From loudly proclaiming four years ago that production capacity bottlenecks were constraining development, to now announcing the termination of a fundraising project to avoid capital idling, the reversal of fortune for Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.,Ltd. (SHE: 300482)'s Knowledge City production base project has become a microcosm of the in vitro diagnostics industry's shift from rapid expansion to deep adjustment. This expansion plan, which spanned four years and endured multiple setbacks, has ultimately run aground, not only reflecting a major misjudgment by the company regarding industry trends but also exposing the growth dilemmas commonly faced by IVD enterprises in the post-pandemic era.
Fundraising Project Abruptly Terminated, Contradictions Raise Questions About Rationality
Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.,Ltd. (SHE: 300482) disclosed an announcement on October 13, stating its intention to terminate the "Knowledge City Production Base Construction Project." The project can be traced back to a private placement plan in August 2022, when the in vitro diagnostics industry was at its peak, with COVID-19 testing demand driving explosive growth across the sector. At the time, the company claimed that production capacity bottlenecks had become a significant constraint on development and planned to raise funds to build an intelligent production base to meet the capacity expansion needs for immunochromatography and immunofluorescence detection reagents. The project was initially planned to receive 750 million yuan in raised funds. When the fundraising was actually completed in March 2024, the total was reduced to approximately 700 million yuan, and the corresponding project investment was also lowered to 450 million yuan, with a construction period of two years and an original plan to reach the intended usable state by March 2026. However, the project encountered a series of setbacks thereafter: in December 2024, the company postponed the project to June 2027, citing delays in land auction procedures and adjustments to the construction plan; in November 2025, it announced a suspension of implementation due to changes in the industry environment; and by 2026, it formally declared the project terminated. As of the end of September 2026, the project had accumulated only 52.4322 million yuan in raised funds invested, representing just 11.65% of the investment progress, with approximately 415 million yuan in remaining raised funds sitting idle for an extended period. Regarding the reasons for termination, the company explained that the industry has entered a phase of deep adjustment, and proceeding with construction at this stage would result in a large amount of idle capital, which would not be conducive to improving capital efficiency. However, this explanation stands in stark contrast to the expansion logic from four years ago. From "urgent need for capacity expansion" to "termination of construction" in just four years, it reflects that the company's original feasibility assessment was severely disconnected from the long-term development trends of the industry, and its judgment of market demand was overly optimistic. The long-term inefficient idling of substantial raised funds not only reduced shareholder returns but also raised market questions about the rationality of the company's fundraising projects. In fact, this is not an isolated case. In the post-pandemic era, many IVD companies have faced delays or terminations of their fundraising projects. The rapid reversal of industry prosperity has turned previous expansion plans into castles in the air.
Deep Industry Adjustment, Performance Under Sustained Pressure
Behind the project termination lies the continuous decline in Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.,Ltd. (SHE: 300482)'s performance and the deep adjustment of the industry. In 2022, the company reached a historic peak thanks to the COVID-19 testing dividend, achieving revenue of 5.681 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.197 billion yuan, representing year-on-year growth of 69.01% and 88.67%, respectively. However, as the pandemic faded, industry demand quickly retreated, and the company's performance entered a downward trajectory: in 2023, revenue plummeted to 2.765 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 51.33%; in 2024, it recovered slightly to 3.065 billion yuan, but in 2025 it fell again to 2.087 billion yuan, down 31.91% year-on-year, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 63.02 million yuan, marking the first annual loss since listing. In the first half of 2026, the company's performance had still not stabilized, with operating revenue of 1.039 billion yuan, down 16.63% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 123 million yuan, down 35.24% year-on-year. By business segment, chronic disease testing is the largest segment, with first-half revenue of 496 million yuan; infectious disease testing revenue was 258 million yuan, showing a significant year-on-year decline; pregnancy and prenatal care testing and drug abuse testing generated revenue of 117 million yuan and 130 million yuan, respectively, both lacking growth momentum. The company attributed its performance pressure to industry policy factors such as the deepening of centralized procurement, the comprehensive rollout of DRG/DIP payment reform, and the unbundling of testing packages, which are challenges shared across the entire IVD industry. Against this backdrop, the company proposed a shift from "scale-oriented" to "profitable growth with cash-flow-backed profits," but the transformation results have yet to materialize. Terminating capacity expansion may avoid capital waste and represents a pragmatic strategic contraction, but it also reflects the company's pessimistic expectations for medium- to long-term market demand. For Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.,Ltd. (SHE: 300482), terminating a fundraising project is easy, but finding new performance growth drivers is difficult. Under the industry's stock competition landscape, routine testing business growth is weak, innovative products have yet to reach scale, and the company will continue to face pressure during the industry adjustment cycle. How to navigate through the cycle has become a core issue that management must confront.
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