On March 30th, Tongrentang (600085. SH) released the 2020 annual report. Last year, the operating income was 654.38+02.8 billion yuan, down 3.4% year-on-year, and the net profit was 654.38+00.3 billion yuan, up 4.67% year-on-year.
Compared with the negative growth of revenue and net profit in 20 19, the performance of Tongrentang has improved, but the decline is still obvious compared with the high growth rate of 10% or more a few years ago.
Compared with Pien Tze Huang and Yunnan Baiyao, which are both well-known Chinese medicines, Tongrentang lags behind in both business performance and brand reputation.
Just over a month ago, Tongrentang also experienced a serious personnel shock: Gao Zhenkun, general manager of Beijing Tongrentang (Group) Co., Ltd., chairman of Beijing Tongrentang Co., Ltd., and Liu Xiangguang, former general manager of Beijing Tongrentang Co., Ltd., were successively subject to disciplinary review and supervision investigation on suspicion of serious violation of the law.
The specific reason why the executives were investigated has not been said. However, in recent years, due to problems such as unqualified product quality, it was exposed by the media and frequently appeared on the "black list" of the regulatory authorities, which made the golden signboard "Tongrentang" repeatedly dusty.
For Tong Ren Tang, it is not easy to reverse the decline of business and catch up with colleagues.
Tongrentang's main business is the production and sale of proprietary Chinese medicines. Its representative products include Angong Niuhuang Pill, Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pill and Tongren Dahuoluo Pill, covering internal medicine, surgery, gynecology and pediatrics.
Looking up the financial report of Tongrentang in the last ten years, it is found that the growth rate of the company's revenue and net profit returned to the mother reached the high points of 23.58% and 30. 13% in 20 1 2 and showed a downward trend as a whole. By 20 19, the company's revenue and net profit both showed negative growth, which decreased by 6.56% and 13. 12% respectively.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in early 2020, the operating conditions of Tongrentang further deteriorated, and its performance declined seriously. In the first half of the year, its revenue and net profit decreased by 65,438+06% and 27% respectively.
The situation improved in the second half of the year. Since the third quarter, Tongrentang's revenue and net profit growth rate have both turned positive, and the net profit in the fourth quarter achieved a high growth of 65,438+033.8% year-on-year.
However, compared with the whole industry, the situation of Tongrentang is still relatively optimistic. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2020, the operating income of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry above designated size in China was about 2.49 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; The total profit reached 350.67 billion yuan, an increase of 20 19 over the same period 12.8%.
In the field of traditional Chinese medicine, there has always been a saying that there is Tong Ren Tang in the north and Pien Tze Huang in the south. Compared with Pien Tze Huang, Tong Ren Tang's performance is somewhat embarrassing. In 2020, Pien Tze Huang's revenue and net profit will reach 6.5 billion yuan and 65.438+0.97 billion yuan respectively, up by 65.438+03.7% and 20.4% respectively.
Compared with the development momentum of Yunnan Baiyao, a Chinese medicine company, Tongrentang is also inferior. In 2020, the year-on-year growth rate of revenue and net profit of Yunnan Baiyao was as high as 10.4% and 32% respectively.
From the perspective of the industry, Tongrentang's operating income mainly comes from the pharmaceutical industry and pharmaceutical business. In 2020, the income contributed by these two sectors is relatively close. The former was 7.65 billion yuan, with a slight increase of 1.6%, while the latter was 7.32 billion yuan, with a decrease of 2.7%.
The income of the pharmaceutical business sector was affected by the COVID-19 epidemic to some extent.
It is understood that Tongrentang retail store is the main source of income for its pharmaceutical business segment. By the end of 2020, Tongrentang Commercial had 880 stores. However, the annual report said that last year, affected by the epidemic, the commercial passenger flow in Tongrentang dropped sharply, especially in the early stage of the epidemic, there was no way to purchase epidemic prevention materials, and no one cared about daily items.
