In the first half of the year, net profit increased by 34.7% year-on-year, verifying the quality of profit growth. CHICMAX (02145) presses the "acceleration key" for growth.

With the increasing young consumer group becoming the core driving force of the new consumer wave, consumers are paying more attention to the experience and participation in consumption, focusing more on cost-effectiveness, quality-value ratio, and emotional value in consumption decisions, driving the upward trend of the Hong Kong stock new consumption sector. Against this background, the leading cosmetics company CHICMAX (02145) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has continuously gained the favor of investors with its good performance growth, solid multi-brand strategy, omni-channel layout, and research and development innovation. So far this year, CHICMAX has experienced a beautiful "double" trend, and on August 22nd, its stock price broke through 99.95 Hong Kong dollars, hitting a new high for the year, with a cumulative increase of 173.92% since the beginning of the year. On August 28th, CHICMAX released its mid-term performance for 2025, once again displaying a comprehensive breakthrough and high-quality development trend, with the continuously rising stock price reflecting the high market recognition of the company's value. The remarkable performance in the first half of 2025 demonstrates the growth potential of CHICMAX that cannot be underestimated. In the first half of 2025, CHICMAX delivered a high-quality report card that was "driven by both income and profits". The financial report shows that the company's total revenue was approximately 4.108 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3% compared to the same period last year, with continuous expansion of business scale. At the same time, the company's profitability performance was equally strong, achieving a net profit of approximately 556 million yuan, an increase of 34.7% year-on-year, gross profit of approximately 3.102 billion yuan, an increase of 15.8% year-on-year, and a gross profit margin rose to 75.5%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to the previous period, verifying the high quality of core business development. Based on the continuous improvement of gross profit margin, the basic earnings per share for the first half of 2025 were 1.32 yuan/share, an increase of 30.7% year-on-year, continuously creating significant value for shareholders. Furthermore, CHICMAX's ability to achieve such impressive performance cannot be separated from its core competitiveness accumulated over the years: in the trend of new consumption growth, this company, empowered by multi-brand strategy, channel breakthroughs, and scientific research innovation, has shown strong growth potential in 2025. Therefore, using this half-year report as a window of observation, the high growth of revenue and profits in the first half of the year may be "teasing" that the company's full-year performance will see a new rise above the high base of 2024. Looking back at the first half of the year, CHICMAX, as a leading domestic brand in beauty and skincare, has continued to strengthen its moat, with multiple dimensions including products, channels, and research and development upgrades, beginning to play a significant lead role. The coordinated efforts of the multi-brand strategy and the joint build of growth moat As previously mentioned, the outstanding performance in the first half of the year was due to CHICMAX's ongoing deepening of the multi-brand strategy. During this period, the company continued to transmit strong value signals to the market with its strong product matrix and orderly channel expansion process. It is understood that as of now, CHICMAX's flagship brand Hanshu maintained a strong growth momentum in the first half of the year, achieving a revenue of approximately 3.344 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3% year-on-year, contributing significantly to the performance boost. From a product perspective, Hanshu, with its big single product strategy at its core, its star product Red Slim Waist series sold over 15 million sets cumulatively, becoming a nationally renowned skincare single product, and has maintained continued influence through continuous product iterations and scenario-based marketing. The X-Peptide Ultra Frequency series exceeded 200 million yuan in sales, breaking through from the high-end skincare market. Of more interest, Hanshu achieved significant breakthroughs in product category expansion this year, with products such as body lotion, shampoo, face masks, and facial cleansers in various categories each taking the top spot, marking a transformation from a facial skincare brand to a "full-category care" expert. Shenwan Hongyuan Group's research report shows that the wash-and-care industry, as the second-largest sector in the cosmetics track, is currently experiencing a golden period of domestic substitution. As consumers' pursuit of a higher quality of life escalates, the demand for segmentation and personalization gives rise to new opportunities. Domestic brands have the advantage of understanding the needs of local consumers better, and in the context of the dominance of international brands and the fragmented market share of domestic products, differentiation positioning seizes the opportunity to target specific market segments. From this perspective, the category extension not only enriches Hanshu's product matrix but also deeply taps into user value, satisfying consumers' needs in skincare, washing, and other aspects, building a long-term connection between the brand and users. This seems to be in line with the current industry trend: the outstanding performance of core big single products enables the exploration of incremental space in the segmented market, while a rich product matrix can better match the diversified needs of consumers. While the main brand enjoys steady growth, CHICMAX's emerging brands have also accelerated their growth momentum. Among them, newpage, as the company's key nurtured "second curve," exhibited strong growth momentum in the first half of the year. The brand achieved revenue of 397 million yuan during the period, an increase of 146.5% year-on-year, with online sales in the first half of the year exceeding the full year of 2024, exceeding market expectations. In terms of product performance, newpage accurately entered the baby and child care track, with its flagship product Baby and Child Comfort Cream selling over 330,000 bottles during the 