Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited to raise a maximum of approximately HK$300 million by way of public offer and placing

Highlights

• The
  second largest leisure food retailer in Hong Kong* which operates chain retail
  stores under the brand “Best Mart 360?” since the inception of business in 2013,
  with a market share of approximately 21.6%
• Offers
  wide collection of imported prepackaged leisure foods and other grocery
  products, principally from overseas
• As
  at 19 December 2018, the Group operates 85 retail stores that are strategically
  located in 18 districts in Hong Kong
• The
  Group sources products of around 495 brands and 1,960 stock keeping unit (“SKU”)
  from different overseas suppliers mainly from Europe, US, Japan, Korea and
  South East Asia and importers in Hong Kong
• The
  Group had the highest retail revenue per store with approximately HK$15.4
  million per store for the year ended 31 March 2018 amongst the top seven
  leisure food retailers*
• Same
  store sales growth of approximately 1.3%, 8.8% and 14.4% for each of the year ended
  31 March 2017 and 2018 and the four months ended 31 July 2018 against previous
  year or period
• Established
  membership scheme with over 1 million members as at 19 December 2018
• Plans
  to open 76 additional stores for the four years ending 31 March 2019, 2020,
  2021 and 2022

�

Financial
Highlights

 

	Year ended 31 Mar			4 months ended 31 Jul
HK$’000	2016	2017	2018		2017	2018
Revenue	472,831	689,994	1,075,930		256,496	338,459
Gross profit	138,387	216,253	342,289		85,129	113,251
Operating profit	16,822	33,072	68,796		8,150	9,093
Net profit for the year/period	12,450	25,144	53,599		5,900	5,662
Adjusted net profit for the year/period (excluding listing expenses)	12,450	25,144	58,235		6,388	11,832

 

*Source:
Frost and Sullivan

 

HONG KONG, CHINA
- Media OutReach - 27 December 2018 - Best
Mart 360 Holdings Limited (“Best
Mart 360”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”; stock code: 2360.HK), the
second largest leisure food retailer in Hong Kong in 2017, announces the
details of its plan to list on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange for Hong
Kong Limited (“SEHK”)
today.

A total of 250,000,000
shares will be offered under the Share Offer, of which 225,000,000 Shares,
or 90% (subject to re-allocation), will be offered by way of Placing;
while the remaining 10%, or 25,000,000 Shares (subject to re-allocation), will
be offered under the Public Offer. The Offer Price per Offer Share is expected to be not
less than HK$1.0 and not more than HK$1.2. The Public Offer will commence on 28
December 2018 (Friday) and close at 12:00 noon on 4 January 2019 (Friday). The allotment
result is expected to be announced on 10 January 2019 (Thursday). Dealings in Best Mart 360’s shares
on the Main Board of the SEHK are expected to commence on 11 January 2019 (Friday).

 

Assuming an Offer Price of HK$1.1 per Offer
Share (being the
midpoint of the Offer Price range), the aggregated net proceeds from the Share
Offer, after deducting underwriting fees and estimated expenses payable in
connection with the Share Offer, will be approximately HK$232.7 million. Best
Mart 360 intends
to use these net proceeds for the following purposes: 1) approximately 66.5% for the opening of additional
retail stores; 2) approximately 13.5% for intensifying and broadening marketing
efforts; 3) approximately 10.1%
for upgrading information technology systems; and 4) approximately 9.9% for
general working capital purposes.

 

Lego Corporate
Finance Limited is the Sole Sponsor, while Lego Securities Limited is the Sole Bookrunner.

 

Business Overview

 

The Group operates chain retail stores under the brand “Best Mart 360?”
since the inception of business in 2013, The business objective of the Group is
to offer “Best Quality” and “Best Prices” products to customers through
continuous efforts on global procurement with a mission to provide comfortable
shopping environment and pleasurable shopping experience to customers.

