FAST NEWS: Toy Seller Pop Mart’s overseas revenue soars in first quarter

The latest: Pop Mart International Group Ltd. (9992.HK), a seller of “blind box” collectible toys, announced Wednesday its revenue was flat to up 5% year-on-year in the first quarter, including a 5% to 10% decrease in its home mainland China market. Revenue from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas surged 160% to 165%.

Looking up: The company said its retail store sales in mainland China rebounded 5% to 10% year-on-year in the first quarter, following the lifting of Covid-related restrictions in December last year.

Take Note: The company’s “pop draw” was the worst performer among its mainland China operations, with revenue down 40% to 45% in the first quarter. Revenue from e-commerce and other online platforms also fell 5% to 10%.

Digging Deeper: Founded in Beijing in 2010 as a trendy grocery store, Pop Mart gradually transformed into a “blind box” collectible toy seller in 2015 after acting as an agent for Japanese character doll Sonny Angel. The company was listed on Beijing’s thinly traded National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) market in 2017 but delisted two years later, then moved to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2020 in an IPO that raised about HK$5 billion ($640 million). It ended years of rapid growth last year, with revenue rising only 2.8% to 4.62 billion yuan ($670 million) and net profit falling 44.3% to 476 million yuan due to higher selling and administrative expenses, as the Covid epidemic hit China’s retail sector hard.

Market Reaction: Pop Mart’s shares rose 3.9% on Thursday to close at HK$19.48. The stock now trades near the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by Jony Ho

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