Update | Meitu shares make muted trading debut in Hong Kong after US Fed move
Shares of the developer of China’s most-used photo-enhancing software closed unchanged at HK$8.50
Shares began trading at a 3.3 per cent premium, swung to a 2 per cent loss and closed unchanged at HK$8.50. The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed 1.8 per cent lower.
The initial public offering, which raised a net amount of HK$4.6 billion, makes Meitu the second largest technology company listed in Hong Kong, after Tencent Holdings’ 2004 listing.
“The debut performance is not bad compared with the benchmark indexes,” said Ample Finance Group’s director Alex Wong Kwok-ying. “The major concern among investors is whether Meitu can monetize the large user traffic of its application.”
Founded in 2003, Meitu has been reporting losses for the last three years although its photo editing application attracts more than 400 million monthly active users (MAU) amid China’s popularity for taking self portraits and sharing them via social media.
The Xiamen-based company may turn a profit in the fourth quarter of next year, Meitu’s chairman Cai Wensheng said today in Hong Kong.
The company’s continuous losses were partly due to Meitu issuing preferred stocks to its staff and investors, Cai said.