DGAP-News: Haier Smart Home is the Shooting Star of the Year in the Customer Recommendation 2020

Haier Smart Home is the Shooting Star of the Year in the Customer Recommendation 2020

Qingdao / Shanghai / Frankfurt, 11 September 2020 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (D-Share ISIN CNE1000031C1, A-Share ISIN CNE000000CG9) has been awarded as the Shooting Star of the Year in the Customer Recommendation Ranking 2020 (Kundenempfehlung 2020) by YouGov BrandIndex in the category of electrical appliances. The ranking was developed in cooperation with the Handelsblatt newspaper and for the second time awarded prizes to the brands that have gained the most in recommendation among their customers in Germany.

YouGov is one of the most-cited research institutes worldwide. For the BrandIndex ranking, more than 1.4 million representative online interviews were conducted amongst the German population aged 18 and over in the period from July 2019 to June 2020 inclusive. In addition to the willingness to recommend the brand, the criteria for measuring brand performance include five further assessment dimensions such as general impression, quality, customer satisfaction, value for money and employer image.

The significant increase in brand image, especially among customers in Germany who focus on quality and reliability, is a great success for the Haier brand and the result of continuous innovation to provide customers with a unique user experience around the smart home. The fact that Haier Smart Home was able to prevail in the YouGov BrandIndex ranking against 40 international household appliance brands including the top German brands is a confirmation of the Group's internationalization strategy. As a result, the company is confident that sales in the German market will continue to grow strongly. In the past three years, sales growth in Germany averaged 60% per year. The year-on-year increase in sales of 80% in the first eight months of 2020 reflects the findings of the ranking in concrete growth figures.

With its cloud-based ecosystem for smart home applications and complete systems, Haier Smart Home offers unique solutions that are individually tailored to customers by integrating IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and 5G. The award by YouGov BrandIndex is therefore also an incentive to expand the market position as number 1 in the global market for home appliances.

Haier Smart Home's high investments in innovation and product quality translate into increasing brand value, which has risen by almost 15% from USD 16.3 billion in 2019 to USD 18.7 billion in 2020 according to BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands. Considering the upcoming privatization of Haier Electronics, this is an important asset. In addition to classic synergy effects in central functions such as purchasing, marketing, R&D, administration and sales, mutual positive repercussions on brand value is an underestimated asset.

The merger of Haier Electronics into Haier Smart Home through a capital increase is expected to result in optimization in organization structure, shareholding structure as well as financial performance of the company, while the management plans to increase the payout ratio from currently around 30% to 40% by 2023. Haier is currently the only blue-chip company from China that is listed in Frankfurt via so-called D-Shares. With the potential listing on an additional internationally renowned trading platform in Hong Kong, Haier Smart Home expects more liquidity and financing flexibility with positive effects on the D-Share listing as well. Upon the completion of the privatization of Haier Electronics and the listing of the H-Shares, Haier Smart Home will realize an "A+D+H" presence (Shanghai + Frankfurt + Hong Kong) in the capital market.

"Starting from the user, we try to understand which innovations can make life easier and more comfortable. Then we invest in the appropriate technologies to develop smart home solutions of the highest quality. The strong connection between technology and the realization of ecosystems that emerge from the Internet of Things are the two most important aspects we are striving to make our vision of Smart Home and Smart Living a reality. Our goal is to become the first consumer choice for Smart Home," said Yannick Fierling, CEO of Haier Europe.

About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.:
Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized mass production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as smaller household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.

IR contact:
Yao Sun (Sophie) - Haier Smart Home Germany
T: +49 6172 9454 143
F: +49 6172 9454 42143
M: +49 160 9469 3601
Email: [email protected]