MNSO (MNSO.US) fourth quarter financial report for 2023: Overseas revenue surged by 50% to reach 1.49 billion yuan.

, MNSO Group (NYSE: MNSO, HKEX: 9896) announced its fourth quarter financial report for 2023 on March 12, 2024. This quarter, MNSO Group achieved continuous growth and innovation leadership, with multiple operating indicators such as global revenue, net profit, and gross profit margin reaching historical breakthroughs. The financial report shows that the total revenue of the company in the fourth quarter reached 3.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54%, setting a new record for single-quarter revenue. By enhancing refined management and operational efficiency, MNSO achieved a historical high gross profit margin of 43.1% this quarter, an increase of 3.1 percentage points year-on-year. In terms of profitability, with the upgrade of the MNSO brand strategy and high growth in overseas business, the adjusted net profit in the fourth quarter surpassed 660 million yuan for the first time (Non-IFRS basis), a year-on-year increase of 77%, setting a new record; the adjusted net profit margin of 17.2%, an increase of 2.2 percentage points year-on-year. At the same time, the Board of Directors announced a special cash dividend of 0.0725 US dollars per ordinary share, equivalent to approximately 650 million yuan, accounting for 50% of the adjusted net profit for the six months ending December 31, 2023. Looking at the whole year of 2023, MNSO's revenue exceeded 13.8 billion, a nearly 40% year-on-year increase; the gross profit margin reached 41.2%, an increase of 6.3 percentage points year-on-year; the adjusted net profit was approximately 2.36 billion yuan, achieving a 110% year-on-year increase. Deepening the global strategic layout to create a super store sample As of December 31, 2023, MNSO's global store count reached 6413, with 3926 stores in China and a net increase of 601 domestic stores in 2023; 2487 overseas stores, with a net increase of 372 overseas stores in 2023. MNSO expects to maintain a net increase of 350-450 domestic stores and 550-650 overseas stores in 2024. In the domestic market, MNSO's domestic revenue in 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 MNSO's "super stores," have laid a solid foundation for MNSO's performance growth and brand upgrade. Data shows that MNSO's domestic offline sales GMV year-on-year growth rate is about 66%. During this quarter, multiple super stores were successively opened, from the Hangzhou flagship store built around the Little Beaver "Zanmang Loopy," to the Shanghai flagship store centered on the classic Disney IP "Strawberry Bear." MNSO continuously uses "super stores" as a key driving factor to create an immersive shopping experience for consumers. According to statistics, the Shanghai flagship store achieved a performance of 225,000 yuan on the first day of opening, and 270,000 yuan on the second day, setting a new record for single-store opening performance in China. On the road to becoming a global "super brand," MNSO continues to explore new ways of empowering consumer growth through store experience, continuously building content heights through interest consumption, refreshing store upgrades with IP strategies, and the market performance of large overseas stores has become the main growth engine for overseas revenue. Data shows that MNSO's overall overseas business revenue was nearly 1.5 billion yuan this quarter, a 51% year-on-year increase, once again breaking the record for single-quarter overseas business revenue. Particularly, the revenue from direct markets grew by about 90% year-on-year, exceeding 50% of overseas revenue for the first time. During this quarter, MNSO's flagship store in the UK officially opened in London's top shopping district, Oxford Street. The store covers nearly 3000 square feet, with a predominant pink theme and design elements from British cities, making it MNSO's largest store in the UK to date. The store contains over a thousand trendy lifestyle products, with several well-known IP series products on shelves. The opening day performance broke the record for European stores, marking another milestone in the brand's "going international" process, further releasing the potential of "interest consumption." North America has always been an important part of MNSO's global layout. In the fourth quarter of 2023, MNSO's 100th store in the US opened in the Orlando Florida shopping center. It is understood that the Florida Commercial Center store covers 2080 square feet, with eye-catching pink decor, and offers consumers over a thousand trendy lifestyle products. The crowded store not only demonstrates MNSO's strong development momentum in the US market, but also confirms the success of its global expansion strategy. Focusing on interest consumption leading the global IP trend This quarter, MNSO launched new IP products such as "Zanmang Loopy," "Goodnight Marakabaka Garden Baby," and "Super Mario Bros." Currently, MNSO has cooperated with nearly 100 globally renowned IPs such as Disney, Sanrio, Pokemon, Jurassic, and Barbie. By partnering with IPs and incubating its own IP hot products, MNSO has broken through the ceiling of product innovation and market expansion, ensuring cost-effectiveness while maintaining enough premium space to continuously improve gross profit margins. In addition to focusing on "super IPs," strategic categories are also an important driver of innovation for MNSO, with blind boxes, disposable travel supplies, plush products, and fragrances as representative strategic categories, allowing them to continue meeting new market demands and trend trends under the blessing of creativity and trends. