"Decisive Battle" The New Journey Of Free And New Hong Kong Free Trade Players

In June, tax-free stocks suddenly broke out. In addition to the east wind from Hainan Islands tax-free new deal, tax free player expansion has also led to persistent turbulence in the capital market.

In the evening of June 9th, the Wangfujing (600859.SH) announced that the Ministry of Finance granted the duty-free goods business qualification and allowed it to operate duty-free retail businesses. This also means that after the exemption from the central government, the tax exemption on the day, the sea exemption, the Pearl exemption, the deep exemption, the Chinese out of service and the overseas Chinese, Wangfujing has become the eighth tax exempt licence enterprise in China.

There are only eight players in the Chinese market who are exempt from tax? I am afraid the trees will be quiet but the wind will not stop. Xie Xiang Xiang, Vice Dean of Tourism College of Hainan University, told the twenty-first Century economic report in June 12th that there were foreign duty-free shopping and commercial establishments in contact with Hainan, and the opening policy of "access permission" fell to the ground, and the foreign capital could soon enter the field.

"Under the strategic background of encouraging overseas consumption reflow, China's tax exemption and tax exemption policy in Islands is expected to continue to open up, and more tax exempt businesses will also participate in the competition of the tax exempt industry." Liu Zhangming, chief analyst of Tianfeng securities, believes that the state-owned commercial system in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other cities is expected to participate in the duty free operation under the background of tax exemption policy opening, and a number of listed companies including Wangfujing are expected to benefit.

Waiting for boots to come down

Zou Jiayi, Vice Minister of finance, said at a news conference of the new China office in June 8th that "zero tariff" is a very important system design for the free trade port of Hainan. Before the operation of the island's closure operation in 2025, the "zero tariff" positive list management is implemented for the imported goods of the residents of the island, allowing the residents of the island to buy tax-free. At the same time, Islands's duty-free shopping policy has been greatly relaxed. The amount of tax-free shopping has increased from 30 thousand yuan per person per year to 100 thousand yuan per person per year. On the basis of the existing 38 kinds of commodities, the categories of tax exempt goods are further expanded, while the management is optimized and the convenience of shopping is increased.

Yang Jinsong, director of the International Research Institute of China Tourism Research Institute, looks at the possibility that the list of tax-free items facing the islanders may not be the same as offshore duty-free policy's list of categories, and the business owners may not be quite equal. The current tax exempt operators can participate, or new operators may be able to manage the sale of duty-free goods to island residents.

Guoxin Securities analyst Zeng Guang also believes that the goods on the positive list are still relatively restricted, and it is expected that the products will be mainly related to daily necessities, including local food and beverage, fruits, etc., which are different from the list of tax-free items in Islands, so as to avoid the existence of larger regulatory loopholes and the creation of domestic tax system when they enter the mainland without full closure and comprehensive supervision. To attack.

The two important tax exemption policies are being studied by the Ministry of Finance and other relevant departments, and all of them are waiting for boots to come to the ground.

Tax exemption licence changes

At present, there are mainly tax-free shares in A shares, including China Travel Service (formerly China International Travel Service), GREE real estate and Kaiser travel industry. As the largest duty-free enterprise in the country, the Sanya provincial tax exemption company has core shops such as duty-free shops in Beijing, Shanghai airport, Beijing airport and duty-free shops in the airport, with a market share of over 80%. Over the past three years, the company has continued to acquire and expand its advantages.

In 2017, China's stock and revenue gained a turning point on the acquisition of China's CITS. In 2018, China's M & a merger and acquisition rose to Shanghai, and the scale of its revenue increased again. The share price rose 2 times and 3 times, from 25 yuan in 2017 to more than 100 yuan at present. In May 7th of this year, China International Travel announced that it would buy a controlling shareholder of 51% yuan of Hainan duty-free products Co., Ltd., which was held by China tourism group at a price of 2 billion 65 million yuan.

After the continuous operation, the eight tax exemption licences, which actually owned three of the CMS, were the three most expensive gold licences (entry and exit duty exemption licences, Hainan Islands duty-free licences, and city duty-free shop licences for foreigners leaving the country). Besides, there were also overseas Chinese who had the duty free shop license to return to the country.

GREE real estate obtains the entry and exit tax exemption license through the acquisition of Zhujiang exemption. It can only operate the exit duty free shops at Zhuhai port and the Tianjin airport entry shop. Kaiser travel industry has been involved in tax exemption business through equity participation, which can operate 15 duty free shops in Jiangsu, Tianjin and Beijing. However, it is worth noting that the Kaiser travel industry has recently moved its headquarters to Sanya, Hainan. The listed companies and their duty exemption platforms have intensified their cooperation with the Sanya municipal government. It seems that they intend to explore the duty-free market in Hainan.

New players free of duty

New players can be more than Kaiser's travel industry. Xie Xiangxiang disclosed that there are foreign duty-free shopping business contacts with Hainan, and is expected to enter quickly. Reporters learned that the foreign-funded organization is also the world's largest duty-free operator Dufry. The company will build a tax-free shopping center in Haihua Island, Danzhou. The project started in April 13th this year.

Xie Xiangxiang pointed out that the open policy of "access control" in FTA is on the ground, and foreign duty-free operators will also have the operation qualification of duty free business. In addition, due to the overall incorporation of the Chinese medicine group in 2010, the Chinese medicine is also working with the Sanya municipal government to create an innovative Islands duty-free shop in Sanya, which advocates a new experience of healthy consumption. At the same time, the construction of cross-border trade industrial parks plus drug duty-free cities will appear to compete positively with those of Hainan Islands duty-free business's old overlord CF.

It is noteworthy that the latest acquisition of duty-free licences for Wangfujing is its first controlling group in Beijing, which has been working in Hainan's tourism market for many years and has many hotel assets. Whether the two companies will conspire to open up the Hainan tax exempt market with great potential for growth, there is no clear signal yet.

Xie Xiangxiang believes that, in general, there will be no continuous increase in new tax exempt operators. Although the new players will have a certain impact on the tax-free market, but as Wangfujing and other operators mainly attack the regional market, the market is different, the impact is limited. Yang Jinsong also believes that although the tax-free licence is much, the Hainan Islands tax-free licence still does not have clear policy deregulation.

Considering the difficulty of customs supervision and the game of all sides, and the relative distinction between island tax exemption and Islands tax exemption, Zeng believes that even within a certain period of time (before closing in 2025), even if the Hainan Islands duty-free licence breaks through, it is expected that it is only limited competition, and the positioning or regional differences are difficult to achieve the full liberalization of the whole island level.

Xie Xiang added that if new players enter the field, especially foreign competitors, they will make domestic competition internationalized and international competition domestically. He believes that the leading role of the central bank will not be affected in the near future. The CF insiders confirmed to the twenty-first Century economic report that the group has already responded positively and adopted multiple measures to break through and consolidate its advantages. He disclosed that at present, the central government is planning the layout of the island and promoting the distribution of duty-free shops in the city from Sanya and Haikou to every major tourist gathering area, such as Wanning, Danzhou and Qionghai.

Zeng Guang believes that China Tourism Group has taken advantage of the tax exemption market in Hainan, and after several years of reinforcement and cultivation, it does not rule out the possibility of becoming a global tax exempt first scale support. Even though the new duty-free operators will have some price war disturbances in the near future, its core advantage in Hainan has been more difficult to break. The difficulty and barriers of new entrants have also increased.

As for whether Hainan will open Islands's tax-free licence in the future and become a comprehensive competitive market in Hongkong, it remains to be answered.

Domestic goods or tax exemption list of Hainan tax exemption policy rules emerge at the end of the month?