There is a long-circulated metaphor in the biopharmaceutical industry — in a gold rush, the ones who reliably make money are not necessarily the gold diggers, but the water sellers. ACROBiosystems Co.,Ltd. (301080) is precisely a typical "water seller" in the recombinant protein segment upstream of the innovative drug supply chain. On September 30, this "water seller" officially submitted its listing prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, embarking on a journey toward an A+H dual capital platform. This is not its first attempt. On January 26 of this year, ACROBiosystems had already filed an application, which lapsed at the end of July due to the expiration of its validity period. The company listed on the A-share ChiNext board in October 2021, and as of the October 15 close, its total market capitalization stood at approximately 17.7 billion yuan.
Unlike many domestic biotech companies that root themselves in the local market, ACROBiosystems chose a globalization path from its early stages of development, with overseas customers and overseas revenue accounting for a significant proportion — making it one of the few domestic recombinant protein manufacturers to achieve large-scale product exports. Standing at the juncture of global innovative drug iteration and supply chain restructuring, what exactly is the investment value behind ACROBiosystems' A+H listing, and what unavoidable weaknesses does it harbor?
83% High Gross Margin vs 81% Revenue from Recombinant Proteins
According to Zhitong Finance, ACROBiosystems is primarily engaged in the research, development, production, and sales of recombinant proteins, antibodies, and analytical detection kits. Specifically, the company's core product is recombinant proteins, complemented by a diversified portfolio of other biological reagents, including antibodies, analytical detection kits, functional cell lines, and cell culture media. These products cover application areas such as oncology, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular conditions, infectious diseases, and neuroscience, spanning drug screening optimization, preclinical stages, clinical trials, CMC, and diagnostic reagent development. In addition, it supplements these with a range of technical services, such as molecular interaction analysis tailored to clients' professional R&D needs, forming an integrated product-plus-service model.
(Image source: ACROBiosystems prospectus) Perusing the prospectus, ACROBiosystems' most distinctive label is its consistently stable ultra-high gross margin, which is also the most intuitive manifestation of the technical barriers in the upstream biological reagents sector. According to the prospectus, from 2023 to 2025, ACROBiosystems achieved operating revenue of 544 million yuan, 645 million yuan, and 838 million yuan, respectively, with year-over-year growth of 18.6% and 29.9% in the latter two years. Profit for the period was 148 million yuan, 120 million yuan (down 18.9% year-over-year), and 165 million yuan (up 37.5% year-over-year), respectively — relatively volatile compared to revenue. In the first seven months of 2026, the company achieved operating revenue of 606 million yuan, up 31.1% year-over-year, and profit for the period of 123 million yuan, up 36.7% year-over-year, further highlighting a trend of steady growth.
It is worth noting that compared to its steadily growing revenue, ACROBiosystems' gross margin has long been maintained at an extremely high level. From 2023 to 2025, the company's gross margin was 84.3%, 84.8%, and 83.5%, respectively, and 83.1% for the first seven months of 2026, with a net margin of 20.3% over the same period — a level that places it in the top tier across the entire biological reagents sector. Alongside revenue and profit growth, ACROBiosystems' operating leverage has also been continuously improving: as of the first seven months of 2026, the company's net cash flow from operating activities was 118 million yuan, with cash and cash equivalents of 324 million yuan at period-end and an asset-liability ratio of only 3.9%.
However, beneath the glossy profitability, ACROBiosystems still faces the development risk of "walking on one leg." Breaking down the revenue structure, ACROBiosystems' revenue base is firmly tied to its recombinant protein business, while its second growth curve businesses — antibody products, detection kits, and related technical services — remain relatively small in scale and are still in the cultivation stage, unable to shoulder the revenue burden for now. According to the prospectus, in 2025, recombinant protein revenue accounted for approximately 81% of the company's total, antibodies and kits about 15%, and the remainder from technical services. This brings a very real problem: performance is highly dependent on a single product category, and once downstream demand fluctuates or competition in the sector intensifies, the company's performance will be directly impacted. Even though recombinant proteins themselves have strong demand resilience, in the long run, a single-product structure remains a risk point.
Nevertheless, the customer and revenue structure is a major highlight for ACROBiosystems. The company's products cover a large number of leading pharmaceutical companies globally, with strong customer stickiness; its business is globally diversified, with a relatively high proportion of overseas revenue. The U.S. market is its most important overseas market. In 2025, revenue from mainland China accounted for 36.2%, while revenue from the United States accounted for 40.1%. This forms a clear distinction from many upstream reagent companies that rely solely on orders from domestic pharmaceutical companies, and it is precisely this layout that supports the company's strategic choice to head to the Hong Kong stock market and face international investors. In other words, ACROBiosystems has proven that it can sell recombinant protein products to pharmaceutical companies worldwide, but the next test is whether it can similarly build up its other product lines and break the "single-leg" pattern.
