EqualOcean has learned that on August 16th, Gambol Pet Food Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Gambol or 乖宝宠物) successfully debuted on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In this public offering, the offering price of Gambol's stocks was set at CNY 39.99 per share. The first-day trading performance was robust, with the stock price surging over 90%, briefly propelling the market value beyond CNY 30 billion.
Founded in 2006 in Liaocheng, Shandong, Gambol gained early market favor and rapidly expanded its presence, with its pet food products gaining wide popularity both domestically and internationally, achieving an annual revenue exceeding CNY 3 billion. During its growth, Gambol also attracted investments from institutions such as KKR and Legend Capital（君联资本）. Under the leadership of CEO Qin Hua, the company underwent a significant transformation from contract manufacturing to establishing its own brand, as well as transitioning from imitation to independent research and development. The product line evolved from a single chicken breast snack to encompass a diverse range of offerings including snacks, main meals, wet food, dental chews, dog treats, and health supplements, comprising hundreds of products.
In 2013, Gambol introduced its own brand 'Myfoodie'（麦富迪）, mainly targeting the domestic market with its affordable products. Subsequently, the Myfoodie brand evolved in response to changing consumer demands, leading to the creation of multiple product lines such as the high-meat Fregate cat food series, the full-priced freeze-dried Fregate cat food series, the double-mix food series, and the Probiotics series.
In 2021, Gambol acquired Waggin' Train, a renowned pet brand under Nestlé, aiming at the high-end pet food market segment. Concurrently, the company also became the general agent for New Zealand brands K9 Natural and Feline Natural in the Chinese region, further enhancing the diversification of the company's brand portfolio. This marked the transformation of Gambol from a former OEM/ODM manufacturer to a pet food enterprise with both self-owned brands and manufacturing capacities.
Over the past three years, Gambol has achieved consistent growth in revenue and performance. The combined profit statements in the prospectus reveal that from 2020 to 2022, the company's operating revenue reached CNY 2.013 billion, CNY 2.575 billion, and CNY 3.398 billion respectively. Among these figures, the sales revenue from self-owned brands accounted for 49.55%, 51.95%, and 60.55% of the total revenue respectively, particularly reaching CNY 2.046 billion in 2022, with an impressive average compound growth rate of 43.53%.
According to data from the "2022 China Pet Industry White Paper," the number of dog and cat owners in China reached 70.43 million in 2022, representing a 2.91% increase from 2021. In recent years, the growing need for companionship with pets has become increasingly prominent, offering significant market opportunities for the pet industry. By 2023, the scale of pet-owning households in China is expected to exceed 100 million, with the physical pet market size projected to reach CNY 128.7 billion.
In this IPO, Gambol has stated that as the company continues to expand, they will further strengthen their sales network and increase research and development investments in order to seize market opportunities and enhance their competitive edge.