Owner Scorecard


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AAPG, ASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL

Pharmaceuticals consumer brand UnprofitableDistress / turnaround

Revenue is Intellectual Property (69%), Products (27%) and Others (4%).

Latest annual: FY2024 20-F · figures as filed, in CNY · 1 ADS = 4 ordinary shares
AAPG · ASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL
I

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2024
CN¥981M
+341.8% YoY
Vital signs · TTM, with 3-yr average
Revenue CN¥981M 3-yr avg CN¥471M
Operating margin −33.7% 3-yr avg −269.5%
ROIC −25% 3-yr avg −53%
Owner-earnings margin −14% 3-yr avg −231%
Free cash flow margin −14% 3-yr avg −257%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What it is
A pharmaceutical business, where patents grant a temporary monopoly the pipeline must keep refilling.
Situation
Unprofitable. No sustained operating profit across the record; an earnings multiple has nothing to rest on. What the record does show is revenue, the gross-margin trajectory, and the burn against the cash on hand. Distress / turnaround. Thin interest coverage, or operating cash burned against real debt, across the record. The balance sheet carries this situation; the debt schedule sets the clock.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has run around −377% through the cycle on a 90% gross margin, the operating line in the red even at its best — so the lever is whether the spending below the gross line can come down enough to clear a profit: revenue growth against the cost curve, and the cash runway until it does. Capital spending runs about 21% of sales, below what it charges for depreciation, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. Read this kind of business on the pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 20-F →

Intellectual Property is 69% of revenue, with Products the other meaningful line at 27%.

Revenue by product line, FY2024
  • Intellectual Property69%CN¥678M
  • Products27%CN¥261M
  • Others4%CN¥41M
By geographySwitzerland69%Chinese mainland31%

From the segment footnote of the company's own 20-F. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2022–2024

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2022’222023’232024’24TTMTTMDec 2024
Income statement
CN¥210MCN¥222MCN¥981MCN¥981MRevenueRevenue
90%86%97%97%Gross marginGross mgn
(CN¥834M)(CN¥837M)(CN¥331M)(CN¥331M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
−397.9%−376.9%−33.7%−33.7%Operating marginOp. mgn
(CN¥883M)(CN¥926M)(CN¥405M)(CN¥405M)Net incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
(CN¥654M)(CN¥726M)(CN¥111M)(CN¥111M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
CN¥38MCN¥55MCN¥71MCN¥71MDepreciationDeprec.
CN¥191MCN¥144MCN¥223MCN¥223MWorking capital & otherWC & other
CN¥203MCN¥46MCN¥24MCN¥24MCapexCapex
96.9%20.8%2.5%2.5%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
(CN¥692M)(CN¥772M)(CN¥136M)(CN¥136M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−330.0%−347.9%−13.8%−13.8%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
(CN¥857M)(CN¥772M)(CN¥136M)(CN¥136M)Free cash flowFCF
−408.8%−347.9%−13.8%−13.8%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
CN¥27MCN¥6MBuybacksBuybacks
-81%-25%-25%ROICROIC
-216%-1532%-153%-153%Return on equityROE
−216%n/m−153%−153%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
CN¥1.3BCN¥1.0BCN¥893MCN¥893MCash & investmentsCash+inv
CN¥146MCN¥83MCN¥83MReceivablesReceiv.
CN¥16MCN¥7MCN¥7MInventoryInvent.
CN¥72MCN¥92MCN¥92MAccounts payablePayables
CN¥90M(CN¥2M)(CN¥2M)Operating working capitalOper. WC
CN¥1.3BCN¥1.5BCN¥1.5BCurrent assetsCur. assets
CN¥934MCN¥1.2BCN¥1.2BCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.4×1.3×1.3×Current ratioCurr. ratio
CN¥25MCN¥25MCN¥25MGoodwillGoodwill
CN¥1.8BCN¥1.7BCN¥1.7BTotal debtDebt
CN¥758MCN¥775MCN¥775MNet debt / (cash)Net debt
-15.8×-8.7×-5.1×-5.1×Interest coverageInt. cov.
CN¥409MCN¥60MCN¥264MCN¥264MShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
264M282M302M315MShares out (diluted)Shares
CN¥0.80CN¥0.79CN¥3.25CN¥3.11Revenue / shareRev/sh
CN¥-3.35CN¥-3.28CN¥-1.34CN¥-1.29EPS (diluted)EPS
CN¥-2.62CN¥-2.74CN¥-0.45CN¥-0.43Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
CN¥-3.25CN¥-2.74CN¥-0.45CN¥-0.43Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
CN¥0.77CN¥0.16CN¥0.08CN¥0.08Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
CN¥1.55CN¥0.21CN¥0.87CN¥0.84Book value / shareBVPS

The record, charted

FY2022–2024

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count
302Mpeak FY2024
Gross margin
97%low FY2023

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

(CN¥136M)owner earningsvs.(CN¥405M)net incomelow FY2023

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2024 the business turned a CN¥405M loss into (CN¥136M) of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

FY2024FY2023FY2022
Reported net income(CN¥405M)(CN¥926M)(CN¥883M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+CN¥71M+CN¥55M+CN¥38M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+CN¥223M+CN¥144M+CN¥191M
Cash from operations(CN¥111M)(CN¥726M)(CN¥654M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−CN¥24M−CN¥46M−CN¥38M
Owner earnings(CN¥136M)(CN¥772M)(CN¥692M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−CN¥165M
Free cash flow(CN¥136M)(CN¥772M)(CN¥857M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-14%-348%-330%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2024 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →
Material weakness in financial controls
“We previously identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in connection with the audit of our financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2023, which has been remediated.”

