text | Radar Finance, author | Meng Shuai, editor | Deep Sea
Saint Bella, a high-end postpartum care brand that has been chosen by many actresses such as Qi Wei, Gina, Tang Yixin, etc., is going to IPO in Hong Kong.
Although the service targets mainly pregnant women, Xiang Hua, the founder of Saint Bella, is a young talent with both good looks and talent. It is understood that Xiang Hua, 37, graduated from Oxford University and worked at UBS Hong Kong Branch.
However, Xiang Hua’s experience in investment and mergers and acquisitions in medical and health care gradually gave Xiang Hua the idea of starting a business in the maternal and infant care field. Against this background, Santa Bella was officially launched in 2017. Xiang Hua’s rich experience accumulated over many years of working in investment banks has also successfully attracted many star investors such as Tencent, Gaorong Capital, China Life , etc. to Santa Bella.
With the help of the three major business lines of confinement center, home care services, and women's health functional food, Santa Bella will record revenue of 259 million yuan, 472 million yuan, and 560 million yuan respectively from 2021 to 2023. Although Santa Bella's revenue has always maintained positive growth during the aforementioned period, the revenue growth has actually slowed down.
According to the prospectus submitted by Saint Bella, the package price of its flagship ultra-high-end confinement center brand Saint Bella last year started from 168,800 yuan. Even at the relatively cheap Little Bella Confinement Center, last year’s package prices started at 68,000 yuan.
A price list provided by San Bella's customer service shows that its most expensive confinement package (56 days) costs 1.248 million yuan, which is equivalent to 22,300 yuan for each day of confinement.
However, Santa Bella, which seems to have expensive packages, has been suffering from losses all year round. The prospectus shows that between 2021 and 2023, Santa Bella recorded losses of 122 million yuan, 412 million yuan and 239 million yuan respectively during the year.
In response, Santa Bella explained in the prospectus, "We have experienced net losses during the operating record period, mainly due to losses in the fair value of financial instruments issued to investors."
"Hermès for Confinement Center" wants to go public, and the founder behind it is "Gao Fushuai"
A few days ago, Saint Bella, known as "Hermès for Confinement Center", officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. If Santa Bella can be successfully listed in the future, it will be expected to win the title of "the first home quality nursing stock".
In fact, China has been well versed in postpartum care since ancient times. After giving birth, mothers usually have a period of confinement and recuperation. With the rapid development of social economy and the significant improvement of people's quality of life, the custom of confinement has not only continued, but also spawned a diversified postpartum service market, attracting the attention of many entrepreneurs, and this time to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Saint Bella, who launched the attack, is one of the players deeply involved in the confinement business.
Although Santa Bella’s main business is in the maternal and infant care industry, its founder Xiang Hua is a handsome boss with outstanding looks. At the same time, Xiang Hua not only has an extraordinary handsome appearance, but is also an elite talent who graduated from a prestigious school. And such an enviable aura makes Xiang Hua like the "rich, handsome" people in many Mary Sue novels.
In 2010, Xiang Hua graduated from the Engineering Department of Oxford University and successfully obtained an honorary bachelor's and master's degree from the school (double majoring in bioengineering and civil engineering). In the same year, this top student who graduated from one of the world's top universities, with his extraordinary talent and potential, successfully entered the door of UBS Hong Kong Branch and opened a new chapter in his career. After
joined UBS Hong Kong Branch, Xiang Hua quickly rose to prominence. He not only demonstrates a high degree of professionalism and keen business insight in his work, but also achieves a series of impressive results through unremitting efforts and outstanding performance.
From 2010 to 2015, Xiang Hua served as deputy director of the Asian M&A and Corporate Finance Department of UBS Hong Kong Branch. This experience accumulated valuable experience in M&A, equity and debt capital market transactions for him.
From 2015 to 2017, Xiang Hua served as a director of the Asian Healthcare Group of UBS Hong Kong Branch. In this position full of challenges and opportunities, Xiang Hua has participated in projects worth more than US$10 billion. It is understood that Xianghua mainly focuses on financing and M&A business in medical and health services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
However, after accumulating a wealth of experience in investment banking, Xiang Hua's inner desire for entrepreneurship became increasingly intense. Finally, Xiang Hua bravely took the first step to start a business in 2017. In this year, Xiang Hua initiated the establishment of Beikang International, and through a series of overseas medical resources such as medical consultants from MIT in the United States and medical consultants from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, it is committed to building the first domestic integrated maternal and child care services and family health management. Mother and baby life platform.
Immediately afterwards, Xiang Hua established the confinement care brand "Santa Bella Maternal and Infant Care Center" with his unique vision and forward-looking layout, and founded the country's first maternal and infant nursing vocational training school - Beikang Nursing School, which won the The American Certification Institute has granted International Maternal and Infant Nurse Practitioners the exclusive right to operate in Greater China.
