From strategic energy to high-quality development, I saw the “long-term principle” of Shanghai US shares (02145)

“The best time to plant a tree is now,” the development trajectory of Shangmei Shares (02145) is a good proof of this statement.

On August 17, Shangmei Co., Ltd. announced the performance forecast for the first half of 2026. According to the announcement, it is expected to achieve revenue of about 3,718 billion yuan to 3,759 billion yuan (RMB, same unit) during the period, and the company's profit is expected to reach 120 million yuan to 130 million yuan during the same period.

Lu Yixiong, founder and CEO of Shangmei Co., Ltd., issued an internal letter on the evening of August 17. The US has successfully withstood the pressure and has returned to the positive path. In particular, the US performance in July and August 2026 once again showed positive growth.

Currently, the overall growth rate of the cosmetics industry is slowing down, and the market has entered a stage of stock competition. In this context, although there were phased and strategic data fluctuations in the overall performance and revenue growth rate of major brands in the US. However, penetrating the underlying logic behind this performance forecast, I believe investors can get a more profound answer about America's “long-term doctrine.”

Strategic momentum: from scale expansion to deep quality cultivation

This 2026 interim results forecast has prompted the market to re-examine the underlying assets and commercial nature of Shangmei shares — “growth” was once a highly sought after mythical narrative in the Chinese beauty industry. However, the industry is gradually shifting from incremental competition to a stock game, and simple scale expansion has made it difficult to support the long-term value of enterprises. In such a market environment, industry consensus is shifting: only by building multi-brand collaboration, consolidating R&D barriers, and laying out the global supply chain can we overcome the cycle in the second half of competition.

According to the Zhitong Finance App, the “strategic energy” of Shanghai US shares is an active response to this industry trend. For Shangmei, which has always been at the cutting edge of China's beauty industry, this strategic adjustment is a structural shift from “scale first” to “quality first.”

In recent years, Shanghai American shares have invested a large amount of resources into a key circuit that will determine the development of the next ten years. At the global level, the company's Indonesian plant in Southeast Asia has already laid the foundation. According to previous disclosure, it is expected to be officially put into operation in July 2027. This marks a substantial step in the global supply chain system in the US, and is also a strategic choice to take root in the international market for a long time.

In the field of scientific research, investment in the US is also forward-looking. In June 2026, Zheng Zhizhong, former director of dermatology at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and tenured professor at Huashan Hospital, officially joined the American Scientific Committee as a dermatology expert consultant. As a well-known scholar in the field of dermatology in China, Zheng Zhizhong's joining has further strengthened the professional barriers to integrating “industry, education, research and medicine” with the US. Prior to that, Dr. Karl Lintner, the pioneer of global peptide beauty technology, was the chief scientific advisor to the American Scientific Committee. The movement of multinational scientific research cooperation marks a new stage in the global R&D strategic layout between the US and the US.

It is easy to see that various initiatives such as globalization, scientific research, intelligent manufacturing, and talent will together form the basic market for the US for the next ten years. Although they will not be directly converted into revenue data in the short term, they are a core asset that determines whether an enterprise can cross the cycle and enter the global competitive arena.

Taking scientific research as an example, competition in the beauty industry has long been upgraded from channel wars and marketing wars to ingredient wars and scientific research wars. Without continuous investment in R&D, brand premium capacity will continue to decline as consumer awareness rises. According to public data, the R&D cost rate of Shanghai US shares is significantly higher than the industry average. The cumulative R&D expenses in the past three years have exceeded 500 million yuan. The US has chosen to continue to increase investment in scientific research and talent at this time, just to set the momentum for future product and brand growth.

What is more noteworthy is that the US has clearly stated that it will not cut any investment relating to long-term core competitiveness for the sake of short-term financial data. This kind of “long-term” strategic strength is particularly valuable under the assessment pressure of the capital market. It sends a clear message to investors: the company is willing to withstand short-term performance fluctuations in exchange for the company's ability to move through the cycle. For a company aiming to become a world-class beauty group, this strategic strength will be more critical than short-term performance growth.

