Billion-dollar sales, but still can't pay back 30 million in 4 years

After being listed on the New Third Board in 2016 and becoming one of the earliest cross-border companies to enter the capital market, its annual revenue reached nearly 2.5 billion yuan, doubling year after year.

Through the financing history, we can see that this billion-level seller once had unlimited glory. In June 2015, it received two rounds of financing, with a total amount of 560 million yuan; in 2016, it received more than 300 million yuan in investment; in 2017, it received more than 80 million yuan in investment in the C+ round of financing.

In 2017, it was delisted from the New Third Board and moved to the Growth Enterprise Market after receiving repeated recognition from capital. In the same year, it was acquired by the listed company Tianze Information , becoming another cross-border backdoor listing.

It took Youkeshu only six years to grow from its birth to an industry giant with a net profit of over 100 million yuan . However, as glorious as it was then, it now looks so miserable as it is "ridden by illness" .

The company used to make billions of dollars in profits, but now has been delayed for 4 years in paying off a 30 million yuan loan

In 2008, Xiao Siqing rented a counter in Huaqiangbei and began to realize his cross-border dream. In the environment of rapid development of the industry, he had the strength to grow bigger and stronger just two years after starting out. After establishing Youkeshu, his "base" naturally moved from the counter to a larger office building .

In terms of financing, disclosed data shows that it has received nearly 1 billion yuan in support from investors.

In terms of performance, from 2015 to 2016 , its revenue was 1.033 billion yuan and 1.499 billion yuan, and its net profit was 64.7836 million yuan and 74.8340 million yuan . In 2017 , its net profit doubled to 167 million yuan .

These achievements are enough to make Youkeshu’s title of “ One of the Four Heavenly Kings of South China City ” more well-deserved .

After being acquired, Youkeshu's net profit soared for three consecutive years, reaching 261 million yuan, 313 million yuan, and 399 million yuan in 2018-2020. But all this glory ended in 2021. Now it has been losing money for years and cannot repay bank loans.

On December 8, Youkeshu issued another announcement to remind customers of its overdue bank loans.

The announcement pointed out that the amount of overdue loans involved this time was 26.4 million yuan , and the loan was made in September 2019, more than 4 years have passed since today .

On September 3, 2019, due to production and operation needs, Youkeshu borrowed 30 million yuan from the Nanjing Branch of China Everbright Bank Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Everbright Bank") with a loan term of one year ( September 3, 2019 - September 2, 2020 ).

When the repayment deadline arrived, Youkeshu failed to repay the loan on time, so it applied to China Everbright Bank for an extension or to borrow new money to repay old debts many times .

*Note: 1. Loan extension refers to the procedure of extending the repayment period with approval when the loan cannot be repaid when it matures.

There are three types of extensions: ① Short-term: not exceeding the original loan term; ② Medium-term: not exceeding half of the original loan term; ③ Long-term: not exceeding 3 years.

2. Borrowing new to repay old refers to the act of issuing a new loan to repay part or all of the original loan when the loan cannot be recovered on time after it matures (including maturity after extension).

However, after so many years, until December 6, 2023 , after all the methods of extending the loan period, such as extension, were exhausted, Youkeshu was still unable to repay and could only let the loan be overdue. The announcement pointed out that the remaining principal of the loan after the above extension and new loan repayment was RMB 26.4 million.

Currently, Youkeshu stated that due to the overdue of the above debts, the company may face the situation of paying relevant liquidated damages, late payment fees and penalty interest, as well as facing the risks of litigation and arbitration, and asset seizure and freezing , but it will still actively negotiate a settlement plan with relevant creditors .

Debt piles up like a mountain, and a tree can't bear the weight

This debt is just the tip of the iceberg of Youkeshu’s huge debt.

Financial report information shows that as of the first half of this year, Youkeshu’s bank loan principal was approximately 374 million yuan, and the overdue loan principal reached 338 million yuan .

With the pending repayment of bank loan principal , accrued interest, penalty interest, etc. , Youkeshu’s debt is piling up .

Earlier, it admitted that although the company's losses in its main cross-border e-commerce business narrowed year-on-year, it was still in an operating loss state. In addition, the large amount of frozen funds on Amazon had not been successfully unfrozen, which increased the company's cash flow shortage risk .

Among all the loans, several large loans caused the creditors and Youkeshu to become "frequent visitors" of the court.

In May 2019, Youkeshu borrowed 210 million yuan from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Nanjing Branch for three years. However , one month before the repayment deadline ( April 2022), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank sued Youkeshu for failing to repay part of the principal ( 31.5 million yuan ) on time.

In this case, the court ruled that Youkeshu must pay the principal of 185 million yuan and the corresponding interest, penalty interest, and compound interest of over one million yuan to Pudong Development Bank within ten days from the date the judgment takes effect.

In March 2020, Youkeshu borrowed another 60 million yuan from Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Nanjing Branch for a period of one year. However, after deducting the original deposit, Youkeshu still owed the bank 2.15 million yuan in principal and 5.26 million yuan in interest, penalty interest, and compound interest until July 2022. Therefore, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank took the case to court again , but no verdict has been made yet .

In addition , Youkeshu’s cash flow is also stuck in other problems.

For example, when the loan of the former subsidiary Yuanjiang Information was overdue, Youkeshu, as the guarantor, also assumed joint and several liability for repayment; when the merger and acquisition loan with Minsheng Bank was overdue, the company's property Tianzexingwang Building was auctioned to repay the remaining principal of the loan of 89 million yuan and interest.

To sum up, according to Youkeshu's financial report, as of the third quarter of this year, Youkeshu's current liabilities, including short-term loans and contractual liabilities, reached 727 million yuan , while non-liquid liabilities, including long-term loans and lease liabilities, reached 20.2589 million yuan, and the total liabilities of the two were 748 million yuan .

Can Youkeshu afford to pay back the debt? Judging from its profitability in recent years, it may be difficult.

From 2020 to 2022, Youkeshu's parent company Tianze Information suffered losses for three consecutive years, with net losses reaching 870 million yuan , 2.676 billion yuan , and 367 million yuan respectively . This year, in the first three quarters, Tianze Information has lost 143 million yuan.

Just taking the several historical bank loans mentioned above as an example, from 2019 to the present, over the past four years, Youkeshu has been overdue again and again, and the creditors have even gone to court with it.

In addition, Youkeshu also had a series of legal disputes with suppliers and employees. According to Qichacha information, disputes arising from sales contracts and labor contracts accounted for the vast majority of Keshu's legal cases.

How can a tree in the mud save itself?

In order to focus more on cross-border export business, Youkeshu also transferred the equity of some of its participating companies . For example, recently, it transferred its 7% equity in Jiangsu Tianze Zhilian Information Technology Co., Ltd. to Xuzhou Geyuan Investment Management Co., Ltd., the controlling shareholder of Tianze Zhilian, for 700,000 yuan .

I still remember that at its peak, its share price was over 20 yuan per share, but now it has fallen to 2.8 yuan per share, and the capital market has difficulty regaining confidence in it. Can a tree return to the top of the mountain? How long will it take to reach the top again? Everything is unknown.

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