Preview of new stocks | AI marketing leader breaks through Hong Kong stocks, how to solve the dependence syndrome of Shenyan Intelligence's large customers?

In recent days, according to the disclosure of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Beijing Shenyan Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Shenyan Intelligent) has submitted an application for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Citi as its sole sponsor. According to the prospectus, Beijing Broadcasting Group is its largest limited partner, and institutions such as Beijing Heyin, Beiyin Wenge, and China Mobile Fund hold shares. From a historical perspective, Shenyan Intelligent's path to listing has been rocky. As early as 2016, the company had submitted a listing application to the New Third Board and was approved, but considering the poor liquidity on the New Third Board, it did not ultimately list on the New Third Board; in 2022, the company intended to list on the ChiNext of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, but subsequently received three consecutive inquiry letters from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and finally voluntarily withdrew its application to list on the ChiNext in June 2024. With a history of a failed A-share IPO and unfavorable factors such as declining performance and tight cash flow, Shenyan Intelligent's journey to a Hong Kong listing this time may not be that simple. Profit drop of over 60% last year, highlighting risks from reliance on major clients Public information shows that Shenyan Intelligent is a Chinese decision-making AI technology company, providing decision-making AI applications with marketing and sales scenarios as the strategic focus, covering intelligent advertising delivery and intelligent data management. The company's applications include two flagship platforms, AlphaDesk and AlphaData, which empower enterprises to achieve intelligence and automation in decision-making in the marketing and sales fields by integrating cutting-edge AI algorithms, industry expertise, and multimodal data. In terms of finances, in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 fiscal years, Shenyan Intelligent achieved revenues of approximately RMB 543 million, RMB 611 million, and RMB 538 million respectively; during the same period, net profits were approximately RMB 59.362 million, RMB 60.658 million, and RMB 21.52 million, respectively. In 2024, there was a significant decline in both revenue and profit, with profits dropping by 64.5%. The company attributed this mainly to macroeconomic challenges affecting some customers' marketing budgets. In terms of business segments, the company's AI marketing solutions include intelligent advertising delivery business centered around the AlphaDesk advertising delivery AI decision platform and intelligent data management business based on the CRM AI decision platform AlphaData. The intelligent advertising delivery business allows advertisers and advertising agencies to automatically and intelligently execute advertising delivery across platforms and devices, ensuring precise targeting, efficient budget allocation, and continuous improvement in conversion rates, marketing efficiency, and return on investment; the intelligent data management business helps enterprises systematize manage, build, and analyze proprietary customer data, supporting intelligent and automated customer relationship management. In addition, the company launched Deep Agent in February 2025, an AI agent from Shenyan Intelligent, further integrating advanced AI technologies into existing platforms.More investment. Taking Shanghai as an example, Shanghai is vigorously promoting innovation and application of "AI + advertising" in all fields, and is the first to include "digital advertising" in the emerging industry directory. By the end of 2024, more than 28,000 enterprises in Shanghai have obtained the operation scope of "digital advertising", with the Internet advertising revenue of large-scale enterprises reaching 140.2 billion yuan, accounting for 88.7% of the advertising publishing business.The prospectus shows that, according to Frost & Sullivan data, the market size of China's decision-making AI applications market is expected to reach 34.5 billion yuan in 2024, and is projected to grow to 161.5 billion yuan by 2029, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 36.2% from 2024 to 2029. Based on revenue in 2024, Shenyan Intelligent ranks first in the marketing and sales decision-making AI applications market in China. However, when it comes specifically to the advertising distribution segment that Shenyan Intelligent is responsible for, the company's increasing dependence on media channels is becoming increasingly apparent. Financial reports show that as of the fiscal years ending on December 31, 2022, 2023, and 2024, the company's sales costs were 375 million yuan, 421 million yuan, and 391 million yuan, respectively, accounting for 69.1%, 68.8%, and 72.7% of total revenue for the respective years, showing a continuous upward trend. Among these, the largest component of the company's sales costs is the cost of media resource procurement, which stood at 292 million yuan, 312 million yuan, and 300 million yuan for the fiscal years ending on December 31, 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively, accounting for 77.9%, 74.0%, and 76.9% of total sales costs for the respective years. Shenyan Intelligent also admits in the prospectus that the success of automated marketing platforms like AlphaDesk relies on relationships with media suppliers. If these suppliers were to exit, it could affect the company's ability to provide integrated enterprise services. Moreover, in the fiercely competitive intelligent advertising distribution industry, competitors abound. International advertising giant Yangshi Group has developed the "Core AI" system, which aggregates data from 2.3 billion consumers from its various advertising companies to create the next generation AI marketing platform. One of China's media advertising giants, Leo Group Co., Ltd., has launched the first MCP service in the advertising industry, aiming to provide standardized and structured system integration capabilities for large language models and AI agents, signaling the company's further advancement in the deep integration of "AI+marketing" field. As intelligent marketing services enter a highly competitive stage, can Shenyan Intelligent, which relies on sales expenses for business growth, establish a firm foothold in the market? With the dual pressure of performance and market competition, the upcoming listing of Shenyan Intelligent will undoubtedly face numerous challenges.