Dio Coffee, China's largest coffee chain enterprise, has said that it plans to launch its initial public offering in Hong Kong within three years.
According to Yang Huasheng, the deputy general manager for Suzhou Dio Food and Beverage Management Company, Dio's revenue has been increasing at an annual growth rate of more than 30% over the recent years and the company wants to gain faster growth by entering the stock market. Though the detailed steps are to be discussed, the company is expected to be listed in three years.
Yang revealed that the company owns the operating rights to more than 200 UBC Coffee stores in six provinces and cities. In 2008, it acquired the Also Milo Coffee brand. At present, the company has 800 chain stores and about 30% to 40% of these stores are directly-owned by the company. In addition, Dio has its own plant and distribution center in Suzhou, providing food materials for its chain stores across China.
Yang said Dio will accelerate its expansion in the future. Although the company has been developing at the average rate of over 100 new stores each year, it will increase this rate by developing either franchised stores or directly-owned stores.
I ordered a cup of coffee at Dio today thinking it would probably cost no more than 15 Yuan. Well, guess what? My coffee which was about 1/3 of the tall size offering at Starbucks cost 32 Yuan! This was the cheapest on the menu. This is like paying over £3 for a gourmet coffee. Okay, it was really good, but at that price it should be. They ground the beans and used special equipment I have never seen before. The flavour was out of this world.
Too bad it was such a little. Well, there is always a first time to try anything. In this case it was also a last time because I cannot afford to pay 32 Yuan for 5 sips of coffee!