The storied jewelry house CuiHua Jewelry, which famously hurriedly crafted a crown for the last emperor Puyi back in 1934, is now at the end of its journey on the capital markets. According to a September 6 announcement from *ST CuiHua, the company has triggered a standard-based delisting scenario because it failed to disclose a compliant 2025 annual report within two months of being subjected to a delisting risk warning. As a result, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will decide to terminate the listing of its shares.
The most recent financial report released by CuiHua Jewelry was its third-quarter report for 2025. The filing shows that in the first three quarters of last year, the company generated revenue of 3.382 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.74%, and recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of 174 million yuan, up 48.97% year-on-year. Although the company's performance in the first three quarters showed growth in both revenue and profit, it faces notable pressure on its balance sheet. As of September 30, 2025, the company's debt-to-asset ratio stood at a high 68.78%.
Just before its delisting, *ST CuiHua's share price was left at 0.77 yuan per share after the close on August 31, leaving its total market value at a mere 197 million yuan.
Where the troubles began
On the afternoon of September 6, *ST CuiHua issued a notice stating that because it had not disclosed its 2025 annual report within two months of receiving the delisting risk warning—a deadline of September 6—with a majority of directors guaranteeing the report's truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness, the company triggered a standard-based delisting situation. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange will now decide to terminate the listing of its shares. Earlier in February, the company had already disclosed that due to tight capital and liquidity shortages, multiple loans from financial institutions had become overdue and defaulted. Several financial institutions had filed lawsuits or initiated arbitration, leading to the freezing of the company's and its subsidiaries' main bank accounts by the people's courts, which had a significant impact on business operations.
After careful consideration, the company adopted a prudent approach and determined that it met the criteria for having main bank accounts frozen, which falls under the provisions of Article 9.8.1, item (6) of the listing rules. Consequently, starting from the market open on February 10, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange imposed other risk warnings on the company's stock trading, changing its short name from "CuiHua Jewelry" to "ST CuiHua." In the same month, the company received a filing notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which decided to open an investigation into the company for suspected violations of information disclosure laws and regulations.
On the evening of April 27, ST CuiHua announced that its annual report for 2025 and first-quarter report for 2026, originally scheduled for release on April 29, could not be completed on time because some information required further supplementation. Previously, the audit firm Lixin Zhonglian Certified Public Accountants had discovered during the audit process that there were significant discrepancies between the actual inventory quantities and those recorded in the financial statements. Although audit procedures such as stocktaking and interviews had been carried out, sufficient and appropriate audit evidence could not be obtained to judge the authenticity and accuracy of the inventory account in the financial statements.
According to the relevant provisions of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange listing rules, if a listed company fails to disclose its annual report within the statutory period, the exchange will suspend trading of its stock on the next trading day after the reporting deadline. On May 6, ST CuiHua's shares were officially suspended. After two months of suspension, the annual report still had not been released. On July 7, the company's stock was subjected to a delisting risk warning, and the short name changed from "ST CuiHua" to "*ST CuiHua." In August, the company announced that its previously appointed audit firm, Lixin Zhonglian, had been suspended from business operations by the Ministry of Finance for six months, forcing the company to change its annual auditor. At the same time, because the verification of important matters such as revenue and inventory related to the 2025 annual report had not been completed, the opening balances for the 2026 semi-annual report could not be confirmed.
On the evening of August 30, *ST CuiHua announced that because it could not disclose its 2026 semi-annual report within the statutory period, its shares would be suspended from September 1. According to the listing rules, if a listed company fails to disclose its annual report or semi-annual report within the statutory period and still does not disclose it within two months after the suspension, it will be subject to a delisting risk warning. If, within two months of receiving the delisting risk warning, a compliant annual report or semi-annual report is still not disclosed, the company will be delisted. September 6 was the final day of the two-month period following the delisting risk warning, and the company still failed to disclose its 2025 annual report with a majority of directors guaranteeing its truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness, ultimately triggering the standard-based delisting situation.
Beyond the standard-based delisting, *ST CuiHua also faces the risk of delisting due to violations of market value-related provisions. According to the listing rules, if the total market value of a company's shares falls below 500 million yuan for 20 consecutive trading days, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will terminate the listing of its shares. It is understood that on August 6 this year, the company's stock closed at 1.88 yuan per share, with a total market value of 482 million yuan, marking the first time the closing market value fell below 500 million yuan. As of August 31, the company's total closing market value had been below 500 million yuan for 18 consecutive trading days. Even with consecutive limit-up moves, the company's market value could not return to 500 million yuan within two trading days. Additionally, *ST CuiHua has been placed under investigation by the CSRC. As of August 6, based on the regulatory investigation, it has been preliminarily established that some of the company's disclosed annual financial information may involve false records, potentially triggering mandatory delisting for major violations. If the facts determined by the CSRC's administrative penalties later meet the conditions for mandatory delisting due to major violations as stipulated in the listing rules, the company's shares will be subject to such delisting.
Financial strain: debt ratio near 70% and heavy pledges from major shareholders
The most recent financial data disclosed by CuiHua Jewelry still dates back to the third-quarter report of 2025. The report shows that in the first three quarters of last year, the company recorded revenue of 3.382 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.74%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 174 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.97%. While the company's performance in the first three quarters showed dual growth in revenue and profit, it faces significant pressure on its asset-liability structure. As of September 30, 2025, the company's total assets stood at 6.263 billion yuan, with total liabilities of 4.307 billion yuan and a debt-to-asset ratio as high as 68.78%. Of this, short-term borrowings reached 1.707 billion yuan, an increase of about 400 million yuan from the end of the previous year; non-current liabilities due within one year were 172 million yuan; and long-term borrowings were 267 million yuan.
