Chinese restaurant chain Xiaocaiyuan makes another attempt to list in Hong Kong

The Tongling, Anhui-based chain, which was founded by Wang Shugao in 2013, currently operates more than 600 restaurants across 135 cities on the mainland.

The self-styled “home kitchen” operator caters to China’s mass market, serving everyday dishes at affordable prices, with average spending per consumer between 50 yuan (US$6.90) and 100 yuan, according to the company. It plans to use the proceeds to expand its branch network across China to urban customers.

The IPO could raise as much as US$200 million, according to previous reports by IFR late last year. UBS and Huatai Financial Holdings are the overall coordinators.

“[Xiaocaiyuan] should be more resilient to the economic environment since it operates in the mass market and is ranked No 1 there,” said Louis Wong, executive director of Phillip Capital Management (Hong Kong), adding that the company was profitable.

The company’s revenue increased 41.6 per cent year on year to 4.5 billion yuan in 2023, while net profit jumped 124 per cent to 532 million yuan in the same period.

“The first half saw many companies’ [applications] lapse, as market conditions failed to see substantial improvement,” said Katerine Kou, executive director and CEO of Victory Securities.

As mainland China’s economic data shows a slowdown, there is little evidence that the market environment will pick up later this year, she added.

Retail, consumer goods and services made up 21 per cent of the IPOs in the first half according to PwC’s half-year report. The other main sectors were information technology and telecommunications, and industrials and materials.