New stock outlook | Ranked fourth domestically, can Tambor support an IPO with the "outdoor economy"?

Recently, according to the disclosure from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Tambour Group Limited (referred to as Tambour) has submitted an application for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CICC as the exclusive sponsor. This professional outdoor clothing brand, established in 2004, was listed on the New Third Board in February 2015, but quietly withdrew from the New Third Board trading market just over two years later. Now, as the parent company of Toread and other outdoor brands knocks on the door of the capital market, Tambour is once again setting off, attempting to secure a place in the increasingly crowded arena. Beneath the facade of high industry growth, can Tambour truly tell a story that convinces investors ? Stable revenue performance, impressive growth in online channels According to the prospectus, Tambour is a leading professional outdoor clothing brand in China, with products that cater to various outdoor activities such as skiing, mountaineering, hiking, as well as urban scenarios like outings, park leisure, and commuting, redefining the trend of outdoor lifestyle. In terms of revenue scale, the company has maintained a growth trend in recent years: revenues are projected to be 732 million yuan, 1.021 billion yuan, and 1.302 billion yuan in 2022, 2023, and 2024 respectively. In the first half of 2025, revenue reached 658 million yuan, continuing the expansion momentum. However, there has been significant fluctuation in profits: net profits for the same period were 85.774 million yuan, 139 million yuan, and 107 million yuan respectively, showing a trend of "increased revenue but not increased profits" in the first half of 2025 with 35.937 million yuan. Of particular note is the change in gross profit margin. The overall gross profit margin of the company was 50.2%, 56.5%, and 54.9% in 2022, 2023, and 2024 respectively, dropping to 54.2% in the first half of 2025, a decrease of 5.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year. This change may be attributed to the continuous rising sales expenses: from 2 billion yuan in 2022 to 5.08 billion yuan in 2024, sales and distribution expenses as a percentage of total income increased from 27.3% to 39.0%, showing a clear increasing trend. It is understood that Tambour has a rich product matrix, with a total of 687 SKUs as of June 30, 2025, divided into three series: Top Outdoor Series, Sports Outdoor Series, and Urban Light Outdoor Series. The urban light outdoor series, priced in the range of 200-400 yuan, contributes nearly 70% of the revenue, becoming the absolute income pillar of the company. However, in terms of gross profit margin, the company's main revenue driver, the urban light outdoor series, has recently shown a downward trend. In the first half of 2025, the gross profit margin of this series was 51.4%, a decrease of 5.9 percentage points from 57.3% in the same period last year, already below the level of 2023 (53.9%), indicating insufficient pricing power and brand premium for the company, making it susceptible to a vicious cycle of price wars, eroding profit margins. Meanwhile, the company is actively promoting channel transformation. In offline channels, the company has closed smaller stores and opened new stores in high-end shopping centers to reach high-potential consumers more accurately. This move brought immediate pain, leading to a slight decrease in offline channel revenue to 635 million yuan in 2024, but a 37.87% year-on-year increase to 285 million yuan in the first half of 2025, indicating the initial effectiveness of the transformation. The online channel has become a highlight in the financial report. Online channel revenue has rapidly increased from 2.26 billion yuan in 2022 to 6.26 billion yuan in 2024, with a significant increase of 168.5% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the online gross profit margin has increased from 42.0% in 2022 to 53.4% in the first half of 2025, showing a substantial improvement in the company's online operational efficiency. Industry landscape uncertain, domestic brands urgently need to break through The Chinese outdoor clothing industry is at a crucial stage of transitioning from rapid growth to high-quality development. At the macro level, the national "national fitness" strategy and the sports industry plan provide top-level support for the industry's development; economically, the increase in per capita disposable income and the growth of the middle class have laid a solid foundation for consumption upgrades; socially, the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle in the post-pandemic era and the catalysis of social media on trends such as "urban outdoors" and "exquisite camping" have greatly expanded the consumer base, extending the application scenarios of outdoor clothing from professional fields to daily life. With the combined impetus of policy support, consumption upgrades, and social media, the Chinese professional outdoor clothing industry has become one of the fastest-growing categories in the Chinese clothing industry, with the market size increasing from 68.8 billion yuan in 2019 to 131.9 billion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.9%, higher than the compound annual growth rate of less than 5% in the clothing industry as a whole. It is expected that in the next five years, the market size will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16.8%, further expanding to 287.1 billion yuan by 2029. However, the current landscape of the Chinese professional outdoor clothing industry is still relatively fragmented, and the middle-to-high-end market is mainly dominated by international brands. Based on retail sales in 2024, the market share of the top ten brands only accounts for 24.3%; based on retail sales in 2024, Tambour ranks seventh in the Chinese professional outdoor clothing industry, with a market share of 1.5%, ranking fourth among Chinese brands in the Chinese professional outdoor clothing industry. From a market positioning perspective, Tambour focuses on the mass market, with its products primarily priced below a thousand yuan. In the first half of 2025, the urban light outdoor series, priced between 200-400 yuan and mainly serving scenarios like outings, park leisure, and commuting, contributed to about 70% of the revenue, remaining the main source of income. The mid-priced sports outdoor series accounted for less than 30%, and the highest-priced top outdoor series accounted for less than 5%. This somewhat awkward market position places Tambour in a dilemma of "advancement or retreat": in the high-end market, international high-end brands such as Arc'teryx dominate the value chain with strong technological barriers and brand culture; in the mid-range market, international mass brands like The North Face and Columbia with extensive product matrices and channels compete fiercely, along with domestic brands like Kailas and Toread Holdings Group ; in the low-end market, it will face numerous white-label and small manufacturers engaging in price wars to capture market share. Furthermore, as 70% of Tambour's income comes from the urban light outdoor series, this implies that while it may claim to be a professional outdoor brand, it leans more towards a lifestyle brand. Apart from competing with other outdoor brands, it may also have to contend with functional product lines from fast-fashion brands like Uniqlo. To enter the middle-to-high-end market, the company needs to invest heavily in research and development and brand building. With the high-end series accounting for less than 5% of revenue, it shows that the path to upgrading is still long. Tambour's IPO in Hong Kong this time is an important attempt to break through under the trend of outdoor sports. From a fundamental perspective, the company has shown adaptability in channel transformation and online operations, with the impressive growth in online channels and gross profit margin enhancement being particularly noteworthy; however, at the industry level, facing suppression from international brands and the pursuit of domestic counterparts, the company still faces the challenge of lacking a brand moat. Whether Tambour can maintain its base in the mass market while successfully achieving brand breakthroughs, building a true core competitiveness, will be crucial in determining its performance in the capital market.