexed to our shares and classified as shareholder’s equity or that are not reflected in our consolidated financial statements. Furthermore, we do not have any retained or contingent interest in assets transferred to an unconsolidated entity that serves as credit, liquidity or market risk support to such entity. We do not have any variable interest in any unconsolidated entity that provides financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support to us or engages in leasing, hedging or product development services with us.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with IFRS issued by the IASB, which requires us to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions based on the most recently available information, our own historical experience, and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Since the use of estimates is an integral component of the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from our expectations as a result of changes in our estimates. Some of our accounting policies require a higher degree of judgment than others in their application and require us to make significant accounting estimates.

 

106


Table of Contents

The following descriptions of significant accounting policies, judgments, and estimates should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and other disclosures included in this prospectus. When reviewing our financial statements, you should consider (i) our selection of significant accounting policies, (ii) the judgments and other uncertainties affecting the application of such policies, and (iii) the sensitivity of reported results to changes in conditions and assumptions.

Revenue recognition

Product sales to retail partners. We have entered into a series of agreements with certain retail partners, primarily in the PRC, which mainly include a license agreement and a sales agreement (collectively “Franchise Agreements”), whereby the retail partners are licensed to operate the retail partner stores and are authorized to sell, in their own retail stores, the products that they have purchased from us. Revenue from sales to these retail partners is recognized at the point when they obtain the legal title of the products and become obliged to pay for the products, which is when the retail partners sell the products to their customers in their own retail stores.

For product sales to retail partners, we have determined that the retail partners are the customers of us. The retail partners operate retail stores at their own chosen locations under the framework set out under the Franchise Agreements. At inception of the franchise arrangement, retail partners are required to place a deposit with us which covers the estimated maximum value of merchandise that their stores may hold throughout the franchise period, and this amount is reviewed upon renewal of the franchisee arrangement. The deposit is refundable at the expiry of the Franchise Agreements, provided that the retail partners have no remaining merchandise unsold and have settled other balances with us.

The retail partners employ and manage their own staff to operate the stores and serve their customers (i.e. end consumers who visit the stores), and bear the costs associated with the operation. The retail partners’ retail stores generally carry a wide range of merchandise that they exercise discretion to select from our array of product categories.

The retail partners are responsible for the placement, physical custody and condition of the merchandise that they have selected after the deliveries are accepted in stores. They also control the physical access to merchandise in possession through their operation of the retail stores. In general, we do not have any obligation or practice to accept any return of unsold products, except in rare cases such as a latent defect subject to a product recall or certain limited seasonal items that have passed their sales season.

The retail partners have the right to price their merchandise within a specified range of the recommended retail price set by us. They also have the ability to carry out discretionary promotional campaigns for their stores or decide whether to participate in promotional campaigns launched by us. The retail partners can offer more discounts on selected items beyond the range specified in discretionary promotional campaigns, and will have to bear a substantial portion of reduced margin from lowering the sales price for such campaigns.

Impairments of non-current assets

In considering the impairment losses that may be required for certain property, plant and equipment, and right-of-use assets, recoverable amount of these assets needs to be determined. The recoverable amount is the greater of the net selling price and the value in use. It is difficult to precisely estimate selling price because quoted market prices for these assets may not be readily available. In determining the value in use, expected cash flows generated by the asset are discounted to their present value, which requires significant judgment relating to items such as level of revenue and amount of operating costs. We use all readily available information in determining an amount that is reasonable approximation of recoverable amount, including estimates based on reasonable and supportable assumptions and projections of items such as revenue and operating costs.

 

107


Table of Contents

Fair value measurement of paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights

The paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights are not traded in an active market and the respective fair value is determined by using valuation techniques. We have used the discounted cash flow method to determine the underlying equity value and adopted equity allocation model to determine the fair value of the paid-in capital subject to redemption and other preferential rights/redeemable shares with other preferential rights. Considerable judgement is required to interpret market data used in the valuation techniques. The use of different market assumptions and / or estimation methodologies may have a material effect on the estimated fair value amounts.

