Chando’s 2nd IPO shot meets a changed market

What happened Chinese beauty group Chando has moved quickly to revive its Hong Kong IPO ambitions, refiling its prospectus just five days after its previous application lapsed. While the company addressed regulatory questions around shareholding structure and pre-IPO valuation discrepancies — including investment from L’Oréal — the underlying business model remains largely intact. The speed of the relaunch suggests urgency: a bid to re-enter the capital markets narrative before investor attention consolidates elsewhere. Chando entered 2026 with improving financial momentum, reporting revenue of 5.32 billion RMB ($730 million), up 15.6% year-on-year, and net profit rebounding to 351 million RMB ($48 million). The recovery follows a volatile prior year, when profitability was dented by rising marketing costs and channel pressures. Founded in 2001, the business has evolved into one of China’s largest domestic beauty groups, operating a multi-brand portfolio spanning skincare, makeup, personal care, and baby care. Its core lineup includes premium anti-aging label Maysu, youth-focused botanical line Spring Summer, sensitive-skin specialist Biorrier, and infant-care brand Imine. Yet despite this “multibrand” structure, the flagship Chando brand still contributes more than 95% of total revenue, leaving the group structurally concentrated and heavily exposed to a single brand cycle. Financial recovery masks structural imbalance Beneath the topline rebound, Chando’s operating model remains under pressure. Marketing expenses continue to exceed 55% of revenue, while R&D investment lingers at roughly 2% — significantly below leading domestic peers. This imbalance reflects a legacy growth strategy built on traffic acquisition rather than product-led differentiation. At the same time, profitability remains sensitive to platform dynamics. Rising customer acquisition costs across Douyin and other e-commerce channels, combined with fluctuating offline traffic, are compressing margins and increasing earnings volatility. The Jing Take: Peer IPOs are resetting the benchmark The renewed listing push comes as domestic peers are successfully advancing in public markets, raising the bar for what constitutes a compelling China beauty IPO story. Recent listings such as Mao Geping and Forest Cabin have leaned heavily on founder identity, brand distinctiveness, and clear category authority. In contrast, Chando’s positioning is broader but less defined. While scale is evident, its multi-brand portfolio has yet to translate into diversified growth engines, weakening its equity story compared to more tightly positioned peers. A multi-brand group in name, not in revenue The disconnect between portfolio breadth and revenue concentration is central to Chando’s valuation challenge. Although the group spans multiple segments — from anti-aging to dermo-cosmetics to baby care — its secondary brands remain subscale and lack independent market traction. This stands in contrast to global incumbents, where portfolio strategy underpins resilience and pricing power. For Chando, the current structure functions less as a growth flywheel and more as a supporting cast to a single dominant brand. From traffic to tech — the real inflection point Ultimately, Chando’s IPO narrative hinges on whether it can transition from a marketing-led operator to a technology-driven beauty company. The gap between marketing and R&D spend — nearly 30 times — is increasingly out of step with a market shifting toward efficacy, ingredients, and scientific credibility. The rapid IPO relaunch signals confidence, but also exposes the limits of timing as a strategy. In a post-traffic era, capital is flowing toward brands that can demonstrate not just scale, but substance. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Chando’s 2nd IPO shot meets a changed market

China’s luxury interlude that never really was

Upgrade to Pro

Sectors

Insights

Company

Chando’s 2nd IPO shot meets a changed market

China’s luxury interlude that never really was