SF Express goes public, again: Logistics giant now trading in Hong Kong

Leading Chinese parcel delivery and logistics company SF Express has recently started trading in Hong Kong after a successful IPO. On 27 November, the Shenzhen-based company SF became the first logistics provider to be trading in both China’s A-share and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), 7 years after going public in Shenzhen through a reverse takeover.

SF Holding started trading at 34.30 HKD (4.41 USD) per share and the 170 million shares sold helped the company raise 566.1 million HKD (72.75 million USD) via IPO. The share price was 35.05 HKD (4.50 USD) at its highest in the morning before dropping back down to 34.30 HKD. Currently, the company is valued at 170 billion HKD (21.85 billion USD).

As per recent data, SF is the largest comprehensive logistics service provider in Asia and the 4th largest in the world as of 2023. Its revenue in the past 3 years was 207.2 billion RMB (28.59 billion USD), 267.5 billion RMB (36.91 billion USD) and 258.4 billion RMB (35.65 billion USD) in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Gross profit was 25.78 billion RMB (3.56 billion USD), 33.0 billion RMB (4.56 billion USD) and 32.6 billion RMB (4.50 billion USD) in the last three years, with a profit margin of 12.4%, 12.3% and 12.6%.

There has been a wave of “A+H” (A-share and HK) listings in recent years because trading in China will benefit the companies’ valuation while listing in Hong Kong can help build global business and reputation. SF becoming the first logistics company to do so shows its strength and ambition. The company reported 206.86 billion RMB (28.54 billion USD) revenue and 7.62 billion RMB (1.05 billion USD) of net profit in the first 9 months of 2024, exceeding its “big four” rivals (ST, YTO, Yunda and Deppon) combined. However, as the company expands into the global market and faces more comprehensive rivals such as JD Logistics which builds upon JD.com’s e-commerce empire, SF still faces strong competition in these new markets.

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