The figures below are only as sound as the controls that produced them. read the note →

Will it survive?

  • Does not cover its interest
    Operating income (CN¥331M) ÷ interest expense CN¥64M
    What this means

    A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.

  • Net debt against an operating loss
    Cash CN¥893M − debt CN¥1.7B
    What this means

    Netting CN¥893M of cash and short-term investments against CN¥1.7B of debt leaves CN¥775M owed, with no operating profit this year to measure it against — understand that combination before anything else about the company. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Negative, funded by others
    DSO 31 + DIO 83 − DPO 1154 days
    What this means

    Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. A negative cycle is a quiet moat: suppliers and customers fund the operation (Buffett's “float”), the company grows on other people's money.

Is it a good business?

  • Below average
    NOPAT (CN¥261M) ÷ invested capital CN¥1.0B (debt + equity − cash)
    Industry peers: median -11%
    What this means

    The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.

  • Consumes cash through the cycle
    3-yr median margin, range -348%–-14%; latest (CN¥136M) = operating cash (CN¥111M) − maintenance capex CN¥24M
    Industry peers: median -14%
    What this means

    What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's -14% of revenue this year, a -330% median across 3 years.

  • Loss, and burning cash
    Net income (CN¥405M) · cash from operations (CN¥111M)

    In the filing’s words The filing discloses a material weakness in its financial controls — the reported numbers here, and the record built on them, are only as reliable as the controls that produced them.

    What this means

    The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.

How is the cash used?

  • Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Investing or harvesting? 0.34×
    Harvesting
    Capex CN¥24M ÷ depreciation CN¥71M
    What this means

    Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 0 of 2 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

  • Adequate size
    Revenue ≥ $2B (a dollar floor) · CN¥981M
    What this means

    Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's floor is a dollar figure — about $2B of revenue as a conservative modern stand-in. This company reports in its home currency and we carry no exchange rate, so we show the figure and leave the size bar for you to apply rather than convert it with a number we don't have.

  • Strong liquidity Miss
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 1.26×
    What this means

    Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.

  • Conservative debt Miss
    Debt ≤ working capital · CN¥1.7B vs CN¥308M WC
    What this means

    Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.

  • Moderate price
    P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
    What this means

    Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are CN¥-2.34/share (latest year CN¥-1.29), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CN¥0.84/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

In its own filing A competitive risk, new this year

Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat, in language that was not in the prior year's filing.

“We use AI-based software in our business, and the analyses that AI applications assist in producing may be deficient or inaccurate, which could subject us to competitive harm, potential legal liability, and brand or reputational harm.”

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat, and the company is using it that way.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2024

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assetsCN¥1.5B
  • Cash & short-term investmentsCN¥893M
  • ReceivablesCN¥83M
  • InventoryCN¥7M
  • Other current assetsCN¥491M
Current liabilitiesCN¥1.2B
  • Debt due within a yearCN¥779M
  • Accounts payableCN¥92M
  • Other current liabilitiesCN¥296M
Current ratio1.26×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.26×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.77×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalCN¥308Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cashCN¥779M due · CN¥893M cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Dec 31, 2024 balance sheet
Cash runway6.6 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Deeper floors
Tangible book valueCN¥240Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value(CN¥869M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesCN¥1.7BCN¥30M of it operating leases
Deferred revenueCN¥37Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Peers, Pharmaceuticals

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

CompanyRevenueGross marginOp. marginROICOwner earn. margin
PBHPrestige Consumer Healthcare$1.1B56%29.0%8%21%
ACADACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.$1.1B94%-54.1%-48%-29%
AAPGASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONALCN¥981M90%-376.9%-25%-330%
MDGLMadrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc.$958M99%-276.4%-61%-254%
IONSIonis Pharmaceuticals$944M99%-16.9%-11%-14%
ANIPANI Pharmaceuticals Inc.$883M62%8.8%4%17%
HRMYHarmony Biosciences Holdings Inc.$868M79%26.7%38%32%
ARWRArrowhead Pharmaceuticals$829M-106.8%-51%-77%
Group median90%-35.5%-18%-21%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Per the filing's own cover, “American depositary shares (each representing four ordinary”; ASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL reports in CNY, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS and translated at CNY 1 = $0.147 (2026-07-17, reference rate) so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed, in CNY.

ASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.

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The assumptions

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach
Margin the price demands
Owner-earnings margin today−14%

Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "ASCENTAGE PHARMA GROUP INTERNATIONAL (AAPG), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/AAPG, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← AACG its page in the Manual AAUC →

Industry order: ← 4578 the Pharmaceuticals chapter ABBV →