Recognition of deferred tax assets

Deferred tax assets in respect of tax losses and other deductible temporary differences carried forward are recognized and measured based on the expected manner of realization or settlement of the carrying amount of the assets, using tax rates enacted or substantively enacted at the end of the reporting period. In determining the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets, expected taxable profits are estimated which involves a number of assumptions relating to the operating environment of us and requires significant level of judgement exercised by the directors. Any change in such assumptions and judgement would affect the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets to be recognized and hence the net profit in future years.

Share-based compensation arrangements

We measure the cost of equity-settled transactions with employees by reference to the fair value of the equity instruments at the date at which they are granted. The fair value is estimated using a model which requires the determination of the appropriate inputs. We have to estimate the forfeiture rate in order to determine the amount of share-based compensation expenses charged to the statement of profit or loss. We also have to estimate the actual vesting period of the share awards which is variable and subject to an estimate of when a qualified initial public offering of us will incur.

Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Prior to this offering, we have been a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which to address our internal control. Our management has not completed an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control and procedures over financial reporting and our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. In the course of auditing our consolidated financial statements included in this prospectus, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our company’s annual or interim consolidated financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The material weakness identified relates to our company’s lack of sufficient financial reporting and accounting personnel with an appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the application of IFRS and SEC reporting requirements to formalize, implement and operate key controls over financial reporting process in order to prepare, review and report financial information, and to properly address complex accounting issues and related disclosures in accordance with IFRS and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC. Neither we nor our independent registered public

 

108


Table of Contents

accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for purposes of identifying and reporting any weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. We and they are required to do so only after we become a public company. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional control deficiencies may have been identified.

To remediate our identified material weakness, we plan to adopt measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting, including, among others: (i) hiring additional qualified accounting and financial personnel with appropriate knowledge and experience in IFRS accounting and SEC reporting, (ii) organizing regular training for our accounting staffs, especially training related to IFRS and SEC reporting requirements, and (iii) formulating IFRS accounting policies and procedures manual, which will be maintained, reviewed and updated, on a regular basis, to the latest IFRS accounting standards.

However, we cannot assure you that all these measures will be sufficient to remediate our material weakness in time, or at all. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—If we fail to remediate our material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.”

Holding Company Structure

MINISO Group Holding Limited is a holding company with no material operations of its own. We conduct our operations through our subsidiaries. As a result, MINISO Group Holding Limited’s ability to pay dividends, to some extent, depends upon dividends paid by our subsidiaries. If our existing subsidiaries or any newly formed ones incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in China is permitted to pay dividends to us only out of its retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under PRC law, each of our subsidiaries in China is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. In addition, our wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in China may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to enterprise expansion funds and staff bonus and welfare funds at its discretion. The statutory reserve funds and the discretionary funds are not distributable as cash dividends. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned company out of China is subject to examination by the banks designated by SAFE.

Inflation

To date, inflation in China has not materially impacted our results of operations. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the year-over-year percent changes in the consumer price index for March 2018, 2019 and 2020 were increases of 2.1%, 2.3% and 4.3%, respectively. Although we have not been materially affected by inflation in the past, we can provide no assurance that we will not be affected by higher rates of inflation in China in the future.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Foreign Exchange Risk

Our financial reporting currency is the RMB and changes in foreign exchange rates can significantly affect our reported results and consolidated trends. In addition, our results of operations,

 

109


Table of Contents

including margins, are affected by the fluctuation in foreign exchange rates. Our international operations generate revenues primarily in U.S. dollars. Generally, a weakening of the RMB against the U.S. dollar has a positive effect on our results of operations, while a strengthening of the RMB against the U.S. dollar has the opposite effect. We have not used any derivative financial instruments to hedge exposure to such risk.

The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amounts available to us.

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds of approximately US$             million from this offering if the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and the estimated offering expenses payable by us, based on the initial offering price of US$             per ADS, the midpoint of the estimated initial public offering price range shown on the cover page of this prospectus. Assuming that we convert the full amount of the net proceeds from this offering into Renminbi, a 10% appreciation of U.S. dollars against Renminbi, from the exchange rate of RMB7.0651 for US$1.0000 as of June 30, 2020 to a rate of RMB7.7716 to US$1.0000, would result in an increase of RMB             million in our net proceeds from this offering. Conversely, a 10% depreciation of U.S. dollars against Renminbi, from the exchange rate of RMB7.0651 for US$1.0000 as of June 30, 2020 to a rate of RMB6.4228 to US$1.0000 would result in a decrease of RMB             million in our net proceeds from this offering.

