The “first Chinese high-end skincare stock on the Hong Kong market” has officially debuted.
Recently, Shanghai Forest Cabin Cosmetics Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Forest Cabin”) officially rang the bell for its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, under the stock code 02657.HK.
Forest Cabin’s IPO price was HK$77.77 per share, with an opening price of HK$85 per share, reaching a high of HK$91 per share. As of press time, its total market capitalization stood at HK$12.73 billion.
At the listing ceremony, Forest Cabin founder Sun Laichun stated that ringing the bell on the HKEX marks the official start of Forest Cabin’s multi-brand and global expansion, embarking on a new chapter of growth and strengthening its market position.
This year, revenue may exceed 2 billion for the first time
Public records show that Forest Cabin, a Chinese high-end skincare brand famous for its “oil-based skincare” philosophy, was founded in 2003. In 2014, it launched its flagship product, the Camellia Flower Essence Oil, which gradually established the brand as a benchmark in this niche segment.
As early as 2020, founder Sun Laichun publicly set the goal of “entering the capital market within five years,” a target Forest Cabin indeed achieved—taking only about seven months from formally submitting its listing application in May this year to ringing the bell on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
According to its prospectus, Forest Cabin raised a net total of approximately HK$997 million through the listing. The IPO also introduced seven well-known institutional investors, including Fidelity and Dajia Life Insurance, who together subscribed for about US$62 million, representing 44.43% of the total shares offered.
Forest Cabin plans to use the funds to continue increasing investment in dermatology, botany, and cutting-edge skincare technology, strengthen brand building, expand retail stores, and upgrade multiple high-quality, bestselling core products.
Notably, even before the successful listing, Forest Cabin had already received multiple rounds of investment from investors such as Youngor and L Catterton (a L’Oréal-backed fund), demonstrating the capital market’s recognition of its growth potential—a reflection of its steadily improving performance in recent years.
According to the prospectus, Forest Cabin’s revenue rose continuously from 2022 to 2024, reaching RMB 691 million, RMB 805 million, and RMB 1.21 billion, respectively. In the first half of 2025, revenue surged 98.3% year-on-year to RMB 1.052 billion. If this growth continues through the second half of the year, the company’s full-year revenue is expected to surpass RMB 2 billion, entering the “2-billion-yuan club.”
Profitability has shown similarly strong growth: the company turned profitable in 2023 with a net profit of RMB 84.518 million; in 2024, net profit jumped to RMB 187 million; and in the first half of 2025, net profit already reached RMB 182 million—nearly matching the full-year figure for 2024—demonstrating robust earnings growth.
Meanwhile, data from Zhishi Consulting show that, based on retail sales, Forest Cabin ranked first among all Chinese high-end domestic skincare brands in 2024, and is the only domestic brand among China’s top 15 high-end skincare brands (including both domestic and international brands).
Forest Cabin has also maintained a consistently high gross margin of around 80%. Specifically, from 2022 to the first half of 2025, its gross margins were 78%, 81.2%, 82.5%, and 82.4%, respectively.
In terms of product mix, the essence oil series has been the key driver of Forest Cabin’s growth. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, the revenue contribution of essence oil products increased annually, accounting for 31.5%, 35.3%, 37%, and 45.5% of total revenue, respectively.
Zhishi Consulting data also show that, based on total retail sales across all channels, Forest Cabin’s Camellia Flower Essence Oil has ranked first nationwide among all facial oils for 11 consecutive years since 2014. It is also the only product in China’s facial oil category to have achieved retail sales exceeding RMB 100 million for eight consecutive years.
With Forest Cabin’s official bell-ringing today, the “first Chinese high-end skincare stock on the Hong Kong market” has been formally established. It also becomes the second beauty company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year, following Yingtong Holdings.
Expected to Enter China’s Top 10 Beauty Brands
In recent years, Forest Cabin has shown simultaneous growth across both online and offline channels, gradually forming a development pattern of “steady offline growth coupled with rapid online expansion.”
