Meton Fragrance’s dash for the Beijing Stock Exchange: Unveiling the dividend distribution and old fire safety issues at its Vietnam factory

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Recently, the New Third Board company Zhejiang Metong Aroma Technology Co., Ltd. (“Metong Aroma”) initiated its listing registration, aiming for a breakthrough at the Beijing Stock Exchange.

Metong Aroma mainly engages in the production and sale of aroma products, serving as a supplier to global retailers and consumer brands such as Walmart, IKEA, Target, and ZARA.

If successfully listed, Metong Aroma is expected to become the first aroma company on the Beijing Stock Exchange.

Metong Aroma's performance has now reached a certain scale. For 2023 to 2025, its revenues are respectively 688 million yuan, 1.016 billion yuan, and 931 million yuan, with net profits attributable to the parent at 53 million yuan, 73 million yuan, and 72 million yuan for the same periods.

A particular feature of Metong Aroma's business structure is that its main revenue and production are both overseas.

The core factory responsible for large-scale production and order fulfillment is Metong Aroma’s wholly-owned subsidiary AROMA BAY CANDLES COMPANY LIMITED (“Vietnam ABC”); in 2024 this subsidiary achieved revenue and net profit of 969 million yuan and 58 million yuan, respectively.

However, many mysteries surrounding Vietnam ABC still await further explanation from Metong Aroma.

On one hand, Vietnam ABC resolved to distribute 350 million yuan in dividends to the parent company in 2023 and 2024, but as of March 2026, 223 million yuan remains unpaid; how overseas profits are converted into domestically disposable cash by the parent company needs further disclosure.

On the other hand, when key steps like production, customs declaration, delivery, and payment mostly occur overseas, verifying the authenticity of revenue faces a much longer evidence chain.

Xinfeng notes that Vietnam ABC suffered a serious fire affecting over 10,000 square meters in 2016 and in 2022 was again singled out by local authorities for deficiencies in fire separation, chemical storage and explosion-proof facilities.

Overseas operations underpin Metong Aroma’s revenue and profits, but it also brings the issues of capital repatriation, revenue verification, and production safety to the forefront of its listing process.

The Challenge of Profits Repatriation under Overseas Production and Sales

Metong Aroma mainly provides ODM services for global large retailers and consumer brands such as Walmart and IKEA, with products mainly divided into candle, flameless, and smart aroma devices.

Candle aroma is Metong Aroma's main source of income, generating 573 million yuan from January to August 2025, accounting for over 80%.

During the reporting period, these aroma products were primarily sold overseas, and more than 90% of Metong Aroma’s revenue came from these foreign markets.

Revenue comes from overseas regions, and Metong Aroma’s core production capacity is also overseas.

Vietnam ABC is Metong Aroma's core subsidiary, undertaking most of the production capacity.

In 2024, Vietnam ABC generated revenue of 969 million yuan, almost matching Metong Aroma’s total revenue of 1.016 billion yuan for the year, making it the company's absolute revenue pillar.

Metong Aroma also acknowledges that its overseas sales are mainly produced by the Vietnamese subsidiary, whose capacity is fully utilized—offering scale advantages and lower unit fixed costs.

However, when capacity, revenue, and profits are mainly generated overseas, whether related earnings can be smoothly converted into domestically disposable cash by the parent company becomes an issue worth attention.

Currently, Metong Aroma mainly obtains income via dividends from Vietnam ABC. In 2023 and 2024, Vietnam ABC resolved to distribute a total of 350 million yuan in dividends to the parent company.

As of March this year, Vietnam ABC had only paid 127 million yuan in dividends, with 223 million yuan yet to be paid to Metong Aroma.

On financial statements, as of the end of 2025, Metong Aroma's receivable dividends still amounted to 249 million yuan.

This means that although Vietnam ABC has resolved to pay dividends, part of the profits remain abroad and have not yet been fully converted into cash that the parent company can use immediately.

To this, Metong Aroma explains that the company’s current cash flow is quite abundant, and any subsequent needs can be met promptly as per actual operational requirements. It also notes that by the end of the reporting period, Vietnam ABC had established MetoUSA in the US, so some funds are retained for investment and operational needs.

“Such arrangement has a certain commercial rationale, but since the funds are planned to continue to be used abroad, why make large dividend resolutions in advance—it still needs further explanation,” a Beijing investment banker told Xinfeng. “It is especially necessary to clarify whether the dividend resolution sets a clear payment deadline and the detailed arrangement for remaining payments.”

The high proportion of overseas business also raises higher requirements for revenue authenticity verification.

Metong Aroma’s main orders come from overseas, and main products are produced and exported by Vietnam ABC; production, customs declaration, logistics, signature, and payment mostly take place abroad. This means intermediary agencies can hardly rely solely on domestic company books, bank statements, and export rebates to complete closed-loop verification—all of which increases the difficulty of verifying revenue authenticity.

Arrangements for repatriating funds from overseas and revenue verification have become unavoidable issues in Metong Aroma's listing process.

Fire Safety Exam

For Metong Aroma, production safety is not a marginal issue.

Metong Aroma's main revenue comes from candle aroma products, whose production involves heating, melting, filling, and cooling wax materials, as well as using essential oils, packaging materials, and other raw materials.

If there are lapses in temperature control, electrical wiring, fire zones, or material storage in production and warehousing, fire risks may arise.

This is not just a warning. As early as ten years ago, Vietnam ABC suffered a fire.

According to "Hai Phong Police Newspaper" republished by Hai Phong city government portal on July 26, 2016, at about 19:25 on July 24, Vietnam ABC's factory in Hai Phong suffered a serious fire.

The fire affected an area of over 10,000 square meters, covering production, packaging, and finished goods warehouses. The Hai Phong fire department mobilized more than 600 firefighters and nearly 30 fire trucks. After about eight hours, the fire was basically controlled by dawn the next day. No casualties occurred, but the factory and warehouses suffered serious damage.

According to Voice of Vietnam, the fire caused Vietnam ABC’s production and operations to halt completely for a period, and about 600 workers temporarily stopped working; before the accident, the company had about 900 workers on shift.

Years after the accident, Vietnam ABC’s fire safety management continued to be cited by local regulatory departments as lacking.

According to Hai Phong Public Security Bureau’s website disclosure on October 28, 2022, a joint inspection team led by the Hai Phong Fire Rescue Police inspected Vietnam ABC, finding that warehouses and factories were interlaced, fire separation was insufficient, chemicals were not stored by category, some lighting equipment did not meet fire and explosion prevention standards, and there were missing documents for some roof connections between warehouses.

Vietnam ABC subsequently promised to promptly complete the remediation process.

From the widespread fire in 2016 to the fire safety hazards pointed out again in 2022, managing this key overseas factory remains a safety exam Metong Aroma cannot avoid.

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