On January 16, 2026, Guangzhou Onyx Boox Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Onyx Boox" or "the Company") submitted a listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CSC Financial International acting as the sole sponsor.
Onyx Boox's prospectus exhibits issues of "over-packaging," where an inherently simple business model and process are adorned with various high-sounding terms, making the related content obscure and difficult to understand. For instance, it promotes the concept of a "knowledge-focused productivity tool," while in reality, its core product is an e-paper tablet.
Not only is the related language somewhat exaggerated, but when presenting data to showcase the company's industry standing, Onyx Boox also selectively sets criteria to elevate its own "industry position." In the prospectus, Onyx Boox invents the concept of "retail value," which differs from its revenue by 37.48%, yet it provides no explanation for this discrepancy.
Furthermore, Onyx Boox faces challenges such as declining profits and deteriorating operating cash flow. The company's last external financing round occurred a decade ago. Notably, six new investors in 2024 did not provide fresh capital to Onyx Boox; instead, their involvement led to the company being "burdened with troubles," as it was seemingly forced to grant a series of special rights, including redemption rights.
The business model is described with "over-packaging," resulting in obscure and hard-to-understand descriptions.
In December 2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange jointly issued a rare letter to IPO sponsors, expressing regulatory concerns about the declining quality of recent new listing applications and certain non-compliant behaviors. The letter stated that the listing documents provided by some IPO sponsors were of poor quality and insufficiently reviewed, featuring unclear descriptions of business models, excessive use of promotional language, and selective presentation of industry data to exaggerate the market position of the applicants.
It is not difficult to see that Onyx Boox's prospectus has some issues of "over-packaging." An originally very simple business model and process are labeled with various high-sounding terms, making the related content obscure and difficult to understand.
Onyx Boox begins by promoting the concept of a "knowledge-focused productivity tool" and states in its prospectus that it is committed to empowering global knowledge workers to efficiently gain deep insights from textual information through a combination of hardware and software tools.
However, in reality, Onyx Boox's core product is an e-book reader (E-Reader), also known as an e-paper tablet or e-reader. During the reporting periods of 2023, 2024, and the first three quarters of 2025 (referred to as the "Track Record Period"), fast reading devices and productivity tablets contributed 94.5%, 95.1%, and 95.7% of Onyx Boox's total revenue, respectively. Both fast reading devices and productivity tablets are sub-categories of e-paper tablets.
In contrast, the introduction of the company on Onyx Boox's official website appears much more "normal": Onyx Boox is currently a high-tech enterprise with leading comprehensive strength in the digital reading industry. Its BOOX series of smart e-paper tablets, with their excellent display effects, powerful PDF functions, industry-leading product configurations, and unique innovative designs, have been highly sought after and beloved by global users and have now become one of the mainstream E-readers globally.
Besides referring to e-paper tablets as "knowledge-focused productivity tools," Onyx Boox also describes itself in the "Our Business Model" section of the prospectus summary as a "forward-looking ecosystem partner independent software vendor" (Note: This business is still in the cultivation and development stage). However, Onyx Boox does not provide further explanation of these related concepts in the main body of the prospectus, and the font size is so small that it requires zooming in to read the content clearly.
Not only is the related language somewhat exaggerated, but when showcasing data on the company's industry position, Onyx Boox also selectively sets thresholds to elevate its own "industry standing."
Onyx Boox's prospectus uses data from Frost & Sullivan, stating, "By retail value in 2024, we were the second-largest brand in the global knowledge-focused productivity tools market. Furthermore, we are a leading global brand in both the open-system segment and the color segment of the knowledge-focused productivity tools market. We are also a leading knowledge-focused productivity tool brand in the Chinese market and the highest-ranked Chinese company among the top five global market participants."
In the above content, Onyx Boox qualifies its claim of being a "leading global brand" with the prefixes "open-system segment" and "color segment," and asserts that it "ranked first globally in terms of sales volume of devices featuring an open system and excellent color display performance." However, the prospectus neither explains the relevant terminology nor provides specific data to support these arguments.
Additionally, Onyx Boox's 2024 ranking in the knowledge-focused productivity tools market is based on "retail value," but this concept is not clearly defined. In 2024, the "retail value" of Onyx Boox's "knowledge-focused productivity tools" was RMB 1.331 billion, while the revenue from e-paper tablets (fast reading devices and productivity tablets) for the same period was RMB 968 million. It is evident that Onyx Boox's so-called "retail value" is significantly higher than its revenue, with a difference of 37.48%.
Using industry reports from authoritative media for verification更能说明文石的“行业地位”含有一定水分. Data from the "Global E-Paper Market Analysis Quarterly Report" released by RUNTO in February 2025 shows that global shipments of e-paper tablets reached 17.203 million units in 2024. Onyx Boox's sales volume of e-paper tablets in 2024 was 600,000 units. Based on 2024 sales volume, Onyx Boox's market share in the global e-paper tablet market was approximately 3.82%, significantly lower than the "4.6%" disclosed in the prospectus (based on retail value).
