CORE ASSESSMENT

China Paper's platform value is already evident in the distinct operating paths pursued by its member companies: Yueyang Forest & Paper is strengthening its integrated forestry-pulp-paper and green-resource base; Guanhao High-Tech is moving specialty paper and functional coatings up the value chain; and Meili Cloud is opening new avenues for returns on assets through a sharper business focus.

When each member follows the path best suited to it, their specialized capabilities can combine to create long-term platform value.

01 · PROFESSIONAL PATHS

Three Distinct Operating Paths on a Single Platform

According to the China Paper Association's 2025 Annual Report on China's Paper Industry, China Paper Investment Co., Ltd. produced 3.0979 million tonnes of paper and paperboard in 2025, up 19.15% year on year, ranking eighth among the key enterprises listed in the report. This scale provides a useful reference point for examining how China Paper organizes its businesses, allocates resources and directs technology investment.

China Paper's official website describes the company as China Chengtong's operating platform for the paper sector and a wholly owned subsidiary of China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd. It owns three listed companies—Yueyang Forest & Paper, Guanhao High-Tech and Meili Cloud—and is developing integrated forestry-pulp-paper bases centered in Hunan and Guangdong.

At its February 2026 work conference, China Paper noted that 2025 marked the full launch of integrated reform. Its priorities for 2026 are to implement an integrated-management program, improve operating quality and efficiency through digital and intelligent technologies and operational excellence, and advance strategic emerging industries through related diversification and tiered incubation. China Paper is working to convert its scale into specialized management capabilities and operating synergies.

SCOPE NOTE: Meili Cloud is included here as a case of business refocusing and asset restructuring. Public information currently available does not indicate that it has generated cloud-infrastructure synergy revenue for China Paper's other paper businesses.

COMPANY CASE 01 · YUEYANG FOREST & PAPER

Yueyang Forest & Paper Converts Its Resource Base into Operating Efficiency

Yueyang Forest & Paper has capabilities spanning integrated forestry, pulp and paper; market pulp; biomass power generation; ecology; and carbon sinks. In 2025, the company generated revenue of RMB 8.665 billion, up 6.78% year on year. Continued revenue growth has preserved a solid operating base for further improvements in product mix and cost efficiency.

Pulp and energy have become strong profit anchors, while paper products still offer room to expand margins through product-mix improvements, greater use of internally produced pulp and higher production efficiency. The business value of integrated forestry, pulp and paper will become progressively more visible in cash cost per tonne, quality stability and the cash conversion cycle.

In the first quarter of 2026, the company reported net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 12.9183 million and net cash flow from operating activities of RMB 36.742 million. Despite pressure from market-pulp selling prices and timber procurement costs, these quarterly figures provide an encouraging signal of operating recovery.

The company's 2026 budget targets paper output of 1.48 million tonnes, market-pulp output of 329,000 tonnes and revenue of RMB 9.257 billion. It is also advancing a transition toward packaging paper, maximizing internally produced pulp capacity, developing a digital wood-chip procurement platform and expanding carbon-sink and high-value fiber-material businesses. The operating path is clear: use forestry resources to secure raw materials, internally produced pulp and energy capabilities to reduce costs, and packaging paper and high-value fiber materials to expand the product portfolio.

For suppliers of raw materials, equipment and chemicals, this integrated system provides a more complete environment in which to validate collaboration outcomes. Any technology that reduces wood-chip losses, increases pulping yield, cuts sheet breaks, improves yield rates or lowers total cost per tonne of paper may create an opportunity for deeper, longer-term value-chain collaboration.

Sources: Yueyang Forest & Paper 2025 Annual Report; First Quarter 2026 Report; Preliminary Loss Announcement for the First Half of 2026.

COMPANY CASE 02 · GUANGDONG GUANHAO HIGH-TECH

Guanhao High-Tech Advances Innovation and Operating Quality in Tandem

Guanhao High-Tech's capabilities extend beyond its paper machines to the combination of base paper, coating, labels, films and papermaking chemicals. Its portfolio includes thermal paper, dye-sublimation transfer paper, coated white paperboard, self-adhesive materials, medical-film coatings and digital-printing films, providing a platform for continuous iteration across multiple end-use segments.

The company's annual report states that revenue from new products reached approximately RMB 470 million in 2025. It secured 43 newly granted proprietary patents, including 20 invention patents, and its self-developed water-based high-barrier coated food paperboard entered volume applications in ready-to-eat and quick-service settings such as coffee and beverage packaging. These advances indicate that its R&D capabilities are moving from technology reserves into real applications.

