Source: Dahe Financial Cube On the day of its listing, MIXUE GROUP opened at HKD 262.00 per share, up 29.38% from the issue price, corresponding to a total market value of HKD 98.79 billion. MIXUE GROUP Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Recently, MIXUE GROUP announced the results of its IPO fundraising, with a global offering of 17,059,900 shares, including 8,529,900 shares for international offering and 8,530,000 shares for public offering in Hong Kong, with a final offer price of HKD 202.50, raising a total of HKD 3.455 billion. In this IPO issuance, MIXUE GROUP introduced five cornerstone investors, including M&G Investment Management, Sequoia China, Boyu Capital, Hillhouse, and Meituan Longzhu, who collectively subscribed for 7,692,600 shares, amounting to HKD 1.558 billion. It is noteworthy that the public offering segment of MIXUE GROUP's IPO set a new record for subscription in the Hong Kong stock market. The subscription multiple for the public offering in Hong Kong reached 5,258.21 times, with a subscription amount of HKD 18.2 trillion. Additionally, during its public offering period, influenced by market enthusiasm, other Hong Kong-style tea beverage stocks such as Nayuki, Cha Bai Dao, and Gu Ming also saw an increase. "In today's consumption environment, the capital market evaluates the value of freshly made tea beverages mainly from three aspects: supply chain, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness," said Zhu Danpeng, a food industry analyst in an interview with Dahe Financial Cube. From these points, it is inevitable that MIXUE BINGCHENG is favored by the capital market, especially its supply chain capability, which has become the core competitiveness that maintains MIXUE BINGCHENG's differentiated advantage. Zhu Danpeng believes that as MIXUE BINGCHENG enters a new development stage, it may bring favorable financing opportunities to new tea beverage and food companies. "MIXUE BINGCHENG is one of the few new tea beverage companies that has achieved first-class scale in both store numbers and profit, while also completing global market validation and achieving vertical integration in its supply chain," said Tan Ye, founder of Weiyi Catering Accelerator, in an interview. In addition to bringing changes to the consumption sector, in the long run, MIXUE has the ability to continuously create profits and growth potential. Over 46,000 Stores, Selling 9 Billion Cups a Year, Henan Produces the World's Number One In 1997, the founder of MIXUE BINGCHENG set up a small stall named "Cold Wave Shaved Ice" on the streets of Zhengzhou; in 1999, the stall upgraded to a storefront and adopted the brand name "MIXUE BINGCHENG"; 16 years later, MIXUE BINGCHENG's stores are spread across the globe. MIXUE BINGCHENG's popularity in the capital market is closely related to its industry position and profitability. According to the prospectus, as of December 31, 2024, MIXUE BINGCHENG, which originated from Zhengzhou, Henan, has a total of 46,479 stores worldwide. In terms of store numbers, MIXUE BINGCHENG has surpassed Starbucks to become the largest freshly made beverage company in the world. In 2024, MIXUE BINGCHENG's stores achieved a beverage output of approximately 9 billion cups, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%. In the first nine months of 2024, MIXUE BINGCHENG sold approximately 1.1 billion cups of ice-fresh lemonade, 1.4 billion ice cream products, and 385 million cups of pearl milk tea in China. According to a report by Zhi Shi Consulting, in 2023, more than eight out of ten cups of freshly made lemonade sold in China came from "MIXUE BINGCHENG," more than three out of ten freshly made ice creams, and more than three out of ten cups of pearl milk tea The rapidly growing "sweet" base has led to steady growth in the performance of MIXUE Ice City. Specifically, from 2022 to 2024, the terminal retail sales of MIXUE Ice City increased from 30.7 billion yuan to 58.3 billion yuan. From January to September 2024, MIXUE Ice City achieved operating income of 18.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.2%; net profit was 3.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.3%. In terms of profitability, the prospectus shows that from January to September 2024, MIXUE Ice City achieved a gross profit margin of 32.4%, an increase of 2.7 percentage points compared to the same period last year; the net profit margin was 18.7%, an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year. 2 yuan ice cream, 4 yuan lemonade, MIXUE Ice City's supply chain "large division" 2 yuan ice cream, 4 yuan lemonade, 6 yuan pearl milk tea... The prices of MIXUE Ice City's core products typically range from 2 yuan to 8 yuan. Behind the "high quality and affordable" products, MIXUE Ice City's self-built supply chain "large division" is also a core competitiveness that distinguishes it from other ready-to-drink beverage brands. As the increase in the number of stores leads to a rise in the demand for beverage ingredients, self-production can bring MIXUE Ice City higher efficiency and better quality, given the corresponding research and development capabilities. Therefore, in 2012, MIXUE Ice City established its first production factory, becoming one of the earliest companies to set up a central factory in China's ready-to-drink beverage industry. As of now, MIXUE Ice City has five major production bases in Henan, Hainan, Guangxi, Chongqing, and Anhui, covering a total area of approximately 790,000 square meters, producing seven categories of ingredients used for making ready-to-drink beverages, including sugar, milk, tea, coffee, fruit, grain, and materials, with an annual comprehensive production capacity of about 1.65 million tons. On the raw material side, MIXUE Ice City has built a procurement network covering 38 countries across six continents, selecting true, pure, and fresh raw materials for processing and delivery to global stores. For example, in terms of lemons, MIXUE Ice City established an agricultural company in Chongqing Tongnan to directly purchase lemons from farmers and cooperatives. To select high-quality lemons, MIXUE Ice City has developed grading standards, only selecting A-grade fruits that