After years of planning, a major player in China's dairy industry has finally revealed its hand. Last night, Junlebao officially submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, marking the long-awaited start of its high-profile capital market journey. The prospectus unveils its industry ranking and true scale. According to a Frost & Sullivan report, based on 2024 retail sales in the Chinese market, Junlebao ranks third among comprehensive dairy product companies with a market share of 4.3%, trailing only behind Yili and Mengniu. Simultaneously, Junlebao's performance over the past three years has been disclosed to the public for the first time. For 2023, 2024, and the first nine months of 2025, Junlebao's total revenues were RMB 175.46 billion, RMB 198.33 billion, and RMB 151.34 billion, respectively. However, the path to listing for the "third-largest dairy player," Junlebao, is far from smooth. Looking back to 2022, then Vice President Zhong Yan outlined an aggressive blueprint for the group: targeting sales of RMB 50 billion by 2025 and completing the listing simultaneously. Now, viewed from early 2026, this "dual target" has been missed; not only is the listing process behind schedule, but its 2024 sales of nearly RMB 20 billion also fall drastically short of the ambitious RMB 50 billion vision. Junlebao's IPO arrives belatedly, with the RMB 50 billion sales target becoming an empty promise. The prospectus shows that Junlebao's revenue for 2023 and 2024 was RMB 175.46 billion and RMB 198.32 billion, respectively; gross profit was RMB 6 billion and RMB 6.874 billion, respectively; operating profit was RMB 141 million and RMB 1.395 billion, respectively; and net profit was RMB 5.58 million and RMB 1.115 billion, respectively. For the first nine months of 2025, Junlebao's revenue was RMB 151.33 billion, compared to RMB 149 billion in the same period last year; gross profit was RMB 4.835 billion, operating profit was RMB 980 million, and net profit was RMB 900 million.
Breaking down the business, Junlebao's revenue from low-temperature liquid milk and ambient temperature liquid milk in 2023 was RMB 6.287 billion and RMB 3.377 billion, respectively; the corresponding revenue for 2024 was RMB 7.581 billion and RMB 3.922 billion, respectively. Revenue from the奶粉 (milk powder) business in 2024 was RMB 5.371 billion, slightly lower than in 2023. The prospectus indicates that for the first nine months of 2025, revenue from low-temperature liquid milk products was RMB 6.437 billion, accounting for 42.5% of total revenue; revenue from ambient temperature liquid milk products was RMB 2.8 billion, accounting for 18.6%; revenue from奶粉 (milk powder) was RMB 3.345 billion, accounting for 22.1% of revenue; and revenue from other businesses was RMB 1.112 billion, accounting for 7.3%. As of September 30, 2025, Junlebao owned 33 self-operated farms and 20 dairy product production plants, with a herd size of 192,000 dairy cows, ranking third nationally in breeding scale. Its self-sufficiency rate for milk sources reached 66% in 2024. But prior to this, Junlebao's path to an IPO has not been smooth. As early as 2019, when it spun off from its status as a subsidiary of Mengniu, news emerged that Junlebao intended to list. The "2019 Hebei Province Dairy Industry Revitalization Work Plan" issued by the Hebei Province Dairy Industry Revitalization Leading Group explicitly stated the need to "support Junlebao's main board listing to expand financing channels." In 2022, Junlebao was confident about its future development. Vice President Zhong Yan publicly stated a goal during a media interview: strive to achieve sales of RMB 50 billion by 2025 and simultaneously aim to complete the listing by 2025. On December 28, 2023, the Hebei Securities Regulatory Bureau website disclosed China International Capital Corporation Limited's (CICC) "Filing Report on the Initial Public Offering and Listing Tutoring of Junlebao Dairy Group Co., Ltd.", indicating that Junlebao had initiated the process for an A-share IPO. However, no further clear news emerged after that. Regarding Junlebao's eventual choice to list in Hong Kong after several twists and turns, Zhu Danpeng, Vice President of the Guangdong Food Safety Assurance Promotion Association and a Chinese food industry analyst, commented, "Junlebao's strategic shift is very timely and reasonable. Given the difficulty of listing on the A-share market, switching to Hong Kong is its best option." It is noteworthy that, viewed from early 2026, the "dual target" set by Junlebao's executives for 2025 has been missed. Not only is the listing process behind schedule, but its 2024 sales of nearly RMB 20 billion also fall drastically short of the ambitious RMB 50 billion vision. On social media platforms like Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), contrasting with the光环 (halo) of its "third-largest dairy" scale, are controversies sparked by its product experience among some consumers. Many users have raised doubts about product quality, taste, and after-sales service: some complain that "the dairy drink tastes entirely of artificial flavoring"; others report "finding foreign objects." On the Black Cat Complaint platform, there are as many as 1,766 consumer complaints related to Junlebao. Pre-IPO "Frenzied M&A," Debt Ratio Far Exceeds Yili and Mengniu In recent years, Junlebao has also continuously accelerated the expansion of its business territory through mergers and acquisitions. In 2019, building on its foundation in low-temperature yogurt and infant formula, Junlebao launched its first low-temperature fresh milk product, "Yue Xian Huo." In 2021, Junlebao Dairy invested in cheese company Sikeqi Food Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and increased its investment in July 2023, raising its stake to 60%. In January 2022, Junlebao acquired a 20% stake each in Yunnan Laisier Dairy and Laisier Intelligent, subsidiaries of皇氏集团 (Huangshi Group). Based on incomplete梳理 (sorting), in 2023 alone, Junlebao conducted approximately five investment or acquisition activities: in January, it jointly invested in cheese startup Lao Shen Shi Jia with China劲酒 (Jingjiu); in June, it acquired an additional 32.8996% stake each in Laisier Intelligent and Laisier Dairy; in July, it acquired dairy product manufacturer YinQiao Technology; in November, it invested in yogurt brand Mo Yogurt; and in December, it invested in Yiran Biology, a R&D company for probiotics and lactobacillus. The flip side of rapid expansion is increasingly heavy financial pressure. A transaction announcement from皇氏集团 (Huangshi Group) related to Junlebao showed that as of December 31, 2022, Junlebao's unaudited financial data indicated total assets of approximately RMB 21.089 billion, net assets of approximately RMB 4.717 billion, and a debt ratio as high as 78%. Media statistics indicated that the average asset-liability ratio of 18 listed dairy companies during the same period was only 45.06%, meaning Junlebao's debt ratio was significantly higher than the A-share industry average. According to the latest prospectus, as of the first nine months of 2025, Junlebao's total liabilities stood at RMB 17.566 billion, with a debt ratio still high at 77.1%.
A more direct comparison shows that the debt ratios of the two dairy giants during the same period were far lower: Yili was at 60.55%, while Mengniu Dairy maintained a healthier 51.88%. This means that as a challenger, Junlebao bears a heavier debt burden and risk, even though its asset scale has not yet caught up to the industry leaders. Directors' Compensation Significantly Reduced, Plummets Over 40% With the prospectus disclosure, the core management structure and shareholder map of Junlebao have come to light. After multiple rounds of financing and share expansion, the equity stake of founder and Chairman Wei Lihua has been diluted to 37.54%, but he remains the company's actual controller. Pre-IPO, Wei Lihua holds 37.54%, Lehui Ruisheng holds 11.36%, Yuehui Xinghong holds 5.41%, Yuehui Xinghong No.1 holds 1.6%, Runde Zhiying No.2 holds 0.24%, Zhen Lecheng holds 2.25%, Zhen Lecheng No.12 holds 0.86%, with management collectively controlling 59.26% of the shares. Furthermore, Sequoia China and Primavera Capital are also significant shareholders: Sequoia China holds 8.59% through Ningbo Tanzhi, while Primavera Capital holds 5.6% through Chunhua Shaojing and 2.07% through Qiushi Xingde, totaling a 7.68% stake held by Primavera Capital. Junlebao's board currently consists of nine directors, including three executive directors, three non-executive directors, and three independent non-executive directors. The executive directors are Wei Lihua, Ms. Wu Wennan, and Liu Senmiao; the non-executive directors are Guo Zhenwei, Ms. Yang Ying, and Chen Shuo; the independent non-executive directors are Yang Wenjun, Ms. Wang Ying, and Liu Jinbai. The prospectus shows that for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2025, the total remuneration of directors was RMB 19.9 million, RMB 32.9 million, and RMB 15.2 million, respectively.
Notably, at this critical juncture before the IPO, the company has significantly adjusted directors' compensation downwards. Based on the current remuneration arrangements, Junlebao estimates that the total pre-tax remuneration for directors for the year ending December 31, 2026, will be approximately RMB 19.2 million. This implies that the total directors' remuneration has plummeted by over 40% compared to the 2024 peak, essentially reverting to the 2023 level.