618 period, consecutively ranking first in the Tmall and Douyin baby and child cream category; at the same time, the summer seasonal product Peaceful Soothing Spray sold over 210,000 bottles during the 618 period, and the Cool Body Lotion sold over 180,000 bottles, further validating the high compatibility of its products with market demand, marking the rapid transition of newpage from a "new brand" to a "key brand in the segmented track". In addition to this, CHICMAX is actively laying out the Nth growth curve, building a long-term growth moat through a multi-brand, multi-category ecological layout. Brands like Anminyou and Jifang are steadily growing in the segmented market and continue to refine their products and operational capabilities in the multi-channel layout, contributing stable increments to the company. Additionally, the company's collaboration with celebrity makeup artist Chun Nan to create the makeup brand NAN beauty further enhances consumer coverage and accessibility. This ladder-like layout not only avoids dependence on core brands but also provides multi-dimensional support for subsequent brand incubation and performance growth, providing sustainable momentum for future performance release. In terms of sales channels, the omni-channel layout is expected to be the "key password" for the value extension of the company, continuously building a strong rampart for its growth. Taking the main brand Hanshu as an example, its sales omnichannel layout has been remarkably effective, with its monthly GMV on Douyin ranking first in beauty and skincare during the first half of 2025, becoming a core driver of online growth; meanwhile, Hanshu has seen significant growth in GMV on traditional and emerging e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, VIPshop, Pinduoduo, and Kuaishou, constructing a rapidly advancing all-domain sales ecosystem, an experience that is worth referencing and replicating. It is evident that behind this lies a profound insight into consumer minds by CHICMAX: it adapts to industry trends, focuses on medium and long-term development, builds sales through high-quality products, opens up all-channel sales, establishes sticky consumer loops with a variety of brands and repurchases, and thus stimulates the high potential and momentum of each brand, attracting market attention. Multi-dimensional upgrades in research and development and supply chain, exploring international incremental markets At this point in time, the Chinese beauty and skincare market is undergoing structural differentiation, with a trend towards high-endization opening up new growth spaces for domestic brands. According to Euromonitor and Forward Industry Research Institute data, the size of the high-end skincare market in China is expected to exceed 200 billion yuan by 2024, with a growth rate of 15%, significantly higher than the 5% growth in the mass market. Therefore, despite the fierce competition, companies with core competencies in products, channels, and innovation still benefit from the trend of stretching the category and expanding the market for domestic beauty and skincare products, enjoying the structural dividends of the segmented industry. Leading in research and development is becoming a new growth driver for beauty companies, and it is also an important strategic direction for CHICMAX. As of now, CHICMAX has invested more than 20 years in independent research and development, completed a "three-level leap" in the research field, and established an open-ended innovative independent research system, connecting with cutting-edge technology tracks. In the first half of 2025, CHICMAX's R&D investment exceeded 103 million yuan, an increase of 31.7% year-on-year, and the significant increase in R&D investment directly translated into substantial results: the company currently holds nearly 200 patents; published articles in 40+ core global journals, with 4 new published journals; and participated in the formulation of one national standard, and published 2 industry white papers, gradually increasing its discourse power from "technical research and development" to "industry standard formulation". Of strategic significance, the first batch of projects under the "Hanshu Transformation Medical Fund" was announced, marking the construction of a coordinated "industry-university-research-medical" ecosystem by CHICMAX, combining the resources of universities, research institutions, and medical institutions with the company's product transformation capabilities, aiming to further shorten the cycle of research results landing and provide sustained momentum for product innovation. On the production side, CHICMAX focuses on intelligent manufacturing as the core, driving digital transformation and capacity construction to provide solid support for business growth. Located in Shanghai's Oriental Beauty Valley, CHICMAX's smart factory has a daily production capacity of 2 million bottles and can meet the production needs of the company's multi-brand, multi-category, with guaranteed quality control, and the first AI intelligent cosmetic unmanned workshop in China has become the core engine of the group's digital transformation and new quality productivity growth. At the same time, the internationalization strategy is another highlight of CHICMAX in the mid-term report. While maintaining steady development of domestic business, CHICMAX, according to its established strategic plan, is delving deeper into Southeast Asian markets and planning to expand into broader global markets. The advancement of its global strategy not only opens up new growth space for the company, but also helps enhance the brand's international influence, achieving an advancement from "Chinese brand" to "global brand", with imaginative future development. In summary, CHICMAX's performance in the first half of 2025 is the result of the combined efforts of "deepening multi-brand strategy + enhancing product strength + optimizing channel efficiency". For investors, the outstanding performance in the mid-term of 2025 not only validates the high-quality development of CHICMAX's business model but also serves as an important sample for the capital market to observe the upgrade of domestic brands. Currently, the high growth in business performance has clear business support, in the over 100 billion-dollar cosmetics and skincare track; its advantages in multiple products, omni-channel layout, and international ambitions are the three major support points for long-term value, worth continued attention and optimism.