Soon after the establishment of Santa Bella, many investors paid attention to it. Tianyancha shows that so far, Santa Bella has completed multiple rounds of financing, and star investors including Tencent, C Capital, Sun Hung Kai, and Gaorong Capital have all bet on it.
According to the prospectus submitted by San Bella this time, before the IPO, Xiang Hua held a total of 42.4% of the shares through primecare bvi and xiang spv and was the company's controlling shareholder. In addition, Tencent holds 11.6% of the shares and Gaorong Capital holds 8.3%.
Revenue growth has slowed down, and the proportion of confinement center revenue has declined.
When talking about how it feels to give up a million-dollar annual salary to become an entrepreneur, Xiang Hua once said that this is a brand new experience. . If the past work can be described as "high-end", then starting a business is completely a "down-to-earth" return to oneself.
Xiang Hua knows very well that working in an investment bank may seem lofty, but ultimately it may not be because of himself, but because he is backed by a big tree and is on a good platform. Xiang Hua also admitted that he encountered many difficulties in the early days of starting a business. "It's normal not to be favored," but what he wanted to do was how to turn negative doubts into positive comments and persist in doing difficult but right things. .
Under Xiang Hua’s perseverance and fearless leadership, Santa Bella has now become a leader in high-end confinement care. Based on revenue in 2023, Santa Bella Group is China's largest comprehensive home care brand group.
According to the Frost & Sullivan Report, Saint Bella Group is also the largest postpartum care and restoration group in terms of revenue generated by ultra-high-end confinement centers in 2023; based on revenue growth rate from 2021 to 2023, Saint Bella Group La Group is also the fastest growing large-scale postpartum care and repair group. The
prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella recorded revenue of 259 million yuan, 472 million yuan, and 560 million yuan respectively. However, during the aforementioned time period, Santa Bella's revenue growth has slowed down, from 82.2% in 2022 to 18.7% last year.
Regarding the revenue growth, Santa Bella said that it was mainly due to the expansion of its confinement center network, which not only directly led to the growth of confinement center business revenue, but also promoted the growth of home care business due to the corresponding increase in customer base.
Currently, Santa Bella already owns multiple brands. In the confinement center business line, in addition to the flagship ultra-high-end confinement center brand Santa Bella launched in 2017, it also includes the high-end confinement center brand Little Bella launched in 2019, and the high-end confinement center brand focusing on mental health launched in 2024. Sub-center brand bella isla.
The prospectus shows that the company currently has an extensive network of 59 high-end confinement centers under the Santa Bella, Bella Isla and Little Bella brands. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, Santa Bella will add 10, 11 and 7 new self-owned or managed centers respectively throughout the year.
As of the Latest Practicable Date, the network of Santa Bella's postpartum care centers includes 47 self-owned centers (i.e. centers wholly owned or controlled by the Company) and 12 management centers (i.e. centers wholly owned or controlled by third parties) Center managed by the company).
It is worth mentioning that Santa Bella’s business territory is not limited to mainland China. In January 2022, Santa Bella added its first management center in Hong Kong. In October last year, Santa Bella added its first self-owned overseas center in Singapore.This year, Santa Bella's business reach has reached the other side of the ocean, the United States. In May, it added its first overseas management center in the greater Los Angeles area of the United States.
While deeply developing high-end confinement centers, Santa Bella also continues to expand its business boundaries, trying to extend its business chain to meet the needs of customers in the postpartum period, early parenting period, continuous health and home care. life cycle requirements.
In addition to the aforementioned brands, Santa Bella also owns the postpartum repair service brand Postpartum Training Institute, the home care service brand Yujia, the women's health functional food brand Guanghetang, and the underwear product brand s-bra.
Although Santa Bella continues to improve its business territory, judging from Santa Bella's revenue structure, it is still the confinement center product line that supports most of the company's revenue. From 2021 to 2023, the postpartum care center contributed more than 80% to Santa Bella's total revenue, but its proportion has dropped from 90.2% in 2021 to 83.5% in 2023.
Instead, the women's health functional food segment accounts for an increasing share of Santa Bella's total revenue, rising from 1.6% in 2021 to 8.4% in 2023. During the same period, the home care services segment accounted for approximately 8% of Santa Bella's total revenue.
In addition, Santa Bella also plans to extend the lifetime value of customers by opening elderly care and selectively launching new services based on market demand. It is reported that in June last year, Santa Bella established a strategic partnership with Kinoshita Group, Japan’s second-ranked medical and elderly care group.
