Aimeike's high-growth myth is over: revenue and net profit growth rates drop to single digits for the first time, with two core products both under pressure

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On September 28, 2020, Aimeike debuted on the ChiNext board with a market cap of 40.8 billion yuan. Then, within the next nine months, the stock price surged fourfold. In March 2021, it became the third “1,000-yuan stock” after Moutai. At its peak, the market cap exceeded 170 billion yuan. This company, dubbed the “aesthetic medical Moutai,” wrote a legend in the capital markets during the golden age of aesthetic medicine, supported by an extremely high gross margin of 94.85% and a net profit margin of 60%.

Aimeike’s core success “secret code” lies in the moat constructed by three categories of medical device registration certificates. Its flagship product, “Haiti” (嗨体)—as the first neck-wrinkle repair injection solution in China—has monopolized the market for years since approval in 2016. Between 2017 and 2020, revenue from solution-type products soared from 34 million yuan to 447 million yuan, with an average annual compound growth rate of 129%. This “exclusive market + pricing power” model perfectly replicates Moutai’s core logic. However, as more similar competitors continue to emerge, Aimeike’s high-growth myth is gradually moving toward its final chapter.

**　The high-growth myth is no longer there. For the first time, revenue and net profit growth rates fall to single digits**

The annual report disclosed on March 19 shows that in 2024, Aimeike achieved operating revenue of 3.03B yuan, with the year-over-year growth rate dropping sharply from 47.99% in 2023 to 5.45%. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.96B yuan, with the growth rate sliding from 47.08% to 5.33%. This is the first time since 2016 that the company’s full-year revenue and net profit growth rates have fallen to single digits.

What is especially worth watching is that in the fourth quarter, the company posted single-quarter operating revenue of 650 million yuan and net profit of 372 million yuan, down 7% and 15.47% year over year, respectively—marking the first time since its listing that both quarterly figures declined at the same time. Judging from prior quarterly data, Aimeike’s growth slowdown was actually evident earlier. In Q1 2024, operating revenue growth was 28.24% and net profit growth was 27.38%; in Q2, operating revenue growth was 2.35% and net profit growth was 8.03%; in Q3, operating revenue growth was 1.10% and net profit growth was 2.13%—throughout the last year of 2024, growth rates declined quarter by quarter.

From the perspective of cash flow, in 2024 the company’s net cash flow from operating activities was 1.93B yuan, down 1.38% year over year, marking the first time in history that it declined year over year. The reasons behind this include a significant increase in period expenses, as well as rising inventories, among others. For period expenses, in 2024 the company’s selling expenses and R&D expenses were 277 million yuan and 304 million yuan, respectively—both setting new historical highs again. However, in terms of effectiveness, the marginal impact of selling expenses driving revenue growth is weakening. In 2023 and 2024, the growth rates of selling expenses were both higher than the growth rates of revenue.

Over the past three years, R&D expenses have maintained year-over-year growth rates in the high double digits, but new products have not yet formed scale revenue, so in the short term they may be unlikely to generate meaningful benefits. As for inventory, at the end of 2024, the company’s inventories were 72.84M yuan, increasing the proportion to total assets by 0.14% to 0.87%. Among them, inventory of finished goods was 32.0488 million yuan, up about 45% year over year, indicating that terminal sell-through has slowed somewhat.

**　“Haiti” tries to recover volume by cutting prices, but it can’t stop the decline. “Rubybai Angel” growth is lackluster**

Looking at the products, as the first neck-wrinkle repair product in China, Aimeike’s “Haiti” was once the company’s “cash cow.” After it was launched in 2017, its sales surged from 119.7k units to 5.14 million units in 2023, and its revenue contribution once exceeded 70%. However, data disclosed in the 2024 annual report shows that for “Haiti”-centered solution-type injectable products, full-year sales were 6.3463 million units, up 24.44% year over year, but revenue increased only 4.4% to 1.7444 billion yuan.

When converted into average ex-factory price, it fell from 325 yuan per unit in 2023 to 275 yuan per unit, a drop of 15.4%. Meanwhile, inventory levels rose sharply by 91.40% over the same period. This shows that since Huxi Bio’s neck-wrinkle repair product “Runzhi·Gege” was approved in July 2024, the market competition landscape has already faced reshaping, and Aimeike’s strategy of trading price for volume has had very limited effect.

In terms of Aimeike’s revenue composition, in 2024 the company’s solution-type injectable products with “Haiti” at the core, and gel-type injectable products with “Rubybai Angel” at the core, generated revenue of 119.7k yuan and 1.74B yuan respectively. Their shares of total revenue were 57.64% and 40.18%, respectively—both are the company’s pillar businesses.

Among them, “Rubybai Angel” (including crosslinked sodium hyaluronate gel with microspheres of L-lactic acid–ethylene glycol copolymer) obtained a Class III medical device registration certificate in June 2021. In the following years, product revenue showed a high-speed growth trend and was seen as the company’s second growth curve. However, in 2024, “Rubybai Angel” also showed signs of growth faltering. Sales volume of the gel-type injectable products in 2024 was only 893.6k units, down 11.24% year over year, and the revenue growth rate also fell sharply from 81.43% in 2023 to 5.01%.

From an industry perspective, the simultaneous pressure on Aimeike’s two core products reflects the intensifying market competition, the slowing expansion of the industry, and the tightening of regulation. Hyaluronic acid was once the “golden track” in aesthetic medicine, but now it has fallen into severe over-competition. As of 2024, there are more than 50 approved Class III medical device certificates for hyaluronic acid in China, and over 400 circulating brands. This has also led to more choices for aesthetic medicine institutions, while upstream manufacturers’ ability to negotiate prices has been continuously weakened.

Looking at industry growth rates, when revisiting the aesthetic medicine industry in 2024, overall growth slowed notably due to macroeconomic conditions affecting the environment. According to calculations by Alcon and Deloitte, the overall growth rate of China’s aesthetic medicine market in 2024 was about 10%. Although it still maintained double-digit growth, it has experienced a significant slowdown compared with the 20% growth rate in 2023. On the regulatory front, in 2024 China’s National Medical Products Administration strengthened the “three certificates for devices” approval process, cracking down on illegal aesthetic medicine institutions. As a result, the pressure on upstream manufacturers to rectify distribution channels increased significantly.

Aimeike’s predicament is, in essence, a snapshot of the aesthetic medicine industry shifting from the explosive growth period to a mature stage. As the industry enters the second half, the era of “easy money while lying down” will also not return. At present, about 98% of Aimeike’s revenue still relies on hyaluronic acid-based products. Among the 10 research-and-development products mentioned in the annual report, only Bonida 2.0 for chin augmentation was approved at the end of 2024. However, this product is essentially an expansion of indications for existing products rather than revolutionary innovation.

As for the company’s reserved products, in segments such as botulinum toxin and collagen, competition is fierce and it will be difficult to cultivate products like a breakout hit comparable to “Haiti.” Whether the 1.22B yuan high-premium acquisition of 85% equity in South Korea’s REGEN can open a new growth curve remains in doubt. Under an entirely new market competition landscape, Aimeike still faces many challenges in trying to maintain its leading position in the industry.

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