CHANGSHA, China – Urban Tea Inc. (the “Company”, “we” or “Urban Tea”), a premier retailer of specialty teas and baked goods in China, announced today that the sale of the Company’s wholly-owned specialty chemicals was completed on April 13, 2019 after shareholders’ approval at the shareholders meeting on March 29, 2019.
As such, Urban Tea’s current business is solely engaged in specialty tea product distribution and retail. Urban Tea’s mission is integrating strategic brand positioning, offline operations, store management, and brand marketing into a one-stop business solution in order to provide customers the most high-quality, dedicated, and unique dining experience in a stylist, yet inviting, store environment.
The Company currently operates flagship stores and general stores in the center of metropolitan areas in Changsha and Shaoyang city, Hunan province, with a clear plan of expanding its base in the similar busy centers throughout other cities.
Since November 2018, the Company has opened a total of 8 stores including two flagship stores and six general stores with the ninth store pending for its grand opening in Hunan Province. The stores are currently under “Your Ladyship Tea” and “Buoyance Manor” brands. “Your Ladyship Tea” stores provide specialty teas, such as fruit tea, milk tea, along with some light snacks.
“Buoyance Manor” stores mainly offer bakery products and variety of coffee drinks. A third brand which is to be promoted soon, “Meet Honey” will mainly focus on selling snacks and accessories, including peanut nougat gift boxes, cookies, coffee mugs, and tea cups.
According to industry data, the sales of national comprehensive beverage stores in 2017, such as dessert shops, various types of water bars, traditional tea shops, traditional tea houses, new Chinese teas, etc., excluding coffee shops, reached RMB 47.2 billion (approximately USD 7.04 billion) with a year-on-year increase of 14.29%. It is expected that the sales of integrated beverages in 2019 will exceed RMB 60 billion (approximately USD 8.95 billion).
The potential market size for Chinese tea is estimated between RMB 40 billion (approximately USD 5.97 billion) and RMB 50 billion (approximately USD 7.46 billion). In addition to the beverage store management, the Company also plans to provide intimate new retail sharing platforms for investment partners to serve their business needs in a full range of “housekeeping” services such as site selection, decoration, training, publicity, and custody operations to generate additional revenues.
Mr. Yi Long, Executive Chief Officer of Urban Tea Inc., commented, “this divestiture is an important step for the Company in our new direction focusing on specialty teas and bakery business; we expect these to have moderate growth in the future.
Our talented team is in the process of building a brand that seeks to expand the definition of tea with innovative products and inviting stores with a company culture with a concentration on the knowledge and passion for tea that will delight customers. It is a very exciting time for Urban Tea – the Company is working on establishing a strong presence within China and potentially expanding in other countries.
Going forward, with innovative and expansion in mind, we are committed to the fast-growing beverage market to generate robust business results for our long-term supported shareholders.”
