Subscribed more than 1,000 times, looking into the “first domestic high-end skincare stock” Lin Qingxuan (02657)'s path of growth value advancement

As Lin Qingxuan completed the final sprint of “the first domestic high-end skincare stock” in the Hong Kong stock market, this “camellia”, which has been deeply involved in China's high-end skincare market for more than ten years, has also completed a key transition in the capital market.

On December 23, Lin Qingxuan (02657)'s 5-day subscription period officially ended. According to the announcement, Lin Qingxuan plans to sell 13.966,500 shares, of which Hong Kong sales account for 10%, international sales account for 90%, and 15% over-allotment rights. Each share is priced at HK$77.77, and the proposed capital is HK$1,086 billion. Based on brokerage data, the company's margin sales this time totaled about HK$112.130 billion. Based on the public sale portion raised HK$109 million, the margin oversubscribed by more than 1,032 times, showing that the market is extremely enthusiastic about its subscription.

More than that, the day before the first day of listing (December 29), Lin Qingxuan also performed well in the dark market. At one point, it rose nearly 30% in the intraday market. By the close, Futu dark market data showed that the company closed 18.75% higher at HK$92.35.

It is worth mentioning that Lin Qingxuan has long been predicted to be “favored” by capital. According to reports, the company's current IPO cornerstone lineup includes 7 cornerstone investors including Fidelity Fund, Greater Bay Area Common Home Investment GBA, Zhengxin Valley, Duckling Fund, Duckling Fund, Duckling Insurance Group, and Royal Yield Investment. They have subscribed for a total of 62 million US dollars, accounting for 44.43% of the total shares sold, further reflecting the high recognition of the company's value by long-term institutions.

As can be seen, both cornerstone investors and secondary market investors used real money to cast an important “vote of confidence” on the growth story and fundamentals of Lin Qingxuan's “the first domestic high-end skincare stock”, creating an excellent start for the company's listing.

Of course, Lin Qingxuan's ability to reap “smart money” and “market money” recognition didn't happen overnight.

First, the precision card position is a “high-end anti-wrinkle” high-growth track, and has successfully accumulated a head effect.

In 2012, at a time when domestic products are generally pursuing cost performance and “essential oils” are still in the niche, Lin Qingxuan pioneered the concept of “skin care with oil”, and through “camellia essence oil”, the core product focused on “anti-wrinkle tightening” and cut into a relatively empty high-end price band, successfully positioned the “high-end anti-wrinkle” high growth circuit. According to Insight Consulting's report, China's anti-wrinkle and firming skincare market has now become the core engine of industry growth, reaching 119.8 billion yuan in 2024. The compound annual growth rate over the past five years has reached 15.0%, far exceeding the 6.8% growth rate of the overall skincare market.

As we all know, successful companies don't win at the starting line; they choose the right track. By avoiding the Red Sea precision card “high-end anti-wrinkle” high-growth track, Lin Qingxuan also had a certain head effect on the racetrack — the company's core product, camellia essential oil products, have been at the top of the Chinese facial essence retail sales list for 11 consecutive years, and is the only single product in the industry that has exceeded 100 million yuan in retail sales for 8 consecutive years. And this leading effect has also prompted the product to become a key pillar of the company's performance growth, thus forming a virtuous cycle of “the strong are strong”.

Second, build solid technological and industrial chain barriers to achieve “cell-level anti-wrinkle” technology branding.

According to reports, the underlying logic of high premiums and market recognition is essentially a “popularity certification” of Lin Qingxuan's deep brand barriers around “cell-level anti-wrinkle.” By focusing on camellia as the core raw material, the company continues to deepen research and development to form full-link technical control from source cultivation to terminal products, and ultimately efficiently transform scientific research results and market value, and build a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate.

Among them, “cell-level anti-wrinkle” has also achieved technology branding. On the one hand, by strongly binding the complex mechanism of “cell-level anti-wrinkle” to concrete “camellia essence oil” products, the company has made the technology a touchable carrier. On the other hand, with the support of patents, clinical reports, top capital, etc., the signal of “hard core technology” is directly conveyed to consumers. As of the last practical date, the company has accumulated more than 600 formulations and 87 patents, of which 46 are invention patents with the highest gold content, covering core aspects such as camellia extract, formulation and anti-wrinkle repair technology.

Supported by such hard-core competitive barriers, Lin Qingxuan's impressive financial data provided investors with strong confidence support.

According to prospectus data, from 2022 to 2024, the company's revenue increased from 691 million yuan to 1,210 million yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 32.3%, which is higher than the industry average. By the first half of 2025, the company's performance continued to explode: during the period, it achieved revenue of 1,052 million yuan, an increase of 98.3% over the previous year; net profit was 182 million yuan, which is close to the level of the full year of 2024.

At the same time, the company's gross margin also showed outstanding and stable performance. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, it was 78.0%, 81.2%, 82.5%, and 82.4%, respectively. As it continued to grow, it also showed a high level of profit, which further confirmed the company's operational effectiveness and market dominance.

In summary, it can be seen that Lin Qingxuan was able to “break through the siege” from the scuffle between big international brands and domestic products and become “the first domestic high-end skincare company”. Its success was no accident, but rather a “four, two, one thousand kg” strategic combination, that is, due to the resonance of multiple factors such as accurate track selection+difficult to replicate technical barriers+forward-looking strategic vision. With such strategic strength and explosive growth performance, it is obvious that Lin Qingxuan has been warmly sought after by the market.

Subsequently, Lin Qingxuan will also raise capital for brand building and marketing, omnichannel network expansion and upgrading, R&D and quality control, and industrial chain deepening and operation. This will also have more profound implications for the company's future development — that is, only by digging the moat deep enough and building the city high enough can the company truly seize the initiative for development, open up a higher growth ceiling, and achieve a two-way transition in performance and value.