Recently, saint bella inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Saint Bella"), a confinement center where female artists such as Qi Wei and Gina once stayed, submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Once successfully completed the listing, it will become the first home quality care stock in Hong Kong stock market.
Previously, Santa Bella Group had received multiple rounds of financing from large enterprises and institutions such as Tencent, Gaorong Capital, Zheshang Construction Investment, Sun Hung Kai UK Swire Properties Innovation Fund.
Confinement packages, which can easily cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, were once thought to be a "profiteering" industry. This also earned Saint Bella the title of "Hermès" of the confinement center. But confinement centers don’t seem to be an easy business. In recent years, there have been reports of a number of confinement centers going bankrupt due to losses, causing pregnant women who are about to give birth to suffer from "confinement problems." The prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella’s net profit will suffer a cumulative loss of 773 million yuan.
The unit price for confinement care is close to 200,000 yuan
There are stores in Shanghai priced at 20,000 yuan per day
Although "confinement" is a tradition in China, confinement centers are an emerging industry. In recent years, more and more young mothers have chosen to confine themselves in confinement centers. According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, from 2018 to 2023, the market size of the confinement center industry in mainland China has developed rapidly, with a compound annual growth rate of 22.7%. Among them, the growth rate of the high-end market segment is higher than that of the mass market segment.
Santa Bella is positioned as a high-end confinement center. Santa Bella was founded in 2017. The founder of , Xiang Hua, is a post-85s generation and is 37 years old this year. The prospectus shows that Xiang Hua graduated from Oxford University in the United Kingdom with a bachelor's degree and completed a master's degree in engineering in July 2010. Before founding Santa Bella, he worked in the Asian M&A and Corporate Finance Group and the Asian Healthcare Group of UBS AG Hong Kong Branch (UBS Group Hong Kong Branch), and accumulated transaction experience in M&A and capital markets, especially healthcare services. and medical equipment field. Xiang Hua's last position at the group was that of director.
According to Beijing Business Daily, currently, Santa Bella has a total of 59 high-end confinement centers, with three major confinement center brands: "Santa Bella", "Little Bella" and "bella isla". Among them, the "Santa Bella" brand is positioned as ultra-high-end, with a 28-day package starting at 168,800 yuan. Calculated based on a 28-day stay, the monthly packages for "bella isla" and "Little Bella" start at 98,800 yuan and 68,000 yuan respectively.
In terms of operating model, Santa Bella Confinement Center is mainly located in high-end hotels, and mainly adopts the light-asset model of "confinement center + high-end hotel", that is, it enters into short- and medium-term contracts with high-end hotels for 1 to 3 years. Guest room in the confinement center. Some of the Santa Bella centers are located in independent villas. Santa Bella said its asset-light strategy, including flexible leasing arrangements with hotels, not only facilitates rapid expansion but also minimizes capital expenditures, giving the new center a short payback period.
According to poster news, the official mini program shows that the Santa Bella Confinement Center currently has stores in the United States, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. Among them, Shanghai is the area with the most stores, with a total of 6, which are located in luxury hotels such as Bulgari and Waldorf Astoria on the Bund or in single-family villas.
According to the price list of the Santa Bella Confinement Center Shanghai Bvlgari store provided by customer service, there are four types of in-store packages, and there are 3 small packages to choose from in each package. The price depends on the room type, service days and services. There are differences in different ways. Among them, the most expensive queen package of costs more than 20,000 yuan a day. According to
customer service, if you stay in the confinement center, you can enjoy services such as one-on-one 24-hour personal care from nurses, regular ward rounds by a team of triple-A on-the-job doctors, and meals cooked by luxury hotel chefs. In addition, in addition to staying in a confinement center, you can also choose to live in a nurse's home or have a customized nanny live in your home. “Our properties sell out relatively quickly, and reservations generally need to be made more than six months in advance,” customer service said.
Saint Bella Shanghai Bvlgari store price list
According to Sino-Singapore Jingwei, on July 4, a reporter consulted a Saint Bella maternal and child care center in Beijing as a consumer, and the online customer service staff sent a package price list. The table shows that the store has four major packages, namely the 28-day, 42-day, and 56-day "Yueji Package", "Classic Package", "Unique Package" and "Queen Package". Among them, the "Yueji Package" is the most basic package and charges a fee Prices start at 188,800 yuan, and the most expensive is the "Queen's Package", which starts at 388,800 yuan.
