On March 12, 2024 Beijing time, Miniso Group (NYSE: MNSO, HKEX: 9896) released its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2023. This quarter, Miniso Group achieved sustained growth and innovation leadership, achieving historic breakthroughs in multiple business indicators such as global revenue, net profit, and gross profit margin.
The financial report shows that the company's total revenue in the fourth quarter reached 3.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54%, setting a new historical high in revenue for a single quarter. By improving refined management and operational efficiency, Miniso's gross profit margin reached a historic high of 43.1% this quarter, an increase of 3.1 percentage points year-on-year. In terms of profitability, with the upgrading of the brand strategy of MINISO and the high growth of overseas business, the adjusted net profit in the fourth quarter exceeded RMB 660 million for the first time (non IFRS), a year-on-year increase of 77%, reaching a historic high; The adjusted net profit margin was 17.2%, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 percentage points.
At the same time, the board of directors announced the distribution of a special cash dividend of $0.0725 per ordinary share, equivalent to approximately RMB 650 million, accounting for approximately 50% of the adjusted net profit for the six months ended December 31, 2023.
Looking at the entire year of 2023, Miniso's revenue exceeded 13.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 40%; The gross profit margin reached 41.2%, a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percentage points; After adjustment, the net profit was approximately 2.36 billion yuan, achieving a year-on-year growth of 110%.
Deepen the global strategic layout and create a sample of super stores
As of December 31, 2023, the number of global stores of Miniso has reached 6413, including 3926 domestic stores, with a net increase of 601 domestic stores in 2023; There are 2487 overseas stores, with a net increase of 372 overseas stores in 2023. Miniso is expected to maintain a net increase of 350-450 stores in China and 550-650 stores in overseas markets by 2024.
In the domestic market, Miniso's domestic revenue for this quarter was 2.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56%. City flagship stores and city image stores, as important parts of Miniso's "super stores," lay a solid foundation for Miniso's performance growth and brand upgrading. Data shows that the year-on-year growth rate of offline sales GMV of Miniso's domestic business is about 66%.
During the quarter, multiple super stores of MINISO have landed successively, from the Hangzhou flagship store built around the small beaver "Zanmang Loop" to the Shanghai flagship store centered around Disney's classic IP "Strawberry Bear". MINISO continuously uses "super stores" as a key driving factor to create an immersive shopping experience for consumers. According to statistics, the first day of flagship store opening in Shanghai achieved a performance of 225000 yuan, and the next day's performance was 270000 yuan, setting a new high for domestic single store opening performance.
On the path towards becoming a global "super brand", Miniso continues to explore new ways of empowering consumer growth through store experience, continuously building content highlands through interest consumption, and upgrading new stores through IP strategy. The market performance of overseas large stores has also become the main growth engine of overseas revenue. Data shows that Miniso's overall overseas business revenue for the quarter was nearly 1.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51%, once again breaking the record for single quarter overseas business revenue. Especially, the revenue from the direct market increased by about 90% year-on-year, accounting for over 50% of overseas revenue for the first time.
In this quarter, the flagship store of Miniso UK officially opened on Oxford Street in London, one of the world's top commercial districts. The store covers an area of nearly 3000 square feet and is primarily pink in color, incorporating British urban elements into its design. It is the largest store of Miniso UK to date. At the same time, the store contains over a thousand trendy items and multiple well-known IP series products have been launched. On the first day of opening, the performance broke the record of European stores, marking another milestone in the brand's "going global" process and further unleashing the potential for "interest consumption".
The North American market has always been an important part of Miniso's global layout. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Miniso's 100th store in the United States was grandly unveiled at the Florida Shopping Center in Orlando. It is understood that the MINISO Florida Business Center store covers an area of 2080 square feet and features eye-catching all pink decoration. The store provides consumers with over a thousand trendy items. The popularity of the store not only reflects the strong development momentum of Miniso in the US market, but also confirms its successful global expansion strategy.
Focusing on interest consumption and leading the global IP trend
This season, a series of IP products such as "Zanmang Loopy", "Good Night Maccabaca Garden Baby", and "Super Mario Brothers" have been launched. Currently, Miniso has collaborated with nearly 100 well-known IPs worldwide, such as Disney, Sanrio, Pokemon, Jurassic, and Barbie. Through IP co branding and incubating its own IP hot selling products, Miniso has broken the ceiling of product innovation and market expansion. While ensuring cost-effectiveness, it also has enough premium space to continuously increase gross profit margins.
