Have you noticed that the online mourning for the founder of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou, has deviated from the mourning itself and turned into a form of cyberbullying that "praises Wahaha and denigrates Nongfu Spring"?

For instance, is it true that Zhong Shanshan's first fortune came from Wahaha, and is he ungrateful? Or was Zhong Shanshan actually fired for dumping goods?

Furthermore, there is the debate between natural water and purified water. Is it true that Nongfu Spring's shelves prohibit the display of Wahaha products, and does this constitute unfair competition? Additionally, netizens widely question why Zhong Shanshan's son has become an American citizen.

On the evening of March 3rd, Nongfu Spring's Chairman and General Manager, Zhong Shanshan, posted a response:

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"Mr. Zong has always been an entrepreneur I respect. He was both a mentor and a friend to me, of course, we were also competitors. When I learned of Mr. Zong's serious illness some time ago, I immediately asked someone to request a visit, but at that time, Mr. Zong was already unable to receive guests, and I regret that I could not go. After Mr. Zong's passing, I went to the mourning hall to pay my respects, offer a wreath, and express my condolences to Mr. Zong's family."

Of course, the above response did not quell the anger of netizens. On the contrary, it was questioned for avoiding the main issues.

However, there is one sentence in it that touched me deeply:

"Mr. Zong detested cyberbullying during his lifetime, and this is definitely not what he would have wanted to see."

Why has what should be a mourning turned into an attack on another person and another brand; why, when it should be sadness, is the internet filled with resentment and confrontational emotions? Why use Mr. Zong's passing to continuously hype this topic during the mourning period?

I even suspect that those who vent their dissatisfaction online and claim to support Wahaha may not even be familiar with Mr. Zong's life story, may not have purchased Wahaha products for many years, and may just be harboring discontent towards Nongfu Spring, with their dark psychology at play.Should Nongfu Spring be criticized? Let me tell you, Nongfu Spring is one of the most successful beverage companies in China over the past decade.

Many people's impression of Nongfu Spring is probably "Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet" and "We don't produce water, we are just the porters of nature," but what many do not know is that after nearly thirty years of development, Nongfu Spring has evolved from a bottled water company to a beverage company, expanding from a single product to a product matrix. Nongfu Spring has achieved great success in the ready-to-drink tea market, functional beverage market, and juice beverage market.

Moreover, Nongfu Spring outperforms 99% of the listed companies in China.

From 2017 to 2022, Nongfu Spring's operating income was 17.49 billion yuan, 20.48 billion yuan, 24.02 billion yuan, 22.88 billion yuan, 29.7 billion yuan, and 33.24 billion yuan, respectively; the net profit for the same period was 3.38 billion yuan, 3.6 billion yuan, 4.949 billion yuan, 5.277 billion yuan, 7.162 billion yuan, and 8.495 billion yuan.

In the first half of 2023, Nongfu Spring's operating income was 20.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.28%; net profit was 5.775 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.33%.

Why extend the time period so long?

First, Nongfu Spring's business performance has maintained a long-term stable growth trend; second, Nongfu Spring went public in September 2020, which means that whether before or after the IPO, Nongfu Spring's business performance has continued to grow.

There is also the product structure to consider.

From 2017 to 2022, the operating income of water products increased from 10.12 billion yuan to 18.263 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.5%, and the operating income of ready-to-drink tea products increased from 2.597 billion yuan to 6.906 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.6%.

In 2017, Nongfu Spring's net profit margin was 19.36%, and by 2022, this figure had increased to 25.56%. The reason for this is attributed to the continuous growth in sales and market share of ready-to-drink tea and functional beverages.Regarding dividend distribution.

In 2020, Nongfu Spring's dividend payout amounted to 1.912 billion yuan; in 2021 and 2022, the dividend payouts for Nongfu Spring were 5.061 billion yuan and 7.648 billion yuan, respectively. This means that after the IPO, Nongfu Spring's dividend payout ratio increased from 36.23% to 90%, with a total dividend payout of 14.62 billion yuan, approximately twice the amount raised in the IPO.

Of course, the vast majority of this went into the pocket of the controlling shareholder, Zhong Shanshan, but who can argue when someone holds such a high proportion of shares?