鹿鸣财经

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A Northeast uncle selling outdoor energy storage reaches global TOP4, but faces continuous turbulence while striving for an IPO

It may be hard to imagine, but power outages remain a nightmare for many households in developed countries like Europe and the US. As a result, portable energy storage devices have become a popular choice for many families.

Recently, Shenzhen Delanminghai New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Delanminghai'), a unicorn in the portable energy storage industry, $Shenzhen PowerOak Newener Co., Ltd. (811153.HK)$ filed its prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning an IPO on the Hong Kong Main Board. This marks its second attempt at the capital market within three years.

In terms of the industry, Delanminghai's competitors such as Anker Innovations and Huabao New Energy have already successfully gone public.

However, the share prices of both companies have remained relatively flat after their listings. Particularly for Huabao New Energy, its stock price has fallen from a peak of over 150 yuan per share to just above 60 yuan per share currently. In the first three quarters of last year, its net profit was only about half of that during the same period in its listing year. This decline can be attributed to multiple adverse factors including tariffs and intensified industry competition.

These factors are also evident in Delanminghai’s case.

Although Delanminghai's revenue exceeded 2 billion yuan in 2024, securing the fourth position globally in portable energy storage, behind this impressive facade, financial statements reveal another side: despite continuous revenue growth, the company still struggles to shake off the curse of losses; its key portable energy storage products stopped growing last year, dragging down overall revenue growth; and high inventory levels have weighed on cash flow performance.

More critically, Delanminghai has been involved in substantial dividend payouts before the IPO, foreign exchange evasion, and misreporting, exposing issues related to its credibility and operational compliance directly to public scrutiny.

From a contract manufacturer to a global giant

For founder Yin Xiangzhu, Delanminghai is not his first entrepreneurial project.

Yin Xiangzhu was born in Jilin, Northeast China. In 2006, Yin Xiangzhu began to deeply engage in the lithium battery industry. Years of experience made him realize the harsh reality of internal competition within the lithium battery sector, prompting him to shift his focus to what was then a relatively new field – energy storage.

His decision to enter the energy storage sector was influenced by one of Yin Xiangzhu's past experiences.

In 2011, following a major earthquake in Japan, outdoor energy storage products gained significant popularity. Yin Xiangzhu led his team to procure core raw materials such as inverters and batteries, assembling products themselves.

However, outsourcing key components was not secure, as any accidents caused by uncontrollable parts would lead consumers to blame the product. Therefore, in 2013, Yin Xiangzhu officially established Delanminghai with his team, engaging in contract manufacturing while focusing on R&D for core components.

A turning point came in 2020.

At that time, energy storage in the cross-border e-commerce field was booming. Tired of low-margin contract manufacturing, Yin Xiangzhu decided to create his own brand. Thus, a small team of only 12 people founded the BLUETTI brand, marking the start of Delanminghai’s branding journey.

Although Delanminghai had previously attempted to sell products on Amazon, the results were mediocre. It wasn’t until the launch of the AC200 portable power station that the deadlock was broken.

At the time, most energy storage products stored less than 1 kWh, whereas the AC200 could store 2 kWh, effectively outclassing existing products. In July 2020, the BLUETTI AC200 portable power station launched on the crowdfunding platform INDIEGOGO, achieving its $2 million crowdfunding goal on the second day and eventually reaching $6.7 million. This also set a record for the fastest Indiegogo energy storage product to reach $1 million.

The success of the crowdfunding campaign reinforced Yin Xiangzhu and his team’s belief that building their own brand was the right path. Delanminghai quickly expanded its sales infrastructure, establishing independent websites and third-party channels like Amazon.

Thanks to the buzz generated during the crowdfunding pre-sale period, Delanminghai achieved nearly $300,000 in sales on its first day through its independent website channel. In 2022, Delanminghai further expanded into the European market, capitalizing on the increased demand for energy storage products brought about by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In 2023, BLUETTI portable energy storage products accounted for nearly 70% of Delanminghai's revenue, with product coverage spanning over 120 countries and regions.

According to the prospectus, in terms of revenue statistics, Delanminghai entered the global top four in 2024.

Source: Prospectus

Annual sales of 2 billion yuan, yet still 'not profitable.'

Although Delanminghai has been growing rapidly, its profitability remains unsatisfactory to date.

The prospectus shows that from 2023 to the first three quarters of 2025, Delanminghai’s operating revenues were 1.777 billion yuan, 2.174 billion yuan, and 1.572 billion yuan respectively; net losses during the same periods were 184 million yuan, 46.624 million yuan, and 29.852 million yuan respectively.

Source: Prospectus

Afterward, Delanminghai made an adjustment. From 2023 to the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s net profits were -116 million yuan, 20 million yuan, and 25 million yuan respectively, with an overall loss of 226 million yuan.

Breaking down the revenue, portable energy storage products accounted for the majority of income, consistently making up around 70% of total revenue. However, this business ended its growth trend last year, dropping from 1.076 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2024 to 1.059 billion yuan in the same period of 2025, thus slowing the company’s overall revenue growth to just 3.3% year-on-year in the first three quarters of last year.

Additionally, according to the prospectus, as of the end of 2023, 2024, and the third quarter of 2025, Delanminghai’s inventory book value was 904 million yuan, 618 million yuan, and 908 million yuan respectively. The increase in inventory occupied Delanminghai’s cash flow situation. In the third quarter of last year, the net cash flow from operating activities turned from 371 million yuan in the same period of 2024 to -415 million yuan.

The reason Delanminghai is still mired in losses today is closely related to persistently high sales expenses.

The prospectus shows that in recent years, Delanminghai’s sales platform fees have been continuously increasing, rising from 82.6 million yuan in 2023 to 117 million yuan in 2024, reaching 96.56 million yuan in the first three quarters of last year, representing a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%.

Source: Prospectus

We believe that the continuous rise in sales platform fees is primarily due to two reasons:

First, the competitive landscape for Delanminghai is becoming increasingly intense. Not only does it face international established players like Goal Zero and Lion Energy, but also strong new competitors such as Huabao New Energy and Anker Innovations. In addition, giants like Huawei, Xiaomi, and CATL are expanding into outdoor power supplies and emergency power products, forcing Delanminghai to ramp up its sales expenses to maintain a certain market share.

Second, in recent years, Amazon's platform traffic fees have been continuously rising, meaning the threshold and cost for sellers to acquire traffic are increasing.

The prospectus shows that currently, in terms of online channels, the sales revenue from the Amazon platform and the independent official website are very close, each accounting for about 30% of total revenue. According to public information, CPC (cost-per-click) for highly competitive categories on the Amazon platform can reach $1.5 to $2.5, making the selling costs extremely high for sellers. This also means that Delanminghai, which relies on Amazon for 30% of its revenue, will find it difficult to reduce its sales costs.

Of course, the rising cost of online sales isn't an issue faced by Delanminghai alone. Its competitor Huabao New Energy reported sales platform costs of nearly 100 million yuan in the first half of last year, marking a year-on-year increase of over 30%, ultimately resulting in a net loss of -16 million to -23 million yuan, plunging the company into a deficit.

According to public information, starting January 15 this year, Amazon raised the fulfillment fees for FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), a third-party logistics service. Market analysis generally believes this will reduce seller profits by 5%-15%, meaning Delanminghai and its peers may face even higher online costs.

A few hurdles before the IPO

For companies rushing towards an IPO, compliance is the most basic red line. However, Delanminghai has engaged in several non-compliant practices that could potentially harm secondary market investors.

On one hand, in recent years, regulators have placed greater emphasis on large dividend payouts made just before a company goes public.

In June 2025, Delanminghai announced a special dividend payout totaling 50.143 million yuan, of which 37.143 million yuan had already been paid. In February this year, Delanminghai distributed another dividend of 87.4 million yuan.

As mentioned above, Delan Minghai's cash flow situation is not good, and it is in a state of substantial losses.

In order to distribute this money reasonably, Delan Minghai recorded the amount allocated to investors as a liability in the profit and loss statement under 'interest expenses for special rights granted to ordinary shareholders,' making the allocation appear justified. However, there is no doubt that if the company successfully goes public, this practice indirectly damages the interests of potential secondary market investors.

On the other hand, Delan Minghai has exhibited several non-compliant behaviors.

Tianyancha shows that in 2024, Delan Minghai was fined 229,000 yuan by the Shenzhen Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange for evading foreign exchange regulations; in 2021, Delan Minghai was fined 112,500 yuan for concealing dangerous goods in shipments or misdeclaring dangerous goods as regular cargo.

In terms of sales regions, the Americas and Europe are key markets for Delan Minghai, together accounting for nearly 80% of its revenue. This also indicates that Delan Minghai has relatively low resistance to risks stemming from international situations and tariff changes.

As a countermeasure, Delan Minghai has chosen to collaborate with third-party factories in Indonesia to adapt to changing tariff policies, but this will further increase management and capital expenditures.

Source: Prospectus

Meanwhile, the US recently launched a Section 301 investigation into structural overcapacity and production issues in the manufacturing sectors of 16 economies, including China.

If the US subsequently expands the scope of reciprocal tariffs, it means that even if the product’s origin changes, it may still face new trade restrictions. This implies that Delan Minghai’s 'China R&D + Indonesia manufacturing' model for selling products to the US could still be threatened by the Damocles sword of tariffs.

Summary

From a small subcontracting factory that mortgaged houses to pay salaries, to becoming one of the leading players in the global portable energy storage industry, Delan Minghai’s growth story reflects both entrepreneurial resilience and the imprints of an unruly industry expansion.

The company seized the booming outdoor camping trend, achieved a turnaround through a hit product, built a global sales network, and completed its accumulation in just a few years.

However, when the IPO spotlight shines, the underlying concerns beneath the光环 become exposed: the persistent profitability dilemma of continuous losses, pressured cash flow, high sales expenses, and controversies such as large dividends before the IPO and insufficient compliance, all placing this company, which is striving to go public, at the crossroads of public opinion.

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