Chinese top hotpot chain's overseas unit sees profit this year

Haidilao International Holding

31/03/2023 03:00

By Chen Lin
       SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - The overseas unit of
China's biggest hotpot chain Haidilao expects to return to
profit this year, after posting almost 80% year-on-year growth
in revenue for 2022 late on Thursday.
    Haidilao International Holding's  6862.HK  overseas unit, 
Super Hi International Holding  9658.HK , posted revenue of
$558.2 million and a net loss of $41.3 million for 2022,
compared with a loss of $150.8 million in 2021.
    "We have significantly narrowed our loss. Overall, we are
satisfied with our performance in 2022, and optimistic with this
year," Zhou Zhaocheng, 50, CEO of Haidilao's overseas unit told
Reuters in an interview.
    "There's opportunity to return to profit this year... we are
hopeful," he said.
    Originally founded in Sichuan Province of China in 1994,
Haidilao now operates more than 1,300 stores across China,
offering a communal dining experience where patrons cook plates
of meat and vegetables in a soup at the centre of their table.
    Overseeing all Haidilao restaurants outside of Chinese
territories, Zhou attributed his optimism to the relaxation of
COVID-19 curbs and the opening of new stores.
    "The crowds and spending seen during festive seasons like
Christmas and new year have already returned to pre-COVID
levels," Zhou added.
    The fastest growth was seen in the Southeast Asian market.
    Haidilao will open its first store in the Philippines this
year, Zhou said. 
    Haidilao currently has 114 stores overseas, including a new
store opened in Dubai this month, its first venture into the
Middle East market.
    The pace of opening new stores overseas this year would be
similar to last year, when 17 new stores were added, Zhou said.
    "We are prudent about opening new stores," he said, adding
it was a hard lesson learnt from 2020, when the company had
opened more than 400 new restaurants across China and some in
overseas markets, but had to shut more than 200 stores shortly
afterwards to minimise losses.
    Haidilao International Holding carved out its overseas units
to form Super Hi International Holding and listed it in Hong
Kong in December.
    The move was in the interest of shareholders, according to
Zhou, as the pace of development for Haidilao in China and
overseas markets is different. 
    "It takes 10 years to sharpen a sword," Zhou said, referring
to the opening of its first overseas store in Singapore in 2012
and having enough confidence to list the overseas unit last
year.

 (Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore
Additional reporting by Sophie Yu
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((Lin.Chen@tr.com; Twitter @chenlin_sg;))