Chinese Skin Care Company Chicmax Makes Hong Kong Market Debut
SHANGHAI — Shanghai-based skin care group Chicmax Cosmetic Company Ltd. — known for its popular skin care brands Kans, One Leaf, Baby Elephant, Bio-G and Hanamino — went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday, becoming the first mainland China skin care company to do so.
Chicmax opened at 25.20 Hong Kong dollars, or $3.23, on Thursday, raising 835 million Hong Kong dollar from the deal.
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Founded in 2002 by Shanghai-based entrepreneur Yixiong Lv, Chicmax is widely known for its antiaging brand Kans, the botanically inspired facial mask brand One Leaf and the Baby Elephant skin care brand for mothers and children.
According to data from the consulting agency Frost & Sullivan, in 2021, Chicmax Cosmetics ranked 14th place in retail sales in China, accounting for a market share of 0.8 percent. Compared to domestic players, Chicmax Cosmetics ranked after Proya, Jahwa, Yatsen as the fourth-largest in the domestic market.
As its hero product, Chicmax’s facial mask topped the ranking of the category in China with retail sales of 1.84 billion renminbi, or $263 million, in 2021.
Chicmax also ranked first in the domestic maternity and childcare skin care category, with retail sales of 1.79 billion renminbi, or $256 million, in 2021, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Chicmax initially planned for a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2021 but shifted its focus to the Hong Kong exhange later in the year.
According to Chicmax Cosmetics’ prospectus, due to COVID-19-related disruptions, revenue dropped 31 percent year-over-year to 1.26 billion renminbi, or $180 million, in the six months ending June 30, 2022. Gross profit plunged almost 33 percent year-over-year to 0.8 billion renminbi, or $114 million, in the same period.
In recent years, Chicmax has been reinventing its star brands to keep up with market trends and stay in a highly fragmented market dominated by global players, according to Frost & Sullivan’s report.
For example, Kans edged into the high-end antiaging market with a self-developed blue copper peptide technology and One Leaf was rebranded into a clean beauty brand.
In 2016, Chicmax set up a research facility in Kobe, Japan, and has spent almost 100 million renminbi annually on research and development. New brands that made their debut this year, such as New Page and Armiyo, are aimed at tackling the sensitive skin market sector. In 2023, a high-end anti-aging brand, Yamii Pro, will make its market debut.
