O-Film Refutes 'Asset Stripping' Allegation, Files Police Report

By Radar Finance | Reported by Zhou Hui | Edited by Meng Shuai

Following an article reported by investors to regulators, optics giant O-Film, with a market value of over 25 billion yuan, has been engulfed in allegations that its actual controller has siphoned off company assets.

On August 7, Consumer Daily reported that it had received a tip-off from investors alleging that Cai Rongjun, the actual controller of O-Film, used off-book companies to transfer benefits and hollow out the listed company O-Film.

In response to the allegation, O-Film issued a clarification announcement on August 9 stating that the relevant content was an online rumor. The company said it had sent a "Notice of Retraction" to the media outlets concerned, demanding the removal of the inaccurate reports and an end to their dissemination. It has also filed a police report over the false reports and misleading information.

Leidian Finance notes that O-Film, now mired in allegations that its actual controller stripped company assets, was once part of the Apple supply chain. In 2021, however, Apple ended its partnership with O-Film. After being dropped from the Apple supply chain, O-Film's performance took a significant hit for a time.

In the first quarter of this year, O-Film reported declines in both revenue and net profit. The company posted quarterly revenue of 3.729 billion yuan, down 23.6% year on year, and a net loss attributable to shareholders of 247 million yuan, with the loss widening more than threefold from a year earlier.

At the close on August 11, O-Film was quoted at 7.26 yuan per share, down 1.89% from the previous trading day, with a market capitalization of about 25.38 billion yuan.

Controlling shareholder accused of 'looting' the company; O-Film denies claims

According to an August 7 report by Consumer Daily, the outlet recently received a whistleblower complaint from investors alleging that O-Film's controlling shareholder, Cai Rongjun, transferred benefits through off-book companies and looted the listed company O-Film.

The complaint targets Xinfeiguang, a company recently established by Cai Rongjun outside the listed group. It alleges that Xinfeiguang systematically looted the listed company through unfair related-party transactions, free transfers of technology, cost shifting and occupation of funds, diverting profits and valuation from a high-growth business into Cai Rongjun's own pocket and seriously harming the interests of minority shareholders.

The complaint materials state that O-Film produces optical module optical components, glass bridges, precision structural parts and other products for Xinfeiguang, with contract-manufacturing gross margins of only 5%-8%, while Xinfeiguang assembles complete 800G/1.6T optical modules and sells them externally at gross margins as high as 18%-25%.

"On the related-party transactions between the two, the company's announcements only vaguely state that market pricing is referenced, and third-party price-comparison documents or independent fair-value assessment reports have never been disclosed, indicating deliberate suppression of the listed company's component selling prices and the transfer of profits to the controlling shareholder's private company."

The whistleblower report also alleged that Cai Rongjun used exactly the same model with Xinshikao Motor, a company under the actual controller. In the early years, the core VCM motor business was spun off from O-Film; the listed company bore all R&D costs, while the mature, high-margin business went to the actual controller's private enterprise.

As the controversy continued to escalate, O-Film issued a clarification announcement on August 9, responding to the above claims in terms of R&D investment, business-related operating models and business operations.

On R&D, O-Film said its R&D goals, technology roadmaps and product application scenarios differ from those of Xinfeiguang and Xinshikao. The company mainly focuses on optical lens modules, camera module packaging and automotive optical components, and has not been involved in R&D of core CPO processes such as WLG wafer-level glass and high-precision optical coupling.

"The processes, technologies and patents developed through the company's R&D all serve the company's own products. There are no R&D technologies or patents that are interchangeable or shared with Xinshikao or Xinfeiguang, nor is there any case in which the company bears the risk of R&D losses while mature processes are directly reused for Xinfeiguang's optical module products without reasonable licensing or technology transfer fees."

Regarding operations and business conditions, O-Film said the three companies operate independently and do not share production and operating sites.

At the same time, the company is completely independent from Xinfeiguang in both business model and product lines. It does not manufacture or contract-manufacture for Xinfeiguang the optical modules, optical components, glass bridges, precision structural parts or other products described in the report, nor does it artificially suppress the selling prices of its components or transfer profits to Xinfeiguang.

In the announcement, O-Film also disclosed its related-party transactions with Xinfeguang and Xinsikao. From 2023 to 2025, related-party transactions between O-Film and Xinfeguang totaled 1.2348 million yuan, arising from the lease of factory buildings to Xinfeguang in 2023.

Over the same period, the company's related-party transactions with Xinsikao amounted to 326 million yuan, 432 million yuan and 595 million yuan respectively, mainly for the purchase of motor products and services from Xinsikao.

O-Film stressed that the content of the relevant reports was an online rumor. The company has formally issued a "Notice of Retraction" to the media concerned, demanding the removal of the false reports and an end to their dissemination.

At the same time, in response to the false reports and misleading information, the company has filed a police report and taken necessary legal and response measures, and will pursue the legal liability of the parties involved in accordance with the law to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company and all investors.

Revenue up but profit down last year; Q1 loss widens year on year

Beyond the public controversy, O-Film's recent financial performance has been far from impressive.

Financial reports show that in 2025, O-Film posted revenue of RMB 22.15 billion, up 8.38% year on year, while net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company fell 28.69% to RMB 42 million.

O-Film said that during the reporting period it focused on its core businesses and continued to strengthen its innovation capabilities, while steadily expanding into new business areas. Revenue from products in these new areas grew significantly, helping drive steady overall revenue growth.

However, profit attributable to minority shareholders rose year on year during the reporting period, resulting in a corresponding decline in net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company.

