Did you lose money on investments in Yatsen? If so, please visit Yatsen Holding Limited Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com to discuss your rights.
NEW YORK, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Yatsen Holding Limited (“Yatsen” or the “Company”) American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) pursuant or traceable to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form F-1 (including all amendments made thereto) and related prospectus on Form 424B4 (collectively, the “Offering Documents”) issued in connection with Yatsen’s November 2020 initial public stock offering (the “IPO” or the “Offering”); and/or between November 19, 2020 and March 10, 2022, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and alleges violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yatsen operates in the fast-growing China cosmetics market. Founded in 2016, Yatsen has launched three color cosmetics and skincare brands: Perfect Diary, Little Ondine, and Abby’s Choice. Together, these three brands served 23.4 million and 23.5 million direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) customers in 2019 and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively.
Perfect Diary, which is broadly recognized as Yatsen’s first and most notable brand, was launched in 2017 to provide “high-quality” and “innovative” color cosmetics targeting Gen Z customers. According to Defendants, Perfect Diary became the top color cosmetics brand in China in terms of online retail sales value within three years of launching.
Little Ondine, which is considered Yatsen’s second most notable brand, achieved within eight months of relaunch (after first being acquired by Yatsen in 2019) the same level of monthly gross sales as Perfect Diary did in its first year and, in September 2020, ranked 5th in the color cosmetics category in terms of total Gross Merchandise Value (“GMV”) on Tmall, one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms.
Yatsen generates substantially all of its net revenue from the sale of beauty products under these two brands, and, to a lesser extent, Abby’s Choice. Yatsen’s beauty products are comprised of color cosmetics products, which include eye, face and lip products, skincare products, and other products, which include nail products, beauty tools, kits, and other products such as perfume.
Despite repeatedly (and misleadingly) characterizing Perfect Diary and Little Ondine’s performance as “healthy,” Defendants slowly began to reveal the truth about Yatsen’s flagship brands in the second half of 2021. On August 26, 2021, during the 2Q21 analyst call within which Defendants touted Perfect Diary’s and Little Ondine’s “steady” and “healthy” performance, Defendant Huang Freudianly-admitted that Yatsen’s Perfect Diary business was (and had been) deteriorating, requiring Yatsen to “refocus and also to devote more resources to continue the growth trend of [its] main brands.” According to Defendant Huang, Yatsen had “move[d] too fast to reallocate [its] talent into the skincare BU.”
On this news, Yatsen’s ADSs dropped 17.64% to close at $4.81 per ADS on August 26, 2021.
On or about November 17, 2021, Yatsen’s third quarter 2021 financial results reached the market. Despite characterizing Yatsen’s results as a “success,” touting top-line continued growth supported by a significant growth of its skincare brands, Defendants acknowledged witnessing a “soft industry environment for color cosmetics.”
During the analyst call to discuss Yatsen’s 3Q21 results, Defendant Huang claimed that the “significant deceleration in general consumer and color cosmetics spending in China,” was an “industry trend,” partially related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding, and despite continuing to portray Perfect Diary’s performance as “steady” – it was not – Defendant Huang conceded that gross sales from Yatsen’s color cosmetics brands, which make up approximately 84% of total gross sales, decreased by mid-single digits due, in part, to “realignment of Little Ondine.”
On this news, Yatsen’s ADSs dropped over 17% to close at $2.70 per ADS on November 17, 2021.
Then, on March 10, 2022, Yatsen released its fourth quarter and full year financial results for the period ended December 31, 2021, revealing that its disappointing financial results were not solely due to issues with Little Ondine but, rather, Perfect Diary as well. In commenting on the “challenging quarter,” Defendant Huang blamed “soft consumer demand and intense competition in the color cosmetics segment,” for why total net revenues for the fourth quarter decreased 22.1% and gross sales for the fourth quarter decreased 17.2%.
On this news, Yatsen’s ADSs dropped over 39% to close at $0.75 per ADS on March 10, 2022.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than November 22, 2022. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn’t require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Yatsen ADSs, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Yatsen Holding Limited Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@bernlieb.com.
Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal’s “Plaintiffs’ Hot List” thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.
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Contact Information:
Peter Allocco
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
https://www.bernlieb.com
(212) 951-2030
pallocco@bernlieb.com