 

Major
customers of the Group are walk-in customers from the general public. The Group
offers wide collection of imported prepackaged leisure foods and other grocery
products, principally from overseas, which can be broadly categorised into 1)
confectioneries; 2) packaged bakery products and snacks; 3) nuts and dried
fruits; 4) grains and other miscellaneous food products; 5) beverages and wine;
6) personal care products; and 7) other products, such as baby food and
products, health food and supplements and miscellaneous household items, such
as cleaning agents, table ware and rain gear.

 

As at 19
December 2018, the Group operates 85 retail stores that are strategically
located in 18 districts in Hong Kong. The Group sourced products of around 495
brands and 1,960 SKUs from different overseas suppliers mainly from Europe, US,
Japan, Korea and South East Asia and importers in Hong Kong.

 

According to
the Frost & Sullivan Report, the Group had the highest retail revenue per
store with approximately HK$15.4 million per store for the year ended 31 March
2018 amongst the top seven leisure food retailers, which
operated over 20 retail stores in Hong Kong. Besides, the Group ranked as the
second largest leisure food retailers amongst such top seven leisure food
retailers in Hong Kong in terms of revenue of approximately HK$1,075.9 million
for the year ended 31 March 2018, translating to a market share of
approximately 21.6%.

 

The Group
recorded revenue of approximately HK$472.8 million, HK$689.9 million and HK$1,075.9
million for the three year ended 31 March 2016, 2017 and 2018, representing a
CAGR of approximately 50.8%.

 

The Group
recorded adjusted net profit (excluding listing expenses) of approximately HK$12.5
million, HK$25.1 million and HK$58.2 million for the three year ended 31 March 2016,
2017 and 2018, representing a CAGR of approximately 116.3%.

 

Competitive Strengths

 

1)    Strong Brand Recognition

 

Since the
inception of business in 2013, the Group is characterised by its strong brand
positioning in providing overseas prepackaged leisure foods under the brand
“Best Mart 360?” which is well-recognised in the leisure food market of Hong
Kong.

 

“Best Mart
360?” has obtained various awards and recognitions during the past years.
Together with its marketing strategies in local television commercials,
newspapers, magazines, digital marketing activities through electronic media,
direct mailing promotion, members’ communications and other ad hoc promotional
and sponsorship activities for television dramas, premieres and joint marketing
and promotion campaigns with banks, credit card issuing institution and
amusement park and shopping arcades, the Group has established, popularised and
elevated its brand positioning and brand recognition in the market.

 

Further, the
Group’s established membership scheme that keep members and potential customers
promptly informed of new products launches, thematic or special featured
product’s promotion and other promotional offers also raises market visibility
and brand awareness of the Group. The Group believes that its well-established
brand positioning and strong brand recognition are valuable assets of the Group.

 

2)    Quality,
trendy and broad appeal product mix

 

The Group believes that one of the key contributors to its success is
the popularity and marketability of products that successfully attract the
attention of consumers and stimulate their desirability of purchase. Through
continuous efforts on global procurement from international groceries markets, the
Group has increased the SKUs of products from 1,764 as at 31 March 2016 to 1,960
as at 19 December 2018.

 

In addition, the Group has successfully maintained the quality of
products by adopting stringent quality assurance procedures that ensure
compliance of food safety standards and regulations and thereby gaining
consumers’ confidence. As the Group managed to continuously expanding and optimising
products portfolio to cover quality, trendy and broad appeal product mix
available from international groceries markets at competitive prices, the Group
believes that it is eligible to arouse, meet and satisfy consumers’ needs and expectations
in pursuing freshness and distinctiveness in groceries products at affordable
prices which will in turn increase its leverage in the market and enhance
consumer trust, confidence and loyalty that enhance long term competitiveness.

 

3)   
Pricing
policy and effective cost control measures which optimise and escalate the level
of profitability

 

The Group’s management closely and regularly monitors its financial
performance and implements measures to provide well balance between profit
margins and the target sales growth. The Group implements measures with aim to
improve profit margins and sales including 1) tactical determination of retail
prices for products with differentiated nature and distinctiveness that we
trust represents value-for-money and remains competitive to that of competitors
of the Group; 2) constant price adjustments on products in accordance with
market trends and customers’ responses and evolving preferences to products; 3)
prices adjustments by seasonality; 4) regular launches of thematic or special
featured product’s promotion that effectively boost up sales volume; and 5)
timely promotion of slow moving inventories imperatively. Such measures working
together essentially maximise sales performance and operating margins of the
Group.

