Revenue growth with profits falling instead, the actual controller cashes out 900 million at a high level, and Top Group prepares for a Hong Kong listing to resume financing

Ask AI · Is the insider’s cash-out related to intensified competition in the robotics business?

( Image source: Visual China )

Blue Whale News April 1st On March 31st, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange official website showed that Top Group (601689.SH) submitted a prospectus, planning to list on the Hong Kong Main Board.

The company was listed on the A-share market on March 19, 2015. As of the market close on April 1, 2026, its total market value is approximately 101.9 billion RMB. For this Hong Kong listing, the joint sponsors are CITIC Securities and UBS.

Fluctuations in raw material prices led to revenue growth without profit increase for the first time in six years

As a leading integrated system solution provider serving vehicle manufacturers and humanoid robot developers, Top Group has a diversified product portfolio covering core automotive parts and humanoid robot components, and is expanding into emerging fields such as liquid cooling system components.

The company’s innovative “Tier 0.5” business model allows it to work closely with customers throughout the product development process, surpassing the traditional Tier 1 supply scope, enabling more flexible development experiences and better product integration.

Notably, its humanoid robot components are based on automotive parts technology, achieving technological synergy and industrial collaboration.

As of December 31, 2025, Top Group’s business footprint spans 11 countries and 42 cities, with over 1,800 overseas employees. It operates 61 production bases in 28 Chinese cities and 14 overseas cities, with more than 100 manufacturing plants, providing services and support to global customers.

Data shows that, based on 2024 revenue, the company is the world’s largest supplier of lightweight chassis systems and China’s leading supplier of soft interior functional components. Its NVH damping systems hold the top domestic market share and rank among the top three globally. Its air suspension systems have a domestic market share of 13.6%, ranking among the top three in the industry.

According to the prospectus, in the past 2023, 2024, and 2025, Top Group’s operating revenues were 19.7B RMB, 26.6 billion RMB, and 29.58B RMB, respectively, maintaining a steady growth trend.

Despite continuous revenue growth, Top Group experienced its first increase in revenue without profit growth in six years in 2025. The prospectus shows that the company’s net profit in 2025 was 2.78B RMB, down 7.38% from 3B RMB in 2024.

The company explained that this was mainly due to multiple factors: on one hand, fluctuations in raw material prices and intensified market competition led to a decline in gross profit margin, compounded by complex international situations increasing operational uncertainties; on the other hand, overseas new capacity is still ramping up, with high fixed costs such as depreciation and amortization, jointly putting pressure on profits.

The funds raised from the Hong Kong IPO, after deducting issuance costs, will mainly be used for four major directions: first, investing in domestic and international automotive parts and intelligent manufacturing lines to expand capacity; second, improving global production layout, advancing overseas factory construction and capacity ramp-up, strengthening global delivery capabilities; third, increasing R&D investment focusing on automotive intelligence, lightweighting, and robot actuator technology innovation; fourth, strategic equity investments, operational capital supplementation, and general business purposes to support business expansion and globalization.

New business still in investment phase, insider cashes out 900 million RMB after stock price surge

Currently, the core issues in Top Group’s operations focus on declining gross profit margin, contributions from emerging businesses, and capital expenditure pressures.

Looking at each business segment, in 2025, the revenue from shock absorption systems, interior functional parts, chassis systems, automotive electronics, thermal management systems, and robot actuators was 4.26 billion RMB, 9.67 billion RMB, 8.72 billion RMB, 2.77 billion RMB, 2.09 billion RMB, and 14M RMB, respectively.

Among these, automotive electronics revenue grew significantly, increasing by 52.1% year-on-year, mainly due to large-scale volume increases in air suspension and other products.

In terms of gross profit margin, the company’s overall gross margin in 2025 was 18.04%, down 1.38 percentage points from 2024. Major products like shock absorption systems and interior functional parts saw varying degrees of margin decline. Meanwhile, the company’s operating costs grew faster than revenue, reaching 23.83B RMB in 2025, up 13.14% year-on-year.

While traditional auto parts face pressure, the new robotics business that Top Group is actively developing currently contributes only minimally and faces fierce competition.

The company split off its robotics division in 2023, and in 2025, it disclosed “robot actuators” as a separate business segment for the first time, but this product only generated 13.5911 million RMB in annual revenue, accounting for just 0.05% of total revenue.

Despite high hopes for humanoid robots and a 5 billion RMB investment in a core component manufacturing base in Ningbo, the gross margin of this product has continuously declined from 81.25% in 2023 to 28.25% in 2025, indicating that the domestic humanoid robot industry market competition has become increasingly intense.

Furthermore, large-scale global expansion and capacity building have led to sustained capital expenditure, coupled with high R&D investment, putting pressure on the company’s cash flow and asset-liability structure. As of the end of 2025, total liabilities reached 19.8 billion RMB, indicating certain financial pressures.

Between July and September 2025, benefiting from the robotics concept, Top Group’s stock price surged 85.76% over 51 trading days, reaching a record high. However, the company’s actual controller, Wu Jianshu, and his concerted parties reduced their holdings through centralized bidding from August 29 to September 10, cashing out nearly 900 million RMB.