In addition to focusing on "super IP", strategic categories are also an important driving force for innovation led by Miniso. Representative strategic categories include blind boxes, disposable travel products, plush products, and fragrance and aromatherapy, enabling them to continuously meet new market demands and trends with the support of creativity, trends, and other attributes.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Miniso Global Blind Box Festival was held simultaneously at its flagship store in Hangzhou and the global flagship store in Times Square, New York. Blind box products fit the consumer genes of American customers who are passionate about surprises, while also serving as a carrier for super IPs, bringing new experiences and freshness to global consumers. It is understood that currently, the contribution rate of a single category of Miniso blind boxes to the US market revenue has reached 10%. In 2023, Miniso blind box products have accumulated sales of over 20 million units worldwide.
TOP TOY continues to expand its stores with high potential, continuously improving the user experience of trendy gameplay
As a new force in the trendy gaming industry, TOPTOY continues to have high potential to expand its stores, explore the incremental market of trendy gaming, and continuously unleash strong growth potential. According to the financial report, as of December 31, the total number of TOPTOY stores has reached 148, covering over 60 cities. In terms of performance, TOP TOY's revenue reached 190 million yuan in this quarter, a year-on-year increase of 90%, setting a new quarterly high.
TOPTOY focuses on the three core categories of blind boxes, Chinese building blocks, and figurines, penetrating young consumer groups and continuously building a product moat with IP as the core. During the quarter, we collaborated with popular IPs such as Sanrio, TNTSPACE, and Black Play to establish joint themed stores. Among them, the TOPTOYxHEYONE Black Play themed store, located in Chengdu MixC, attracted a large number of young consumers to check in and make purchases. At the end of 2023, TOPTOY Guangzhou Zhengjia Fashion Play Dream Factory Store and TNTSPACE jointly revitalized, sparking a consumer frenzy. At the same time, we will continuously deepen our cooperation with commercial real estate developers, open new and large stores in more core urban commercial areas, and help promote the popularization of trendy toys. Data shows that TOPTOY had nearly 120 million inbound customers in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 70%, mainly concentrated in the core commercial districts of first tier cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Actively engage in ESG practice and practice brand social responsibility
As a new consumer enterprise listed on both the US and Hong Kong stock markets, Miniso not only continuously exports attractive, fun, and useful products to the global consumer market, but also actively engages in ESG practices. On January 29, 2024, the international authoritative index agency MSCI announced the latest ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) rating results of Miniso. Miniso has achieved a rating leap for two consecutive years, with the latest MSCI ESG rating upgraded to A level.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Mingchuang Youpin donated 10 million yuan to establish the "Mingchuang Youpin Small Animal Protection Public Welfare Fund". This fund is the first small animal protection public welfare project established by enterprises in China, and also the highest amount project established by a single enterprise in the field of companion animal protection public welfare in China.
Whether in terms of business style or social responsibility, Miniso always adheres to a long-term perspective. On January 18th, at the first investor day event of Miniso, Ye Guofu, Chairman and CEO of Miniso Group, revealed the strategic map for the next five years. He stated that the mission of Miniso is to be happy, and its vision is to "become the world's number one IP design retail group". It has a clear strategy of "adhering to cost-effectiveness, globalization, and product innovation", with the goal of achieving a net increase of 900-1100 stores per year for the group from 2024 to 2028. By the end of 2028, the number of global stores was close to doubling compared to the end of 2023, and the compound growth rate of the group's revenue from 2024 to 2028 was not less than 20%, In 2028, the sales of IP products accounted for over 50%.
In the future, Miniso will continue to deepen its global strategic layout, combine its own product development capabilities and efficient supply chain integration advantages, and penetrate into overseas core markets with the trend of Chinese brands leading local consumption trends. It will follow the unique path of Chinese brand globalization development with the "global IP+Chinese supply chain" model, and open up the era of inclusive IP with high cost-effectiveness, becoming a world-renowned super brand.