Interest Rate Risk

Our exposure to interest rate risk primarily relates to the interest income generated by excess cash, which is mostly held in interest-bearing bank deposits and wealth management products, and the interest expense on our three unsecured bank loans from PRC banks with an aggregate principal amount of RMB400.0 million (US$56.6 million). Interest-earning instruments and interest-bearing loans carry a degree of interest rate risk. We have not been exposed to material risks due to changes in market interest rates, and we have not used any derivative financial instruments to manage our interest risk exposure.

After completion of this offering, we may invest the net proceeds that we receive from this offering in interest-earning instruments. Investments in both fixed rate and floating rate interest earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk. Fixed rate securities may have their fair market value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, while floating rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates fall.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

A list of recently issued accounting pronouncements that are relevant to us is included in note 32 on page [F-68] of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

110


Table of Contents

INDUSTRY

The information presented in this section has been derived from an industry report commissioned by us and prepared by Frost & Sullivan, an independent research firm, regarding our industry and our market position in China and around the world.

China’s Retail Market

China’s retail industry experienced a fast growth over the past three decades along with a robust economic growth and rising disposable income. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the annual per capita disposable income for all households in China grew from RMB22.0 thousand in 2015 to RMB30.7 thousand in 2019, representing a CAGR of 8.8%. The stable economic development has been driving the growth of people’s consumption expenditure in China. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, per capita consumption expenditure in China increased from RMB15.7 thousand in 2015 to RMB21.6 thousand in 2019, and is estimated to further increase to RMB29.3 thousand by 2024. The increases in consumption expenditure have been driving the growth of China’s retail market. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of China’s retail market reached RMB41.2 trillion in 2019 and is estimated to continue to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2020 to 2024. The following chart illustrates the size of China’s retail market by GMV in the years presented:

 

LOGO

 

Source: Frost & Sullivan

China’s Lifestyle Products Market

Lifestyle products generally refer to various kinds of consumable household products such as personal care products, bags and accessories, small electronics, textile products, toys, stationery, digital accessories and daily consumables.

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the development of China’s lifestyle products market can be divided into the following three stages:

Mass consumption stage (before 2002): Spending on consumable products and daily necessities increased gradually, but such spending at this stage generally was unable to reflect consumers’ personal preferences. General merchandise stores became relatively popular during this period. Along with the development of China’s economy, people’s living standards continued to improve and consumption expenditure continued to increase. Chinese consumers started to develop brand awareness.

 

111


Table of Contents

Brand and quality consumption stage (from 2003 to 2014):    In 2003, China’s real GDP growth rate reached double digits, the per capita nominal GDP reached RMB10,000 and the per capita disposable income reached RMB5,000. During this period of fast economic development, consumer preferences started to show a trend of brand consumption. E-commerce also experienced rapid development during this stage and online shopping became increasingly popular. The on-going urbanization created more employment opportunities and increased people’s disposable income, enabling them to pursue higher living standards and seeking products that satisfy their demand for improved living environment.

Rational and personalized consumption stage (since 2015):    In 2015, China’s real GDP growth rate slowed down to 7.0% and the per capita nominal GDP reached RMB50,000. Consumers in China have been more rational in spending and tend to choose lifestyle products that are of greater value for money and better functionality. Meanwhile, offline shoppings re-gain popularity and consumers enjoy in-person shopping experience brought by offline shoppings. Furthermore, younger generations gradually become the main force of consumption. They tend to place more emphasis on the design of lifestyle products that can reflect their individualized preference, which would further drive the growth of the lifestyle products market in China.

The lifestyle products market in China experienced a rapid development over the past two decades. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of China’s lifestyle products market increased from RMB2.6 trillion in 2015 to RMB3.7 trillion in 2019, representing a CAGR of 9.4%, outpaced the CAGR of 8.3% for China’s retail market during the same period. As a result of such rapid growth, China’s lifestyle products market has become one of the fastest growing markets across all retail segments, according to the Frost & Sullivan Report. The following chart illustrates the size of China’s lifestyle products market by GMV in the years presented:

 

LOGO

 

Source: Frost & Sullivan

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the lifestyle products market can be divided into three sub-markets by different type of retailers: (i) branded variety retail: it generally refers to a wide mix of lifestyle products distributed by retailers with their own brands; (ii) specialty retail: it generally refers to retailers that sell specific category of products; (iii) groceries and general merchandise retail: it primarily includes convenience store, supermarkets, hypermarkets, among others, that offer a wide range of products from different brands.