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the global blind box festival of MNSO was held simultaneously at the Hangzhou flagship store and the global flagship store in New York's Times Square. Blind box products resonate with American customers' love of surprises and serve as carriers for super IPs, bringing new experiences and freshness to global consumers. Currently, the contribution rate of MNSO blind box single product category to the revenue of the US market has reached as high as 10%, with cumulative global sales of MNSO blind box products exceeding 20 million units in 2023. TOPTOY, as a new force in the trend-playing world, continues to expand rapidly, exploring the trend-playing incremental market and releasing strong growth potential. According to the financial report, as of December 31, TOPTOY has a total of 148 stores covering over 60 cities. Performance-wise, this quarter, TOP TOY continued to excel.TOP TOY's revenue reached 1.9 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 90%, setting a new quarterly high.TOPTOY focuses on three core categories of blind boxes, Chinese building blocks, and hand models, penetrating the young consumer group and continuously building a product moat with IP as the core. During this quarter, it has successively cooperated with popular IPs such as Sanrio, TNTSPACE, and HEIWAN in the form of joint theme stores. Among them, the TOPTOYxHEYONE HEIWAN theme store in Wanda Plaza in Chengdu attracted a large number of young consumers to visit and make purchases. At the end of 2023, TOPTOY Guangzhou Zhengjia Chaowan Dream Factory store partnered with TNTSPACE to bring a new wave of consumption. At the same time, it continues to deepen cooperation with commercial real estate, opening new stores in more core locations in core commercial districts of cities to promote the popularization of trendy toys. Data shows that TOPTOY had nearly 120 million in-store foot traffic in 2023, a 70% year-on-year increase, mainly concentrated in core commercial districts of first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. Actively engaging in ESG practices to fulfill brand social responsibility As a new consumer company listed on both the US and Hong Kong stock markets, MNSO not only continuously delivers good-looking, fun, and practical products to the global consumer market, but also actively engages in ESG practices. On January 29, 2024, the international authoritative index institution MSCI announced the latest ESG (environment, social, and governance) rating results for MNSO. MNSO has achieved a rating upgrade for two consecutive years, with the latest MSCI ESG rating being upgraded to A. In the fourth quarter of 2023, MNSO donated 10 million yuan to establish the "MNSO Small Animal Protection Public Welfare Fund." This fund is the first small animal protection public welfare project sponsored by a company in China and also the project with the highest amount donated by a single company in the field of companion animal protection in China. Whether in business posture or social responsibility, MNSO always adheres to long-termism. On January 18, at MNSO's first Investor Day event, Ye Guofu, Chairman and CEO of the Famous Brands Group, revealed the strategic map for the next five years. He stated that MNSO's mission is born for happiness, and its vision is to "become the world's number one IP design retail group." The strategic focus is clear: "adhering to cost-effectiveness, adhering to globalization, and adhering to product innovation." The goal is to achieve a net increase of 900-1100 stores annually for the group from 2024 to 2028, nearly doubling the number of global stores by the end of 2028 compared to the end of 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of the group's revenue not less than 20% from 2024 to 2028, and the proportion of IP product sales exceeding 50% by 2028. In the future, MNSO will continue to deepen its global strategic layout, combine its own product development capabilities and efficient supply chain integration advantages, deeply enter overseas core markets leading local consumption trends with Chinese brands, taking a unique path for the globalization of Chinese brands with the "global IP + Chinese supply chain" model, opening an era of inclusive IP with high cost-efficiency, and becoming a world-renowned super brand.