Santa Bella, which is priced at a high price, has lost nearly 800 million yuan in three years
Radar Finance learned from the official website of Santa Bella that Santa Bella has served many customers including Qi Wei, Gina, Li Ai, Tang Yixin, Medina, Li Yanan, etc. Many famous actresses. So as a luxury confinement care brand, Saint Bella’s services are just how expensive are they? Through the prospectus submitted this time, the outside world can get a glimpse of Santa Bella's charging standards.
Normally, clients of Santa Bella’s postpartum care services have the option to stay for a minimum of 28 days. At the same time, the brand also welcomes and encourages mothers who require more intensive care services to stay longer, so Santa Bella regularly provides 42-day and 56-day packages to potential customers.
According to the package prices provided in the Santa Bella prospectus, assuming a 28-day stay, the package price for confinement care in Santa Bella last year started from 168,800 yuan. Even for Bella Isla and Little Bella confinement care, which have relatively low positioning, the package fee will cost at least 98,800 yuan and 68,000 yuan respectively.
If calculated on a daily basis, from 2021 to 2023, the average contract values per night for Santa Bella Confinement Center are 6,726 yuan, 6,740 yuan, and 6,887 yuan respectively, while the average contract values for Little Bella per night are 2,975 yuan, and 3,328 yuan respectively. yuan, 3478 yuan.
According to the price list of the Shanghai Bvlgari store of Santa Bella Confinement Center provided by customer service, the price of the store’s most expensive Queen’s 100-day pro package (56 days) can even reach 1.248 million yuan, which is equivalent to 1.248 million yuan per seat. One day of confinement costs 22,300 yuan.
Note: Saint Bella Shanghai Bvlgari store price list
At the same time, Saint Bella also provides customers with various postpartum repair service options. Customers can purchase multi-course packages of selected items or purchase a single course of treatment. Due to the different nature of the services, the price of each course of St. Bella's postpartum restoration services also varies greatly. The low-priced ones cost less than 1,000 yuan (a course of heat therapy), and the high-priced ones cost more than 30,000 yuan (customized body shape management package).
However, Santa Bella, whose pricing is not friendly to the people, has been in a state of loss all year round. The prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella recorded losses of 122 million yuan, 412 million yuan, and 239 million yuan respectively during the year. Based on this calculation, Santa Bella's cumulative losses in these three years exceeded 770 million yuan.
If factors such as changes in the fair value of financial instruments are excluded, Santa Bella's adjusted profits from 2021 to 2023 will be -29.868 million yuan, -44.628 million yuan, and 20.772 million yuan respectively. As for the successful turnaround of adjusted profit last year, Santa Bella explained that it was mainly due to the continued growth of the business, the improvement of gross profit margins and the company's ability to control expenses. The
prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, Santa Bella’s comprehensive gross profit margin will be 30.6%, 29.9%, and 36.5% respectively.Among them, the gross profit margins of Santa Bella's three major business lines, namely confinement centers, home care services, and women's health functional foods, were 34.1%, 34.1%, and 63.3% respectively last year.
Behind the high cost, Santa Bella must provide customers with more extreme experiences and services. It is understood that the confinement centers in Santa Bella are mainly located in high-end hotels, and some centers in Santa Bella are also located in independent villas.
In Santa Bella’s opinion, the high-end accommodation experience complements the postpartum care services it offers. Such an asset-light strategy, including flexible leasing arrangements with hotels, not only facilitates rapid expansion but also minimizes capital expenditures, giving new centers a short payback period.
Even so, hotel expenses still account for a large proportion of Santa Bella's cost of sales. The prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, leasing and related costs accounted for 39.7%, 37.2% and 35.4% of Santa Bella's total cost of sales respectively; while during the same period, the postpartum meal costs provided by hotel operators accounted for 39.7%, 37.2% and 35.4% respectively of Santa Bella's total sales costs. 12.6%, 11.7% and 11.9% of the total cost of sales.
It is worth noting that in the future plans section of the prospectus, Santa Bella mentioned that the group plans to open two, three and three Bella Villa single-family villa confinement centers in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
In addition, labor costs are also the bulk of Santa Bella's expenses. As of the end of 2023, there are 621 nursing experts with relevant professional qualifications in Santa Bella providing postpartum care services at the confinement center in Santa Bella. The prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, labor costs will account for 30.6%, 33.1%, and 34.3% of Santa Bella's total sales costs respectively. Although
has achieved a turnaround in adjusted profits last year, Santa Bella also bluntly stated in the prospectus that with the continuous growth of business, continuous expansion of geography, investment and innovation in technology infrastructure, and further broadening of service scope, There is no guarantee that it will remain profitable in the future. Its future profitability will depend on a variety of factors, including the expansion and performance of its existing businesses, the competitive landscape, customer preferences and the macroeconomic and regulatory environment.
