Photo/Shetuwang

July 12 (NBD) -- Beijing Outsell, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Besunyen Holdings Company Limited ("Besunyen", 00926.HK), Wednesday signed an agreement to transfer its 100 percent equity interest in subsidiary Beijing Besunyen Food and Beverage Co., Ltd., according to an announcement of the Hong Kong-listed slimming tea manufacturer. 

The 125-million-yuan deal was initially announced in March 2017, but the process was full of twists, with the acquirer eventually changing from Zhonghang Tuohong to Tenglong Shengyuan, a company founded in April this year and primarily engaging in technical services, data processing, and basic software services. 

The equity interest transfer came just seven months after Besunyen sold its headquarters building in Beijing for a consideration of 555 million yuan (80.6 million U.S. dollars). This to some extent reflects the once-dominant slimming tea maker's lukewarm business performance. 

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that Besunyen's revenue started to decline in 2011 and shrank 43.5 percent year on year to 475 million yuan in 2012. Since then, the company has been struggling to stay in the black. Last year, its net profit attributable to the parent company stood at -95.3 million yuan on a revenue of 378 million yuan. 

To turn the business around, Besunyen kept exploring opportunities in other fields. For example, the company entered into an agreement with Hisun Pharmaceutical in April 2015 to enter the market of over-the-counter weight-loss drugs. 

In mid-May, Besunyen estimated that approximately 180-210 million yuan will be recorded in net profit attributable to the shareholders of the company for the six months ending June 30, 2019.

Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said to NBD that Besunyen needs to make more efforts to improve product innovation and brand image. Meanwhile, the company could take full advantages of the Internet to drive sales, rather than relying solely on physical outlets. 

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn