Anker Innovations clears Hong Kong listing hearing: controlling shareholders received over RMB 400 million in dividends in one year, with RMB 9 billion idle funds allocated to wealth management products

$Anker Innovations Technology (300866.SZ)$$Anker Innovations Technology Co., Ltd. (811005.HK)$

According to recent disclosures from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Anker Innovations Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 300866; hereinafter referred to as 'Anker Innovations'), known as the 'power bank king,' has passed the listing hearing for the HKEX Main Board. CICC, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are acting as joint sponsors.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Anker Innovations is set to list on the HKEX Main Board, achieving a dual A+H share listing. However, given the company’s strong cash position—evidenced by its plan to allocate RMB 9 billion of idle funds to wealth management products—some market participants have raised questions about the rationale behind its Hong Kong fundraising.

Strong performance over the past decade, with Q1 net profit slightly declining

According to the prospectus and Tianyancha, Anker Innovations' core business spans three product lines: smart charging and energy storage, smart home innovation, and smart audio-visual products. These include mobile charging, consumer-grade energy storage, smart security, smart cleaning, creative printing, smart audio, and smart projectors.

According to data from Frost & Sullivan, the company ranked second globally in the mobile charging products segment by revenue from 2020 to 2024 and is the world’s largest independent mobile charging brand. In 2025, Anker Innovations ranked first globally in the mobile charging products market by revenue, with a market share of 4.8%. Its products are sold in over 180 countries and regions worldwide. While solidifying its position in core markets such as North America and Europe, the company has also achieved rapid growth in emerging markets. As of December 31, 2025, the company had accumulated more than 200 million users globally.

Based on the prospectus and A-share financial reports, during the reporting period (2023–2025), the company reported revenues of RMB 17.51 billion, RMB 24.71 billion, and RMB 30.51 billion, representing year-over-year increases of 22.85%, 41.14%, and 23.49%, respectively. Net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 1.615 billion, RMB 2.114 billion, and RMB 2.545 billion, up 41.22%, 30.93%, and 20.37% year-over-year, respectively. Adjusted net profit was RMB 1.344 billion, RMB 1.888 billion, and RMB 2.179 billion, increasing by 71.88%, 40.50%, and 15.44% year-over-year, respectively.

In the first quarter of this year, Anker Innovations reported revenue of RMB 7.608 billion, an increase of 26.93% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 471.6 million, down 4.87% year-over-year; and adjusted net profit was RMB 546.8 million, up 24.39% year-over-year.

During the reporting period, the company’s gross margin continued to rise, reaching 43.54%, 43.67%, and 45.07%, respectively, and stood at 43.64% in the first quarter of this year. However, on the other hand, the company’s operating margin has been continuously declining, standing at 9.7%, 8.9%, and 8.6% during the reporting period, and further dropping to 6.19% in the first quarter.

The prospectus also notes that over a longer time horizon, the company’s revenue grew more than 23-fold between 2015 and 2025, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 35%, demonstrating its strong capabilities in long-term business expansion and value creation.

A research report from Nomura Oriental Securities in early May noted that, overall, excluding the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations and changes in investment income, the company’s core business performance in the first quarter met expectations. First-quarter adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders grew by 24.4%, primarily driven by optimization of product and channel mix, which expanded the gross-to-sales margin differential.

Specifically, the company’s operational performance can be summarized in two aspects: First, geographically, domestic sales continued rapid growth due to a low base, and in terms of channels, the company further reduced its reliance on Amazon, with its official website and offline channels showing leading growth momentum. In Q1 2026, domestic and overseas revenue grew by 40.08% and 26.35% year-over-year, respectively. Revenue from online, offline, and official website channels increased by 25.17%, 30.79%, and 46.73% year-over-year, respectively.

Second, regarding profitability, price increases and optimization of product and channel mix contributed to an expansion in the gross-to-sales margin differential, but foreign exchange losses weighed on net profit margin performance. In the first quarter, although the gross-to-sales margin differential improved by 2.6 percentage points year-over-year, intensified R&D spending and foreign exchange losses caused management and financial expense ratios to rise by 1.3 and 1.4 percentage points year-over-year, respectively, offsetting the gains from margin expansion. Meanwhile, combined changes in investment income and equity investments reduced profits by RMB 1.5 billion, resulting in a 2.1-percentage-point year-over-year decline in profit margin.

Nomura Oriental Securities commented that in the near term, it remains optimistic about sustained rapid growth in overseas residential energy storage demand, supported by high energy prices and improving regulations for plug-and-play photovoltaic products, which should continue to drive robust revenue growth in the company’s charging and energy storage business. Additionally, the company’s UV3D printer has completed crowdfunding deliveries and is now available in the domestic market, expected to provide additional revenue upside. Overall, the company’s top-line growth is likely to maintain the strong momentum seen in the first quarter. On profitability, assuming no product recalls occur in 2026 and considering the impacts of foreign exchange volatility and rising raw material costs, the firm expects only limited year-over-year improvement in the company’s profitability in 2026.

However, due to foreign exchange losses and reduced investment income weighing on first-quarter profit performance, Nomura Orient Securities slightly lowered its 2026 net margin forecast by 0.1 percentage point, resulting in a revised EPS forecast of RMB 5.84 per share (under financial reporting standards, down from RMB 5.94 per share). On valuation, the firm maintains its 2026 target P/E ratio at 25x and, incorporating the updated earnings forecast, lowered its target price to RMB 146.11 (from RMB 148.56), implying 16.5% upside potential, while keeping its 'Buy' rating unchanged.

Huachuang Securities, meanwhile, believes that Anker Innovations’ domestic market could benefit from industry consolidation driven by new national standards, which would favor market share concentration among leading brands, leading to faster growth domestically than overseas. 'By product category, we expect smart audio-visual business growth to lag behind the overall average due to a lack of new product support. However, charging and energy storage segments are poised for strong growth as the impact of the recall fades and amid high industry demand in Europe. Smart innovation may also benefit from revenue recognition related to UV printer crowdfunding, likely outperforming the smart audio-visual segment.'

Since June 2026, Anker Innovations has recalled over 2.38 million power banks globally due to 'overheating and combustion risks' stemming from unauthorized changes to core materials by an upstream battery cell supplier.

According to its 2025 annual report, Anker Innovations recognized RMB 1.04 billion in 'product quality assurance liabilities,' with total asset impairment losses for the year reaching RMB 3.65 billion, a 194.1% year-over-year surge. In the first quarter of this year, the company reported domestic and overseas revenue of RMB 360 million and RMB 72.5 billion, respectively.

The controlling shareholders—a married couple—received dividends exceeding RMB 400 million in one year and used RMB 9 billion in idle funds to purchase wealth management products.

In terms of revenue composition in 2025, the company’s charging and energy storage segment generated RMB 15.402 billion in revenue, up 21.59% year-over-year, accounting for 50.47% of total revenue; the smart innovation segment recorded RMB 8.271 billion in revenue, up 30.53% year-over-year, representing 27.11% of total revenue; and the smart audio-visual segment reported RMB 6.833 billion in revenue, up 20.05% year-over-year, making up 22.39% of total revenue.

During investor meetings held between May 8 and May 22 this year, Anker Innovations stated that going forward, the company will continue driving product innovation and localizing its operations around scenarios such as home power generation, energy storage, electricity consumption, and charging.

Additionally, in April 2026, the company launched its first AI audio chip featuring integrated compute-in-memory architecture, Thus™. Built on NOR Flash technology, the Thus™ chip natively supports 4-megaparameter models and represents the company’s inaugural neural-network-based compute-in-memory AI audio chip. According to internal lab tests, Thus™ delivers up to 150x higher peak AI computing power compared to conventional Bluetooth earphone chips, enabling end-to-end neural network execution directly on edge devices and deployment of megaparameter-scale models on earphones. This chip will first be integrated into the company’s flagship earphone products.

An investor asked: What is driving growth in the charging products market? Is it coming from market expansion or market share gains?

Anker Innovations believes thatGrowth stems from the combination of two factors. First, the global charging market remains on a solid growth trajectory, driven by the continuous increase in smart terminal devices and their rising power consumption, which fuels demand for multi-scenario energy replenishment solutions. Second, the company has effectively increased its market share in this segment. For example, it launched the Anker PowerHouse portable power station—a high-power mobile power product designed for scenarios such as laptop charging—creating a new niche application. Through product innovation, the company has not only expanded the potential market boundary of its product categories but also further enhanced its competitiveness.

It is reported that Anker Innovations will allocate the proceeds from its Hong Kong IPO to six key areas: advancing product iteration and innovation, investing in R&D and talent acquisition, enhancing brand influence and deepening customer loyalty, strengthening global market strategies, upgrading its supply chain management system, and supplementing working capital and general corporate purposes.

However, the company does not appear to be short of funds in terms of business operations.

According to the prospectus, during the reporting period, the company paid dividends of RMB 488 million, RMB 11.32 billion, and RMB 11.73 billion, with dividend payout ratios reaching 50.3%, 52.8%, and 50.6%, respectively.

In terms of equity structure, as of March 31, 2026, Yang Meng held a 43.4% stake and He Li held 3.64%. As husband and wife, Yang Meng and He Li together control 47% of the company’s equity. In other words, the couple received dividends totaling RMB 5.5 billion in 2025 alone.

Meanwhile, if based on the 2025 profit distribution proposal of the A-share listed entity—which plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 17 per 10 shares (pre-tax) using the total share capital of 536 million shares as the base—the total expected cash dividend would amount to RMB 9.11 billion (pre-tax), with the couple receiving over RMB 4 billion in dividends.

Additionally, on June 16, Anker Innovations announced that at its eighth meeting of the fourth board of directors held on April 8, 2026, it approved the 'Proposal on Using Idle Internal Funds to Purchase Wealth Management Products.' The board agreed that, without affecting normal operations, the company may use up to RMB 5 billion (inclusive) of idle internal funds to invest in wealth management products, including but not limited to structured deposits, large-denomination certificates of deposit, principal-guaranteed bank wealth management products, and other investment vehicles approved through the company’s internal decision-making procedures. This limit will remain valid from the date of approval by the 2025 annual shareholders’ meeting until the convening of the 2026 annual shareholders’ meeting, and within this limit, funds may be reused on a rolling basis.

To better utilize its idle internal funds and further improve capital efficiency, the company held its eleventh meeting of the fourth board of directors on June 15, 2026, and approved the 'Proposal on Increasing the Quota for Using Idle Internal Funds to Purchase Wealth Management Products.' The board agreed to increase the authorized amount by up to RMB 4 billion (inclusive) for purchasing wealth management products, including but not limited to structured deposits, large-denomination certificates of deposit, principal-guaranteed bank wealth management products, and other investment vehicles approved through the company’s internal decision-making procedures. Following this increase, the total authorized amount for using idle internal funds to purchase wealth management products stands at up to RMB 9 billion (inclusive).(Produced by Harbor Financial)

Shi Zifu and Wang Lu, Harbour Business Observer

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