Anyou Biological Technology Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as Anyou Biological) responded to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's first-round inquiry on September 9th, marking its third attempt at a main board listing. In terms of corporate governance, the application materials for this feed company, valued at over ten billion yuan, reveal that founder Hong Ping passed away in March 2024, yet two and a half years later, his directly held 0.51% equity stake in Anyou China remains in a state of "estate distribution procedures pending." This leaves the IPO's fundamental requirement of clear equity ownership in limbo. Furthermore, on the indirect shareholder front, a dual-layer nested shareholding arrangement existed for eight years, with 14 nominees on the first layer concealing 73 actual holders on the second layer, only being cleared up between 2020 and 2021. To address the diluted control, in January 2026, Hong Wanling urgently signed a concert party agreement with General Manager Zhao Gang, boosting the family's control from 35.16% to 39.38%. This prompted the Shenzhen exchange to question whether Zhao Gang should be recognized as a co-controlling shareholder. Financially, while the company's net profit attributable to the parent grew by 37.35% in 2025, its net operating cash flow plummeted from 526 million yuan to 305 million yuan, a 42% decline. Accounts receivable book value climbed to 555 million yuan, a 27% increase that far outpaced the 7.7% revenue growth. The receivables turnover rate of 20.62 times is only two-thirds of the industry average of 32.10 times. Meanwhile, after Wens Investment acquired a 28.05% stake for 585 million yuan, the annual procurement by Wens Foodstuff Group surged from 7.5697 million yuan to 545 million yuan, a 72-fold increase in one year, with related sales jumping from 1.97% to 6.02% of total revenue. Among the top five customers, at least three have related-party or cross-interests with the company or its actual controller. Contrasting with the "animal precision nutrition" technology positioning, the R&D expense ratio is only 0.35%, less than one-third of industry peers. This narrative is further complicated by the founder's unsettled estate, control bolstered by agreements rather than organic ownership, and a customer relationship with Wens that raises significant questions.

Estate Issues and Control Cemented by Agreement

Anyou Biological's listing marathon has spanned over a decade. The company's predecessor, Anyou (China) Animal Nutrition R&D Co., Ltd., was established in May 2009 with a $7.5 million investment from Anyou Technology, with Hong Wanling as the legal representative. The "Anyou" brand, however, was a feed brand originally founded by Hong Ping in Taiwan in 1992. Entering the mainland market in 1999, the company expanded through joint ventures, gradually building a nationwide feed production and sales network. Between 2012 and 2014, Anyou Limited implemented a large-scale asset restructuring, incorporating 33 joint venture companies into the listing entity. A joint-stock reform was completed in June 2014, with six founders converting 491 million yuan in net assets into shares at a ratio of 1:0.6861, establishing the foundation for over a decade of share transactions. Regarding equity, an eight-year shareholding proxy structure existed among indirect shareholders. This double-layer nested arrangement involved 14 nominees on the first layer and 73 actual holders on the second. The cleanup, which occurred between 2020 and 2021, employed various methods including restoring the original platform, buybacks by Zhejiang Tongneng, and repurchases by Zheng Lei. Notably, after founder Hong Ping's death in March 2024, the inheritance process for his directly held 0.51% stake in Anyou China is still pending, with the estate distribution not yet finalized after two and a half years. To mitigate the diluted control, in January 2026, Hong Wanling signed a concert party agreement with Zhao Gang, raising the family's control ratio from 35.16% to 39.38%. Zhao Gang controls 4.22% of the shares, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has questioned whether he should be deemed a co-actual controller, though the company maintains he is merely a professional manager. In March 2023, Su Meili gifted a 14% stake in Funeng Investment to her two granddaughters—four-year-old Hong Ziyou and two-month-old Hong Zimin. This gift occurred during a critical window before the listing, which the company attributes to "family internal property planning and tax planning." In capital operations, CDH Investments acquired shares at 8 yuan per share in 2015. When the fund expired in 2021 and exercised its sell option, the employee platform Taicang Xingyuan took over the shares at a discounted price of 3.5 yuan per share, a 46% discount compared to the 6.524 yuan paid by other external transferees. To compensate for CDH's exit loss, shareholders personally contributed 167 million yuan. Following this, four other institutions stepped in and exited less than four years later via Wens Investment at approximately 5.22 yuan per share, also receiving 30.83 million yuan in cash compensation. On the compliance front, during its initial 2018 listing hearing, the review committee focused on eight environmental penalty violations, three safety production penalties at subsidiaries, and missing documentation like animal epidemic prevention certificates and environmental assessment acceptance for pig farms, leading to the IPO's initial rejection. In the current reporting period, three administrative penalties were still incurred: a warning for excessive dust concentration at Dali Anyou in 2023, a 5,000 yuan fine for invoice issues at Henan Anyou in 2025, and a 208,000 yuan fine for substandard emissions at Wuhan Yuanshengtai in 2025.

