Red Star Cold Chain (01641) launches its IPO: "storage services + trading platform" dual-wheel drive to create a moat.

On December 31, 2025, the central region frozen food storage leader Red Star Cold Chain (Hunan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Red Star Cold Chain) officially initiated its IPO, which ended on January 8, 2026, and is scheduled to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code "1641" on January 13, 2026. According to the global public offering document, Red Star Cold Chain (01641) plans to globally offer 23.263 million H-shares, with 10% for sale in Hong Kong and 90% internationally. The offer price per share is HK$12.26, with a trading unit of 500 shares for H-shares. In this offering, Red Star Cold Chain successfully secured Futai Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited as a cornerstone investor, committing to subscribe to approximately RMB 20 million worth of shares at the final offer price. Leading position in the regional market, pioneering a "storage service + trading platform" dual-drive model Red Star Cold Chain is headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province, and its main business is a frozen food trading platform and cold storage services. According to Zhoushi Consulting's report, based on the revenue in 2024, in the field of frozen food storage services, the company is the largest service provider in the central region and Hunan Province, with market shares of 2.6% and 13.6% respectively. In the field of frozen food store leasing services, the company is the second largest in the central region of China and the first in Hunan Province, with market shares of 8.8% and 54.7% respectively. As a leading frozen food storage company in the central region, Red Star Cold Chain combines frozen food cold storage and frozen food store leasing through its innovative "storage service" and "trading platform" dual-drive model, serving wholesalers and retailers in the frozen food supply chain. Red Star Cold Chain's two large bases in Changsha have a total designed storage capacity of over 1 million cubic meters (with available capacity of over 230,000 tons), with a historical utilization rate of over 88.0% and providing services to over 700 customers as of June 30, 2025. In terms of the company's frozen food store leasing services, the company mainly rents out sites covering over 36,000 square meters for store leasing to frozen food wholesalers and retailers, with an occupancy rate of over 94.0%. Stable financial performance with high profit margins confirming the business model Financially, Red Star Cold Chain has shown stable growth in its financial performance in recent years. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and for the six months ended June 30, 2024, and 2025, the company generated revenues of RMB 237 million, RMB 202 million, RMB 234 million, RMB 112 million, and RMB 118 million respectively, with gross margins of 50.1%, 57.7%, 52.8%, 54.2%, and 53.3% respectively during the same period. For the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and for the six months ended June 30, 2024, and 2025, the company's net profit was RMB 79.1 million, RMB 75.3 million, RMB 82.9 million, RMB 41.3 million, and RMB 39.7 million respectively, with corresponding net profit margins of 33.4%, 37.3%, 35.5%, 36.7%, and 33.6% respectively. It is worth noting that during the reporting period, the company's gross margin has consistently remained above 50%, and the net profit margin has remained stable between 33% to 38%. According to public information, due to factors such as low industry concentration, small scale, and high maintenance costs, the average profit margin of the Chinese cold chain storage industry is only about 8%-12%. Compared to the industry, Red Star Cold Chain's net profit margin significantly exceeds the average level of general cold chain storage companies, reflecting the effectiveness of its "storage service + trading platform" business model in improving asset utilization efficiency and profitability. Proposed fundraising for expansion and upgrading to strengthen industrial integration layout Since the release of the "14th Five-Year Plan" for cold chain logistics development in 2021, the Chinese cold chain logistics market has officially entered a new stage of high-quality development. Looking at the segmented market, in 2024, processing services accounted for the majority (65.3%) of frozen food cold chain service revenue, while logistics services accounted for 34.1%. In the entire logistics service sector, transportation services hold the absolute majority (79.2%), and Red Star Cold Chain's focused storage services are a key link with high professional barriers, a relatively concentrated market size, creating a good competitive environment for leading companies with scale and efficiency advantages. Red Star Cold Chain's public offering of shares this time aims to strategically lay out for future development. According to the prospectus, the company plans to use approximately 57.5% of the funds raised to build a new processing plant and expand frozen food storage warehouses over the next four years, equip them with processing equipment and systems to provide frozen food processing services to customers. Approximately 12.8% will be used to upgrade equipment, information technology infrastructure, and software used in existing operations, including investment in artificial intelligence technology to empower the company's operations and customers. In addition, approximately 19.7% of the funds will be reserved for future strategic acquisitions and collaborations to enhance the company's industrial integration and consolidate its position in the entire cold chain ecosystem.