 

112


Table of Contents

Branded Variety Retail Market in China

Branded variety retailers of lifestyle products generally target at young consumers and the lifestyle products they sell generally have a fashionable design, outstanding functionality and affordable prices. This type of retailers realize product sales typically through multiple channels such as direct sales, franchising, distributorship, or a flexible combination of different channels. For purposes of this prospectus, a retailer that derives over 50% of its total GMV from selling self-branded lifestyle products is referred to as a branded variety retailer.

Market size

As consumers’ consumption behaviors become more rational, quality lifestyle products at affordable prices are gaining popularity. Also, consumers, especially younger generations, are increasingly favoring products that could reflect their individualized preferences. These trends present substantial market opportunities and potential for branded variety retailers. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of the branded variety retail market by aggregate GMV increased from RMB50.3 billion in 2015 to RMB100.5 billion in 2019, and is estimated to further increase at a CAGR of 20.5% from 2020 to 2024. The following chart illustrates the size of the branded variety retail market in China by aggregate GMV of branded variety retailers for the years presented:

 

LOGO

 

Source: Frost & Sullivan

The outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 sharply curtailed normal economic life throughout China and resulted in reduced consumption activities. It is expected that the branded variety market in China will experience a decline in 2020. However, with the effective control of pandemic and strong fiscal support to industry sectors and individuals that were hard hit by the COVID-19, social and economic activities in China have gradually come back to normal since the second quarter of 2020. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, it is expected that the consumption expenditure in China will increase in a faster pace in the next few years, which will boost the recovery of the branded variety retail market in China.

 

113


Table of Contents

Market trends

In order to provide consumers with quality products and pleasant shopping experience, branded variety retailers have to manage their products, stores and suppliers in a comprehensive manner. Branded variety retailers need to have the business acumen to anticipate market trends and work closely with business partners in various aspects such as product design, product manufacturing, product display and product distribution to keep abreast of the market trends. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the key trends in the branded variety retail market are as follows:

Consumers’ increasing focus on product design and value for money.    Along with the rising living standards and rational consumption behavior, consumers in China are paying more attention to product design and affordability when purchasing lifestyle products. Besides, the rapid urbanization progress in China creates substantial growth potential for branded variety retailers as the new urban population requires quality lifestyle products to support their improving living environment.

Consumers’ rising brand awareness in branded variety retail sector.    Brand image is an important factor for consumers to choose a branded variety retailer and Chinese consumers are inclined to trust branded variety retailers with strong brand influence, global vision and wide network coverage as these features are considered by consumers in China as reliable indicators for product quality. Meanwhile, influential brand image facilitates branded variety retailers’ cooperation with best business partners across the supply chain, increases their bargain power in such cooperation. As a result, branded variety retailers in China are expected to further strengthen their brand image, promote their brands among consumers so as to generate more sales.

Flexible business model reaching a market with great potential.    Branded variety retailers realize product sales typically through multiple channels such as direct sales, franchising, distributorship, or a flexible combination of different channels. In order to establish or strengthen brand recognition and further acquire market shares, branded variety retailers in China would continue to adopt the asset-light franchising business model, under which franchisees (or channel partners) take charge of store operations and bear operational costs so that branded variety retailers (or brand owners) could focus on updating product portfolio to cater to evolving consumer demand, improving supply chain efficiency, and optimizing network efficiency. Compared with the direct sales model, under which brand owners generally take charge of all aspects of business operations including product design, warehousing, logistics and product sales, the asset-light franchising model could help branded variety retailers expand in scale rapidly and respond to changes in market demand flexibly. The franchising model in China is widely adopted by branded variety retailers and is expected to help branded variety retailers achieve a higher penetration rate in low-tier cities.

