Red Star Cold Chain (01641) launches a “warehousing service+trading platform” to create a moat

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on December 31, 2025, Red Star Cold Chain (Hunan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter: Red Star Cold Chain), a leading frozen food storage company in the central region, officially launched a stock offering, ending on January 8, 2026, and plans to officially list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code “1641” on January 13, 2026.

According to global public offering documents, Red Star Cold Chain (01641) plans to sell 23.263 million H shares globally. Of these, Hong Kong sales account for 10% and international sales account for 90%. The sale price is HK$12.26 per share, and the trading unit for H shares is 500 shares per lot. In this offering, Red Star Cold Chain successfully obtained Fuhuida (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. as the cornerstone investor to subscribe for shares with a total value of about RMB 20 million according to the final sale price.

The leading position in the regional market is stable and pioneered the “warehousing service+trading platform” two-wheel drive model

Red Star Cold Chain is headquartered in Changsha City, Hunan Province. Its main business is frozen food trading platforms and frozen storage services. According to the Insights Consulting Report, according to 2024 revenue, in the field of frozen food storage services, the company is the largest service provider in central China and Hunan Province, with market shares reaching 2.6% and 13.6% respectively. In the field of frozen food store rental services, the company is the second largest service provider in central China and the largest service provider in Hunan Province, with market shares of 8.8% and 54.7% respectively.

As a leading frozen food storage leader in the central region, Red Star Cold Chain combines frozen food storage with frozen food store leasing through its original “storage service” and “trading platform” two-wheel drive model to serve wholesalers and retailers in the frozen food supply chain.

Red Star Cold Chain is located at two major bases in Changsha, with a total design capacity of more than 1 million cubic meters (usable storage capacity of more than 230,000 tons), and the utilization rate during the record period exceeded 88.0%. As of June 30, 2025, it has served more than 700 customers. As far as the company's frozen food store leasing service is concerned, the company mainly rents out more than 36,000 square meters of space as a store to frozen food wholesalers and retailers, with a rental rate of over 94.0%.

Stable and progressive financial performance and high profit margins confirm the business model

On the financial side, overall, the financial performance of Red Star Cold Chain in recent years has shown a steady growth trend. In 2022, 2023, 2024 and the six months ended 2024 and June 30, 2025, the company generated revenue of RMB 237 million, RMB 202 million, RMB 234 million, RMB 112 million and RMB 118 million respectively. The gross margins for the same period were 50.1%, 57.7%, 52.8%, 54.2% and 53.3%, respectively.

In 2022, 2023, 2024, and the six months ended 2024 and June 30, 2025, the company's net profit was RMB 79.1 million, RMB 75.3 million, RMB 82.9 million, RMB 41.3 million and RMB 39.7 million respectively. The corresponding net profit margins for the same period were 33.4%, 37.3%, 35.5%, 36.7% and 33.6%, respectively.

It is worth noting that during the reporting period, the company's gross margin remained high at more than 50%, and the net profit margin remained stable between 33% and 38%. According to public information, due to factors such as low industry concentration, small scale, and high technical maintenance costs, the average profit margin of China's cold chain storage industry is only about 8% to 12%. Comparing the industry, the net interest rate of Red Star Cold Chain clearly exceeds the average level of ordinary cold chain storage companies, reflecting the role of its “warehousing service+trading platform” business model in improving asset utilization efficiency and profitability.

It is proposed to raise capital, expand and upgrade to strengthen the integrated layout of the industry

Since the release of the “14th Five-Year Plan” cold chain logistics development plan in 2021, China's cold chain logistics market has officially entered a new stage of high-quality development. Looking at market segments, processing services dominated the revenue from frozen food cold chain services in 2024 (65.3%), with logistics services accounting for a total of 34.1%. In the entire logistics service chain, transportation services account for an absolute major share (79.2%), and the warehousing service that Red Star Cold Chain focuses on is a key link with high professional barriers. The market size is relatively concentrated, creating a good competitive environment for leading enterprises with advantages in scale and efficiency.

Red Star Cold Chain's current public offering aims to strategically lay out the plan for future development. According to the prospectus, the company plans to use about 57.5% of the capital raised to build a new processing plant and expand a frozen food storage warehouse over the next four years, equipped with processing equipment and systems to provide customers with frozen food processing services. Approximately 12.8% will be used to upgrade equipment, information technology infrastructure and software used in existing businesses, including investing in artificial intelligence technology to empower the company's operations and customers. In addition, the company has set aside about 19.7% of the capital for future strategic acquisitions and cooperation to improve the company's industrial integration, thereby strengthening the company's position in the entire cold chain ecosystem.