4.452 Billion Short-term Debt Looming! Bluecare Medical Posts Four Consecutive Years of Losses, Can the Controlling Shareholder's 350 Million Emergency Rescue Last?

(Source: First Wind)

Lanfan Medical’s actual controller recently injected 350 million yuan into the company. Behind this move, it reflects the company’s current liquidity pressure and debt repayment challenges.

On March 17, Lanfan Medical Co., Ltd. (Stock code: 002382.SZ, Stock abbreviation: Lanfan Medical) issued an announcement titled “Regarding the Loan Provided by the Controlling Entity and Related Party Transactions.” The announcement disclosed that the actual controller, Li Zhenping, plans to provide a total loan of 350 million yuan to the company, with an initial term of one year, and an interest rate based on the one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) at the time of lending.

Image source: Announcement

Although the announcement states that the purpose of this loan is “to support the company in optimizing its capital and debt structure,” Lanfan Medical admitted in an interview with Fengkou Finance on March 19 that the main purpose of this loan is to replace maturing debt. When asked why they did not choose bank loans but instead turned to the actual controller, the company explained: “Choosing to borrow from the actual controller mainly because the financing efficiency is higher, the terms are more favorable, and the support for certainty is stronger, allowing funds to be quickly used to replace maturing debt.”

Concerns about debt structure:

Short-term debt repayment pressure surges

The direct reason for the actual controller’s loan is to address the urgent need for debt replacement.

From the surface data, Lanfan Medical’s asset-liability ratio has remained around 40% for many years. As of the third quarter of 2025, the company’s total liabilities were 6.748 billion yuan, and its leverage level appears to be within a safe range. However, a deeper analysis of its debt structure reveals that most of its liabilities are concentrated in the short term.

Latest financial reports show that as of the end of Q3 2025, Lanfan Medical’s short-term loans amounted to 427 million yuan, while non-current liabilities due within one year reached 4.025 billion yuan. Adding these together, the company faces 4.452 billion yuan in debt repayment within a year. This is a significant change compared to the same period in 2024—at that time, non-current liabilities due within one year were only 537 million yuan, increasing 6.5 times in just one year.

Image source: 2025 semi-annual report

Regarding the phenomenon of increasing short-term liabilities, Lanfan Medical explained three main reasons to Fengkou Finance: First, the convertible bonds issued in 2020 will mature in May 2026; second, the foreign currency loans incurred during the privatization process of Bosheng International, acquired by Lanfan Medical’s cardiovascular division, have been renewed every three years, and are now in the year before the next renewal; third, the potential repurchase obligations at the Series A financing stage of Lanfan Bosheng have been recognized as financial liabilities at the consolidation level.

According to the 2025 interim report, in the first half of 2025, the company’s long-term loans due within one year increased by 642 million yuan, payable bonds due within one year increased by 1.56 billion yuan, and long-term payables due within one year increased by 1.22 billion yuan. The sharp increase in long-term payables mainly stems from the repurchase obligations associated with the strategic investors introduced into Lanfan Bosheng, the cardiovascular division. It is disclosed that the principal and interest of this repurchase obligation total 1.127 billion yuan. Although Lanfan Bosheng has postponed the trigger point for the buyback related to the New Third Board listing to March 31, 2026, this huge amount is now in the “countdown” stage.

In response, Lanfan Medical stated that the above three issues are expected to be significantly alleviated through measures such as lowering the conversion price, boosting the stock price to promote or partially convert, continuing loan renewals or replacements, and communicating with relevant investors to reach a proper solution.

Image source: Company website

In this context, although the 350 million yuan loan from the actual controller can temporarily ease the urgent situation, its coverage of the 4.452 billion yuan short-term debt gap remains limited. Moreover, this loan itself introduces new repayment pressure. Based on the latest one-year LPR of 3.0%, the company will need to repay approximately 360.5 million yuan in principal and interest after one year.

A key indicator of a company’s short-term repayment ability—the current ratio (current assets/current liabilities)—also signals concern. Generally, a ratio below 1 indicates that current assets are insufficient to cover debts due within a year. According to the 2025 Q3 report, Lanfan Medical’s current ratio is about 0.87, a sharp drop from 1.85 in the same period in 2024. More severely, excluding inventory effects, this ratio is only 0.58 (the quick ratio). This means that without relying on inventory liquidation, the company’s immediately available funds can cover less than 60% of its short-term liabilities.

Funding channels:

Why turn to the actual controller?

Behind the debt pressure is the continued sluggishness of Lanfan Medical’s main business and declining profitability.

As a leader in medical devices driven by high-value consumables (such as cardiac stents) and low-value consumables (such as medical gloves), the company has been significantly affected by industry cycle fluctuations in recent years. In 2024, the health protection product segment, accounting for 77.07% of total revenue at 48.19 billion yuan, saw gross profit margins drop to 5.27%. In the first half of 2025, this segment’s gross margin further fell to -3.93%, falling into a “selling more but losing more” dilemma.

Meanwhile, the company also faces additional expenses due to tax adjustments. On January 30, 2025, Lanfan Medical announced that due to cross-border related-party transfer pricing self-inspection, it needs to pay additional taxes and interest totaling about 196 million yuan, with the remaining payable portion of approximately 141 million yuan to be included in 2025 profits and losses, directly eroding current profits.

Under multiple factors, Lanfan Medical’s performance has worsened. The earnings forecast shows that in 2025, the company expects a net loss of 650 million to 850 million yuan, with net profit after non-recurring gains and losses also in a loss range of 780 million to 980 million yuan, further expanding the deficit compared to 2024.

In fact, after a brief surge in performance in 2020 and 2021, the company has experienced four consecutive years of net losses. From 2020 to 2024, the net profit attributable to the parent after non-recurring gains and losses was 1.742 billion, 62 million, -657 million, -640 million, and -480 million yuan respectively, with revenue shrinking from over 8 billion to 6.253 billion yuan.

Under the dual pressure of massive debt maturities and ongoing losses, the company’s cash flow situation is not optimistic. Financial reports show that in the first three quarters of 2025, net cash flow from operating activities was only 227 million yuan. The company expects that with continued operational improvement, positive cash flow can be maintained.

Meanwhile, the company still maintains a high investment pace. In the first three quarters of 2025, net cash flow from investing activities was -863 million yuan. Lanfan Medical stated that the cash outflows mainly relate to payments for the construction of the Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Headquarters and other ongoing projects.

It is worth noting that in the first three quarters of 2025, net cash flow from financing activities was only 63 million yuan, a sharp decline from 1.61 billion yuan in the same period last year, raising market concerns about whether external financing channels are smooth.

In response, Lanfan Medical told Fengkou Finance that by the end of December 2025, the company had approved a comprehensive credit line of no more than 3 billion yuan for 2026, maintaining good relationships with major banks. Currently, credit utilization is normal, and sufficient remaining credit is available to meet daily operations and debt repayment needs.

Despite the company’s confidence in bank channels, the reality of sharply reduced financing cash flow and concentrated short-term debt maturities means that this emergency loan from the actual controller may or may not truly help Lanfan Medical navigate the cycle. Only time will tell.

Editor / Fengkou Finance Editor Tian Liang