After its initial public offering (IPO) application lapsed on March 29 upon reaching the six-month mark, Zirantang quickly completed its financial data update and reactivated the listing process.
Judging by the resonance between the latest updated prospectus and the broader industry trends, the core issues for its successful listing and long-term development lie in how to maintain the advantages of its core brand while incubating new growth points and complying with the standardized requirements of the capital market.
<h2>01 Stable Performance with Structural Bottlenecks Yet to Be Broken</h2>
The updated prospectus reveals that Zirantang's financial performance in 2025 demonstrated strong resilience. However, its revenue structure, channel evolution, and industry positioning also reflect the multi-dimensional challenges legacy domestic brands face during their transformation periods.
Zirantang Group delivered a commendable performance in 2025.
Data shows that the group's revenue in 2025 was approximately RMB 5.318 billion. The group's overall gross profit margin rose from 69.4% in the previous year to 70.6%, with an annual profit of approximately RMB 351 million. Based on 2024 retail sales, Zirantang Group ranked tenth in the overall Chinese cosmetics market with a 0.8% market share, making it the third-largest domestic cosmetics group in China with a 1.7% market share.
In terms of revenue scale alone, Zirantang's volume has reached the RMB 5 billion threshold, ranking third among domestic beauty brands.
However, within the competitive landscape of the entire industry, its position is not secure. In 2024, domestic beauty leader Proya surpassed the RMB 10 billion revenue milestone, and CHICMAX, with a revenue scale of approximately RMB 6.8 billion, also overtook Zirantang.
In terms of revenue growth, from 2022 to 2024, Zirantang's revenue grew from RMB 4.292 billion to RMB 4.601 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 3.5%, significantly lagging behind the growth rates of Proya and CHICMAX during the same period.
Net profit, meanwhile, showed considerable volatility.
From 2022 to 2024, Zirantang's net profit was RMB 139 million, RMB 302 million, and RMB 190 million, respectively. Net profit surged by 117% year-on-year in 2023 but fell by 37.1% in 2024.
In the first half of 2025, net profit was RMB 191 million, already exceeding the full year of 2024. The full-year profit rebounded to RMB 351 million, indicating that profitability is recovering.
From the perspective of the brand matrix, the prospectus further highlights Zirantang's heavy reliance on a single brand.
In 2025, the core brand, Chando (Zirantang), recorded revenue of RMB 5.070 billion, accounting for as much as 95.3% of the group's total revenue. Although the company has developed sub-brands such as Maysu and Perfv to cover different segments, their combined share remains tiny.
In a beauty market where consumer preferences iterate rapidly, mature companies typically rely on a multi-brand tier to diversify risks and cover consumer demand across the entire life cycle. Zirantang urgently needs to prove to the capital market that it possesses the systematic capability to replicate the success of its main brand in its sub-brands.
Regarding channels, Zirantang still needs to balance its traditional offline advantages with online direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales.
As a brand with a history of over twenty years, a massive offline distribution network was once the moat for Zirantang's rise. However, as consumer battlegrounds shift, the refined operation of online channels has become the key to victory.
Zirantang stated in its prospectus that the company has been continuously increasing investment in e-commerce direct sales and emerging social e-commerce in recent years. How to properly handle the balance between the online price system and the interests of offline distributors, and achieve a smooth transition from offline distribution-led to omni-channel integration, is a major internal operational test.
Another financial characteristic attracting significant market attention is the massive gap between Zirantang's investment in marketing and R&amp;D.
According to previously disclosed prospectuses, Zirantang's sales and marketing expenses have consistently remained above 55% of revenue. For instance, in the first half of 2025, this expenditure reached RMB 1.347 billion, accounting for 55% of revenue.
Compared to its peers, Zirantang's marketing investment ratio remains high. Also in the first half of 2025, the selling expense ratios for Proya and Shanghai Jahwa were 49.59% and 43.8%, respectively.
Meanwhile, R&amp;D investment has shown a year-by-year shrinking trend. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, Zirantang's cumulative R&amp;D expenditure was RMB 348 million. Specifically, it was RMB 120 million in 2022, RMB 93.82 million in 2023, RMB 91.21 million in 2024, and RMB 42.38 million in the first half of this year. R&amp;D expenses as a percentage of revenue were 2.8%, 2.1%, 2.0%, and 1.7%, respectively, decreasing annually.
By contrast, in the first half of 2025, Bloomage Biotech invested RMB 231 million in R&amp;D (10.22% of revenue); Botanee's R&amp;D expenses were RMB 116 million (4.91% of revenue); although CHICMAX was relatively lower, its R&amp;D expenditure also exceeded RMB 100 million, accounting for 2.5%.
This &#34;marketing-heavy, R&amp;D-light&#34; model is coming under increasing scrutiny as the competitive logic of the beauty industry changes.
