As 2025 draws to a close, the Hong Kong IPO market remains fiercely active. FOREST CABIN (02657), hailed as the "first high-end domestic skincare stock" and met with enthusiastic response since its initial offering, concluded its journey with a significant market cap increase, successfully securing the crucial milestone of its "market debut." On December 30, FOREST CABIN officially commenced trading on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its share price surged strongly at the opening, climbing over 16% intraday, and closed at HK$85. The substantial first-day gain demonstrated FOREST CABIN's inherent growth potential, reinforcing its position as the leading high-end domestic skincare player. A deep understanding of the company's core competencies and strong fundamentals points towards highly promising long-term investment value.
Deepening its "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle" technology branding, FOREST CABIN has built formidable technological barriers. Founded in 2003, the company initially focused on affordable skincare like handmade soaps and moisturizing oils priced around a hundred yuan. In 2012, it strategically pivoted towards camellia-based skincare. A key milestone was reached in 2014 with the successful launch of its core product, the "Camellia Repairing Oil," pioneering the "nourishing skin with oil" concept and establishing itself as a first-mover in the facial oil segment in China. By 2016, FOREST CABIN had streamlined its portfolio by discontinuing other plant-based lines to concentrate solely on camellia ingredients, successfully transitioning into the high-end skincare market. According to CIC data, by 2024, FOREST CABIN ranked first in retail sales among all high-end domestic skincare brands in China. Its Camellia Repairing Oil led the national facial oil category for 11 consecutive years since 2014 based on total omnichannel retail sales.
FOREST CABIN's rapid ascent to the top spot among domestic high-end skincare brands is attributed to its unique competitive edge, built through intensive R&D focused on camellia's anti-wrinkle, firming, and skin-repairing properties. The company has developed patented ingredients like Qingxuan Cui, Camellia Super Peptide, Camellia Super Collagen, Camellia Super Retinol, and a filtrate of camellia callus extract combined with polypeptides, leveraging the unique attributes of the high-mountain red camellia. These proprietary components offer restorative benefits including skin barrier repair, enhanced elasticity, and wrinkle reduction. The star product, the Camellia Anti-Wrinkle Repair Oil, exemplifies this approach. Formulated with fermented camellia seed oil using molecular recombination bio-fermentation technology, this advanced formula promotes deep cellular rejuvenation, delivering targeted anti-wrinkle, firming, and repair effects, thereby solidifying the company's "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle" brand identity.
Beyond establishing "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle" as its core technological tag, FOREST CABIN has reinforced its leadership by collaborating with academic institutions to publish the "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle White Paper" and co-establishing a "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle Joint Research Laboratory" with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, directly linking cutting-edge basic research with industrial application and providing ongoing theoretical validation. Furthermore, the company embeds R&D deeply throughout its supply chain. It controls a vast ten-thousand-mu camellia flower plantation base, securing and optimizing the content and stability of active ingredients from the source. Simultaneously, it masters core proprietary processes like low-temperature extraction and bio-fermentation, producing batchable, high-quality products in its self-built GMP clean workshops. This comprehensive, vertically integrated strategy—encompassing "raw material scarcity + technological uniqueness + efficacy certainty + industrial integration"—centered around camellia creates a highly defensible and difficult-to-replicate barrier. As of the latest practicable date, FOREST CABIN boasts a cumulative portfolio of over 600 formulations and 87 patents, including 46 high-value invention patents covering core areas like camellia extraction, formulations, and anti-wrinkle repair technologies.
Financial performance serves as the ultimate test. The formidable technological barriers built around "Cellular-Level Anti-Wrinkle" have clearly fueled FOREST CABIN's robust growth trajectory. Revenue grew rapidly from RMB 691 million in 2022 to RMB 805 million in 2023 and further to RMB 1.2 billion in 2024, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.3%. In the first half of 2025, revenue reached RMB 1.052 billion, a remarkable 98.3% year-on-year increase, with half-year revenue nearly matching the full-year 2024 figure. Profitability showed equally impressive momentum. The company turned around from a net loss of RMB 5.93 million in 2022 to a net profit of RMB 8.45 million in 2023. Net profit then surged 121.1% year-on-year to RMB 187 million in 2024. For H1 2025, net profit stood at RMB 182 million, approaching the full-year 2024 level, marking a significant qualitative and quantitative leap in profitability within a few short years.
The star product, the "Camellia Repairing Oil," has been a powerful pillar driving this performance. According to the prospectus, since its 2014 launch, the oil has been iterated to its fifth generation, with cumulative sales exceeding 45 million bottles as of June 30, 2025. In H1 2025, this single category contributed 45.5% of total revenue, growing at a staggering 176% year-on-year. Moreover, the category exhibits an exceptionally high gross profit margin, reaching 86.2% in the first half, further evidencing FOREST CABIN's strong brand premium capability. The company has also demonstrated excellent capability in launching successful new products. The Camellia Anti-Wrinkle Peptide Micro-bead Essence Water ("Little Gold Pearl" Plumping Water), launched this year, sold out immediately upon release, with first-day sales surpassing 20,000 orders. Its inaugural live stream generated a total GMV exceeding RMB 7 million, topping Tmall's New Toner Product Ranking and Anti-Wrinkle Essence Water Hot-Seller Ranking, and leading Douyin's Double 11 promotion in the cosmetics category. It achieved sales exceeding RMB 100 million within three months of launch, with post-launch GMV now surpassing RMB 260 million. The Camellia Black Gold Time Peptide Anti-Wrinkle Radiance Cream (Black Gold Cream) generated revenue of RMB 61.5 million in its launch year and recorded another RMB 50 million in H1 2025. The High Protection Sunscreen (400 Little Golden Umbrella) achieved sales of RMB 36.3 million in its first year, with H1 2025 revenue surging significantly to RMB 42.1 million.
Bolstered by high brand premium capability and robust technological barriers, FOREST CABIN's profitability has been substantially realized. From 2022 to H1 2025, the company's gross profit margin consistently improved, registering 78.0%, 81.2%, 82.5%, and 82.4% respectively, reflecting both year-on-year growth and a high level of profitability. In summary, whether judged by its excellent profitability, strong technological moat, or impressive debut performance, FOREST CABIN has fully evolved from "a successful high-end brand story" into "a commercial entity with powerful self-sustaining capabilities and significant long-term investment value." This constitutes the core of the company's long-term value. As its growth flywheel continues to spin, the company's future performance and valuation are poised for substantial upside potential.
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