 

The Group has taken steps to effectively control operating costs such as
1) tight control of rental expenses; 2) maintaining relatively low capital
expenditure for opening new stores; 3) broadening networks to source directly
from overseas brand owners and manufacturers to effectively reduce procurement
costs; 4) achieving gradual realisation of the benefit of economy of scale by
enlarging the scale of procurement following the increasing numbers of retail
stores; and 5) continuously optimising information technology systems to
increase efficiency in inventory control and management that substantially
minimise waste of inventories.

 

The Group believes that the effective pricing policy and cost control
measures have been key contributors to the growth in financial performance of
the Group during the Track Record Period.

 

4)   
Capability
in maintaining stable collaborative relationships with existing suppliers and proactively
and constantly identifying new suppliers

 

Suppliers of the Group mainly consist of brand owners, manufacturers,
distributors and trading companies from Europe, the United States, Japan,
Korea, South East Asia and importers in Hong Kong. In order to enrich product
range and product portfolio seamlessly, the Group has maintained stable
collaborative relationships with existing suppliers and has proactively and
constantly identified new suppliers by regularly attending international
tradeshows, exhibitions and business missions.

 

Given that the Group has developed and maintained diverse suppliers’
base and has thereby possessed with affluent latest products information in the
international groceries markets, it is able to comprehend the ever-changing
product trends swiftly and to capture the pre-emptive opportunities to source a
wide variety of quality, popular, trendy and distinctive leisure food products
originated from various overseas countries swiftly and on a continual basis.

 

5)   
Strategic
planning in expanding the structure of target customers

 

In anticipation of the strong purchasing power and purchasing
desirability of tourists, especially from the PRC, the Group opened its first retail
store in July 2013 in Sheung Shui, New Territories, a district in Hong Kong
that have relatively high traffic of daily or short stay round trip PRC
tourists for shopping in Hong Kong. Since then, the Group put substantial
efforts in promoting sales to tourists at the initial stage of business
establishment by opening retail stores in various populous tourists shopping
hotspots.

 

As the Group believes that local consumption force would enable the
Group to broaden market share in the leisure food retail market of Hong Kong
and is an essential gear to diversify customer base and procuring business
growth, it commenced to strengthen sales to the local population from the local
community by opening first retail store in a shopping arcade of a community
district, i.e. Tseung Kwan O in August 2014, with a view to intensify influence
over the supply chain of necessities to the local population in the local community.
Since then, the Group further develop and reinforce customer base covering both
tourists and population from the local community parallelly.

 

6)     Strategically located retail stores and stringent
management of sales performance of retail stores

 

As at 19 December 2018, the Group operates 85 retail stores in Hong
Kong, consisting of 31 retail stores situated at street-level, 48 retail stores
situated at the shopping arcades of community districts and 6 retail stores
situated at various traffic hubs.

 

The Group generally chooses street-level stores that are conveniently
located in popular shopping districts and popular tourists shopping malls with
high pedestrian flow and high visibility. For retail stores that mainly target
on sales to local population, the Group generally selects store location with
reference to the population density in the community districts or residential
areas and the level of their accessibility by target customers.

 

In addition, the Group cautiously controls rate of returns from capital
expenditure on opening new stores by various measures to substantially
alleviate the risks and losses of underperforming retail stores. Besides,
management of Group closely monitors the sales performance of each of retail stores
and promptly takes necessary steps to improve the sales performance for
individual underperforming stores.

 

BUSINESS
STRATEGIES

 

1)    To expand business by opening additional retail
stores

 

The Group believes that there will be promising growth potentials for its
business and the Group plans to expand its retail network and intensify market
penetration by opening additional retail stores in the forthcoming years progressively.

