Yute Optoelectronics plans to list on the Beijing Stock Exchange: The actual controller's control over voting rights is less than the combined total of three individual shareholders, and in Q4 2025, net profit drops nearly 40% quarter-over-quarter.

Ask AI · How Middle School Teacher Xie Xiaobo Turned the Tide to Become the Actual Controller of Yute Photoelectric?

Meiri Reporter: Chen Qing Meiri Editor: Liao Dan

A middle school teacher who taught for 18 years was “called upon in times of crisis” during the turbulent period of a company’s development, ultimately becoming the actual controller of a company planning to list on the Beijing Stock Exchange — Jiangsu Yute Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yute Photoelectric).

However, the background of this “turnaround” may be more complicated than imagined. After nearly 20 years of development, Yute Photoelectric’s equity structure shows a subtle “one super, multiple strong” pattern: the actual controller Xie Xiaobo currently controls only about 33% of voting rights, while three other individual shareholders collectively control over 37%. Although these three have committed not to seek control, the stability of control remains a key concern for the capital market.

On the operational side, in mid-March, Yute Photoelectric released its 2025 annual report, showing total revenue of 333 million yuan and net profit of 69.17 million yuan for the year. Looking at a longer timeline, from 2022 to 2025, the company’s performance has steadily increased, but in the fourth quarter of 2025, due to the temporary tight supply of GPU chips (graphics processing units), net profit for that quarter declined by nearly 40% quarter-on-quarter.

Middle school teacher “turns around,” original owner retreats

Yute Photoelectric’s predecessor, Yute Limited, was established in 2006, mainly founded by Huang Jin’an. At that time, this industrialist born in 1957 held 70% of the company’s shares and was the undisputed leader.

In 2011, Yute Photoelectric planned to go public, completed share reform, and introduced external institutions such as Shanghai Yuchuang and Jinxi Investment.

The turning point occurred in 2013. Due to changes in market demand, Yute Photoelectric’s performance fluctuated and suffered losses, causing the listing plan to be shelved. More problematic was that Huang Jin’an and other original shareholders faced significant share repurchase pressure due to the escrow agreement. Amid this crisis, one person was “invited” into the company — Xie Xiaobo.

Xie Xiaobo’s background is quite unique. Born in 1973, after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he worked as a teacher at Hongqiao Middle School in Yueqing City for 18 years until July 2013.

In fact, Xie Xiaobo is not a pure “outsider.” In 2011, he indirectly acquired shares in Yute Photoelectric as a limited partner through Shanghai Yuchuang. After the company fell into trouble in 2013, Huang Jin’an and others invited Xie Xiaobo, Ma Xuefang, and others to participate in management to “save the company.” Xie Xiaobo joined in October 2013 as deputy general manager, was promoted to director and general manager in April 2014, and led the company to turn losses into profits that same year.

From 2014 to 2017, Huang Jin’an, due to aging (turning 60 in 2017), limited energy, and significant personal capital needs, gradually exited: first transferring 6.15% of shares, then reducing capital and withdrawing 7.76%, then transferring 27.5% of shares to Xie Xiaobo, Ma Xuefang, and others, and finally reducing the remaining 0.89% to zero through capital reduction, completely leaving the enterprise he founded 11 years earlier.

The acquirer, Xie Xiaobo, took over Huang Jin’an’s shares from May to July 2017, and his direct holdings rose to 18.06%, becoming the largest shareholder. Subsequently, through multiple transfers and capital increases, his direct holdings reached 28.77%, and via the employee shareholding platform Huai’an Yujin, he controlled 4.45%, totaling over 33.22% of the company’s shares.

More intriguingly, during Huang Jin’an’s exit, he transferred millions of shares to Xie Xiaobo, Ma Xuefang, and the employee shareholding platform Huai’an Yujin as “gratuitous gifts.”

Regarding these issues, Yute Photoelectric responded via email to the “Daily Economic News” reporter (hereinafter referred to as “Meiri reporter”), mentioning various factors including the company’s turnaround under the leadership of Xie Xiaobo and others, Huang Jin’an’s health reasons, and capital needs. The company stated that Huang Jin’an’s exit was reasonable and genuine, the share transfer prices and basis were fair, and the payments have been completed. The company also confirmed that the historical nominee arrangements and escrow clauses have been解除, and there are no undisclosed matters.