Behind Being No. 1 in China and No. 3 Globally, a Gap with Overseas Giants Remains
What ACROBiosystems does is recombinant proteins — a close relative of antibodies, the upstream of kits, the "flour" at the very front of the biopharmaceutical R&D chain. It does not determine whether a drug succeeds, but pharmaceutical companies cannot bypass it at any step from target validation to clinical sample preparation. This also determines the "growth ceiling" of the market ACROBiosystems operates in. According to Frost & Sullivan data, the global biological reagents market was valued at USD 18.2 billion in 2020 and grew at a compound annual growth rate of 7.7% to USD 26.4 billion in 2025, and is expected to expand to USD 39.5 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 5.9%. China's biological reagents market, meanwhile, is growing faster — nearly three times the overall market rate: China's biological reagents market was valued at USD 2.2 billion in 2020 and grew at a CAGR of 16.2% to USD 4.6 billion in 2025, and is expected to grow to USD 13.4 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 16.8%.
Among these, biological reagents can be divided into three types: cell-based, protein-based, and nucleic acid-based. Protein-based reagents are further divided into antibodies, recombinant proteins, and others. In 2025, by revenue, the protein-based biological reagents segment accounted for 36.3% of the global biological reagents market; the global recombinant protein segment accounted for 36.0% of the global protein-based biological reagents market. In 2025, recombinant protein reagents accounted for 13.1% of the global biological reagents market, making them a major growth engine for the industry. As can be seen, the recombinant protein reagents market in which ACROBiosystems operates is positioned within a triple trend of steady global growth, rapid Chinese expansion, and recombinant proteins leading the way. For the company, this is a "water seller" track with strong growth certainty. Within this, ACROBiosystems' market position as No. 1 in China and No. 3 globally undoubtedly provides a strong footnote for its position in this market competition. By relevant statistical standards, ACROBiosystems ranks first among domestic suppliers and third among all global manufacturers, with a global market share of 2.7%. This scorecard represents the first time a domestic recombinant protein manufacturer has truly stood at the doorstep of the global first tier.
Specifically, the current global competitive landscape can be clearly divided into two major camps. The first tier consists of established overseas giants represented by Thermo Fisher and Bio-Techne, which have long occupied major global market share. Their advantages lie in decades of accumulated complete product matrices, global warehousing and localized services, and deep brand recognition — many overseas pharmaceutical companies have formed usage habits over many years, resulting in high customer migration costs. These are competitors ACROBiosystems must face head-on in the long term. The second tier consists of domestic peers represented by ACROBiosystems. The differentiated advantages of domestic manufacturers are very clear: faster response times, shorter communication cycles for customized projects, and significant cost-effectiveness advantages. But the shortcomings are equally prominent: overall revenue scale and the richness of complete product lines still lag considerably behind overseas giants.
ACROBiosystems' differentiated approach is a dual-track strategy of domestic substitution plus proactive overseas expansion. At the same time, the company has pre-positioned itself in AI protein design platforms and GMP-grade recombinant protein products, targeting the demands of next-generation innovative drug tracks such as CGT, aiming to secure reagent demand in frontier tracks ahead of time and seeking opportunities to overtake competitors on the curve. From the above, it can be seen that although ACROBiosystems occupies a certain market share in its track, this does not mean it can rest on its laurels forever, because giants will not allow their share to continue eroding, and subsequent price competition and new product races will continue to play out.
Conclusion
In summary, from the three dimensions of industry track, operating performance, and global market position, ACROBiosystems is clearly a highly representative overseas-expanding leader in the domestic upstream biological reagents sector. The company's "water seller" business model carries inherent resilience, and it has secured the industry's No. 3 global position, proving that domestic recombinant protein products have gained recognition from global pharmaceutical companies. However, a single-product structure and sustained competition from overseas giants are two major challenges standing in the way of long-term development. This A+H listing in Hong Kong is merely a node in the company's globalization journey, not the endpoint. In the short term, the market may speculate on the A+H and globalization story, but the long-term investment logic ultimately depends on whether the company can continuously broaden its product boundaries and grow from a single-category manufacturer focused on recombinant proteins into a comprehensive global biological reagents platform.
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