NewTimeSpace | Despite Revenue Growth, Stock Price Decline Continues for Sweetener Giant Newtrend (02573.HK), Down Over 50% Since IPO

After nearly a year and three attempts to go public in Hong Kong, the sweetener giant has become almost "neglected" by investors following its listing.

As a food additive producer from Jiangxi, Newtrend (02573.HK) was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 10, 2025. On the listing day, the stock opened at HKD 30.25 per share, 60.05% higher than the issue price. However, this price was short-lived, as the stock quickly began to decline, losing nearly 60% of its value.

Since its listing, the stock price has fallen by more than 50%, with an average daily trading volume of less than HKD 100,000 in 2026.

NewTimeSpace has learned that in this IPO, Newtrend issued 10.5854 million H-shares, accounting for approximately 11% of the company's total post-IPO share capital. Of these, 1.0586 million shares were publicly offered, representing 10% of the total issued shares, with the remaining 90% allocated to international placements.

The allotment results showed that Newtrend was oversubscribed 149.37 times in the public offering, indicating strong demand from retail investors. However, in the international placement, the subscription multiple was only 0.93 times, highlighting a significant disparity between the two.

Newtrend's issue price was HKD 18.9, and the company ultimately raised HKD 200 million through the global sale of 10.5854 million H-shares. After deducting HKD 35.91 million in listing expenses, the net proceeds amounted to HKD 164 million. The company also introduced two cornerstone investors who subscribed for a total of HKD 60 million. Notably, the top five allottees held 67.29% of the total issued shares.

On the eve of its stock listing, Newtrend announced a strategic cooperation agreement with COFCO Sugar, planning to utilize COFCO Sugar's domestic distribution channels for the sale of its sweetener products.

In the dark market trading on June 9, 2025, Newtrend closed at HKD 32.6 per share, a 72.49% increase from the issue price of HKD 18.9. On the listing day of June 10, the stock opened at HKD 30.25 per share, 60.05% higher than the issue price.

However, the opening price on the listing day became the highest point for Newtrend in 2025. The stock's price increase fell back to 21.43%, closing at HKD 22.95 per share. The next day, it plummeted by 22.61%, closing at HKD 17.76 per share, breaking below the issue price.

Since then, Newtrend's stock has generally trended downward. As of January 22, 2026, the stock closed at HKD 8.10 per share, with a trading volume of HKD 59,400 on the day. The cumulative decline since listing reached 57.14%.

Since the beginning of 2026, Newtrend's trading volume has been extremely low, with daily turnover often falling below HKD 10,000. Data shows that from January 2 to January 22, 2026, the company's total trading volume over 15 trading days amounted to only HKD 1.435 million.

Revenue Fluctuations and Declining Stock Prices

Public records indicate that Newtrend specializes in the research and production of food additives. Its core products include sucralose (a high-intensity sweetener 600 times sweeter than sugar) and food-grade glycine (used in pet food, seasonings, etc.), which are sold to well-known global brands such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé, with products distributed across 40 countries in six continents.

In 2024, nearly 80% of Newtrend's revenue came from overseas markets.

In terms of financial performance, from 2022 to 2024, Newtrend's revenue was RMB 761 million, RMB 447 million, and RMB 569 million, respectively. The corresponding net profits were RMB 122 million, RMB 45 million, and RMB 43 million. Overall, the company has experienced significant revenue fluctuations in recent years, facing the dilemma of "increased revenue but decreased profits," with its gross margin declining from 25.6% to 17.9%.

In terms of revenue sources, in 2024, sucralose accounted for 41.8% of Newtrend's revenue, mainly used in low-sugar foods such as beverages and dairy products. Food-grade glycine accounted for 42%, with major customers being pet food and seasoning manufacturers. Industrial-grade glycine accounted for approximately 11.7%, used in the chemical industry.

In August 2025, Newtrend released its interim results for 2025, showing a significant improvement in performance. In the first half of 2025, the company's total revenue was approximately RMB 335 million, a 54.3% increase from the same period in 2024. Gross profit increased by 252.7% from RMB 22.1 million in 2024 to RMB 77.95 million, with the gross margin rising from 10.2% to 23.3%. The profit for the period was RMB 24.38 million, a 586.4% increase from RMB 3.55 million in 2024.

Newtrend attributed the significant growth in performance mainly to increased product sales. The company actively adjusted its production and business strategies to improve performance, especially in overseas sales and new product development.

However, despite the improved performance, Newtrend's stock price did not show significant improvement and continued its downward trend. In early September 2025, the stock price was still at HKD 12.5 per share, but it has now fallen to HKD 8.10 per share.

Significant Changes in Major Customers

NewTimeSpace has learned that Newtrend's revenue is highly dependent on major customers, and changes in these customers' performance have affected the company's revenue to varying degrees.

According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, Newtrend's sales to its top five customers were approximately RMB 429 million, RMB 241 million, and RMB 317 million, respectively, accounting for about 56.2%, 53.9%, and 55.6% of its total revenue. Sales to the largest customer accounted for about 22.9%, 16.5%, and 17.3% of total revenue.

In 2022, Coca-Cola, Newtrend's largest customer, contributed approximately RMB 175 million in revenue, or 22.9% of the company's total revenue, primarily purchasing sucralose. Nestlé, the second-largest customer, contributed about RMB 125 million in revenue, or 16.4% of the total, mainly purchasing food-grade glycine.

However, in 2023, the revenue contributed by Coca-Cola and Nestlé to Newtrend declined significantly to approximately RMB 70.94 million and RMB 73.86 million, respectively, accounting for 15.9% and 16.5% of the company's revenue. Coca-Cola became the second-largest customer, while Nestlé remained the largest.

In 2024, the contributions from these two customers continued to decline. Nestlé's revenue contribution was RMB 64.33 million, or 11.3% of the total, dropping to the third-largest customer. Coca-Cola's revenue contribution fell to RMB 21.57 million, or only 3.8% of the total, becoming the fifth-largest customer.

During the reporting period, the combined sales revenue percentage from these two major customers was 39.3%, 32.4%, and 15.1%, respectively, with a significant decrease in their revenue contributions.

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