After reporting a half-year loss and the resignation of its general manager, Two-Faced Needle, the top hotel toothpaste brand, has suddenly undergone a major overhaul of its board of directors.
Jiupai Finance noticed that two executives and five directors of Liangmianzhen, whose terms were originally set to expire in February 2029, have suddenly submitted their resignations. Approximately 10 days ago, the company's director, Gong Huiquan, chose to resign as general manager.
Recently, Two Faces Needle released a semi-annual report showing a decline in revenue. The brand sold nearly 712 million units of travel toothpaste in the first half of the year, but its business targeting the hotel channel still incurred a loss of over 3 million yuan.
As the leading hotel toothpaste brand, Liangmianzhen reflects the predicament of China's hotel industry from another dimension. Its own sudden and drastic change, as well as the profound adjustments behind it, will likely reshape the landscape of the hotel toothpaste market.
Why Did Liangmianzhen's Directors All Resign?
According to the announcement released by Liangmianzhen, the directors and executives who have resigned are Zhou Yunxiang, Gong Huiquan, Xiong Jianfeng, Sun Xuedong, Liu Gui, and Yang Ling. They served respectively as chairman, vice chairman, vice president, member of the strategy committee, director, and vice president of the company.
The reason for their departure was "work adjustments". According to the original plan, their terms were all set to end in February 2029.
Jiuguan Finance noted that on August 26, Director Gong Huiquan also resigned as General Manager and will no longer act as the person in charge of finance.
The two-pronged approach has elicited a very rapid response.
On September 2, the company held a board meeting and nominated Mr. Nong Haixin, Mr. Liu Caifu, Mr. Wang Chengwang, Mr. Cai Peng, and Ms. Lin Lili as non-independent director candidates, which was approved by voting.
Understanding the recent changes at Liangmianzhen reveals that the collective resignation of the board members is not a matter of "taking responsibility" or "being forced out", but rather a major personnel reshuffle following a change in the company's controlling shareholder.
At the beginning of August, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission took control of Liangmianzhen from the Liuzhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. As Liangmianzhen is upgraded from a municipal state-owned enterprise to a provincial state-owned holding company, its senior management team will inevitably undergo changes.
Jiuguan Finance noticed that the six new non-independent directors nominated by Liangmianzhen mostly have work experience with state-owned enterprises in Guangxi.
For example:
Nong Haixin previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Director, and General Manager of Guangxi Sugar Industry Group Co., Ltd., and is currently the Party Secretary of Liangmianzhen.
Wang Chengwang currently serves as the General Manager of the Operations Management Department (Office of Safety, Firefighting, Environmental Protection and Emergency Management) of Guangxi State-owned Capital Operation Group Co., Ltd.
From actually holding equity to fully entering the board of directors, Ermenegildo Zegna has formally entered the state-owned assets era in Guangxi.
Hard Times for Leading Hotel Toothpaste Brand
Double Needle is the undisputed number one brand of hotel toothpaste.
The market has long claimed that Liangmianzhen's herbal toothpaste has a market share of over 50%. However, this title and market share have not translated into much profit for the company.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
In 1979, Liangmianzhen developed China's first traditional Chinese medicine toothpaste.
As early as 2000, Two-Faced Needle had already laid out its travel toothpaste business, with sales of travel toothpaste rising from 980 million units in 2015 to nearly 1.6 billion units in 2024.
Despite losing market share in the household toothpaste segment, Liangmianzhen still holds a leading position in the hotel channel.
In the first half of this year, Liangmianzhen's revenue was 474 million yuan, down 9.22% year-over-year; net profit attributable to the parent company turned from a loss of 5.08 million yuan in the same period last year to a loss of 4.68 million yuan, with the loss narrowing; non-net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 6.6 million yuan, turning from profit to loss year-over-year, indicating that the company's core main business profitability has declined.
In 2025, the company's net profit excluding non-recurring items was less than 4.3 million yuan.
Liangmianzhen has businesses in daily chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Its hotel toothpaste business is mainly concentrated in Jiangsu Industrial Company. The latter achieved revenue of 340 million yuan in the first half of the year, with an operating profit of -3.35 million yuan and a net profit of -3.19 million yuan.
Clearly, the performance of Liangmianzhen's hotel toothpaste business directly determines its financial results. The company attributed the revenue decline to contraction in its hotel supplies business, weakening market demand, and intensifying competition.
Overall, it's becoming increasingly difficult for Tujia to do business in the hotel market.
Liangmianzhen's 2026 Q2 Operating Data
In the first half of this year, Liangmianzhen sold 712 million tubes of travel toothpaste, with operating revenue of 61.0462 million yuan.
