Nongfu Spring is a hit with tipplers and investors alike

農(nóng)夫山泉深受裝卸工和投資者的喜愛

詞匯

Tippler/酒鬼；傾卸裝置；傾卸工

China’s leading water bottler has a blistering stockmarket debut

中國領(lǐng)先的瓶裝水公司上市首日表現(xiàn)火爆

詞匯

Blistering/猛烈的；極熱的，極快的

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Sep 12th 2020 | XIAMEN

“WE ARE NOT manufacturers of water. We are porters of nature.” So goes a famous quip by Zhong Shanshan, the 66-year-old founder and boss of Nongfu Spring, China’s most popular brand of bottled water. On September 8th the Hangzhou-based bottler listed on Hong Kong’s bourse to spectacular fanfare. Demand for shares from retail investors outstripped supply by 1,148 times (see chart). The share price shot up by 60% over the first three days of trading. Its market capitalisation reached $53bn. Mr Zhong, who still owns 84% of Nongfu Spring, is now China’s third-richest person, narrowly trailing two tech moguls: Jack Ma of Alibaba and (unrelated) Pony Ma of Tencent.

“我們不生產(chǎn)水。我們只是大自然的搬運(yùn)工。這是農(nóng)夫山泉(中國最受歡迎的瓶裝水品牌)66歲的創(chuàng)始人兼老板鐘睒睒的一句著名的俏皮話。9月8日，這家總部位于杭州的瓶裝公司在香港交易所大張旗鼓地上市。散戶投資者對股票的需求是其供給的1148倍(見圖表)。股票價(jià)格在交易的頭三天就暴漲了60%。其市值達(dá)到530億美元。鐘先生仍然擁有農(nóng)夫山泉84%的股份，現(xiàn)在是中國第三大富豪，僅稍微落后于兩位科技巨頭:阿里巴巴的馬云和騰訊的馬化騰。

詞匯

Quip/妙語；嘲弄；諷刺語

Bourse/交易所

fanfare /（儀式上慶?；驓g迎重要人物到場時(shí)）號角齊鳴，嘹亮短曲

mogul/大亨，有權(quán)勢的人

Rising disposable incomes and【已刪除】have fuelled demand among Chinese for the bottled variety. Consumption per person of bottled water rose from 41 litres in 2014 to 59 litres in 2019, according to data from Mintel, a market-research firm. Americans, by comparison, guzzled an average of 141 litres last year. That suggests Chinese bottlers still have plenty of room for growth, 【已刪除】.

不斷增長的可支配收入，以及【已刪除】，推動(dòng)了中國人對瓶裝水的需求。市場研究公司英敏特(Mintel)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，瓶裝水的人均消費(fèi)量從2014年的41升上升到2019年的59升。相比之下，美國人去年的平均瓶裝水飲用量為141升。這表明中國瓶裝水制造商仍有很大的增長空間，【已刪除】。

詞匯

Guzzle/狂飲

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Nongfu Spring is the runaway industry leader. It accounted for 29% of the volume sold in China in 2019. Foreign brands such as FIJI Water, Evian (owned by Danone) and Aquafina (part of PepsiCo) are easily spotted in many Chinese supermarkets. But none has a market share greater than 6.5%, reckons Mintel.

農(nóng)夫山泉是這個(gè)行業(yè)的領(lǐng)頭人。2019年，它占中國銷量的29%。在許多中國超市，很容易就能看到斐濟(jì)水(FIJI Water)、達(dá)能(Danone)旗下依云(Evian)和百事(PepsiCo)旗下的Aquafina等外國品牌。但據(jù)英敏特估計(jì)，沒有一家公司的市場份額超過6.5%。

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One reason for Nongfu’s success is its effort to cater to all market segments. Stingy folk can buy a mass-market 380ml-plastic bottle for as little as 1.5 yuan ($0.22). The well-heeled may opt for the glass-bottled version, which comes with “award-winning” designs and retails for 30-45 yuan. In between you can get a lithium-rich liquid which is claimed to benefit the nervous system. Total revenues across Nongfu’s waters increased by 42% between 2017 and 2019, to 14.3bn yuan. Gross margins held steady at an impressive 60%.

農(nóng)夫山泉成功的一個(gè)原因是它努力迎合所有細(xì)分市場。拮據(jù)的人可以花1.5元(0.22美元)買到一個(gè)380毫升的大眾市場塑料包裝水。有錢人可能會選擇玻璃瓶裝的，它有“獲獎(jiǎng)”的設(shè)計(jì)，零售價(jià)30-45元。無論選擇何者，你可以得到一種據(jù)稱對神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)有益的富含鋰的液體。2017年至2019年，農(nóng)夫湖水域的總收入增長了42%，達(dá)到143億元人民幣。毛利率穩(wěn)定在令人印象深刻的60%。

詞匯

Lithium/鋰

Nongfu sceptics point out that the bottled-water industry, in China and elsewhere, has few technical barriers to entry. The main raw material is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic that is cheap and easy to process. No special knowledge is required. Evergrande, a Chinese property developer, boasts its own line of bottled water called Evergrande Spring. The water itself tends to be an afterthought.

農(nóng)夫山泉懷疑論者指出，在中國和其他地方，瓶裝水行業(yè)幾乎沒有進(jìn)入的技術(shù)壁壘。主要原料是聚對苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)，這是一種廉價(jià)且易于加工的塑料。不需要特別的知識。中國房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商恒大集團(tuán)(Evergrande)自詡擁有自己的瓶裝水品牌——恒大冰泉(Evergrande Spring)。水本身往往是后來才需考慮的事物。?

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Not in Nongfu’s case. As its aggressive marketers never tire of stressing, it possesses water-extraction permits for ten of China’s most famous unspoilt bodies of water—from Thousand Island Lake in the eastern province of Zhejiang to Mount Tianshan in the remote western region of Xinjiang. The permits, granted by local governments for up to 30 years, are a moat against competitors. Loris Li, an independent analyst of China’s beverage industry, observes that “the quality of the original water source” can be a strong point of brand differentiation.

農(nóng)夫山泉的情況并非如此。正如其積極進(jìn)取的營銷人員不斷強(qiáng)調(diào)的那樣，該公司擁有中國10個(gè)最著名的未被破壞的水體的取水許可，這些水體從東部浙江省的千島湖到西部新疆偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的天山。這些由地方政府頒發(fā)的最長可達(dá)30年的許可證，是對抗競爭對手的一道護(hù)城河。中國飲料業(yè)的獨(dú)立分析師Loris Li指出，“原始水源的質(zhì)量”可能是品牌差異化的一個(gè)優(yōu)勢。

詞匯

Extraction/取出；抽出

Moat/護(hù)城河；壕溝

Beverage/飲料

Nongfu Spring has another edge: it is seen as close to Chinese officialdom. At high-level political summits, rows of Nongfu bottles arranged on tables are a common sight. As sources of advantage go, it doesn’t get better than this in China. ■

農(nóng)夫山泉還有另一個(gè)優(yōu)勢:它被視為與中國官方關(guān)系密切。在高層政治峰會上，桌上擺著一排排農(nóng)夫山泉是常見的景象。就優(yōu)勢來源而言，在中國沒有比這更好的了。

詞匯

Officialdom/官場