Unitree (宇树科技), China's leading humanoid (human-shaped robot) company, surged more than 600% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the 19th as it went public.
Unitree began trading on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange at 9:30 a.m. local time that day. The share price soared to 1,100 yuan per share (about 229,000 won) right after the open, up 629% from the offering price of 150.8 yuan (about 31,000 won), and the market capitalization reached 444.9 billion yuan (about 92.8 trillion won).
After the surge, Unitree shares eased slightly to 890 yuan per share (about 186,000 won) as of 10:20 a.m. This is up 490% from the offering price.
Through this initial public offering (IPO), Unitree issued about 40,446,000 new shares, equivalent to 10% of its total stock. About 8,089,000 shares, or 20% of the new issuance, were allocated to nine strategic investors. Founder Wang Xingsing's equity stood at 33.35% before the listing.
Unitree has drawn market attention for its "ultra-fast listing." It set a record by passing the listing review committee on June 1, just 73 days after applying for an IPO to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Mar. 20. It then received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission in early last month, about a month later.
With this IPO, Unitree became the first humanoid manufacturer to list on China's mainland stock market. Another major humanoid company, UBtech (优必选), is listed on the Hong Kong stock market.
Unitree's sales last year were 1.71 billion yuan (about 356.5 billion won), up 335% from a year earlier. Net profit for the same period rose 204% to 287.6 million yuan (about 60 billion won). First-quarter sales this year increased 68% to 423 million yuan (about 88.2 billion won), but growth slowed compared with the explosive first quarter last year (+333%). Unitree's sales outlook for the first half of this year is 1.052 billion–1.128 billion yuan (about 219.4 billion–235.2 billion won).