Guangzhou Wenshi Information Technology Co., Ltd. ("Wenshi Information") has once again submitted a listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CITIC Securities International as the sole sponsor. This marks the second attempt within eight months for the e-paper device company, after its first application filed on January 16 automatically lapsed upon reaching the six-month validity limit.

Notably, Wenshi Information's latest revenue growth has slowed to single digits, its operating cash flow has swung from positive to negative, and its inventory has piled up to 749 million yuan. All of this comes after the company paid out hefty dividends to existing shareholders and cashed out through capital reductions, at a time when it urgently needs IPO proceeds to replenish its coffers.

After Growth Lost Momentum

Wenshi Information is headquartered in Guangzhou. Its predecessor, Guangzhou Wenshi Information Technology Co., Ltd., was established in December 2008 and launched the "BOOX" brand in 2009, focusing on e-ink smart hardware for nearly 20 years. In November 2025, it was restructured into a joint-stock company and renamed to its current name.

The company's product lines are divided into two major categories: high-speed readers and productivity tablets, both equipped with its self-developed open operating system BOOX OS, positioning around paper-like reading and writing, handwritten annotations, and focused office scenarios, targeting knowledge workers such as students, researchers, lawyers, and doctors. As of June 30, 2026, BOOX OS had more than 1.2 million monthly active users, with products covering over 100 countries and regions worldwide, primarily sold through distributors and e-commerce platforms.

According to a report by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, based on 2025 retail value, Wenshi Information holds a 4.2% share, ranking second globally, behind only Norway's reMarkable (13.1%), with Kobo, iFlytek, and Hanvon occupying the third through fifth spots. The top five together account for only 27.4%. Wenshi Information is the world's second-largest and China's largest knowledge-focused productivity tool brand.

It should be pointed out that the "global second, China first" designation refers to Frost & Sullivan's measurement of the "knowledge-focused productivity tool market." In the broader "knowledge-focused smart tool market" (which includes pure e-book readers such as Kindle), Amazon Kindle led with 7.9% in 2025, reMarkable followed with 6.8%, and Wenshi Information ranked only third with 2.2%, showing a significant gap with leading players.

Moreover, the global knowledge-focused productivity tool market itself is cooling down. Frost & Sullivan projects that the global knowledge-focused productivity tool market's compound growth rate from 2021 to 2025 was 26.5%, but will slow to approximately 16% from 2026 to 2030. At the same time, substitution competition from general-purpose tablets and large-screen smartphones, along with the penetration of AI functions into workflows, is squeezing the survival space of pure hardware manufacturers.

During 2023, 2024, 2025, and the first half of 2026 (the "reporting period"), the company achieved operating revenue of 804 million yuan, 1.018 billion yuan, 1.128 billion yuan, and 574 million yuan, respectively. Year-over-year growth was 26.6% in 2024, slowing to 10.9% in 2025, and further narrowing to 7.4% in the first half of 2026.

During the same reporting period, Wenshi Information's net profit was 124 million yuan, 121 million yuan, 131 million yuan, and 53 million yuan, respectively. It is evident that while the company's revenue scale has expanded year after year, profits have not grown in tandem. Net profit in 2024 edged down about 2% year-over-year, and in the first half of 2026, net profit fell 24% year-over-year, with the net margin dropping to 9.3% from 13.1% in the same period of 2025. The company attributed this to intensifying domestic market competition and the impact of the international trade environment.

It should be noted that in the first half of 2026, the company's "other" revenue surged from 22.16 million yuan in the same period of 2025 to 85.5 million yuan, of which 55.7 million yuan (9.7% of revenue for the period) came from reselling chips manufactured by third parties. The company also disclosed that the 18.1% growth in China revenue (including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) was "mainly attributable" to this resale.

Furthermore, revenue from high-speed readers, the company's core business, was halved from 221 million yuan to 104 million yuan, with sales volume dropping from 204,000 units to 117,000 units and average selling price falling from 1,087 yuan to 895 yuan. Although productivity tablet revenue grew 32%, the average selling price dropped from 2,398 yuan to 1,869 yuan, leaving room for debate over whether there is a suspicion of "trading price for volume."

During the reporting period, Wenshi Information's net operating cash flow was 106 million yuan, 133 million yuan, -71 million yuan, and -199 million yuan, respectively, with the gap widening sharply in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, Wenshi Information's inventory increased from 499 million yuan at the end of 2025 to 749 million yuan at the end of June, with inventory turnover days rising from 153 days in 2023 to 209 days in 2025, and further to 313 days in the first half of 2026.

Draining Blood While Replenishing It

Beyond Wenshi Information's growth issues, the company also faces a situation of simultaneously "draining blood" and "replenishing blood" from banks. In 2023, Wenshi Information paid dividends of 10 million yuan; in 2024, the company paid another 90 million yuan in dividends. In 2025, the company declared 100 million yuan, of which 55.7 million yuan remained unpaid as of the end of June this year.

Additionally, in March 2024, the company reduced its registered capital from 15 million yuan to 8.918 million yuan, paying a total of 181 million yuan in capital reduction payments to exiting shareholder Rongjie Group (122 million yuan paid that year, with the remaining 59.8 million yuan settled on August 13, 2026). In 2024 alone, capital reduction payments plus dividends totaled approximately 212 million yuan, exceeding the year's net profit of 121 million yuan.

At the same time, the company's interest-bearing bank borrowings increased from 2 million yuan at the end of 2024 to 132 million yuan at the end of 2025, reaching 329 million yuan at the end of June 2026, and further rising to 377 million yuan at the end of July, all of which must be repaid within one year. The debt-to-capital ratio soared from 1.4% in 2023 to 253.1% at the end of June 2026. Cash and cash equivalents declined from 201 million yuan at the end of 2023 to 118 million yuan at the end of June 2026.

Members of the company's controlling shareholder group, Dan Yuting, Zhu Zeng, and Zhai Yongtai, have also provided personal guarantees for 132 million yuan of the bank loans (to be released upon listing).

Wenshi Information also faces concentration risk with its suppliers. According to the prospectus, Wenshi Information's top five suppliers accounted for 48.3% of purchases in 2023, rising to 55.9% in the first half of 2026. The most critical component is e-ink displays. E Ink Holdings controls approximately 90% of the global e-ink material market by revenue, while Wenshi Information's purchases from other e-ink display suppliers were 0% from 2023 to 2025 and only 2.4% in the first half of 2026, indicating a reliance on a single supply source.

Meanwhile, E Ink Holdings, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Chuanqi Optoelectronics, acquired a 4.9% stake in Wenshi Information in 2024 at 8.5 yuan per share, in the same round and at the same price as investors including Lenovo Tianjin. This global monopoly supplier thus holds the dual identity of Wenshi Information's "largest supplier" and "shareholder."