Business description of Lakeside-Holding-Limited from last 10-k form

Overview

We are a U.S.-based integrated cross-border supply chain solution provider with a strategic focus on the Asian market including China and South Korea. We primarily provide customized cross-border ocean freight solutions and airfreight solutions in the U.S. that specifically cater to our customers’ requirements and needs in transporting goods into the U.S. We offer a wide variety of integrated services under our cross-border ocean freight solutions and cross-border airfreight solutions, including (i) cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services, (ii) customs clearance services, (iii) warehousing and distribution services and (iv) U.S. domestic ground transportation services.

Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 2018, we are an Asian American-owned business rooted in the U.S. with in-depth understanding of both the U.S. and Asian international trading and logistics service markets. Our customers are typically Asia- and U.S.-based logistics service companies serving large e-commerce platforms, social commerce platforms and manufacturers to sell and transport consumer and industrial goods made in Asia into the U.S. Since inception and as of June 30, 2024, we had served over 300 customers to fulfill over 41,000 cross-border supply chain solution orders.

We have established an extensive collaboration network of service providers, including global freight carriers for our cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services as well as domestic ground transportation carriers for our U.S. domestic transportation services. Since inception and as of June 30, 2024, we had collaborated with almost all major global ocean and air carriers to forward over 31,300 twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, of container loads and 47,800 tons of air cargo. As of June 30, 2024, we had also cooperated with over 200 domestic ground transportation carriers, including almost all major U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers, on a long-term, short-term or order basis, as the case may be.

We operate two massive and hyper-busy regional warehousing and distribution centers in the U.S., in Illinois and Texas. With an aggregate gross feet area of approximately 98,220 square feet and 39 docks, our regional warehousing and distribution centers have an aggregate daily floor load of up to 3,000 cubic meters of freight. In addition to our regional centers, we maintain close contact with over 150 warehouses and distribution terminals in almost all transportation hubs in the U.S. which we have cooperated in the past to support the warehousing and distributing services of our cross-border freight in case such freight requires storage, fulfilment, transloading, palletizing, packaging or distribution in states other than Illinois and Texas. As of June 30, 2024, we had assisted with the customs clearance of cross-border freight of an aggregate assessed value of over $38.0 million.

Leveraging our strong cross-border supply chain service capabilities, extensive service provider network of cross-border freight carriers and U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers, massive and hyper-busy regional warehousing and distribution centers as well as deep understanding of the Asian markets, we have been able to build up our brand and reputation and have achieved fast growth since our inception. For the fiscal years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, our revenues amounted to $18.3 million and $12.9 million, respectively, and our gross profit amounted to $3.7 million and $2.6 million during the same periods, respectively. As of June 30, 2024, we had fulfilled over 41,000 cross-border supply chain solution orders for freight of an aggregate assessed value of $1.0 billion, delivered to thousands of business and residential addresses in approximately 48 U.S. states.

Corporate History and Corporate Structure

We commenced our operations in February 2018 through American Bear Logistics Corp., a corporation established under the laws of the State of Illinois. From August to September 2023, we completed a reorganization and established our holding company, Lakeside Holding Limited, under the laws of the State of Nevada on August 28, 2023.

On July 1, 2024, we completed our initial public offering, or IPO, and listed our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “LSH.” We raised gross proceeds of approximately US$6.8 million from this offering. The gross proceeds were not reflected in our audited consolidated financial statements with respect to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 included elsewhere in this Report, and will be reflected in our audited consolidated financial statements with respect to the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2024 upon the filing of our periodic report on Form 10-Q.

In July 2024, we established a wholly-owned subsidiary in the PRC with an aim to further expand our global footprints.

Our Solutions and Services

We primarily offer cross-border ocean freight solutions and airfreight solutions in the U.S. that are specifically tailored to our customers’ requirements and needs in transporting goods into the U.S.

Services under our cross-border ocean freight solutions and cross-border airfreight solutions typically include (i) cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services, (ii) customs clearance services, (iii) warehousing and distribution services and (iv) U.S. domestic ground transportation.

Cross-border Freight Consolidation and Forwarding Services

As a licensed non-vessel operating common carrier, or NVOCC and indirect air carrier, we provide cross-border ocean and air freight consolidation and forwarding services either as a freight consolidator or agent for an ocean or air shipping carrier. Solutions under our cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services include:

Ocean freight consolidation and forwarding: As an ocean freight forwarder, we contract with ocean shipping carriers and/or other sizeable ocean freight forwarders to obtain transportation for a fixed number of containers between various points during a specific time period at agreed-upon rates. We handle both full container loads and less-than-container load freight, offering a wide range of shipping options and rates than available with carriers directly.

