Photo/Shetuwang

May 18 (NBD) -- Haidilao International Holding Ltd ("Haidilao"), one of the most popular hotpot chains in China, filed an application to launch an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday.

According to its prospectus, the Jianyang, Sichuan-based hotpot company, which shot to fame for its fancy services, has opened 320 stores as of the latest practicable date, more than doubled from the number of 146 reported at the end of 2015. The company plans to open 180 to 220 new stores this year.

The prospectus also shows Haidilao generated revenue of around 10.6 billion yuan (1.67 billion U.S. dollars) last year, with the compound annual growth rate over the past three years hitting 35.9 percent. Restaurant sales contributed over 90 percent to the chain's total revenue. Surprisingly, its food delivery business produced up to 200 million yuan (31.4 million U.S. dollars) last year. 

The chain's net profit, growing at a compound annual rate of 70.5 percent in the 2015-2017 period, reached about 1.2 billion yuan (187.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2017.

Haidilao served 106 million customers around the world last year. In China's mainland, the daily customer visits of each store stands at nearly 1,500 on average. 

The hotpot company is generous in terms of employee management and training, and last year's staff costs amounted to 3.1 billion yuan (486.2 million U.S. dollars). The average annual pay of employees stood at about 60,000 yuan (9409.8 U.S. dollars).

In the prospectus, Haidilao also detailed the food safety incidents it was involved, and admitted food safety will be its major challenge in the future expansion. 

The chain said it will never compromise on food quality and safety, and will implement rigorous and concrete quality control and sanitary inspection measures to ensure that goal. 

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food and beverage industry, said in a previous interview that getting listed is absolutely a great thing and will enable Haidilao to get access to more resources, more interests, and bigger development room. Also, it is beneficial for the company's international development. However, it is noticeable that along with high yield comes high risks.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn