① At the performance meeting, Chairman Zhu Chaoyang of Liuyao Group introduced the progress of the company's AI scenario application business; ② Regarding high accounts receivable, the company's financial director Zeng Xiangxing said that the company had adjusted its business strategy and strengthened collection efforts; ③ Liuyao Group also responded to issues such as a slight decline in the growth rate of the pharmaceutical wholesale business sector and the expansion of new pharmaceutical retail business.
Financial Services Association, September 11 (Reporter He Fan) “The AI pharmacist assistant created by the company, 'Ah Gui Pharmacist', is undergoing online testing and is expected to launch an intelligent AI health service within the year.” At the company's semi-annual performance briefing held today, Zhu Chaoyang, chairman of Liuyao Group (603368.SH), introduced the company's AI scenario application business progress that investors are concerned about.
According to the semi-annual report, the company signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with HUAWEI CLOUD and Runda Healthcare (603108.SH) at the end of 2023. In 2024, the company established the Digital Intelligence Health Development Center to explore the application of big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies on the hospital side to assist hospital clinical test report analysis and medical record generation. On the retail side, Liu Yao Group launched part of the “Gui Zhongda Pharmacy Smart Upgrade Program.” The AI pharmacist assistant “Ah Gui Pharmacist” mentioned by Zhu Chaoyang is part of this plan.
Today, Runda Medical said on its official website that at the “Big Model Empowers Healthcare Industry Innovation Conference” held on the 10th, the company and Liuyao Group jointly launched the “Guizhong Pharmacy Smart Upgrade Program”. The plan will provide consumers with personalized health management services through the introduction of big model technology.
It is worth noting that high accounts receivable are a major problem faced by Liuyao Group. The semi-annual report shows that as of June 30 this year, the company's accounts receivable reached 11.19 billion yuan, and remained above 10 billion yuan for five consecutive quarters.
“The company's high accounts receivable are determined by the company's business structure, which mainly focuses on hospital sales.” The company's financial director, Zeng Xiangxing, told CFA reporters that since the company's main sales customers are medical institutions, the repayment cycle is long, the company's accounts receivable are high. Although hospital customers take a long time to repay, this type of customer has good credit conditions and the risk of bad debts is low. Currently, the company has adjusted its business strategy, balanced the relationship between sales and repayment, and strengthened the management and collection of accounts receivable.
Liuyao Group also stated that the current policy for online settlement of purchases of pharmaceuticals and medical consumables in Guangxi is being implemented. In the long run, the implementation of this policy is conducive to improving the current situation where the company's accounts receivable are high.
According to reports, since August 1 of this year, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has fully implemented online payment for the collection of pharmaceuticals and medical consumables to guarantee “quick collection and quick settlement.”
In addition, the Financial Services Association reporter noticed that in the first half of the year, the revenue of the pharmaceutical wholesale business segment of Liuyao Group declined slightly. The sector achieved operating income of 8.438 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.04%, accounting for 79.64% of revenue; it achieved net profit of 0.295 billion yuan to mother, an increase of 3.31% over the previous year.
In response, Zhu Chaoyang told the Financial Federation reporter that there were two main reasons for the decline in revenue in the company's wholesale sector: first, the company strengthened operating risks in the first half of the year to properly control high-risk and long-period sales, thereby optimizing the company's wholesale business structure; second, the normalization of collection and implementation of medical insurance payments (DRGs) according to disease type (DRGs), and stricter industry compliance regulations have had a certain impact on the dosage and medication structure at the hospital side, putting pressure on the market size.
Furthermore, with regard to new pharmaceutical retail, Zhu Chaoyang said that the company can make good use of the competitive advantage of batch and zero integration in Guangxi, so the wholesale and retail business is still mainly in the Guangxi market. On this basis, factors such as the competitive environment, market space, merger and acquisition costs, and continued profitability will be comprehensively considered, and business will be expanded to other provinces in due course.