Beauty Farm IPO Soars By 53% On Hopes China Spending Poised To Recover

Shares in China beauty services provider Beauty Farm Medical and Health Industry soared on their debut at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday as investors bet on a recovery in consumer spending this year after a rough 2022 in which the country’s economic growth was hurt by fallout from the Covid pandemic.

Beauty Farm gained 53.5% to HK$29.65, or $3.80, yesterday compared with its IPO price of HK$19.32. The company raised HK$387.2 million in its initial offering, most of which will be used to upgrade and expand its service network, according to the prospectus.

Beauty Farm operates four chains: BeautyFarm, Palaispa, CellCare and Neology. Total revenue from beauty and aesthetic medical services increased from 1.4 billion yuan in 2019 to 1.78 billion yuan in 2021. In the first of 2022, however, it dropped to 654 million yuan in first half of 2022 from 776 million yuan in the first six months of 2021 amid pandemic lockdowns.

Investors include Fan Daodi, the billionaire chief science officer of Giant BioGene which went public in Hong Kong in December. They also include Shenzhen-listed Yunnan Botanee Bio-Tech Group, the skincare products supplier led by billionaire Guo Zhenyu. Fan is worth $2.8 billion and Guo is worth $2.3 billion today, according to Forbes estimates.

Another China IPO mainly catering to women went public in Hong Kong in December 23 and is off to a winning start: Shanghai Chicmax Cosmetic closed at HK$28.70 on Friday from its IPO price of HK$25.20.

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@rflannerychina