This translates to: Calculated, the price of each travel toothpaste sold by Two-Faced Pin is approximately 8.6 cents.
What's even more noteworthy is that this price point has been maintained on the Two-Faced Pin for nearly ten years.
In contrast, according to data released by the China Oral Care Products Industry Association cited by Xinhua Net, in August 2024, the top five toothpaste/tooth powder brands by monthly sales were Yunnan Baiyao, Cenhalf, Colgate, High Ridge, and Shu Ke, with average transaction prices ranging from 25 yuan to 50 yuan.
Among them, Canban, the second-best-selling brand, had an average transaction price of 50 to 75 yuan.
According to a survey by the association, under the standard specification of 100g per tube, economy toothpaste with a price per tube of less than 7 yuan accounts for a market share of 16%; mid-range toothpaste with a price per tube of 7.1 to 15 yuan accounts for a market share of 48%; high-end toothpaste with a price per tube of more than 15 yuan accounts for a market share of 36%.
Clearly, no matter how the figures are calculated, the profitability of Liangmianzhen's hotel toothpaste falls far short of the aforementioned brands.
Lan Jin, former general manager of Liangmianzhen (Jiangsu) Industrial Co., Ltd., said in a media interview that as the hotel industry grew rapidly, clients became larger and more concentrated. Liangmianzhen renegotiated contracts with hotels every year, and hotels kept raising the bar with tougher demands, squeezing profit margins at its Yangzhou factory. "We were almost reduced to the role of a porter — sales kept growing, but there was virtually no profit left."
In its half-year report this year, Er Mian Zhen also mentioned that China's hotel supplies industry as a whole continues to face downward pressure. Chain group hotels continue to increase their expansion efforts, with the national hotel room chain rate reaching 41%. The competition for hotel consumables prices is fierce, and consumption has decreased.
Meanwhile, national policies continue to steer the industry toward green transformation, promoting biodegradable products and encouraging the use of large-format or refillable bath amenities. Against this backdrop of policy guidance and rising environmental awareness among consumers, the industry is being reshaped.
Can a Revamped Liangmianzhen Turn It Around?
It can be confirmed that, with the upgrade from local state-owned capital to provincial state-owned capital holding, Ermenegildo Zegna will inevitably receive more resource support.
However, specifically for its hotel toothpaste business, the difficulties Liangmianzhen currently faces stem from the market side.
On the one hand, China's hotel industry has entered a period of stock market, and the market is not booming.
With fewer new hotels opening in the market, Liangmianzhen is finding it increasingly difficult to tap into incremental markets and acquire new customers.
Moreover, the overall operation of the hotel industry is relatively weak, with a focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency. As everyone continues to compress daily consumable expenses, this will affect the gross profit margin of the Two Face Needle hotel toothpaste business.
On the other hand, an increasing number of toothpaste brands are developing hotel channels.
Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste began laying out its hotel channel in 2023, providing high-quality oral care products to mid-to-high-end hotels, and has currently partnered with Jinjiang Hotels in the China region.
Tianqi also expanded into hotel supplies, launching children's hotel mini toothpaste, a six-piece hotel toiletries set, and more.
Toothpaste brand Scheka is also expanding into the hotel market, with mouthwash and other products already in place.
However, from the perspective of Guangxi state-owned assets, the future of Lingzhen is filled with many uncertainties.
For example, will Lingyun's main business undergo any adjustments?
Everyone is likely familiar with Tianqi toothpaste, which also has a presence in the hotel industry. Tianqi toothpaste is a subsidiary of Guangxi Wuzhou Zhongheng Group Co., Ltd., whose actual controller is the Guangxi State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
In other words, after the change in its controlling shareholder, Ermenegildo Zegna's controlling shareholder and the parent company of Tom's of Maine toothpaste, Tom's of Maine is owned by the same actual controller as Ermenegildo Zegna's controlling shareholder, but the correct translation should be: In other words, after the change in its controlling shareholder, Li Ning's controlling shareholder and the parent company of Tom's of Maine toothpaste have the same actual controller.
Most crucially, Zhongheng Group also has daily chemicals and pharmaceutical businesses.
Jiuguan Finance speculates that Guangxi State-owned Assets may undergo consolidation in the future, potentially merging China Hengtong's daily chemicals business with Liangmianzhen.
Even if Guangxi State-owned Assets believes the growth ceiling for hotel toothpaste is limited, it's possible that Two Face Needle could be guided to abandon or downscale its travel toothpaste business, and instead focus on its pharmaceutical or household toothpaste business.
So far, we have yet to see what adjustments the new shareholders will make to Two Face Pin, but one thing is certain: this old hotel toothpaste brand is likely to undergo significant changes.
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