As consumers become more demanding regarding product efficacy and ingredient science, R&amp;D reserves directly determine a brand's speed of launching new products and its room for price premiums. With platform promotion dividends peaking, whether the path of high marketing investment for growth can be sustained is becoming a common question for the industry.
<h2>02 New Cycle, New Tests</h2>
Zirantang first submitted its IPO prospectus on September 29, 2025.
Under Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules, if a listing applicant fails to complete the listing hearing or the listing process within six months of submitting the prospectus, the application status automatically becomes &#34;lapsed.&#34; March 29 was the day the six-month period expired.
There was initial outside speculation regarding the &#34;lapsed&#34; status of the previous prospectus.
However, from the practical perspective of Hong Kong IPOs, this is more of a routine milestone in the listing process. A company only needs to supplement the latest audited report to re-enter the queue. In recent consumer-sector IPOs in Hong Kong, it is very common for companies to file a second time due to audit cycles and other reasons; this in itself does not represent a major disruption in the company's fundamentals. Zirantang also quickly resubmitted its prospectus.
Nevertheless, Zirantang's story is not that simple. A deeper question the market is focused on is: why did Zirantang fail to complete the hearing within the stipulated six-month period?
According to public information, prior to this lapse, Zirantang had already faced strict inquiries from the International Cooperation Division of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
Key issues raised by regulators included the compliance of the company's red-chip structure, the history of equity evolution, the differences in entry prices for different investors in the Pre-IPO round—specifically the differing entry prices for L'Oréal and Jiahua Capital—and the family trust structure.
For a company with a long history of operations and a certain family-owned character, fully sorting out complex historical equity and clarifying financing compliance details before entering the capital market is a routine regulatory action to ensure market transparency and investor rights.
From a macro perspective, Zirantang's Hong Kong listing is not just an individual capitalization sprint; it is a microcosm of the Chinese beauty industry entering a new development cycle. Currently, the industry is undergoing a profound transformation from being marketing-driven to being driven by comprehensive strength.
Over the past decade, the rise of domestic beauty brands relied heavily on the traffic dividends of e-commerce or short-video platforms. However, with the rising costs of customer acquisition, purely marketing-based tactics are no longer sustainable. Consumers' increasingly mature understanding of ingredients and efficacy is pushing the industry into a stage of competition in technological R&amp;D.
In the future, how Zirantang further optimizes its expense structure and substantively shifts its financial inertia from heavy marketing toward heavy R&amp;D will determine its chances of success in breaking through into the high-end market.
In terms of industry competition, the domestic beauty market has transitioned from an era of incremental explosive growth to a stage of competition within the existing market share. In this phase, foreign brands are accelerating their penetration into lower-tier markets and increasing promotions, while price wars and battles for consumer mindshare among domestic brands are intensifying.
To break through this intense competition, companies cannot rely on a single strength; they must be versatile in R&amp;D reserves, brand matrices, omni-channel operations, and supply chain responsiveness.
In summary, Zirantang's updated prospectus comes with the confidence of over RMB 5 billion in revenue, but also the challenges of single-brand reliance and governance structure upgrades. Listing in Hong Kong is not just about widening financing channels, but also about securing the ammunition and platform needed for the next round of industry consolidation.
As the domestic beauty industry enters the second half of the game—the era of comprehensive competition—the capital market expects to see a Zirantang that can evolve new growth curves above and beyond its current scale.
Market carries risks, and investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article are appropriate for their specific circumstances. Any investment made based on this is at your own risk.

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Zirantang reactivated its IPO listing process on March 29. The updated prospectus shows its 2025 revenue at approximately RMB 5.318 billion, with the gross profit margin rising to 70.6%. Despite ranking tenth in the Chinese cosmetics market with a 0.8% market share, it faces fierce competition from Proya and CHICMAX. Zirantang's revenue growth and net profit have shown significant volatility; however, its net profit in the first half of 2025 has already exceeded the full year of 2024, indicating that its profitability is recovering

- After its IPO application became "invalid" on March 29 due to exceeding the six-month deadline, Naturder updated its financial data and reactivated its listing process.  
- The updated prospectus indicates that while Naturder demonstrated solid financial performance in 2025, it still faces challenges in revenue structure and market positioning amid intense competition from brands like Proya and Shiseido.  
- The company's heavy reliance on its main brand, coupled with a significant gap between marketing and R&D spending, poses risks as the cosmetics industry shifts towards a focus on comprehensive brand strategies and innovation.

Zirantang Re-attempts IPO