(Yicai) April 15 -- Ximalaya is launching its fourth attempt to go public, and its third in Hong Kong, after the leading Chinese online audio sharing platform made its first annual profit last year.

Ximalaya filed new plans for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange on April 12, citing investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and China International Capital as its underwriters, according to an announcement on the Hong Kong bourse’s website.

Ximalaya first tried to go public on the Nasdaq in May 2021 but then withdrew the application. In September that year, it filed to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange but was unsucessful. In March 2022 it tried again but this too was halted.

The main reason for pulling out of the previous IPOs was because of the low stock prices in Hong Kong, which would not give Ximalaya its expected valuation nor generate enough liquidity, Shen Meng, founder of Chanson Capital, told Yicai.

“The Hong Kong stock market has not changed much in recent years, so Ximalaya must be applying to go public again because its investors are no longer willing to wait,” Shen said.

After hemorrhaging more than CNY2 billion (USD276 million) between 2019 and 2021, Ximalaya finally turned a profit in 2022 and gained an adjusted net profit for the first time in 2023, according to the prospectus.

This is in line with the prediction by its founder and chief executive officer Yu Jianjun who forecast in August 2022 that the Shanghai-based company would make money in the fourth quarter of 2022 and in the whole year of 2023. The firm will aim to generate annual profit of CNY4 billion by 2027 and revenue of CNY20 billion (USD2.8 billion), he added.

Himalaya raked in net profit of CNY3.7 billion (USD516 million) last year and an adjusted net profit of CNY224 million (USD31 million) on revenue of CNY6.2 billion (USD851 million), according to its latest annual report. As of Dec. 31, 2023, Ximalaya held CNY717 million (USD99 million) in cash and cash equivalents.

The higher profitability was mainly thanks to more users, stronger monetization as well as a wider gross profit margin and better operating efficiency brought about by an optimized cost structure, Ximalaya said.

Ximalaya was China’s leading online audio-sharing platform in 2023 with an average of 303 million active users per month, according to China Insights Consultancy. And its revenue accounted for a quarter of that of the country’s podcast sector.

The firm is backed by well-known companies such as internet behemoth Tencent Holdings, smartphone giant Xiaomi and online reading platform China Literature. Xingwang Investment is the majority shareholder with a 10.72 percent stake.

Editor: Kim Taylor