Further integration of online and offline channels and monetization of consumer flow.    Compared with online shopping where consumers normally have a planned consumption for specific products, purchasing variety retail products offline is usually an unplanned consumption behavior. Offline-based branded variety retail could provide consumers with an in-person, comfortable and sometimes surprise-filled shopping experience with direct access to products they are going to purchase and attentive services from retailers. To further address consumers’ evolving demands for offline shopping and monetize online consumer traffic, branded variety retailers in China would continue to optimize the “online + offline” business approach and monetize their online consumer communities so as to better support the growth of their offline retail businesses.

Increasing focus on supply chain efficiency.    In order to cooperate more efficiently with business partners on supply chain and respond quickly to evolving customer preferences, branded variety retailers have been continuously optimizing supply chain management by applying more advanced information technologies. For example, the application of new technologies allows branded variety

 

114


Table of Contents

retailers to have timely access to operational data, changes of consumer demands, warehousing details, among others, which improves the efficiency of the cooperation with business partners such as suppliers, retail or distribution partners, and technical vendors and prompted the emergence of innovative models of cooperation and improve the efficiency of network and operational management.

Competitive landscape

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, competition in the branded variety retail market in China is fierce and fragmented with more than 1,000 players. Top five players have an aggregate market share of 19.8% in terms of GMV in 2019. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, leading players are expected to gain more market shares and the level of market concentration is expected to increase.

In 2019, we generated GMV of RMB11.0 billion in China, which accounted for a market share of 10.9%. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, we are ranked first in the branded variety retail market in China as measured by GMV generated by branded variety retailers of lifestyle products.

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, effective supply chain management, superior product design capability and omni-channel shopping experience are key factors determining competitive positions in the branded variety retail market.

Global Branded Variety Retail Market

The global branded variety retail market has grown steadily over the past two decades. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, the size of the global branded variety retail market by aggregate GMV increased from US$32.9 billion in 2015 to US$52.0 billion in 2019, and is estimated to continue to grow at a CAGR of 19.1% from 2020 to 2024. The following chart illustrates the size of the branded variety retail market by aggregate GMV of branded variety retailers for the years presented:

 

LOGO

 

Source: Frost & Sullivan

 

115


Table of Contents

Branded variety retail market in developed countries

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, key macroeconomic factors, including GDP growth, population, urbanization rate, are defining the development of lifestyle products market in various regions. Consumers in developed countries generally have a stable household income and relatively stronger spending power, which allow them to pursue higher standards of living. As a result, consumers in developed countries have a stable demand for quality lifestyle products. Meanwhile, customers in developed countries are generally more rational in spending compared with those in developing countries and favor lifestyle products that deliver attractive value for money. The market of branded variety retail of lifestyle products in developed countries is relatively mature and is expected to maintain a steady growth.

Taking the United States and Canada as examples, the following table shows the size of the branded variety retail market by GMV in these countries for the years presented:

 

          CAGR  
    2015     2016     2017     2018     2019     2020E     2021E     2022E     2023E     2024E     2015 ~ 2019     2020E ~ 2024E  
    (US$ Billion)        

United States

    8.4       9.1       9.9       10.7       11.6       8.7       11.7       14.3       15.4       16.5       8.4     17.4

Canada

    0.9       0.9       1.0       1.1       1.2       1.0       1.2       1.4       1.5       1.5       7.5     10.7

Branded variety retail market in developing countries

The GDP growth rate in developing countries maintained at a high level. For example, the GDP of China, India and Indonesia grew at CAGRs of 9.6%, 8.4% and 6.8%, respectively, from 2015 to 2019. Consumers’ growing consumption expenditure in these countries demonstrates a great potential for the future development of the branded variety retail market. Besides, driven by further penetration in lower-tier cities and new consumer demands, the branded variety retail market in developing countries has experienced a rapid growth over the past few years. The increasing urbanization rate in developing countries also drove the growth of demand for lifestyle products, especially those of high quality but at affordable price.