meet the weight, sugar content, and juice yield standards. In recent years, consumers' health awareness regarding ready-to-drink beverages has further awakened, and healthy drinks with attributes such as real tea, real milk, and zero additives have become pain points for customer demand. Dairy products are one of the main raw materials for new tea drinks. The reporter noted that MIXUE Ice City has begun using self-developed production processes to produce fresh milk bases and has obtained a food production license for liquid dairy products, becoming the only ready-to-drink beverage company in China currently holding this license. In December last year, MIXUE Ice City established a strategic partnership with Junlebao to jointly build the "Snow King Ranch," enhancing its capabilities and product quality in the dairy supply chain. Currently, over 60% of the beverage ingredients provided to franchisees by MIXUE Ice City are self-produced, with core beverage ingredients being 100% self-produced. In terms of logistics and distribution, since 2014, MIXUE Ice City has been one of the earliest in the Chinese ready-to-drink beverage industry to begin building a self-operated warehousing system. As of September 30, 2024, the company's warehousing system consists of 27 warehouses with a total area of approximately 350,000 square meters, making it the largest in the industry. At the same time, MIXUE Ice City collaborates with about 40 localized distribution agencies in China, achieving 12-hour reach in 90% of county-level administrative regions and cold chain logistics coverage for 97% of stores Supply Chain, Going Global, and Market Penetration... "Snow King" Has Great Growth Potential The listing of MIXUE Ice City is a key leap in its own development: standing on an international platform, MIXUE Ice City's market position will be further enhanced, attracting international talent and promoting globalization; at the same time, the introduction of high-quality international capital will bring new opportunities and perspectives for MIXUE Ice City's business development and corporate governance. As the journey restarts, supply chain, going global, market penetration, Snow King IP, and the coffee market may become the four major growth directions for MIXUE Ice City. As stated by Debang Securities, the global leader in "high-quality and affordable" tea beverages, MIXUE Ice City is essentially a super supply chain enterprise. MIXUE Ice City indicated that it plans to use approximately 66% of the funds raised to enhance the breadth and depth of the company's end-to-end supply chain, constructing new facilities or renovating existing facilities at current production bases to expand capacity. Part of the funds will be used to establish a multifunctional supply chain center in Southeast Asia to support MIXUE Ice City's cultivation in that market. In 2018, MIXUE Ice City's first overseas store opened in Hanoi, Vietnam, marking the beginning of its globalization journey; as of 2023, based on cup volume and number of stores, MIXUE Ice City has become the largest fresh tea beverage brand in Southeast Asia. As of September 30, 2024, the number of MIXUE Ice City overseas stores reached 4,800. In terms of terminal retail sales, by 2028, the global fresh beverage market is expected to exceed one trillion yuan. According to data from ZhiShi Consulting, the fresh beverage markets in China and Southeast Asia will usher in structural opportunities, with the fastest growth rates among major global markets, with compound annual growth rates of 17.6% and 19.8% from 2023 to 2028, contributing nearly 40% of the incremental market size of the global fresh beverage market during the same period. Zhu Danpeng believes that globalization is a very important strategic direction for the future of new tea beverages. As a national brand of China, MIXUE Ice City's brand effect, scale effect, and fan effect are highly valuable, coupled with its current brand position in the Southeast Asian fresh tea beverage industry, it is expected to establish overseas scale advantages in the future. As the "King of Market Penetration," among the top five fresh tea beverage brands in China, MIXUE Ice City has the highest penetration rate in third-tier cities and below. The MIXUE Ice City store network covers 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in mainland China, over 300 prefecture-level cities, 1,700 counties, and 4,900 townships, covering all levels of cities, with 57.2% of stores located in third-tier cities and below. At the same time, MIXUE Ice City continues to explore the possibilities in the coffee sector. In 2017, the freshly ground coffee brand "Lucky Coffee" was established, continuing the MIXUE "high-quality and affordable" gene, entering the coffee market with a pricing of 5-10 yuan. As of now, Lucky Coffee has over 4,500 stores. The Snow King IP is the only super IP in China's fresh beverage industry. In 2018, "Snow King" was born; in 2021, the song "MIXUE Ice City Sweet" became a sensation online; in 2023, the animated work "Snow King Arrives" was launched on major video platforms; as of February 11, 2025, the cumulative exposure of topics related to "Snow King" and the theme song of "MIXUE Ice City" on major social platforms exceeded 19.5 billion and 9.7 billion times, respectively Offline stores, the "Snow King" series products are also sought after by consumers. Recently, the flagship store of MIXUE Ice City near Zhengzhou East Station opened and has become a new landmark for check-ins in Zhengzhou. Reporters on-site observed that buyers lined up in long queues for various Snow King merchandise and snacks, such as water cups, dolls, and building blocks; additionally, the store has launched various "flagship store exclusive" ice creams and beverages, as well as "Global Snow King Hometown Henan" tea gift boxes, filled with local elements from Henan. According to the information, MIXUE Ice City plans to use about 12% of the funds raised this time for brand and IP construction and promotion, aiming to expand the content matrix of "Snow King" by launching more high-quality content presented in diverse forms (including but not limited to animated series, movies, and specialty products)