The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2018–2020s
Yujiahui's profit collapsed 94% after IPO — China's first e-beauty stock lost 76%
China's first e-commerce beauty IPO saw net profit fall 94% in 2019, sending the stock from ¥28.58 to ¥6.95 — one bad year from ST.
SYoung Group Co., Ltd. (formerly 御家汇/Yujiahui) · 2019-07
What happened
御家汇 was founded in 2006 by Dai Yuefeng, building the 御泥坊 (Dr.Yu) brand into a top e-commerce skincare label on Taobao/Tmall. It billed itself as 'China's first IPO e-commerce beauty stock,' listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board on February 8, 2018, at ¥21.23. The stock gave the company a market cap of over ¥10 billion. But the IPO masked a fragile business: 87% of revenue came from third-party platforms, it relied on government subsidies (¥32 million in 2017), and growth was driven by marketing spend rather than brand equity.
Cracks appeared in the first full year. 2018 net profit fell 17.5% to ¥131 million. Then 2019: first-quarter net profit collapsed to ¥454,000, a 98.45% decline. The half-year warned of a 90–98% drop. By year-end, net profit was ¥27.2 million (down 79%) and non-recurring net profit was just ¥6.2 million, down 94%. Major holders including Shenzhen Capital Group dumped their stakes. The stock plunged from its peak of ¥28.58 to an all-time low of ¥6.95 by Feb 2020 — a 76% decline erasing ¥13 billion. The company was one bad year from triggering the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ST designation.
Remarkably, 2020 brought a turnaround. Revenue surged 54% to ¥3.72 billion and net profit rebounded to ¥141 million. By March 2021 the stock hit a new all-time high of ¥28.58, fully recovering its losses. The company renamed itself 水羊股份 (SYoung Group) in 2021. However, growth has since moderated: by mid-2026 the stock traded at ¥20.22, 29% below the 2021 peak, with annual revenue of ¥4.97 billion and net profit of ¥148 million. A failed acquisition of 阿芙精油 (Afu Essential Oil) in December 2022 sent shares to a daily limit down, and its convertible bond was forced into redemption in August 2026.
Why it happened
- 御家汇's business model depended on buying traffic through marketing spend rather than building brand equity — when competition intensified, the cost of customer acquisition consumed all profit.
- The company was a single-channel brand built on Taobao/Tmall, with 87% of revenue from third-party platforms — it had no offline presence and no distribution diversification.
- Government subsidies had masked the underlying profitability — ¥32 million in subsidies in 2017 represented 20% of net profit, and when those tapered, the real earnings emerged.
- The post-IPO valuation assumed continued growth, but the company had saturated its core e-commerce audience and had no new channels or brands to sustain the trajectory.
The lesson
An IPO does not fix a broken business model — 御家汇's marketing spend consumed its profit, and its single-channel e-commerce dependence left no margin for error when competition arrived.
Aftermath
御家汇 survived the crisis and rebounded in 2020, with revenue ¥3.72 billion and net profit ¥141 million. By March 2021 the stock hit a new high of ¥28.58. Renamed 水羊股份 (SYoung Group) in 2021, it generated ¥4.97 billion in revenue with net profit ¥148 million by 2025. Growth moderated and the stock settled at ¥20.22 by mid-2026, 29% below its 2021 peak. A failed acquisition of 阿芙精油 in December 2022 sent shares to a daily limit down. SYoung's convertible bond was forced into redemption in August 2026.
Sources
- 国际金融报 via 澎湃新闻 — '扣非净利润暴跌94%！电商面膜第一股御家汇业绩再变脸' (22 Apr 2020): 2019 full-year revenue ¥24.12亿, net profit ¥2722万, non-recurring net profit ¥619万, 94% profit decline
- 界面新闻 — '这家卖面膜的公司蹭热点？网红带货占营收4.02%，股价下跌已超八成' (13 Jan 2020): 2019 Q3 revenue ¥15.76亿, net profit ¥751万, marketing expense ¥4.02亿, stock fell from ¥60.88 to ¥10.46, shareholder selling data
- TradingView — SYoung Group (300740.SZ): all-time high ¥28.58 (11 Mar 2021), all-time low ¥6.95 (4 Feb 2020), current price ¥20.22, revenue ¥49.7亿, net profit ¥1.48亿
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