Airfreight consolidation and forwarding: As an airfreight forwarder, we purchase cargo capacity from airlines and/or other sizeable airfreight forwarders on a volume basis and resell the space to our customers. We determine the routing, consolidate individual, unconsolidated shipments bounds for a particular airport distribution point, and then select the airline for transportation to the distribution point, where we then arrange for the consolidated lot to be broken into its component shipments and for the transportation of each individual shipments to its final destination.

Through long-term cooperations with almost all major global ocean carriers and air carriers, we offer our freight consolidation and forwarding service customers a wide footprint globally to cater to their shipping and space needs throughout the year, including during peak periods. Since our inception and as of June 30, 2024, through cooperations with almost all major global ocean carriers and air carriers, we had served over 300 customers to forward cross-border shipments consisting of over 31,800 TEU of container loads and 47,800 tons of air cargo.

Customs Clearance Services

We provide customs clearance services to our customers in conjunction with our other service offerings. We typically collaborate with licensed customs brokerage experts to help our customers clear shipments importing into the U.S. through customs by preparing and filing required documentation, calculating and providing for payment of duties, taxes and fees on behalf of our customers as well as arranging for any required inspections by governmental agencies such as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP. Our customs clearance services include screening commercial documentation for assessed value, country of origin, application for special trade programs and classification. Since our inception and as of June 30, 2024, we had assisted with the customs clearance of cross-border freight of an aggregate assessed value of over $38.0 million.

Warehousing and Distribution Services

For cross-border freight we pick up at ocean ports and airports that require storage, fulfilment, trans-loading, palletizing, packaging or distribution, we offer ancillary warehousing and distribution services at our two regional warehousing and distribution centers in Illinois and Texas, adjacent to the O’Hare International Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, respectively, and are connected to almost all major U.S. domestic railroads and/or ports. With an aggregate gross feet area of approximately 98,220 square feet and 39 docks, our regional warehousing and distribution centers have an aggregate daily operation capacity of up to 3,000 cubic meters of freight for storage, packaging and other fulfilment services. Our regional warehousing and distribution centers are generally utilized by multiple customers at a time so that such customers may benefit from cost savings related to shared space, labor, equipment and other efficiencies.

U.S. Domestic Ground Transportation Services

We provide flexible, cost-competitive full-truckload and less-than-truckload ground transportation of cross-border freight to businesses and residences in the U.S. either directly from port to door, or from our regional warehousing and distribution centers to such domestic addresses. Our U.S. domestic ground transportation services are offered through an extensive network in collaboration with our ground transportation service providers.

As of June 30, 2024, we had established a ground transportation network in collaboration with over 200 domestic ground transportation carriers, including almost all major U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers, capable of delivering to thousands of business and residential addresses in approximately 48 U.S. states, on a long-term, short-term or order basis, as the case may be.

In addition, through establishing in-depth and long-standing partnerships with leading supply chain service providers in Asia for domestic supply chain services in the U.S., we have opened pathways to e-commerce and social commerce and have empowered several Asia-based e-commerce and social commerce platform giants to sell into the U.S. more easily and to deliver small-package goods to end consumers in the U.S. more smoothly.

Market Opportunity

The cross-border supply chain solutions industry is highly fragmented with thousands of companies of various sizes competing in domestic and international markets. The overall opportunities in the cross-border supply chain solutions sector are significant. According to McKinsey1, the cross-border supply chain solutions sector is expected to see a significant growth in the coming years. It is estimated that the market size of cross-border e-commerce will expand to around $1 trillion in merchandise value by 2030, from a current value of approximately $300 billion.

We maintain a strong focus on the Asian market. According to McKinsey2, Asia is expected to account for 57% of the growth of the global e-commerce logistics market between 2020 and 2025, making it one of the most important regions for global trade and logistics activities going forward. Our concentration on the Asian market enables us to develop in-depth expertise in serving Asian countries such as China and South Korea and provides us an edge in understanding the nuances and demands in this rapidly evolving market.

Partnering with almost all major global ocean and air carriers, our vast network of global freight carrier partners and in-depth connections with U.S. ground transportation providers can offer customers consistent services, even during peak periods. Such service reliability can be significantly beneficial for e-commerce platforms, social commerce platforms and manufacturers that often times may face supply chain disruptions during peak seasons.

Strengths

We believe the following strengths contribute to our success and differentiate us from our competitors:

Fast-growing U.S.-based cross-border supply chain solution provider with a unique focus on the Asian market

We are an integrated cross-border supply chain solution provider based in the U.S. with a strategic focus on the Asian market. Leveraging our strong cross-border supply chain service capabilities, superior service quality, extensive service provider network of cross-border freight carriers and U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers, massive and hyper-busy regional warehousing and distribution centers as well as deep understanding of the Asian market, we have been able to provide our Asia-based customers with individually-tailored solutions that specifically cater to their requirements and needs in transporting goods into the U.S. Our solutions encompass a wide variety of services such as cross-border ocean and air freight consolidation and forwarding, customs clearance, warehousing and distributing as well as U.S. domestic ground transportation.