In the first three quarters of last year, the company's net cash flow from financing activities surged 240.84% year-on-year to 107 million yuan, mainly due to new bank credit lines and increased borrowings during the period. However, the company's "self-sustaining capability" declined, with net cash flow from operating activities at 46 million yuan, a sharp drop of 58.72% year-on-year, primarily because cash received from sales of goods decreased compared to the same period last year.
To ease its capital pressure, the company decided to borrow from its major shareholder. In November last year, the company announced that, based on future business development needs, it planned to apply for a borrowing facility of up to 35 million yuan from Guo Yingjie, an individual acting in concert with Shenzhen Cuiyi Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Shenzhen Cuiyi"), a shareholder holding more than 5% of the shares. At the same time, the company planned to apply for a borrowing facility of up to 15 million yuan from Guo Yuchun, also an individual acting in concert with Shenzhen Cuiyi and holding more than 5% of shares. These two loans, totaling 50 million yuan, both have a term of 12 months and an annual interest rate of 2%, with no other agreements or arrangements, and the company is not required to provide corresponding guarantees.
Ten days later, the company disclosed that Shenzhen Cuiyi and its concert parties Guo Yingjie and Guo Yuchun had collectively pledged more than half of their shares, totaling 17.72 million shares, representing 6.92% of the company's total share capital, for their own production and operations. After this pledge was completed, the cumulative pledged shares of Shenzhen Cuiyi and its concert parties reached 27.12 million shares, accounting for 80.32% of their holdings. Subsequently, the pledge ratio of Shenzhen Cuiyi and its concert parties once reached a high of 89.2%, before dropping to 86.4% after some pledges were released in April this year.
A century-old goldsmith's pivot to lithium and the handover of control
The aforementioned Shenzhen Cuiyi and its concert party Guo Yingjie were originally the controlling shareholder and actual controller of CuiHua Jewelry. According to the company's prospectus and official website, the CuiHua brand was founded in 1895 (the 21st year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty). In its early days, CuiHua Gold Store was responsible for crafting gold and silver ceremonial items and jewelry for the Qing imperial family. Notably, in 1934, the store was compelled to hastily make a crown for Puyi, and Puyi's younger brother, Pujie, even wrote a calligraphic plaque for the store in person.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, following a long period of gold regulation, CuiHua Gold Store officially resumed business in 1985 with financial support from the Shenyang Gold and Silver Products Factory (now Shenyang CuiHua Gold and Silver Jewelry Co., Ltd.). In September 2004, all existing employees and retirees of CuiHua Industrial (formerly the Shenyang Gold and Silver Products Factory) jointly established Shenyang CuiHua Gold and Silver Jewelry Industrial Co., Ltd. with Shenzhen Cuiyi. CuiHua Industrial's employees and retirees contributed their quantified net assets of CuiHua Industrial, while Shenzhen Cuiyi contributed its receivables from CuiHua Industrial as capital. Shenzhen Cuiyi and the Guo family behind it subsequently took control of CuiHua Jewelry. Before the company went public, Guo Yingjie controlled 49.27% of the company's shares directly and indirectly, his spouse Guo Qiongyan directly held 5.69%, and his son Guo Yuchun directly held 3.54%, with the three collectively controlling 58.5% of the shares.
In November 2014, CuiHua Jewelry successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, marking a key step in its capital market strategy. However, in the year of its listing, the company's previous growth trend came to an abrupt halt. In 2014, revenue decreased by 10.09% to 3.308 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders fell by 11.24% to 98 million yuan. Over the following years, CuiHua Jewelry's performance generally continued to decline. By 2020, the company's annual revenue was 2.109 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders was only 29 million yuan. In 2022, although revenue rebounded significantly and broke through the 4 billion yuan mark, the annual net profit attributable to shareholders of 48 million yuan still showed a clear gap from its peak levels.
Meanwhile, the Guo family also began to show signs of stepping back. In July 2023, CuiHua Jewelry completed a cash acquisition of a 51% stake in Steri Lithium, marking its entry into the lithium salt industry, with Chen Siwei being the actual controller of the target company. The following month, CuiHua issued an announcement about the completion of the transfer of shares from the controlling shareholder via agreement and the signing of a supplementary agreement to the voting rights waiver agreement, along with the change of the company's controlling shareholder and actual controller. Through a series of agreements, Chen Siwei formally became the new "master" of CuiHua Jewelry. However, in the following years, sharp fluctuations in lithium carbonate raw material prices dealt a heavy blow to Steri Lithium, in turn dragging down CuiHua Jewelry's financial condition. In 2023 and 2024, Steri Lithium recorded losses of 186 million yuan and 65 million yuan, respectively.
According to CuiHua Jewelry's 2025 interim report, in the first half of last year, the company generated revenue of 2.243 billion yuan. Of that, gold products contributed 1.615 billion yuan, accounting for 72.01% of revenue; lithium product processing brought in 487 million yuan, accounting for 21.73% of revenue. Radar Finance will continue to follow the subsequent developments concerning CuiHua Jewelry.