Profit Rises 37% but Cash Flow Drops 42%; Half of Top Five Customers Are Related Parties

From 2023 to 2025, the company's operating revenue was 11.953 billion yuan, 9.407 billion yuan, and 10.133 billion yuan, respectively, with net profits attributable to the parent at 260 million yuan, 183 million yuan, and 251 million yuan. Revenue fell by 21.3% in 2024, and despite a 7.7% recovery in 2025, it has not yet returned to 2023 levels. The comprehensive gross margin consistently remained below 10%, with a net margin of less than 2.6%. A stark divergence emerged in 2025 between profit growth and cash flow. While net profit attributable to the parent grew by 37.35%, net operating cash flow dropped sharply from 526 million yuan to 305 million yuan, a 42% decline, which the company attributes to "increased operating scale and accounts receivable." During the reporting period, accounts receivable book value rose from 436 million yuan at the end of 2023 to 555 million yuan at the end of 2025, an increase of about 27%, compared to a 7.7% revenue increase, indicating receivables growth significantly outpacing revenue. The accounts receivable turnover rate declined from 27.93 times in 2023 to 20.62 times in 2025, while the disclosed industry average is around 32.10 times. The company's bad debt provision rate for accounts receivable is approximately 16.35%, compared to an average of 24.73% among comparable listed companies. In fact, the company wrote off about 60.44 million yuan in bad debts cumulatively from 2023 to 2025. Significantly, between January 2025 and January 2026, Wens Investment made four installments totaling approximately 585 million yuan to acquire a 28.05% stake in Anyou Biological, becoming its second-largest shareholder after Anyou China. Following the investment, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed, and Wens Foodstuff Group's procurement from Anyou surged to 545 million yuan in the year of the investment, compared to just 7.5697 million yuan in 2024—a roughly 72-fold increase in related-party sales within a year. Sales to related parties rose from 1.97% of revenue in 2024 to 6.02% in 2025. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange's first-round inquiry specifically probed the pricing fairness, customer independence, and order sustainability concerning Wens being simultaneously the second-largest shareholder and largest customer. Among customers, Jiangsu Heyou is an entity controlled by the actual controller. Originally the company's pig farming operation carrier, it was divested from the consolidated reporting scope in November 2020 to "focus on the feed main business." Despite the divestiture, Jiangsu Heyou has consistently ranked among Anyou's top five customers, with procurement reaching 260 million yuan in 2023. Additionally, Hainan Qingmuyuan Industrial Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Luoniushan, is a minority shareholder of Hainan Anyou, a subsidiary of Anyou Biological, and also appears on the top five customer list. This indicates that at least three of the top five customers are related parties or have cross-interests with the company or its actual controller. The concentration of the top five customers is between 13.75% and 14.46%. As of the end of the reporting period, the company's external guarantee balance was 44.2065 million yuan, with a related provision of 2.2103 million yuan. Other receivables from guarantee compensation due to delayed or defaulted loans by some feed customers were 15.1365 million yuan, 11.6504 million yuan, and 6.8469 million yuan, respectively. In R&D, the company positions itself on "animal precision nutrition," having built a database covering over 1,000 raw materials and approximately 350,000 parameters. Founder Hong Ping is also known in the industry as the "father of creep feed." However, R&D expenses for the reporting period were 32.75 million yuan, 39.43 million yuan, and 35.97 million yuan, with R&D expense ratios of only 0.27%, 0.42%, and 0.35%. In contrast, the average R&D expense ratio for comparable companies ranges from 1.01% to 1.12%, leaving Anyou's at less than one-third of industry peers. The company plans to invest 30.72 million yuan in an "Animal Precision Nutrition Research and Demonstration Base," with the project contractor being Nanmu Equipment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wens Foodstuff Group. During the reporting period, the company distributed a total of 381 million yuan in cash dividends, representing over 53% of its total net profit during that period. Notably, in 2024, during an industry downturn, it paid out two dividends totaling approximately 200 million yuan, exceeding its 183 million yuan net profit attributable to the parent for that year. Concurrently, this IPO aims to raise 810 million yuan for feed production construction projects and R&D center development. As of the first half of 2026, the company still has 18 loss-making subsidiaries. During the reporting period, feed capacity utilization rates were 69.56%, 58.65%, and 64.19%, indicating that more than one-third of production capacity remained idle. Despite this underutilized capacity, the company plans to allocate over 500 million yuan of the raised funds towards new feed production construction projects.