We have grown our business rapidly since our inception in 2018. As an Asian American-owned business deeply rooted in the U.S., our accumulated insights and deep understanding of both the U.S. and Asian international trading and logistics service markets have enabled us to build up our brand and reputation cross-border and achieve fast growth since our inception. As of June 30, 2024, we operated two regional warehousing and distribution centers in the U.S., in Illinois and Texas, and we had served over 300 customers and fulfilled over 41,300 cross-border supply chain solution orders for ocean freight and airfreight of an aggregate assessed value of $1.0 billion delivered to thousands of business and residential addresses in approximately 48 U.S. states.

Our revenues increased from $12.9 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 and to $18.3 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. The total number of our cross-border supply chain solution orders fulfilled increased significantly from over 10,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 to over 16,000 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, while the total number of our customers increased from approximately 190 to 206, respectively, during the same periods.

Extensive service provider network of global freight carriers and U.S. ground transportation carriers

We have established an extensive, long-standing service provider network of global freight carriers for our cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services. Since inception and as of June 30, 2024, we had collaborated with almost all major global ocean and air carriers to serve over 300 customers to forward cross-border shipments consisting of over 31,800 TEU of container loads and 47,800 tons of air cargo. We have also established a massive, in-depth and long-standing U.S. domestic ground transportation service provider network in collaboration with domestic ground transportation carriers. As of June 30, 2024, we had cooperated with over 200 domestic ground transportation carriers, including almost all major U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers, on a long-term, short-term or order basis, as the case may be. We believe such extensive collaboration network has enabled us to provide our customers with more flexible and optimized options of origin ports, shipping routes, shipping frequency and delivery times that suit their needs better.

Symbiotic relationships with a large base of customers with high demands for supply chain solutions

We forge symbiotic relationships with a large base of customers that are typically Asia- and U.S.-based logistics service companies serving large e-commerce platforms, social commerce platforms and manufacturers to sell and transport consumer and industrial goods made in Asia into the U.S. Since inception and as of June 30, 2024, we had served over 300 customers with over 41,300 cross-border supply chain solution orders fulfilled. We believe our solutions have become a vital, indispensable part of our customers’ international trading and/or service value chain. Our solutions lift the burden associated with searching for, contracting with, coordinating with and paying various freight carriers, customs brokers and U.S. domestic transportation brokers on individual basis and enable our customers to commit their limited operational and managerial resources to their core business activities and achieve their business objectives cost-effectively. For example, we are among the earliest U.S.-based third-party supply chain service suppliers of a top integrated logistics service provider headquartered in China and have served this customer for over three years, enabling this customer to effectively obtain integrated supply chain capabilities and expertise in the U.S. without having devoted substantial operational resources and costs. Leveraging our strong supply chain service capabilities and deep understanding of the Asian market, we have been able to provide our Asia-based customers with customized solutions that specifically cater to their needs. We believe our customized cross-border supply chain solutions offer compelling value propositions to our customers, allowing us to become their go-to third-party service suppliers for exporting and transporting into the U.S.

Persistent focus on providing superior service efficiency and quality

We are driven by a persistent focus on providing highly efficient quality services to our customers. We have standardized, unified and streamlined the protocols and criteria of our wide variety of supply chain service offerings, aiming to provide reliable and best-quality services to customers. For example, we manage our cross-border freight consolidation and forwarding services and our U.S. domestic ground transportation services to specific objectives, such as high customer service scores for on-time delivery and damage-free freight. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2023 and 2024, among our overall cross-border ocean freight and airfreight supply chain solution orders, the damage rate of the total shipments delivered through our service network of global freight carriers and U.S. domestic ground transportation carriers consistently maintained less than 1.0%. We have also established a customer support regime that is available from 8am to 11pm, seven days a week, to address the needs of our international customers. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2023 and 2024, over 40.0% and 46.0% of our customers were repeat customers.

 

Visionary and accomplished young management team with strong industry expertise and in-depth understanding of Asian market

We were founded by two Asian American entrepreneurs who have worked closely together for over seven years. Mr. Henry Liu, our co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer, is a successful Asia-born, U.S.-educated entrepreneur. Mr. Shuai Li, our co-founder, president and chief operating officer, is also of an Asian descent. We benefit from the leadership of such management team with prominent strategic visions, in-depth industry expertise, extensive managerial and operational experience as well as deep understanding of both the U.S. and Asian market. The key members of our management have an average of more than ten years of experience in the logistics service industry. We believe our management’s industry expertise, coupled with their vision and entrepreneurial spirit, has enabled us and will continue to enable us to navigate in the cross-border supply chain solution market successfully.

