Hold the ground and create new growth points. Haier Biomedical signals a transformation.

Reporter: Liu Zhao

On March 28, Qingdao Haier Biomedical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Haier Biomedical”) disclosed its annual report for 2025. In 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of 2.329 billion yuan, an increase of 1.96% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 251 million yuan, a decrease of 31.61% year-on-year. However, in terms of pace, signs of growth recovery have gradually emerged within the year, with fourth-quarter operating revenue increasing by 13.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the company also announced a profit distribution plan that would distribute a cash dividend of 3.3 yuan for every 10 shares, with a proposed cash dividend of approximately 103 million yuan. Against the backdrop of an increasingly complex external environment and the industry’s recovery process, this annual report conveys not just simple changes in growth, but also the operational resilience and transformation path of Haier Biomedical amidst the transition between old and new driving forces.

Low-temperature Storage Stabilizes the Base

New Industries Boost Resilience

From the business structure perspective, one of the key words for Haier Biomedical in 2025 is the simultaneous pursuit of “stability” and “relay.” As a traditional advantageous sector, the low-temperature storage industry still accounts for 51.5% of revenue, although it has declined by 3.9% year-on-year. However, after returning to positive growth in the third quarter, the fourth quarter saw further acceleration, indicating that this core business is gradually emerging from the bottom. At the same time, the revenue proportion from new industries has increased to 48.5%, with a year-on-year growth of 8.8%, nearly matching the traditional core business. Among them, the smart medication industry grew by 18.8%, the blood technology industry grew by 14.8%, and the laboratory solutions industry grew by 4.9%. This means that the company’s revenue structure is shifting from a focus on single low-temperature products to a collaborative support model involving multiple industries and scenarios.

This change reflects the evolution of competitive logic in the upstream life sciences industry. The annual report shows that the industry in which the company operates features “a large market, small segments, multiple products, and diverse applications,” with profound changes occurring on both the demand and technology fronts. Viewed in this context, Haier Biomedical has not merely remained positioned as a traditional low-temperature storage equipment manufacturer, but rather has continued to expand around low-temperature storage, laboratory solutions, smart medication, blood technology, etc., attempting to build an integrated platform for life science tools and intelligent productivity. For a Sci-Tech Innovation Board enterprise, such an ability to transition from “single-point products” to “scenario solutions” is often more worthy of attention than short-term profit fluctuations.

Of course, the pressure on profits cannot be ignored. A relevant company official told the Securities Daily reporter that under trade friction, the international situation has become increasingly complex and variable, and industry demand is still in the recovery process. Coupled with the ramp-up of newly built capacity and proactive medium- to long-term strategic investments, the company’s profitability is under phase-specific pressure. In other words, the profit decline in 2025 for Haier Biomedical is not solely due to weak demand; it also includes costs incurred for laying the groundwork for competition in the next phase. This characteristic of “revenue recovery outpacing profit recovery” is not uncommon among manufacturing technology companies in a phase of transformation and upgrading. The key lies in whether these investments can be transformed into stronger product capability, channel capability, and global delivery capacity.

Globalization and Platformization Progressing in Tandem

Long-term Logic Continues to Unfold

If the transition to new industries is a clear line in Haier Biomedical’s 2025 annual report, then globalization and platformization represent another major theme worthy of dissection. During the reporting period, the company achieved overseas revenue of 840 million yuan, an increase of 17.9% year-on-year, with the proportion of main revenue rising to 36%; among these, revenue from the European region grew by 16.0%, the Asia-Pacific region by 26.0%, the Americas by 12.2%, and Africa by 17.8%. The company has established localized operational systems in 18 countries, with product solutions covering over 160 countries and regions, and has set a “dual 50” target to increase the proportion of overseas revenue to 50% and the proportion of new industries in overseas revenue to 50%. For Haier Biomedical, the overseas market is clearly no longer just an incremental supplement but a key pivot in its long-term growth logic.

Supporting this globalization expansion are platform capabilities and continuous R&D investment. In 2025, the company invested 323 million yuan in R&D, an increase of 5.58% year-on-year, with R&D expenditure accounting for 13.88% of operating revenue. Focusing on an open R&D system of “four horizontal and four vertical” dimensions, the company continues to promote the collaboration of general technologies such as AI, automation, intelligence, and materials with vertical technology platforms in refrigeration, environmental control, sorting and separation, and biological applications. In the year, it launched or created 11 types of product solutions, with the cumulative number of invention patents increasing by over 40% year-on-year. Among them, AI + automation has become an important leverage point, with AI-related revenue accounting for 15% of overall revenue in the year and orders for scenario solutions growing by over 50% year-on-year. This indicates that the company is attempting to further transform its traditional hardware advantages into more value-added intelligent scenario solution capabilities.

It is noteworthy that while continuously investing, Haier Biomedical is also strengthening its institutional arrangements for investor returns. In addition to proposing a cash dividend of 3.3 yuan for every 10 shares in 2025, with this cash dividend accounting for 41.03% of the net profit attributable to shareholders for the year, the company has also disclosed a three-year shareholder dividend return plan, clearly stating that, subject to relevant conditions, the annual cash distribution of profits will not be less than 10% of the distributable profits achieved in that year. This means that the balance between capital expenditures, industrial expansion, and shareholder returns is forming a clearer institutional expectation.

Xing Xing, chief economist of Jindonghui Enterprise Management Development (Beijing) Co., Ltd., told the Securities Daily reporter that overall, Haier Biomedical faces the reality of profit pressure while also experiencing positive changes in structural optimization. The low-temperature storage business remains stable, new industries are accelerating their support, the overseas market growth momentum is relatively clear, and the R&D and AI layout lays the groundwork for subsequent transformations. For the market, what is more worth observing next is not just whether the company can continue to maintain revenue growth, but whether its globalization, platformization, and scenario-based layout can further translate into higher quality profit recovery and long-term growth.

(Editor: Qiao Chuan Chuan)