Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech loses US$1.6 billion in value as lock-up expires

The 32 per cent decline is the most since the company’s shares started trading a year ago

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UBTech robots at a conference in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 3:29pm, 30 Dec 2024Updated: 4:23pm, 30 Dec 2024

UBTech Robotics, China’s largest maker of humanoid robots, lost HK$12.5 billion (US$1.6 billion) in market value after the lock-up period for stakes held by major shareholders expired, triggering concerns about insider sell-offs.

Shares of the Shenzhen-based company slumped 32 per cent to HK$62.45 on Monday in Hong Kong. They capped their steepest decline since the company started trading on December 29, 2023.

The swoon came as the 12-month lock-up period for stakes held by major shareholders – including founder Zhou Jian and Tencent Holdings – expired. In a filing to Hong Kong’s stock exchange on Sunday, UBTech said Zhou would extend his lock-up period covering 70.4 million shares by a year, though that commitment failed to soothe investor concerns.

As of the end of June, Zhou held around 104 million shares, or a 25 per cent stake, making him UBTech’s largest shareholder, according to financial data provider Shanghai DZH. Shenzhen Evolution Theory Investment was the second largest shareholder with a 9.5 per cent stake, while Tencent owned 3.53 million shares, accounting for a stake of less than 1 per cent.

The UBTech rout comes at a fragile time for sentiment in Hong Kong’s stock market. Investors have been struggling to find catalysts to prolong a rebound that kicked off in September, but a lack of clarity from Beijing on its stimulus plans has kept traders on the sidelines. The Hang Seng Index has advanced 18 per cent this year and is set to halt an unprecedented run of four consecutive annual losses.

UBTech, known for its toy Star Wars storm trooper robots, has been unprofitable over the past four years. It posted an annual loss of 1.23 billion yuan (US$168.5 million) in 2023, widening from 974.8 million yuan a year earlier. Its loss for the first half of 2024 was 516.4 million yuan.