From the main products of Tongrentang, the growth rate of revenue of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular products represented by Angong Niuhuang series and Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin series, heat-clearing products represented by Ganmaoqing series and Niuhuang Jiedu series, and gynecological products represented by Tongren Wuji Baifeng series and Bao Kun Pill all declined in the past year.
"Compared with similar traditional Chinese medicine companies, Tongrentang has obvious advantages in brand value and product inheritance." Shi Lichen, an expert in the pharmaceutical industry and general manager of Beijing Chen Ding Management Consulting Company, thinks.
This is not empty talk. Tongrentang brand was founded in 1669 (the 9th year of Qing Emperor Kangxi). After more than 350 years, it has won numerous reputations, and its classic drugs, Angong Niuhuang Pill, Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pill and Tongren Dahuoluo Pill, are well known.
Because of the deep family background, under the trend of accelerating R&D and innovation in the whole pharmaceutical industry, Tong Ren Tang's stingy investment and enthusiasm for "living on one's laurels" in this respect are somewhat out of date. The company's financial report in recent years shows that in 20 16 20 19, Tongrentang's R&D expenditure accounted for about 1.6% of revenue, which improved last year, and the R&D expenditure increased by nearly 24% year-on-year, accounting for 2% of revenue.
However, from the perspective of R&D expenditure, it is mainly to tap the application potential of existing varieties, such as the post-marketing research of Angong Niuhuang Pill and Tongren Niuhuang Qingxin Pill, and there are almost no new product R&D projects.
"Although the processing is complicated, you don't dare to save labor. Although the taste is expensive, you don't dare to reduce material resources." This is an old saying that Tong Ren Tang hangs in front of the door, so consumers have special trust in the quality of its products.
However, in recent years, Tongrentang's actual actions seem to have deviated from the initial intention of quality first.
It is not the first time that Tongrentang has been caught in a quality storm because of the expired honey incident that caused great public opinion at the end of 2065438+2008. Tongrentang's loopholes and negligence in quality control have shown signs.
Before 20 16, Beijing Tongrentang Zibo Pharmacy Co., Ltd. was "confiscated illegal income and fined" by the US Food and Drug Administration of Zibo for selling inferior drugs; 20 17, Shanghai Huangpu District Food and Drug Administration found that Shanghai Huangpu Pharmacy in Beijing Tongrentang was punished by warning, fine and confiscation of illegal income because the test results of aflatoxin in the Chinese herbal medicine "Baiziren" sold were not up to standard.
"Well-known and time-honored Chinese medicine enterprises can't even guarantee the most basic quality. What about development? " Shi Lichen said.
In Tongrentang's 2020 annual report, brand culture is regarded as the core competitiveness of the company, but without the support of high-quality products and services, brand culture cannot be transformed into value and performance.
However, in its 2020 annual report, regarding the construction of the company's quality control system, Tong Ren Tang proposed that the variety selection should start from three aspects: the construction of the traceability system of medicinal materials, tackling key problems in production technology, and product quality risk assessment, so as to build a full-chain, full-coverage, systematic self-owned quality standard control system, realize the quality control in the whole process of drug production, and improve the internal quality and competitiveness of products through the formulation and implementation of Tong Ren Tang standards, which are exemplary in the industry.
However, whether many measures can be really implemented depends on the quality of products.
The performance is not bright and the quality performance is poor. The personnel shock that struck again not long ago made Tong Ren Tang even more precarious.
On February 22nd, the Supervision Committee of Beijing Commission for Discipline Inspection released a message that Gao Zhenkun, the general manager of China Beijing Tongrentang (Group) Co., Ltd., was suspected of serious violation of discipline and law, and was currently under disciplinary review and supervision investigation. Subsequently, on March 4, Liu Xiangguang, former general manager of Beijing Tongrentang Co., Ltd., was also investigated for "suspected serious violation of the law".