Taking Indonesia, India and Mexico as examples, the following table shows the size of the branded variety retail market by GMV in these countries for the years presented:

 

          CAGR  
    2015     2016     2017     2018     2019     2020E     2021E     2022E     2023E     2024E     2015-2019     2020E-2024E  
    (US$ Billion)        

Indonesia

    0.9       1.0       1.1       1.3       1.5       1.3       1.7       2.2       2.6       3.0       13.6     23.3

India

    1.4       1.6       1.9       2.3       2.7       2.1       2.9       3.6       4.3       5.0       17.8     24.2

Mexico

    1.3       1.4       1.6       1.8       2.1       1.7       2.3       2.9       3.5       4.0       12.7     23.9

Competitive landscape

According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, competition in the global branded variety retail market is fierce and fragmented. Top five players have an aggregate market share of approximately 15.7% in terms of GMV in 2019. It is expected that the aggregate market share of top five players would further increase in the next few years.

In 2019, we generated GMV of RMB19.0 billion globally and had a market share of 5.2% in the global branded variety retail market. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, we are ranked first in the global branded variety retail market as measured by GMV generated by branded variety retailers of lifestyle products.

 

116


Table of Contents

BUSINESS

Mission

Our mission is to enable everyone to enjoy life’s little surprises.

Overview

We are a fast-growing global value retailer offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products. Within seven years since we opened our first store in China in 2013, we have built our flagship brand “MINISO” as a globally recognized retail brand and established a massive store network worldwide. As of June 30, 2020, we served consumers primarily through our network of over 4,200 MINISO stores, of which we directly operated 129, including over 2,500 MINISO stores in China and over 1,680 MINISO stores across over 80 countries and regions in the rest of the world. Our revenue reached RMB9.0 billion (US$1.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. The aggregate GMV of products sold through our network reached RMB19.0 billion (US$2.7 billion) in 2019, making us the largest global branded variety retailer of lifestyle products, according to the Frost & Sullivan Report.

Aesthetically pleasing design, quality and affordability are at the core of every product we deliver. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we offered consumers a wide selection of approximately 8,000 core SKUs, the vast majority of which are under our flagship brand “MINISO.” These products span across 11 major categories, including home decor, small electronics, textile, accessories, beauty tools, toys, cosmetics, personal care, snacks, fragrance and perfumes, and stationery and gifts. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we launched an average of over 600 SKUs per month. We continually and frequently roll out products of high appeal, high quality and high affordability, promoting a relaxing, treasure-hunting and engaging shopping experience that appeals to all demographics regardless of their cultural background and geographical location.

We pair value concepts with a touch of appeal, creativity and innovation, focusing on long-term sustainability instead of short-term profits. Our highly effective approach to retail, which mainly encompasses dynamic product development, co-branding collaborations, and an efficient supply chain, are critical to the success of our business.

 

   

Dynamic product development.    The collective efforts of product managers, designers and suppliers help us achieve dynamic product development. Our highly experienced product managers are responsible for identifying trends, co-creating product designs in collaboration with our designers, coordinating with suppliers on production and bringing the finished products to market. We have made significant investment in our design capabilities by maintaining a dedicated and capable in-house design team and partnering with capable third-party designers, and have established our MINISO Design Academy to fully integrate these design capabilities to create trendy, attractive and quality products. Our philosophy is to launch approximately 100 new SKUs, every 7 days, carefully selected from a large library of 10,000 product ideas, which we refer to as the “711 philosophy.” We believe our efficiency and speed-to-market at large scale are difficult for competitors to replicate.

 

   

Co-branding collaborations.    Our co-branding collaborations with IP licensors owning popular brands allow us to capitalize on cultural phenomena or influential trends in mass media by featuring their elements in our product design and adding exciting diversity to our products. Our established co-branding relationships with 17 IP licensors as of June 30, 2020, who own popular brands such as Marvel, Disney and Hello Kitty, are a strong testimony to our brand value and elevate our brand equity and awareness by unlocking new possibilities of product design. As a result, more consumers are attracted to our MINISO stores to enjoy a shopping experience replete with pleasant surprises.

 

117


Table of Contents
   

Efficient supply chain.    Leveraging China’s unmatched and massive supply chain, we source directly from highly qualified manufacturers in China that can meet our sophisticated demands. Our large procurement volumes as a result of our scale further contribute to our procurement cost advantages. We maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with our suppliers by being punctual with our payments to them and helping them grow with us. In addition, we digitally integrate suppliers and streamline the supply chain process through our supply chain management system and regularly assist suppliers in improving production efficiency and cost control,