Our Growth Strategies

We believe that we have a significant opportunity before us, both to further our mission and to strengthen our business and grow our revenues. We are focused on the following strategies to drive our growth:

Solidify our competitive edge and further grow customer base

We have established a global ocean freight and airfreight carrier collaboration network as well as an extensive U.S. domestic ground transportation collaboration network that cater to the needs of our large base of customers in Asia seeking integrated cross-border supply chain solutions, and we have achieved a robust revenue growth during the past few years. We intend to solidify our competitive edge in the cross-border ocean freight solution sector and further grow the scale of our cross-border airfreight solution operations. We seek to deepen the strategic long-term relationships with our global ocean and air carrier service provider as well as U.S. domestic transportation service providers, tap into new markets with them and explore new ways of collaborations. On the other hand, we strive to strengthen our branding and sales efficiencies, increase our presence in Asia and the globe as a U.S.-based integrated cross-border supply chain solution provider, capitalize on the massive opportunities for cross-border supply chain solutions within the thriving global social commerce market driven by consumer purchases directly through social media channels, and expand our customer base globally. We will also continue to optimize our service quality and enhance the experience and loyalty of our customers.

Expand our global footprints more extensively

We seek to provide integrated supply chain solutions to customers globally. We believe there are significant opportunities in the merchandise trade between the U.S. and emerging economies in Southeast Asia and South America, which we intend to leverage on and further expand our global footprints. For example, in addition to our two existing regional warehousing and distribution centers in Illinois and Texas, we plan to establish new hubs and centers in other major border cities in the U.S., such as Houston, Texas and Miami, Florida to cater to the needs in cross-border supply chain solutions from customers in Canada and South America. We also plan to expand our already extensive coverage of Asia-to-U.S. shipping routes provided by our ocean carrier service providers and allow our customers in Asia to have more flexible and optimized options of origin ports, shipping routes and shipping frequency. Moreover, we aim to extend our carrier collaboration network’s reach to penetrate Europe and bring our integrated and streamlined cross-border supply chain solutions to European customers, facilitating the flow of goods from Europe to the U.S. as well as elsewhere in the world.

Diversify and increase the breadth and depth of our service offerings through an organic growth and/or mergers and acquisitions

We intend to expand our portfolio of supply chain solutions and diversify our service offerings to more upstream and downstream sectors throughout the entire international trade value chain through an organic growth and/or mergers and acquisitions. For example, leveraging our existing extensive cross-border logistics network and strong supply chain management capabilities, we plan to expand into the prospective trading market and establish integrated cross-border trading businesses in free-trade zones with a focus on the export of U.S.-made consumer goods to the Asian market and the import of Asia-made consumer goods into the U.S. In addition, we plan to continue to deepen and broaden our current supply chain service offerings by (i) expanding the categories of cargo transported through our cross-border ocean freight solutions and airfreight solutions to cover special cargo, including dangerous goods such as lithium batteries, perishable cargo, wet cargo, and temperature-sensitive goods, and (ii) launching new services such as last mile, inventory management and one-stop multi-model solutions, with an aim to bring more value-adds to our customers.

Optimize operational efficiency and maintain premier service quality

We aim to drive further the operational efficiency of each service offering under our cross-border ocean freight and airfreight solutions, reduce costs and maximize the overall profitability. For example, in addition to utilizing a core technology platform which streamlines and monitors our various service offerings in real time, we plan to upgrade the standardization machinery, systems and functions at our regional warehousing and distribution centers, including to further invest in automation equipment such as industrial conveyor belts to advance the automation processes of sorting, packaging, distribution and trans-loading at these regional centers. We will also continue to strengthen the training of our personnel among the various function departments and adopt a holistic yet rigorous service quality management approach to ensure the premier quality of each service offering under our integrated cross-border supply chain solutions.

Continue to invest in and advance our technologies

We plan to continue to invest in and further digitize our technology platform to address our needs or those of our customers. We believe that efficient and effective use of information technology and advanced automation systems will allow us to further enhance our competitive position and drive our continued growth and profitability. We intend to establish a core technology platform which encompasses our warehousing and distribution system, pricing engine, cross-border ocean and air carrier interface as well as U.S. domestic ground transportation carrier interface, allowing our customers to track the movement of their cross-border freight from end to end. In addition, we aim to develop a proprietary suite of intelligent tools and analytics, incorporating dynamic data science, predictive analytics and machine learning, to aid our daily operations and drive further productivity across our various cross-border supply chain service offerings.