Helen's Chinese Trademark Ruled Invalid, Market Cap Drops Over 90%

Have you been to Helen's? Recently, three Chinese trademarks—'海伦司' (Helen's), '海伦司小酒馆' (Helen's Bistro), and '海伦司越大排挡' (Helen's Big Food Stall)—were ruled invalid by a final court judgment.

However, compared to 'losing the Chinese name,' the bigger crisis for Helen's may be that the brand once representing young people is now being abandoned by them.

Helen's Trademark Battle: Chinese Trademark Final Ruling Invalid

Founded in 2009, Helen's first opened in Wudaokou, Beijing. Founder Xu Bingzhong said the business initially targeted the foreign market, such as overseas students.

Perhaps for this reason, Helen's initially used English trademarks like 'Helen's' and applied for a batch of related English trademarks in 2013. However, its core Chinese trademarks were not registered until 2018, laying a hidden risk for subsequent trademark disputes.

According to Interface News, the trademark dispute mainly arose between Chengdu Helen Binfen Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helen's. The counterparty successfully registered two '海伦' (Helen) trademarks in 2016, in Class 43 for restaurant and bar services, and filed invalidation requests with the National Intellectual Property Administration for the '海伦司' trademark on May 23, 2023, and for the '海伦司小酒馆' and '海伦司越大排挡' trademarks on August 7, 2024.

After a three-year stalemate, on the evening of June 25, Helen's announced that the three Chinese trademarks were ruled invalid by the final court judgment. The announcement stated that based on current assessment, this dispute has no material impact on the group's overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, as the group can continue to use its uncontested trademarks in daily business.

A Blue Whale News reporter found that as of now, Helen's offline stores and online communications still use the Chinese name '海伦司' (Helen's) and related expressions. The impact has not yet affected specific stores, but the capital market is more sensitive.

Stock Price Under Pressure: Market Cap Once Shrunk Over 90%

After the news was announced, the stock price opened lower on June 26, falling over 6% at one point during the session. By the close of that day, Helen's stock price fell to 1.58 Hong Kong dollars.

Helen's market cap once reached 30 billion Hong Kong dollars in the year of its listing, but now it is only 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, a shrinkage of over 90%.

'The First Bistro for Young People' Is No Longer Young: Operating Pressure After Expansion and Transformation

Helen's earliest stores were located near university campuses, with the main consumer group being foreigners and international students. Later, founder Xu Bingzhong changed his approach, positioning Helen's as a 'space for young people to communicate freely offline,' while offering 'ultimate cost performance.' Helen's bottled beer is priced under 10 yuan, with cocktails slightly more expensive.

The 'young people + value-for-money' model was replicated, and by the end of 2021, Helen's had 782 stores, and it went public in Hong Kong that year.

According to Helen's prospectus submitted in 2021, revenue from 2018 to 2020 was 115 million yuan, 565 million yuan, and 818 million yuan, respectively; net profit was 9.734 million yuan, 79.136 million yuan, and 70.072 million yuan, respectively.

The prospectus showed that self-owned alcoholic beverages with a gross margin of over 70% contributed over 60% of Helen's alcohol revenue. By direct factory sourcing and economies of scale, Helen's was also able to obtain relatively favorable wholesale prices for third-party brand alcoholic beverages.

Thus, one of its advantages is scale. However, during aggressive expansion, Helen's also faced soaring store-opening costs. Combined with factors like the pandemic, net loss in 2021 reached 230 million yuan; in the following year, the net loss expanded to 1.601 billion yuan.

After cumulative losses exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, Helen's began closing stores to save itself. Financial data show that by the end of 2023, Helen's had 479 stores, a decrease of 288 from a year earlier, and over 40% less than the peak of more than 850 stores.

At the same time, Helen's initiated a strategic transformation from a fully directly-operated model to an open franchise model, known as the 'Hi Beer Partner' program. At the program's launch, the minimum investment threshold started at 600,000 yuan; by 2024, the investment threshold for new store types had dropped to around 400,000 yuan.

Transformation Effective but Insufficient: 2025 Revenue Decline and Per-Store Sales Pressure

According to the 2025 financial report, Helen's full-year revenue was 540 million yuan, down 28.3% YoY; net profit attributable to parent was 33.954 million yuan, turning from loss to profit. The share of self-owned alcoholic beverages and gross profit margin improved year-on-year, and store-level gross margin increased to 73.77%, with overall operating conditions improving over the previous year.

However, Helen's still faces a decline in average daily sales per store. In 2025, the same-store average daily sales for directly-operated and franchised stores were 8,500 yuan, down over 18% YoY; the overall average daily sales for individual partner stores were only 4,100 yuan, with all store types seeing declines in daily sales.

In the F&B track where daily revenue per store often exceeds 10,000 yuan, the franchised store model that is mainstay for Helen's earns relatively little; meanwhile, nearly 70% of stores are in third-tier and below cities, placing objective pressure on profitability.

Moreover, there are too many places for young people to drink now, and the appeal of low prices is diminishing. According to Kanmen Cannian, in the past year, as many as 38,000 bars have opened. From Homebars, craft beer bars, Livehouse-style bars to various bistros, consumption scenarios are diversifying.

Among them, bistros operating 'meal + drink' models have risen strongly in recent years. In this track, Huanshi, which operates a 'meal + drink' model, is growing fiercely, and its parent company Jiwu Siwei has submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this January. Huanshi has over 100 stores in China, with company revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan in 2024.

Compared to Helen's, which relies on low prices and scale to open the market, Huanshi takes a different path: a more atmospheric environment and higher pricing, with per capita consumption exceeding 100 yuan. The prospectus disclosed that in the first 9 months of 2025, its average daily sales per store were 29,880 yuan.

Unlike traditional bar and bistro formats, Huanshi extends operating hours to over 18 hours by offering brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and evening cocktail sessions, improving single-store utilization and operational efficiency. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, alcoholic beverages and drinks contributed about 45% of revenue, of which 85% were alcoholic drinks. During the same period, Huanshi's overall gross margin stabilized at 68.7%, above the industry average.

But Huanshi also faces difficulties, including high store costs squeezing profits, and consumer complaints about dish taste and quality affecting brand reputation.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst at China Food Industry, believes that like the coffee track, low-, mid-, and high-end brands each have their market. The same applies to bars: the bar industry is in a period of rapid expansion, but overall concentration is low. Perhaps after another 5 years, driven by capital and consumption dividends, leading brands and a clearer competitive landscape may emerge.

He also pointed out that product pricing is not the only key factor; the hardcore factors for future bar business development mainly include brand effect, scale effect, fan effect, supply chain completeness, and single-store operational capability. Each store has a different location, and strategies should also be differentiated.

For Helen's and others, how to run each store well may be the biggest challenge.