Looking at the current equity structure of Yute Photoelectric, Xie Xiaobo controls 33.22%, Ma Xuefang controls 15.78%, Li Hongwei controls 14.14%, and Ke Fang holds 7.24%. The four together control over 70% of voting rights, forming an “one super, multiple strong” pattern.

Regarding whether control is stable, during preparations for listing on the New Third Board, Yute Photoelectric mentioned in announcements that Xie Xiaobo can control the company, and that Ma Xuefang, Li Hongwei, and Ke Fang had issued “non-control commitment letters.” The recent email reply from Yute Photoelectric to the Meiri reporter also aligns with this statement.

However, the capital market is well aware that the effectiveness of such commitment letters is often correlated with利益分配. If the stock price underperforms or strategic disagreements arise, the delicate balance of 33% and 37% could shift at any time. The listing on the Beijing Stock Exchange has also prompted inquiries from the exchange: whether the company has experienced corporate governance deadlocks, and requests explanations on the stability of control and the effectiveness of governance.

Low gross margin operation, “stalling” in Q4 2025

Yute Photoelectric’s main products are optical connection products, providing integrated fiber optic connection solutions for optical communication equipment manufacturers, telecom operators, and others.

The prospectus shows that from 2022 to 2024, Yute Photoelectric’s revenue increased from 154 million yuan to 253 million yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent increased from 39.1 million yuan to 46.45 million yuan.

The annual report indicates that in 2025, the company’s total revenue was 333 million yuan, with a net profit of 69.17 million yuan, continuing growth.

But focusing on quarterly data, in Q4 2025, net profit was only about 12.1 million yuan, down nearly 40% quarter-on-quarter from about 19.72 million yuan in Q3 2025.

Regarding the performance fluctuation in Q4 2025, Yute Photoelectric responded to the Meiri reporter: “In Q4 2025, due to the temporary tight supply of GPU chips, downstream data center construction slowed, leading to reduced shipments of related products in the data center field, and quarterly revenue accordingly declined. As the localization and replacement of chips advance steadily, data center demand will recover, and the company expects to maintain a good development trend in Q1 2026.”

The continued decline in gross margin is also concerning: from 2022 to 2024, the company’s comprehensive gross margins were 49.28%, 36.44%, and 34.16%, respectively, a drop of over 15 percentage points in two years. Although in 2025, it slightly rebounded to 34.62%, it remains at a low level.

Yute Photoelectric explained via email that the change in gross margin is mainly due to product structure adjustments. In 2022, 80% of the company’s products were in the fiber access field. Since 2023, the data center business has developed rapidly, with product revenue share increasing to 36.13%, 48.57%, and 55.66% in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. Because data center products consume more raw materials like optical cables, their overall gross margin is lower than fiber access products, leading to a temporary decline in overall gross margin.

Meiri reporter noted that according to disclosures, the traditional flagship product in the fiber access field — “field-assembled fiber connectors” — saw prices drop from 3.16 yuan per piece in 2022 to 2.28 yuan in 2024, a nearly 28% decline, before slightly rebounding to 2.54 yuan in the first half of 2025. The company attributed this to changes in product mix, with fluctuations between high-priced “fusion-end” products and low-priced “pre-embedded” products.

Customer concentration risk is also hard to ignore. During the reporting periods of 2022–2024 and the first half of 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the “period”), the proportion of sales to the top five customers soared from 45.40% to 71.43%. The largest customer, Guangxun Technology, contributed 9.61% in 2022, rising to 37.35% in 2024, and reaching 49.60% in the first half of 2025 — nearly half of the company’s sales.

The company explained that due to limited capacity, it prioritized Guangxun Technology’s procurement needs. However, “dependence on a single major customer” remains a sensitive issue in the capital market; if Guangxun adjusts its procurement strategy, Yute Photoelectric’s performance could face volatility.

Another regulatory concern is “overlap between customers and suppliers”: Longfei Fiber and related parties are both among the top five suppliers and, since 2023, have also been among the top five customers, with annual procurement amounts around tens of millions of yuan.

Finally, the reasonableness of fundraising and replenishment is also worth scrutinizing. During the period, Yute Photoelectric distributed dividends totaling over 64 million yuan. For this IPO, the company plans to raise 280 million yuan, of which 11.97 million yuan will be used for working capital. The large dividends and the fundraising at listing inevitably raise questions about “whether the company lacks funds” and “the necessity of fundraising.”

Daily Economic News