 

	As at 19 Dec	Year ended 31 Mar
	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
No. of additional retail stores	–	6	28	28	14
Total no. of retail stores	85	91	119	147	161

 

The Group targets to open 2, 28, 28 and 14 additional retail stores by
applying the net proceeds from the Share Offer for each of the year ending 31
March 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. 4 additional stores are planned
to be opened with its own resources, making up a total of 76 additional retail
stores.

 

2)    To improve procurement capabilities and
continuously to enlarge collection of products with competitive price.

 

To continuously maintain the popularity and attractiveness of products, the
Group will improve its procurement capability by recruiting additional
motivated and skilled members of purchasing team, continuously increasing exposures
to new products and new suppliers by attending additional overseas trade shows
and business missions, continuously optimise pricing policy and controlling
procurement costs.

 

3)    Further enhance overall brand awareness by
marketing strategies and campaigns

 

Parallel to the proposed expansion of scale of operation, the Group will
implement marketing strategies to further enhance the overall brand awareness
of “Best Mart 360?”. The Group will continue to carry out advertising and
promotional activities and other corporate image enhancement programs to
further strengthen brand image through various types of media. The Group will
take continuous proactive marketing approaches and efforts to utilise both
traditional media, such as newspaper, magazines, and televisions commercials,
and digital media, such as social media platforms, websites and internet
platforms, to promote its brand and products.

 

The Group will also continue to selectively participate in ad hoc
promotional and/or sponsorship activities such as those for television dramas,
premieres and joint marketing and promotion campaigns with financial
institutions and other entertainment businesses so as to reinforce and promote
brand awareness, which will in turn increase its market shares and customers’
awareness.

 

4)   
Continue
to expand member base

 

Given that the Group’s business is to a substantial extent of customer
driven nature, and maintained membership scheme since April 2015 for promoting
consumer loyalty, stimulating sales at retail stores and further expanding
customer base.

 

Directors of the Group believe that the provision of incentives and
special promotional offers on designated products exclusively to members such
as reward points earning, various exclusive member offers and selected product
redemption, also boost sales and cultivate bonding with members. The membership
scheme also allow the Group to collate purchasing information and data of
frequent customers for surveying and analysing customers’ purchasing
preferences, needs and habits that are significant for enriching product
portfolio, determining pricing strategy for individual products and procuring
better customer services.

 

The Group intends to further expand member base by offering additional
members’ benefits in the near future and further increase communication
channels with members.

 

5)    Increase warehousing and logistics capacities

 

In line with the Group’s expansion plan on retail network, it will
evaluate and monitor  warehouse utilisation
and logistic arrangement from time to time and consider to expand warehousing
and logistics system as and when appropriate.

 

6)    Further upgrade information technology systems to
constantly improve operation efficiency

 

While the Group is preparing to expand operation progressively, it plans
to further upgrade its information technology systems to support foreseeable
growth in business scale. For instance, the Group will optimise and/or extend
the functions of its existing POS system and WMS system for improving the
accuracy of operation data for internal analysis purpose and enhancing
systematic control and loading of documentations for facilitating efficient
warehousing and logistics. It also intends to adopt an enterprise resource
planning system, so as to allow direct interface among various information
technology systems of the Group to streamline the operation process and reduce
human errors so as to cope with progressive expansion in business.

About Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited

Best Mart 360 Holdings Limited, the second largest leisure food retailer
in Hong Kong, mainly operates chain retail stores under the brand “Best Mart
360?”. It offers wide collection of imported prepackaged leisure foods and
other grocery products, principally from overseas. The Group’s business
objective is to offer “Best Quality” and “Best Prices” products to customers
through continuous efforts on global procurement with a mission to provide
comfortable shopping environment and pleasurable shopping experience to
customers.

 

As at 19 December 2018, the Group operates 85 retail stores that are
strategically located at 18 districts in Hong Kong. The Group sourced their
products of around 495 brands and 1,960 SKUs from different overseas suppliers
mainly from Europe, US, Japan, Korea and South East Asia and importers in Hong
Kong.