Four newly listed Hong Kong stocks all dropped below their issue price on their first day of trading this year.

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On December 22, four companies listed on the Hong Kong stock market collectively broke below their issue prices.

At the close of the day, Huaren Biotech, BenQ Hospital, Nanhua Futures, and Impression Dahongpao experienced first-day price drops of 29%, 49%, 24%, and 35% below their IPO prices, respectively.

This is the first occurrence in 2025 of four new stocks collectively breaking below issue price on their first day of listing in the Hong Kong market.

BenQ Hospital also set a new record for the largest first-day price drop among new Hong Kong IPOs this year. Previously, this embarrassing record was held by Conch Materials Technology, which fell 48% below its issue price on its first trading day, January 5, 2025.

Currently, these four new stocks remain deeply mired in losses below their IPO prices.

As of press time, on the second day of trading, BenQ Hospital, Huaren Biotech, Impression Dahongpao, and Nanhua Futures had intraday prices still down 48%, 42%, 38%, and 23% from their respective IPO prices.

This is partly related to overall pressure in the Hong Kong stock market, as valuation centers in the secondary market have moved lower, directly compressing the premium space in the primary market. Since October of this year, the Hang Seng Tech Index has dropped nearly 17%, with a maximum drawdown of 19%.

At the same time, the continued rise in the number of Hong Kong IPOs has further intensified the contradiction of "supply-demand imbalance." According to Wind data compiled by Xinfeng by listing dates, the number of Hong Kong IPOs reached 49 in the fourth quarter this year, an increase of over 90% compared to the third quarter.

On the other hand, unremarkable fundamentals have undoubtedly further increased the pressure on new stock issuance.

As an innovative pharmaceutical company, Huaren Biotech has yet to achieve large-scale revenue, with revenue in the first three quarters of 2025 close to zero; although BenQ Hospital owns hospitals like Nanjing BenQ and Suzhou BenQ, it still recorded a net profit of just 53 million yuan in the first half of 2025, shrinking nearly a quarter year-on-year.

Overall, the first-day break rate for Hong Kong IPOs this year is not considered high. So far this year, a total of 31 new stocks broke issue on their first day, accounting for about 29% of all new stocks for the period, down 7 percentage points from all of 2024.

But if we look at the fourth quarter, one can perhaps sense the market’s “chill.”

Nearly half of the 31 new stocks that broke issue this year did so during this quarter, raising concerns about whether this could mark the beginning of a wave of IPO breaks in 2026.

Taking a longer view, as of December 22's closing prices, a total of 45 new stocks have fallen below their issue prices this year, accounting for over 40% of all IPOs.

The challenges continue. In 2026, the Hong Kong stock market is expected to maintain a high frequency of IPOs. Deloitte expects that next year, the number of Hong Kong IPOs and total fundraising will still reach 160 and HK$300 billion, respectively.

Huatai Securities believes that, for IPO subscriptions, stock selection will become even more important next year.

“According to historical data since 2016, and considering allotment rates and capital occupation, the win rate and overall expected returns from Hong Kong IPO subscriptions are not very attractive. The key to higher returns is identifying opportunities with high odds—most of the returns typically come from a small number of high-quality, high-odds stocks,” noted Huatai Securities.

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