New Stock News | Again, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the largest provider of online operation and marketing solutions for the catering industry in China.

According to the disclosure on February 13th by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Zaihui Inc. (referred to as "Zaihui") has submitted an application for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Guotai Haitong as its exclusive sponsor. The prospectus shows that Zaihui is China's largest provider of online operation and marketing solutions for the catering industry. As a provider of AI priority solutions, Zaihui helps local businesses manage, market, and profit. The full-stack model seamlessly integrates strategy and execution, providing comprehensive solutions that cover store diagnostics, automated operational recommendations, and targeted traffic acquisition. With AI as a priority strategy, Zaihui embeds intelligent tools directly into internal operational processes, enabling the processing of large amounts of data across multiple platforms, achieving independent and high-quality execution, and expanding according to the needs of businesses. Company Overview According to information from Zhoushi Consulting, based on projected revenue for 2024, Zaihui is China's largest provider of online operation and marketing solutions for the catering industry. Most of Zaihui's revenue comes from providing services to local merchants in China. Zaihui helps local businesses convert scattered online traffic into tangible business growth in an increasingly complex digital environment. With deep industry expertise, Zaihui strategically utilizes technology for dynamic market opportunity analysis and conducts targeted marketing activities. The core of these capabilities lies in two proprietary engines: the flagship "AI Xiaohui" module enables Zaihui's operations team to automate store diagnostics and activity optimization, while the AI influencer matching module analyzes multidimensional influencer data to accurately match with the most fitting influencers for brands. With this proprietary AI-driven influencer matching module and automated auditing capabilities, Zaihui's new media solutions have gained increasing adoption and popularity. As of September 30, 2025, Zaihui has collaborated with over 70,000 influencers on platforms such as Dianping, Douyin, and through third-party agencies. In the nine months ended September 30, 2025, Zaihui has empowered the creation of approximately 464,410 posts and videos on platforms like Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Dianping, generating over 3.5 billion interactions. As of September 30, 2025, Zaihui's new customers in the first four months of subscribing to its online merchant solutions achieved a 20.3% increase in group purchasing volume. During the same period, Zaihui also helped customers who rated less than 4.00 on Dianping increase their rating by 0.47 points, raising their average rating from 3.69 to 4.16 within three months. Financial Information Revenue For 2023, 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2025, Zaihui recorded revenues of RMB 3.785 billion, RMB 4.949 billion, RMB 3.567 billion, and RMB 4.490 billion respectively. Gross Profit For 2023, 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2025, Zaihui recorded gross profits of RMB 2.308 billion, RMB 2.999 billion, RMB 2.186 billion, and RMB 2.407 billion respectively. Net Loss in the Year/Period For 2023, 2024, and the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2025, Zaihui recorded net losses of RMB 44.55 million, RMB 23.53 million, RMB 24.04 million, and RMB 7.06 million respectively. Industry Overview The local merchant services industry is the cornerstone of China's national economy. The local merchant services industry includes merchants in areas such as catering, hotels and tourism, beauty services, wedding services, leisure and entertainment, and mother and baby services, with a wide range of services aimed at meeting the daily needs of residents. This diversified range of services and products has created significant market opportunities for merchants. As of the end of 2024, there were over 13 million merchants providing diversified local merchant services in China, with a market size exceeding RMB 13.7 trillion, accounting for nearly 10.2% of China's GDP at the time. It is expected that by 2029, the local merchant services industry will further expand, with the market size reaching RMB 19.9 trillion. As a significant pillar of China's local merchant services industry, the catering industry has approximately nine million merchants, with over 20 million employees, generating substantial revenue of RMB 5.6 trillion in 2024, accounting for 40.6% of the total revenue in the local merchant services industry. According to Zhoushi Consulting, with the fast-paced urban working lifestyle driving dining out or takeout services replacing home cooking, the scale of China's catering industry is expected to reach RMB 7.4 trillion by 2029, with an average annual compound growth rate of 5.7% from 2024 to 2029. Despite steady growth, the per capita catering expenditure of Chinese consumers was only about $608 in 2024, less than a fifth of the approximately $3,354 spent by American consumers during the same period, indicating significant growth potential in the Chinese catering industry. Thanks to the continued development of the Chinese economy and the accelerating trend of dining out over home cooking, this gap is expected to gradually narrow. According to Zhoushi Consulting, the per capita catering expenditure in China is expected to exceed $806 by 2029. With evolving consumer behavior, online operations and marketing have become indispensable investment directions for Chinese catering merchants. Catering online operation and marketing expenses refer to the total expenditure of catering merchants for establishing and managing their online image and promoting customer acquisition, including paid traffic acquisition, subsidies and promotional activities, and influencer marketing. According to Zhoushi Consulting, the total expenditure of Chinese catering merchants in the field of online operations and marketing reached RMB 242 billion in 2024. Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce market competition, the importance of online operation and marketing expenditure continues to rise, and it is expected that this market will expand to a substantial size of RMB 510.4 billion by 2029. Board of Directors Information The Board of Directors consists of seven directors, including three executive directors, one non-executive director, and three independent non-executive directors. Equity Structure Major institutional shareholders include SoftBank through SVF II Tempest holding 20.73%, Lightspeed China II holding 13.51%, Yunfeng Fund holding 11.95%, and DCM (8.47%), among others. Co-founders Li Xiaojie and Zhu Chenhao respectively hold 11.07% and 4.91% of the shares through wholly-owned holding companies. Advisory Team Exclusive Sponsor: HAITONG INT'L CAPITAL LIMITED Company Legal Advisor: Hongwen LLP for Hong Kong and US law responsibilities; Haiwen Law Firm for Chinese law responsibilities; Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP for Cayman Islands law responsibilities Exclusive Sponsor Legal Advisor: Kirkland & Ellis Hong Kong for Hong Kong and US law responsibilities; Zhou Junxuan Law Firm and joint operation with Beijing Tongshang Law Firm for Hong Kong law responsibilities and Chinese law responsibilities respectively Reporting Accountants and Auditors: Ernst & Young LLP Industry Consultants: Zhoushi Consulting Compliance Advisors: Horbo Capital Limited