홍콩 (CNN 사업)Luckin Coffee, the Chinese startup that became mired in a fraud scandal 그리고 시작 Wall Street two years ago, is making a comeback.
The coffee chain on Tuesday posted first quarter earnings showing a jump of almost 90% in revenue and its first ever profit, despite challenging Covid lockdowns. 또한 ended the period with 6,580 stores in mainland China. 그 이상입니다 Starbucks (SBUX), which has just over 5,650 아울렛 중국에서.
Luckin now calls itself the country’s largest coffee chain. Some of its stores are self-operated, while others are run by partners. Starbucks’ outlets in China are entirely company-owned.
The Chinese company’s latest earnings offer a look into its recovery since it admitted in 2020 to making up some of its sales numbers, leading to its ejection from the Nasdaq.
In an interview Wednesday, CEO Jinyi Guo acknowledged that many analysts may still be skeptical of Luckin’s finances.
이후 2020, “we have taken a lot of measures to clean up our own house,” 그는 말했다, noting that it had brought in external lawyers to review its operations and reorganized its teams. Guo, a senior vice president of product development, 였다 promoted to chairman and CEO during the crisis.
“대유행 때문에, there are a lot of people not able to travel to China, to see for themselves how it looks like in our shops,” 그는 덧붙였다.
“If they’re able to see for themselves how we operate, then they would know that the figures are true, and they shouldn’t be skeptical about it.”
Luckin was founded in 2017 as a trendy alternative to the traditional coffeehouse. It focuses on catering to young people, 와 mostly takeaway booths and cashless payments.
From its inception, the company enjoyed a rapid ascent, quickly becoming one of China’s top “unicorns,” or privately held firms worth at least $ 1 십억. 한 지점에서, it opened 약간 2,000 stores 그냥 12 개월.
에 2019, Luckin went public in New York, where it was welcomed by investors who believed it could be a serious challenger to Starbucks.
But the company was forced to retreat the following year following the admission that its 수입 had been fabricated. Luckin was ultimately delisted from the Nasdaq, 그리고 그 의장 과 최고 경영자 were both fired. It was also slapped with a $ 180 백만 벌금 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Shares in the company now trade over the counter in the United States, giving the company a market cap of $ 2.2 십억, compared with 이상 $ 4 십억 when it went public.
The Eileen Gu effect
Luckin also has one particular person to thank for its recent performance: Olympic superstar Eileen Gu.
그 회사 partnered with the Chinese freeski champion last summer, which has created a “sizable effect” for its business, said Guo. Gu went on to become a breakout sensation of the Winter Olympics in February, taking home more medals than any other Chinese team athlete at the Games.
In January alone, the company opened 360 stores — much “faster” than its normal rate, in anticipation of greater sales, Guo said.
“By January and February, we sort of had an inkling that she’s going to win a gold medal in the Olympics,” said the CEO.
Like most businesses, Luckin has been hit by the recent Covid-19 surge in China, 와 “an average of around 700 daily temporary store closures” in March and about 950 from April onward, Chief Financial Officer Reinout Schakel said on an earnings call.
But the company says that overall, it has been relatively shielded from mass lockdowns because of the locations of many of its stores.
Many Luckin outlets are in office buildings or universities, 의미 “we were able to remain normal operations in these relatively closed off locations,” according to Guo.
Starbucks, 하나, hasn’t been so lucky: Sales at outlets open for at least a year dipped 23% in China in the quarter ended April.
In the company’s most recent earnings call, CEO Howard Schultz 전화 the situation in the country “전례없는,” 그것을 추가 “the high level of ongoing uncertainty” would lead the coffee chain to suspend financial guidance for the second half of the year.
— CNN’s Wayne Chang contributed to this report.