Beijing Puxuan Saint Bella Mother and Baby Care Center Price List
In addition, the store also launched two "100-day travel" services based on the above four packages, with a total service period of 100 days, covering 28 days and 42 days. Or 56 days of in-house services, as well as home and hospital accompanying services. Among them, "100 Days Pro" is a nurse resident at home, and "100 Days So" is a nurse resident at home. The former charges higher fees. Taking the "Queen's Package" as an example, if you choose the "100-Day Travel Pro" service, depending on the number of days in the museum, the minimum charge is 496,800 yuan (28 days) and the maximum charge is 848,000 yuan (56 days).
According to the customer service staff, packages at different price points are mainly distinguished by room type area, maternity and health care amount, quantity of maternal and infant supplies, value-added services, etc. The service content and standards are unified.
According to the confinement center operating data disclosed by Saint Bella in the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023, the average contract value per night of each postpartum care service room in the Saint Bella brand confinement center (hereinafter referred to as the daily unit price) They are 6726 yuan, 6740 yuan and 6887 yuan respectively. The daily unit prices of Bella are 2975 yuan, 3328 yuan and 3478 yuan respectively. If
is calculated based on 28 days of stay, the unit price of 's confinement care in Santa Bella last year was 192,800 yuan; the unit price of Little Bella's was 97,400 yuan.
Screenshot of St. Bella's prospectus
St. Bella is known as "Hermès in the maternal and infant world" . Xiang Hua also mentioned in a recent interview with the media that the St. Bella confinement center refers to the marketing of some luxury brands. Law. Xiang Hua also mentioned that many celebrities and influencers with more than one million fans would give priority to Saint Bella. Saint Bella has also served hundreds of successful and outstanding entrepreneurs.
The official website of Santa Bella shows that guests staying at Santa Bella include actresses such as Qi Wei, Tang Yixin, Gina, and Medina.
Image source: Screenshot of Santa Bella's official website
Loss of over 700 million yuan in three years
Core business growth dropped to 14.99%
Tencent and Gaorong hold shares
Despite higher fees, Santa Bella Group has continued to suffer losses and is still No profit was realized. The
prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella’s revenue will be .259 billion, 472 million yuan and 560 million yuan respectively. From the data, shows that although the revenue has been growing, ’s growth rate is at an accelerated rate. slow trend. In addition, has not yet achieved profitability in Santa Bella. From 2021 to 2023, the annual losses were 122 million yuan, 412 million yuan and 239 million yuan respectively, and the three-year loss was 773 million yuan; the comprehensive gross profit margin of was 30.6% and 29.9 respectively. % and 36.5%.
In terms of business, Santa Bella mainly operates three business lines: confinement center, home care services and women's health functional food. Among them, confinement center is the core business of Santa Bella Group. From 2021 to 2023, the revenue of Santa Bella Confinement Center business will be 233 million yuan, 407 million yuan and 468 million yuan, accounting for 90.2%, 86.4% and 83.5% of the total revenue respectively. However, affected by the reduction in childbirth, the company's performance growth has slowed down significantly. In 2022, Santa Bella's confinement center revenue increased by as high as 74.68%, but by 2023, this number plummeted to 14.99%.
Regarding the reasons for slow business growth and losses, Santa Bella said that they were affected by factors such as the epidemic, birth rate, and losses in the fair value of financial instruments issued to investors.
In 2023, China's fertility rate will be 6.39‰, a decrease of 0.38 per thousand points from 2022.
According to Beijing Business Daily, Zhang Wenbo, senior partner of Beijing Jundu Law Firm and director of the life sciences and health care legal department, believes that the market demand for confinement centers continues to decline, and declining birthrates and aging will become trends over time.Santa Bella urgently needs to open up new growth avenues.
In terms of risk factors, Santa Bella said that the confinement center business is highly dependent on the group's relationships with high-end hotel operators. If the business relationship with the hotel operator deteriorates for any reason leading to the termination of the agreement, due to the limited market supply of high-end hotels, the Group may not be able to identify suitable locations for new centers or alternative locations for existing centers, which will have a negative impact on the business , operating performance, etc. will have a significant adverse impact.