Revenue increases without corresponding profit growth, and operating cash flow turns from positive to negative.
Financial data shows that Onyx Boox's revenues for the respective reporting periods were RMB 804 million, RMB 1.018 billion, and RMB 799 million, while net profits were RMB 124 million, RMB 121 million, and RMB 103 million. Specifically, revenues for 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025 increased year-on-year by 26.62% and 10.31% respectively, but net profits decreased year-on-year by 2.31% and 4.09% respectively, indicating a situation of "revenue growth without profit growth."
On one hand, Onyx Boox's gross profit margin is under pressure, leading to limited growth in gross profit. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company's overall gross profit margin was 39.2%, only a slight increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024, with the gross profit margin for fast reading devices decreasing by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year.
On the other hand, Onyx Boox's period expenses are growing rapidly, continuously eroding profits. The company's period expense ratios for the respective reporting periods were 16.8%, 23.5%, and 24.9%, showing a yearly increase. The largest component is selling expenses, which were RMB 73 million, RMB 144 million, and RMB 111 million for the respective periods, with expense ratios of 9.1%, 14.2%, and 13.9%. The ratios for the last two reporting periods increased by 5.1 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points year-on-year, respectively.
Due to declining profits and increasing inventory, Onyx Boox's operating cash flow has deteriorated significantly. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company recorded a net cash flow from operating activities of negative RMB 41 million, compared to a positive RMB 14 million in the same period of 2024, turning from positive to negative year-on-year.
During the Track Record Period, the proportion of inventory to current assets for Onyx Boox was 47.72%, 52.75%, and 63.49% respectively, showing a rapid upward trend and occupying a large amount of working capital. As of the end of September 2025, Onyx Boox's inventory balance was RMB 435 million, an increase of RMB 193 million compared to the end of 2023, representing a surge of 179.73%.
According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission website, working capital is calculated as current assets minus current liabilities. Based on this formula, Onyx Boox's working capital for the respective reporting periods was RMB 331 million, RMB 67 million, and RMB 98 million.
It is evident that as of the end of 2023, Onyx Boox's working capital was still at a high level, but it plummeted by 80% after just one year. As of the end of September 2025, the company's working capital remained below RMB 100 million.
In terms of financing, Onyx Boox has completed only one round of financing since its establishment in 2008. In June 2016, Rongjie Group invested RMB 20 million to subscribe to RMB 3 million of Onyx Boox's registered capital. From May to July 2024, Rongjie Group fully divested its shares, cashing out approximately RMB 162 million, representing a profit of 710.90% compared to the initial investment cost.
Amusingly, Rongjie Group's exit also brought "trouble" to Onyx Boox. Six investors, including Lenovo Tianjin, Sichuan Qi Guangdian, and Taicang Jingbai, became shareholders of Onyx Boox not by subscribing to new registered capital, but by acquiring shares from Rongjie Group. As a result, Onyx Boox not only failed to receive any funds from these six investors but was also "forced" to sign agreements granting them a series of special rights, including redemption rights, anti-dilution rights, information rights, and liquidation preferences.
Although the redemption rights are currently temporarily inactive, they will become effective again if Onyx Boox fails to complete its listing by the end of 2027 or violates relevant provisions of the investment agreement. As of the end of September 2025, Onyx Boox's redemption liability was approximately RMB 154 million.
Due to the limited number of external financing rounds, Onyx Boox's control is highly concentrated, leading to a "dominant shareholder" problem. Before the IPO, Dan Yuting, Zhu Zeng, Zhai Yongtai, and Gong Chuang Wen Shi constituted a group of controlling shareholders of Onyx Boox, holding a combined stake as high as 84.1%. Concurrently, Dan Yuting serves as Chairman, Executive Director, and General Manager; Zhu Zeng serves as Executive Director, Deputy General Manager, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Technology Officer; and Zhai Yongtai serves as Executive Director and Deputy General Manager.
Professionals point out that overly concentrated company ownership does not necessarily negatively impact corporate governance, but it carries potential risks that require supervision and checks. For example, a major shareholder could exploit its controlling position to benefit from unfair related-party transactions; illegally transfer company resources to other enterprises under its control through asset restructuring or fund occupation; engage in insider trading using privileged information for improper gains, thereby damaging market fairness; or overly concentrate decision-making power, leading to a lack of diverse opinions, imprudent decisions, strategic errors, and impacts on the company's long-term development.
In the absence of external financing channels, Onyx Boox has begun borrowing heavily to ensure stable working capital. As of the end of September 2025, the balance of the company's short-term borrowings reached RMB 107 million, a dramatic 52-fold increase compared to the end of 2024, and it newly obtained long-term borrowings of RMB 4.9 million. Meanwhile, its monetary funds have been continuously decreasing, standing at RMB 201 million, RMB 187 million, and RMB 172 million for the respective reporting periods.
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