Rapid growth signal: multi-brand matrix superposition differentiation moat

If strategic investment determines the future of the US, then the synergy of the multi-brand matrix determines its current ability to withstand pressure and the room for resilient growth. Shangmei Co., Ltd. has always used Han Shu as the core to achieve multi-brand, multi-category, and omni-channel coverage, and enable development with platform-based operation capabilities. This multi-brand model of “same technology, complementary brands, full customer base coverage” is also a growth path for international beauty giants such as L'Oréal and Shiseido.

At the main brand level, Han Shu is evolving from a single mass skincare brand to a multi-category platform. According to public information, in the first half of 2026, Han Shu topped Douyin's personal care list with a total GMV of over 2.5 billion yuan. Judging from product performance, Han Shu's growth did not depend on a single explosion. In addition to classic sets such as Red Man Waist and White Man Waist continuing to be popular, the body care, men's skin care, and personal care segments have simultaneously opened up a new growth curve.

What is more noteworthy is the collective rise of second-tier and third-tier brands in the US. In 2025, Newpage achieved revenue of 880 million yuan, an increase of 134% over the previous year. An Minyou is deeply involved in sensitive skin repair and achieved high double-digit growth during the year. Entering 2026, this growth trend continues. Among them, Jifang, as a scientific care brand specializing in preventing hair follicle loss, appeared at the 14th World Hair Research Conference in May 2026, and released major research results completed in collaboration with Capital Medical University to the world, which received continuous market attention.

In August, Shangmei Co., Ltd. announced another major news. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Qingdao, joined with Israeli skincare brand AHAVA and Xingzhi Yumei, a subsidiary of Yuyuan Co., Ltd., to jointly establish Shanghai Ahawa Cosmetics Co., Ltd., of which Shangmei holds 70% of the shares and has absolute dominance. According to information, AHAVA is the only cosmetics company in the world that has set up a factory along the Dead Sea coast. This collaboration not only verifies the ability to use the US as a platform, but also injects an international element of mid-range and high-end positioning into its brand layout.

What can be expected is that, from Han Shu's multi-category expansion, to the echelon-style growth of Newpage One Page, An Minyu, and Extreme Fang, to the addition of new brands such as AHAVA, brands such as Cui Yutao and HelloKitty will be launched one after another, and the gradually improved multi-brand matrix will continue to unleash growth momentum. At the same time, the long-term layout of global production capacity, scientific research, and talent is gradually entering the value realization cycle, compounding the stable and constant long-term strategic strength of enterprises. The growth trend of various product lines is expected to continue to be realized. The medium- to long-term high-quality growth trend of enterprises has not changed. This is also in line with the core logic of the capital market giving long-term valuation premiums.

epilogue

It takes time to watch a seed blossom; instead of observing trends in a company or industry, it takes time to give an answer.

Looking at the entire Chinese beauty industry, there are no shortcuts for local brands to hit the global market. Overseas market channel building, international brand competition, and global supply chain construction all require continuous capital and time investment. The growth cycle of world-class brands in the industry is on a ten-year basis.

As far as the US is concerned, choosing to take the initiative to enter a “strategic energy period” is essentially a strategic pace adjustment made by the company to build a wider moat, deeper R&D barriers, and a more diverse brand matrix. Changes in the external environment will not shake America's strategic strength: the company has a stable chassis, clear strategic direction, and sufficient team execution. Every product currently being refined, every market expanded, and every system established is saving energy to cross the industry cycle and stand on the global beauty competition stage.

As the company has always insisted, world-class opportunities for Chinese beauty brands can only be achieved through long-term investment and hard work. The path taken by Shanghai US stocks will surely go through a period of heavy investment and slow returns, but looking back on a ten-year perspective, this is also probably the only way to move from “China's head” to “world-class.”