In 2026, the IPO market for the home furnishing industry cooled down, and the listing journey of Xinmingzhu Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xinmingzhu”), a leading domestic ceramic enterprise, also came to an end. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange recently announced the termination of its review of Xinmingzhu’s initial public offering and listing on the main board. The company’s listing process lasted nearly three years, during which it was repeatedly suspended due to reasons such as expired financial data and changes in the reporting accountant, ultimately failing to reach its goal. When Xinmingzhu was rushing to list, the home furnishing industry was experiencing a wave of “IPO fever.” However, with the increasingly stringent regulatory environment and industry cycle adjustments, most of the home furnishing companies that submitted applications at the same time have stopped at the review stage. Currently, only a few have switched to the Beijing Stock Exchange to continue their listing process, and the overall listing situation has clearly cooled down. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) disclosed on December 31, 2025, that it had terminated its review of Xinmingzhu’s initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the main board because Xinmingzhu and its sponsoring institution had recently voluntarily submitted their withdrawal of listing application documents. Public information shows that Xinmingzhu is a large-scale building materials enterprise group integrating architectural ceramic design, R&D, production, sales, and service, with products widely used in architectural space decoration. The company’s listing application was accepted on March 3, 2023, and was subsequently suspended five times due to expired financial data. The most recent suspension occurred on September 30, 2025; three months later, the company decided to withdraw its application. Industry insiders generally believe that Xinmingzhu’s delisting is related to its fluctuating performance and the risk of reliance on real estate clients. SZSE information shows that the company’s latest prospectus remains from June 2023. Financial data shows that from 2020 to 2022, the company’s operating revenue was RMB 7.835 billion, RMB 8.493 billion, and RMB 7.424 billion, respectively, with net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring items of RMB 969 million, RMB 550 million, and RMB 562 million, respectively. From January to June 2023, the company’s unaudited operating revenue was RMB 3.582 billion, and net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring items was RMB 362 million. Meanwhile, the company’s gross profit margin continued to decline. From 2020 to 2022, its gross profit margin for its main business was 34.82%, 29.73%, and 22.88%, respectively. Xinmingzhu explained that this was mainly due to the rising prices of energy sources such as natural gas and coal, which significantly increased its production costs. At the same time, the sales prices of ceramic tiles and ceramic slabs also decreased, resulting in a combined effect and a decline in the company’s gross profit margin.
Due to liquidity risks and debt crises faced by some engineering clients, the recovery of related payments by Xinmingzhu has been hampered, resulting in a persistently high level of accounts receivable. As of December 31, 2020, December 31, 2021, and December 31, 2022, the company’s accounts receivable and notes receivable balances were RMB 2.717 billion, RMB 2.976 billion, and RMB 2.894 billion, respectively, with corresponding impairment provisions of RMB 668 million, RMB 1.445 billion, and RMB 1.456 billion, respectively.
From an outsider’s perspective, Xinmingzhu’s listing arrangements appear somewhat rushed.
According to public reports, Xinmingzhu underwent a capital increase in 2019, introducing shareholders such as Taixing Jiahua, Ningbo Pro-Fine, and Gongqingcheng Qili, and signing a performance-based agreement with repurchase conditions. The agreement stipulated that if a prospectus was not submitted within 36 months of the capital increase, the company would be unable to list within four years, and its actual controller, Ye Delin, would be required to repurchase the relevant shares. After this round of capital increase, Xinmingzhu’s overall valuation once exceeded 7.2 billion yuan. However, Xinmingzhu’s listing application was stuck at the listing deadline stipulated in the performance-based agreement. Some shareholders were not optimistic about Xinmingzhu’s listing prospects and even demanded early fulfillment of the repurchase obligation. The prospectus disclosed that in March 2022, Xinmingzhu repurchased all the shares held by Taixing Jiahua through a targeted capital reduction, thus Taixing Jiahua withdrew its shareholding, and all related performance-based agreements and repurchase agreements were terminated. Furthermore, after its listing application was accepted, Xinmingzhu signed a “Supplementary Agreement II” with shareholders including Ningbo Pro-Fine and Gongqingcheng Qili in May and June 2023. This agreement further reiterated and clarified that the performance-based clauses in the original “Capital Increase Agreement” and “Supplementary Agreement” were invalid from the outset. The company was no longer a party to the rights and obligations under the performance-based clauses, and the termination of these rights and obligations was permanent, unconditional, and irrevocable, and would not be reinstated under any conditions or for any reason. The termination of Xinmingzhu’s listing was also directly affected by changes in the industry environment. In its prospectus, the company stated that it was a leading enterprise in the building ceramics industry, with revenue and sales volume exceeding those of listed companies in the same industry, such as Dongpeng Holdings, Mona Lisa, and Dious Home Furnishings (later renamed “Dious Water”). However, the overall performance of listed companies in the same industry is currently not optimistic. Taking Mona Lisa as an example, in the first three quarters of 2025, the company achieved revenue of 2.977 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.66%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 80.5042 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 42.71%; and net profit excluding non-recurring items was 67.519 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 44.80%. Its accounts receivable also remained high. As of September 30, 2025, the company’s accounts receivable balance reached approximately 540 million yuan. Profitability indicators also reflected growth pressure. In the first three quarters of 2025, Mona Lisa’s gross profit margin was only 27.12%. In its investor relations activity record dated January 7, 2026, it further pointed out that the ceramic industry in 2025 continued the development trend of 2024, without a significant stabilization and recovery, and the market share of leading ceramic companies remained at a relatively low level overall. Regarding expenses, Mona Lisa’s sales expenses, administrative expenses, and R&D expenses all declined to varying degrees in the first three quarters of 2025. However, when asked about the potential for further cost reduction and efficiency improvement, the company frankly stated that since the real estate market entered a period of adjustment in recent years, the ceramic industry has transitioned from an era of incremental dividends to an era of stock competition. The company promptly adjusted its business strategy and implemented cost reduction and efficiency improvement measures. Going forward, enhancing competitiveness through cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and lean management will be a regular practice, but the space for cost reduction and expense reduction will become increasingly smaller. In fact, the home furnishing industry experienced a wave of IPOs around 2023. Companies such as Haobo Window Control, Tute Shares, Hango Group, Shuxiang Mendi, Huangpai Home Furnishings, Mag Home Furnishings, Yuanchao Smart, and Marco Polo submitted listing applications to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange or Shanghai Stock Exchange, covering multiple sub-sectors including door and window accessories, hardware, flooring, and ceramics. However, with increasingly stringent regulatory environments, most of these companies failed to successfully advance their listing process, with many stopping at the review stage or seeking listing on platforms such as the New Third Board or the Beijing Stock Exchange. Taking Tute Co., Ltd. as an example, its application was accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in June 2023, but it didn’t receive the first round of inquiries until January 2024, and responded at the end of July. It then received a second round of inquiries in August, but voluntarily withdrew its application in September. Tute then switched to the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), officially listing in March 2025, and launched its listing plan on the Beijing Stock Exchange a little over a month later. However, its IPO review status on the Beijing Stock Exchange has recently changed again to “suspended.” The widespread setbacks encountered by home furnishing companies rushing to go public are often the result of a combination of the companies’ own inherent weaknesses and the cyclical pressures of the industry. On the one hand, some companies have significant financial and operational risks such as fluctuating performance, high accounts receivable, and excessive customer dependence, which are more easily exposed under tighter scrutiny. On the other hand, the cooling of the listing boom also reflects the increasingly cautious examination of traditional manufacturing companies by the capital market.
