Recently, Imeik Technology Development Co.,Ltd. (referred to as "Imeik Technology", 300896.SZ) disclosed its 2025 interim report, marking the first half-year period since listing to experience a double decline in both revenue and net profit. Data shows that in the first half, the company achieved operating revenue of 12.99 billion yuan, down 21.59% year-on-year; and realized net profit attributable to shareholders of 7.89 billion yuan, down 29.57% year-on-year.
Against the backdrop of performance pressure, the company's financial expenses, selling expenses, and administrative expenses all showed growth trends. Revenue growth in the core medical aesthetics business segment slowed down, while controlled subsidiary REGEN Biotech, Inc. (referred to as "REGEN") became involved in a major agency rights dispute, adding considerable uncertainty to future operations.
Financial, Selling, and Administrative Expenses All Rise
In the first half, Imeik Technology's financial expenses, selling expenses, and administrative expenses all showed varying degrees of growth. The three expense categories totaled 219 million yuan, accounting for 16.83% of revenue, up 50.22% year-on-year.
In the first half, Imeik Technology's financial expenses reached 5.04 million yuan, up 121.63% year-on-year, with growth turning from negative to positive compared to the same period last year. Imeik Technology attributed this mainly to foreign exchange losses from overseas foreign currency investments.
Regarding selling expenses, the company invested 144 million yuan in the first half, up 2.16% year-on-year. As Imeik Technology expanded its offline channels and continued investing in digital marketing, customer acquisition costs increased. The financial report shows that in terms of marketing, the company continued to promote strategic transformation of its marketing system toward digitalization, platformization, and intelligentization.
Additionally, in the first half, Imeik Technology's administrative expenses reached 69.42 million yuan, up 2.4% year-on-year; R&D investment was 157 million yuan, up 24.47% year-on-year. Net cash flow from operating activities was 655 million yuan, down 43.06% year-on-year. Imeik Technology stated that the decrease in net operating cash flow was mainly due to the year-on-year decline in net profit and changes in working capital in the first half.
Two Core Business Segments Under Pressure
In the first half, Imeik Technology's main medical aesthetics business segment achieved revenue of 12.99 billion yuan. However, from the performance of segmented products, the revenue growth of the company's two major segments - solution-type injection products and gel-type injection products - significantly slowed down.
Solution-type injection products saw revenue decline under competitive pressure, achieving revenue of 744 million yuan in the first half, down 23.79% year-on-year, with a gross margin of 93.15%.
It is understood that "Hyacorp" is Imeik Technology's core solution-type product, used for correcting moderate to severe neck wrinkles, and is the first Class III medical device product approved by China's National Medical Products Administration. However, as companies like Hyaluronic Acid introduced similar products, Imeik Technology's market share faced some compression.
Imeik Technology frankly acknowledged in its financial report that as the number of approved medical aesthetics product registration certificates increases, industry competition has intensified. In recent years, a large number of medical aesthetics manufacturers have flooded the market, with accelerated penetration of medical aesthetics demographics and deep iteration of consumer demand driving the industry into a stage of full competition.
Gel-type injection products achieved revenue of 493 million yuan in the first half, down 23.99% year-on-year, with a gross margin of approximately 97.75%.
The company's core gel-type product "Ellanse" is China's first approved new material dermal filler containing poly-L-lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer microspheres. Although gel-type injection products maintained high gross margins, their lack of growth momentum cannot be ignored. The financial report shows that in 2023, Imeik Technology's gel-type injection product revenue grew by 81.43%, but in 2024, this product's revenue growth was only 5.01%.
Subsidiary Deeply Embroiled in Agency Rights Dispute
To enhance core competitiveness, Imeik Technology has accelerated its overseas market strategic layout in recent years.
The financial report shows that the company's controlled subsidiary Imeik International acquired 85% equity of South Korea's REGEN company for $190 million in cash, and has now included REGEN in its consolidated financial statements.
REGEN, established in 2000, is South Korea's first and globally third company to obtain registration certificates for polylactic acid-type dermal filler products. Its approved and marketed products mainly include AestheFill and PowerFill.
However, REGEN has fallen into an AestheFill product agency rights dispute, bringing uncertainty to Imeik Technology's operations.
It is noteworthy that previously, the exclusive agency rights for AestheFill products belonged to Datou Medical, a controlled subsidiary of Jiangzhong Suwu (600200.SH).
In July this year, REGEN unilaterally revoked all relevant authorizations for Datou Medical as the exclusive distributor of AestheFill products in mainland China. In August, Datou Medical filed an arbitration application with Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration regarding the distribution contract dispute with REGEN. Datou Medical claims that REGEN's unilateral termination of "AestheFill" product agency rights constitutes breach of contract and is seeking 1.6 billion yuan in compensation.
It is reported that the "AestheFill" product originally sold by REGEN through Datou Medical has suspended promotion and been renamed "Zhenlove Sculptra," now managed by Imeik Technology and currently being sold domestically. However, affected by channel reconstruction progress and arbitration uncertainty, the product's short-term revenue contribution is limited.
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