By product category, O-Film's revenue is made up mainly of three segments: smartphone products, smart automotive products and products in new areas.

Of these, smartphone products generated revenue of RMB 16.579 billion last year, up 2.39% year on year and accounting for as much as 74.85% of total revenue, making them by far the company's largest revenue contributor.

Over the same period, the company's smart automotive products generated revenue of RMB 2.743 billion, up 14.3% year on year, while products in new areas contributed RMB 2.776 billion, a year-on-year growth rate of 58.73%.

However, even as revenue grew across the board, gross margins at all three of O-Film's businesses declined.

In 2025, gross margins for O-Film's smartphone products, smart automotive products and new-domain products fell to 9.72%, 8.55% and 15.59%, down 1.72, 0.15 and 1.39 percentage points respectively.

As a result, O-Film's overall gross margin last year was 10.32%, down 1.28 percentage points from 11.6% in 2024.

On the cost side, steadily rising R&D spending has also squeezed O-Film's profit margins to some extent. In 2025, O-Film's R&D expenses reached 1.08 billion yuan, up 2.12% year on year.

Data from Hithink RoyalFlush iFinD show that O-Film's cumulative R&D spending over the five years from 2021 to 2025 reached 5.687 billion yuan, but judging from its profit performance, these investments have yet to translate effectively into earnings growth.

Entering 2026, O-Film's operating conditions deteriorated further: the company posted quarterly revenue of 3.729 billion yuan, down 23.6% year on year, and a net loss attributable to shareholders of the parent company of 247 million yuan, with the loss widening 319.75% year on year.

Dropped from Apple's Supply Chain, Optics Giant Seeks a New Path

According to Tianyancha, O-Film Group Co., Ltd. ("O-Film") was incorporated in 2001 and is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is primarily engaged in the manufacture of computers, communications and other electronic equipment.

Notably, O-Film was once part of Apple's supply chain. According to Securities Daily, in November 2016 the company acquired Guangzhou Delta Imaging Technology Co., Ltd. ("Guangzhou Delta"), formally entering Apple's supply chain.

After joining Apple's supply chain, O-Film mainly supplied Apple with touch modules (used in low-priced iPads) and optical products (used in smartphone cameras).

Backed by Apple, O-Film's business scale expanded rapidly. From 2017 to 2019, the company's revenue climbed quickly from RMB 33.791 billion to RMB 51.974 billion.

However, from the second half of 2020, rumors began circulating in the market that "Apple will remove O-Film from its supply chain list, with all iPad touch orders returning to Taiwanese makers, supplied by General Interface Solution (GIS) and TPK Holding (TPK)."

In September that year, O-Film issued a clarification announcement stating that the company had been supplying products and services to a major U.S. customer for many years, that cooperation with the customer was good and orders remained stable, and that there had been no "removal from the major U.S. customer's supply chain list."

But on March 16 of the following year, O-Film issued an "Announcement on Major Changes in Business with a Specific Customer," confirming its split with Apple.

In the announcement, O-Film said it had recently received notice from an overseas specific customer that the customer plans to terminate its purchasing relationship with the company and its subsidiaries, and that the company will no longer receive existing business orders from that customer.

O-Film also disclosed that audited revenue from business related to the specific customer in 2019 was 11.698 billion yuan, accounting for 22.51% of total audited operating revenue in 2019.

LeiDian Finance noted that prior to this, O-Film had also announced plans to sign a "Letter of Intent for Acquisition" with Wingtech Technology, selling it all equity in Guangzhou Delta and the operating and intangible assets owned by the company and its holding companies in China and overseas (other than Guangzhou Delta) related to the camera business supplying the overseas specific customer.

At the time, O-Film said signing the agreement would help it focus on core optical and microelectronics businesses across consumer electronics, automotive and other fields, continuously optimize internal resource allocation and business structure, increase the share of high-value-added products, improve overall operating efficiency and profitability, and support the company's long-term development.

However, in terms of financial performance, losing its status as an Apple supply chain company, O-Film went through a prolonged period of pain. From 2020 to 2022, O-Film reported declines in both revenue and net profit for three consecutive years, with cumulative losses over the three years approaching 10 billion yuan.

Subsequently, O-Film gradually integrated into the supply chains of domestic manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, while actively expanding into the smart vehicle business segment and continuing to develop new business areas.

Thanks to these efforts, O-Film finally returned to profitability in 2023, with full-year revenue reaching 16.863 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 77 million yuan.

However, the recovery was short-lived. In 2024 and 2025, O-Film's net profit attributable to shareholders declined again; moreover, from 2023 to 2025, the company's net profit excluding non-recurring items remained in loss.

Facing current profitability challenges, O-Film has chosen to step up its presence in the optical communications sector in search of new growth drivers.

In July this year, O-Film established Jiangxi O-Film Optical Micro-Nano Devices Co., Ltd. In the same month, O-Film took a stake in the founding of Xinguanglian (Shenzhen) Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

On August 6, O-Film disclosed via its official WeChat account that it recently invested in Hefei Zhongke Daojing Technology Co., Ltd. through a combination of acquiring existing shares and injecting new capital, securing a 51% post-investment stake and becoming its controlling shareholder.

Public information shows that Zhongke Daojing was founded in 2023 and has spent years working in advanced glass substrate packaging, mastering core processes including glass microvia processing, metal filling of glass microvias, glass structure processing, glass substrate multilayer wiring and ball attach.

Leidian Finance will continue to follow O-Film's future developments.

       Original title : Accused of Having Its De Facto Controller Drain Listed Assets, 25 Billion Optical Giant Denies Rumors and Files Police Report