On March 16, Tong Ren Tang announced that Gao Zhenkun resigned from all the positions of directors and board of directors of the company for personal reasons, and Di Shubing, secretary of the party committee, director and general manager of the company, temporarily assumed the post of chairman.
According to public information, Gao Zhenkun is 58 years old and has served as chief accountant, general manager, chairman and general manager of Tongrentang Group. Gao Zhenkun also serves as the chairman of Tongrentang Technology Co., Ltd., another listed company of Tongrentang Group.
Liu Xiangguang, 57 years old, 1982 has been working in Tongrentang. He has served as deputy director of the production and supply department of Tongrentang Group Company, secretary of the Party Committee and deputy director of Beijing Tongrentang Pharmaceutical Factory, and deputy general manager and general manager of Tongrentang.
In 2065438+2005, Gao and Liu officially began to change shifts in Tongrentang. In February of that year, Gao Zhenkun served as the general manager of Tongrentang Group, and Liu Xiangguang was elected as the general manager of Tongrentang. Two months later, Gao Zhenkun was elected as the chairman of Tong Ren Tang.
The expired honey incident is the "Waterloo" of their Tongrentang career.
20 18 12 The honey production enterprise entrusted by Tongrentang Bee Industry, a subsidiary of Tongrentang Co., Ltd., was exposed due to its large use of expired honey, which caused widespread social doubts.
In this regard, the Supervision Committee of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection initiated an accountability investigation and seriously investigated the responsibilities of many responsible persons. Gao Zhenkun was severely punished by the party, and Liu Xiangguang was dismissed from his post in the party and reduced to an ordinary employee.
The results of the survey also clearly pointed out the problems existing in Tongrentang at that time: the Party Committee of Beijing Tongrentang Group did not give full play to its role as the political core and leadership core of state-owned enterprises, its internal management was chaotic, its supervision and control of subordinate enterprises were weak, its management and responsibility for the production, operation and quality management of holding enterprises were neglected, and the quality control of related enterprises was not effectively implemented, resulting in a serious loss of state-owned assets and a bad influence on Tongrentang's brand image.
Previously, Gao Zhenkun had repeatedly publicly stated that "honesty and quality are the iron laws followed by the pharmaceutical industry" and emphasized that "whoever smashed the brand of Tong Ren Tang will smash his job".
Today's acting chairman, Di Shubing, is also from the old Tong Ren Tang. According to public information, he is 46 years old and has worked in many subsidiaries of Tongrentang Group. On March 22, 20 19, that is, more than a month after Liu Xiangguang was dismissed, Di Shubing was hired as the general manager of Tongrentang.
It is worth mentioning that not only Gao He Liu, but also Tong Ren Tang's senior management team has undergone great changes in the past two years. For example, in June 2020, the positions of chief accountant and supervisor were all changed, and the positions of deputy general manager of the company experienced a "big reshuffle": Song ended his post after the expired honey incident, Zhu * * * Pei and Wang Qingquan ended their posts in August 20 19 and May 2020 respectively.
Among them, except Zhu * * * Pei's retirement, the term of office of others has not expired. Most of these retired executives are "old people" who have worked in Tongrentang for at least ten years.
"If Tong Ren Tang takes this personnel reshuffle as an opportunity to make a reasonable plan for the next overall development, the prospects are still worth looking forward to." Shi Lichen believes that Tongrentang, as a state-owned Chinese medicine enterprise, should actively take the lead in promoting the development of Chinese medicine. First of all, we should start with the research and development of innovative drugs and the clinical efficacy verification of existing Chinese medicine varieties, and vigorously invest in research and development innovation; Second, closely follow the main pharmaceutical industry to expand diversified development and continuously strengthen the main pharmaceutical industry; Third, we must further strengthen internal quality control and continue to promote quality and integrity culture.
Of course, whether the new management team can make Tongrentang develop better after taking office remains to be tested by time.