These improvements are substantive: sales volume and revenue increased, gross margin expanded and the operating cash-flow deficit narrowed significantly. For a company that is adjusting production lines, advancing a chemi-mechanical pulp project and developing new materials, the simultaneous improvement in innovation applications and operating performance is an encouraging sign.

Guanhao High-Tech's collaboration opportunities are also becoming more specific for packaging converters, functional-coating suppliers and brand owners. Food paperboard, barrier coatings, thermal materials and self-adhesive products can be jointly validated across printing, forming, barrier performance, heat sealing, production yield and food-contact documentation. Each customer trial, process adaptation and repeat order can further strengthen the competitiveness of its specialty-paper and materials platform.

Sources: Guanhao High-Tech 2025 Annual Report; Guanhao High-Tech 2026 Interim Report.

COMPANY CASE 03 · MEILI CLOUD

Meili Cloud's Strategic Refocus Establishes a New Growth Axis

Following its exit from papermaking, Meili Cloud's operating structure has become sharply focused. In 2025, cloud-services revenue reached RMB 324 million, accounting for 94.65% of total revenue, with a gross margin of 45.58%. Photovoltaic power-generation revenue was RMB 17.5251 million, while papermaking revenue was zero. The former papermaker has thus established a new business portfolio centered on data centers, cloud services and clean energy.

Natural cooling, wet-media humidification and Zhongwei's clean-energy conditions provide a region-specific efficiency foundation for green computing. Meili Cloud is reorganizing its legacy assets and locational advantages into a more focused digital-infrastructure capability.

In the first quarter of 2026, Meili Cloud generated revenue of RMB 86.8306 million. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was RMB 22.1984 million, up 102.61% year on year; net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses was RMB 16.6574 million, up 54.54%; and net cash flow from operating activities was RMB 22.0561 million. Positive underlying profit and operating cash flow make the benefits of the company's strategic focus more visible.

Meili Cloud's next priority is to convert completed project construction into stable utilization and customer demand. Data-center utilization, revenue per cabinet, PUE, customer stability and sustained cash flow will together determine how much value this business-restructuring path can unlock.

Sources: Meili Cloud 2025 Annual Report; Meili Cloud First Quarter 2026 Report.

05 · VALUE ROUTES

Three Operating Priorities Define China Paper's Next Chapter

Viewed together, the three member companies reveal a clear outline of China Paper's long-term development path.

Resource efficiency is led by Yueyang Forest & Paper. The links among forests, market pulp, energy and paper machines connect raw-material security, cost control and green manufacturing. Every future improvement in pulping yield, paper-machine efficiency and cost per tonne will strengthen the resilience of this value chain.

Product upgrading is being broadened by Guanhao High-Tech. Specialty papers, white paperboard, barrier coatings, labels and functional materials are moving closer to packaging and consumer applications. As individual SKUs complete processing, compliance and customer validation, innovation can be converted into more stable, higher-value orders.

Business refocusing is exemplified by Meili Cloud. Exiting papermaking to focus on cloud computing and data centers was a clear operating choice. As data centers under construction build utilization, customer demand and cash returns, the effects of asset restructuring will become more visible.

These three priorities also open distinct entry points for value-chain collaboration. Suppliers of raw materials, chemicals and equipment can contribute to system-wide cost reduction and efficiency gains; packaging converters, functional-material companies and brand owners can participate in new-product validation and application expansion; and digital-infrastructure providers and industrial capital can collaborate around project efficiency and long-term returns.

CONCLUSION

Specialization Is Making the Platform's Value Increasingly Visible

Taken together, these figures and operating initiatives show that innovation at China Paper is not confined to a single product. It is occurring simultaneously across products, processes, resource organization, operational management and asset allocation.

Yueyang Forest & Paper is converting integrated forestry, pulp and paper and green resources into stronger cost and product capabilities. Guanhao High-Tech's innovative products are moving steadily into applications, while its gross margin, underlying profit and cash flow have improved. Following its strategic refocus, Meili Cloud has established cloud services and green computing as new growth coordinates.

More importantly, the three member companies have each established a clear path. This specialization allows China Paper to preserve its pulp-and-paper industrial foundation while developing new sources of growth in specialty materials, green ecology and digital infrastructure.

As resource efficiency, product competitiveness and returns on assets continue to improve across its member companies, the strengths of China Paper's platform will become increasingly evident.

NEXT COMPANY · NO. 09

Next: JIANGSU LONGCHEN GREENTECH CO., LTD.

According to the China Paper Association's 2025 key-enterprise output table, Jiangsu Longchen ranked ninth with paper and paperboard output of 3.07 million tonnes, down 0.97% year on year.

The next article will examine its recovered-fiber system, environmentally focused paper operations and regional business structure. The ranking is a reference point based on data collected by the association and does not presuppose any conclusion about the company.