As all of the Group’s confinement centers are currently located in third-party properties, which are mainly high-end hotels, the Group’s financial position is particularly affected by rental fluctuations. From 2021 to 2023, leasing and related costs accounted for 39.7%, 37.2% and 35.4% of the total cost of sales respectively; while the cost of postpartum meals provided by hotel operators accounted for 12.6%, 11.7% and 11.9% of the total cost of sales respectively. Hotels The cost of sales accounts for a large proportion of Santa Bella's sales costs.
may be aware of the market challenges it faces and the instability of its asset-light strategy. In the future plans section of the application, Santa Bella mentioned that the group plans to open two, three and three buildings in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Bella Villa single-family villa confinement center; in addition, the group will also develop elderly care services in China, and has currently established cooperation with Kinoshita Group, Japan's second-ranked medical elderly care group.
Externally, there is a general trend of declining fertility rate. Internally, the company has been losing money for three consecutive years, the growth rate of its core business has plummeted, and it is eager to capitalize amid internal and external troubles. Is it looking for a way out or is it for other reasons?
According to Beijing Business Daily, Zhang Wenbo told reporters that confinement centers are not medical grade and the industry entry threshold is low. The more institutions enter this market, the more intense the industry competition will be. Santa Bella's pursuit of listing may be due to the need for capital exit. For example, one of the bet terms of institutional investors is that the company completes the listing in 2025/26. If it cannot be listed, the major shareholders will repurchase the principal and interest.
According to the Financial Associated Press, public information shows that the Santa Bella Group has received investment from many institutions. From 2018 to 2023, it raised 333 million yuan in seven rounds of financing. Including Tencent, China Life (601628), Swire Properties, Sun Hung Kai Company, Gaorong Capital, etc.
Among them, Tencent holds 11.6% and Gaorong Capital holds approximately 8.3%. As one of the largest traffic portals, Tencent's participation aims to build a mature maternal and infant care service system for Beikang International by leveraging WeChat mini-programs, digitally upgrade its offline service formats, operation management, and provide more home care Scenes are helpful.
Under the expansion, chaos is difficult to explain
According to Blue Whale News, as confinement centers expand, it becomes more difficult to acquire customers. Once the customer base drops, the room vacancy rate rises. Therefore, many confinement centers use discounted and low-priced services. Measures to divert traffic.
Santa Bella Group stated that in 2023, approximately 36% of the 2,820 first-time postpartum care service customers were recommended by existing customers or acquired through its own online channels (including websites and mini programs). When
reporters consulted the customer service of the Beijing Wangfujing store of the Santa Bella Maternity and Infant Care Center, the other party recommended that 42 days is the complete repair period of the uterus. If you book this package now, you can enjoy a 20% discount, and you can also get a free waist and abdominal tightening. Waiting for repair service.
However, confinement centers generally adopt a large prepayment method. The deposit of many well-known confinement centers reaches more than 50% of the total price. Some high-end brands even require full prepayment. In recent years, due to price wars, many Confinement centers are difficult to operate, and "closing their doors and running away" has put many consumers into "confinement problems."
According to CCTV, in December last year, the Jingqixuan Confinement Center in Xiamen, Fujian Province suddenly closed down. A customer had just paid the full payment and received a notice of closure of the confinement center the next day. More than 30 pregnant women were about to give birth, but no one was there. Look after. Shixin, which was once selected as one of the "Top Ten Confinement Clubs in Guangdong", has also closed its stores one after another. In April this year, Yuege, a high-end postpartum care center, announced that it would cease services. Even customers who paid nearly 200,000 yuan in full in advance encountered many obstacles when applying for refunds.
In addition, high-end confinement centers are basically equipped with doctors to provide health and non-medical consulting services to customers. However, confinement centers are not medical institutions and are not allowed to conduct any medical activities. Due to the lack of relevant laws and regulations and complete supervision systems and regulations, there are Legal Compliance Risks. The prospectus of
shows that in September 2021 and June 2022, "Beijing Beikangzen", a confinement center operating entity in Beijing, Santa Bella, received two administrative penalties from the competent authorities for engaging in unlicensed medical practice. The fine amounts were respectively 3,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan.
Source: Daily Economic News is compiled from Beijing Business Daily (reporter: Yao Qian), Sino-Singapore Jingwei (reporter: Yan Shuxin, Lin Wansi), Poster News (reporter: Wang Xiaoyin), Financial Associated Press, Blue Whale News