Specifically, from 2022 to the first half of 2025, Forest Cabin’s offline revenue steadily increased, reaching RMB 378 million, 410 million, 494 million, and 363 million, respectively, representing a compound annual growth rate of 14.3%. Although offline revenue continued to grow in absolute terms, its proportion of total revenue declined year by year due to faster online growth, accounting for 54.7%, 50.9%, 40.8%, and 34.6%, respectively.
During the reporting period, Forest Cabin steadily expanded its offline network, with the number of physical stores rising annually to 366, 443, 506, and 554, respectively. As of June 30, 2025, Forest Cabin operated 554 stores nationwide, over 95% of which are located in shopping malls. According to Zhishi Consulting, by total store count, Forest Cabin ranks first among both domestic and international high-end skincare brands in China.
The growth of Forest Cabin’s online channels has been even more pronounced. Revenue for online sales reached RMB 312 million, 394 million, 714 million, and 688 million from 2022 to the first half of 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 51.2%, while the online share of total revenue increased to 45.2%, 49%, 59.1%, and 65.4%, respectively.
In terms of online platform operations, as of June 30, 2025, Forest Cabin had 7.9 million followers on Tmall and over 2.7 million followers on Douyin.
Meanwhile, Forest Cabin continues to invest heavily in research and development. According to official data, the company currently holds over 500 formula achievements and 86 patents, including 46 invention patents, covering key areas such as Camellia flower raw material extraction, formulation system construction, and anti-wrinkle repair technologies.
The National Medical Products Administration’s public platform shows that Forest Cabin’s independently developed “Kluyveromyces/ Camellia chekiangoleosa flower/leaf ferment lysate filtrate” has completed registration as a new cosmetic ingredient. This marks the third new cosmetic ingredient Forest Cabin has registered this year, alongside Camellia chekiangoleosa seed oil and the fermentation product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae/Camellia chekiangoleosa seed oil.
Notably, as a beauty enterprise with over 20 years of history, Forest Cabin is expanding from a single-brand model to a multi-brand portfolio.
Currently, in addition to its core eponymous brand, Forest Cabin has launched two new brands: Xiaoxin Xuan and Huazhuo Zhuang. Xiaoxin Xuan targets younger consumers with lightweight, repair-focused, and moisturizing skincare products. Huazhuo Zhuang is a community beauty service brand, with one offline store already opened. According to Huazhuo Zhuang’s Red Ginseng Beauty Service account, the brand plans to open 500 community stores nationwide over the next three years to deepen its offline presence. Additionally, Forest Cabin is actively preparing for international expansion. According to its prospectus, the company plans to leverage the Southeast Asian market as the starting point for its global strategy.
It is evident that for Forest Cabin, the listing is not an endpoint but a new beginning.
Importantly, based on data from domestic beauty companies listed in the first half of this year, Forest Cabin’s revenue of RMB 1.052 billion in H1 2025 is very close to that of the “gatekeeper” of China’s top 10 domestic beauty brands—Freda, which reported RMB 1.094 billion for the same period (Freda’s figure only includes its cosmetics business, while Bloomage Biotech only accounts for functional skincare products).
This demonstrates that the successfully listed Forest Cabin not only has the potential to reach RMB 2 billion in revenue this year but also to enter the top 10 list of publicly listed Chinese beauty companies.
Meanwhile, Forest Cabin’s successful listing has also benefited from favorable policies in the Hong Kong stock market.
Since 2024, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has introduced five measures to support Mainland industry leaders in listing in Hong Kong. In August this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lowered the minimum initial public float for “A+H” listed issuers to 10% (or an equivalent market capitalization of HK$3 billion, further reducing the barrier for companies to list in Hong Kong.
Currently, the beauty industry is experiencing a surge in “A+H” dual listings. According to incomplete statistics from CHAILEEDO, at least six beauty-related companies—including Tianci Materials, Huaheng Bio, Royeuchen, Proya, Marubi Bio, and Kefu Medical—have initiated A+H dual listing plans.
It can be anticipated that with Forest Cabin’s successful listing on the Hong Kong market, this “Hong Kong stock fever” in the beauty sector is likely to intensify, further accelerating the capitalization and internationalization of Chinese beauty enterprises.
