Zhao Chunwu strongly supports the Baijiu strategy: it's too early to question, and China Resources Beer’s dual-wheel drive has just begun.

Ask AI · Where is the long-term value of the liquor strategy reflected?

Produced by | China Vnet

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On March 23, China Resources Beer (00291.HK) officially released its 2025 annual results report and simultaneously held an earnings briefing session. Facing the dual challenges of stock-level competition in the liquor industry and structural adjustments in the sector, the chairman of the board, Zhao Chunwu, together with the core management team, appeared before the audience and responded candidly to market concerns, clearly conveying a steadfast direction: the high-end strategy for beer will not waver, and the long-term approach to liquor will not loosen. This earnings briefing session not only demonstrated the company’s operational resilience in navigating cycles, but also provided an authoritative perspective for the market to interpret short-term earnings fluctuations and to build confidence in long-term development, backed by pragmatic actions and strategic resolve.

In 2025, China Resources Beer achieved operating revenue of 37.985 billion yuan, with overall operations staying on a steady footing. As the company’s core “mainstay,” the beer business, despite an industry production decline of 1.1% year over year, achieved sales volume of 11.03 million kiloliters, up 1.4% year over year, significantly outperforming the overall industry; profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached 7.908 billion yuan, a sharp year-over-year increase of 21.62%. Revenue scale was maintained at 36.489 billion yuan, essentially flat. Gross margin increased by 1.4 percentage points year over year to 42.5%, delivering a high-quality answer marked by rising both volume and profitability, with an optimized product structure.

Behind these results is a hard-core support from the continuous deepening of China Resources Beer’s high-end strategy. In response to short-term fluctuations in selling prices that have drawn market attention, management clearly stated that this is an active operational adjustment based on the recovery of the on-premise (foodservice) channel—by optimizing expense allocation and precisely matching market demand—to proactively respond to industry changes, rather than passively absorbing competitive pressure. The results of product-structure upgrading are especially impressive. Over the full year, sales volume of mid-to-high-end beer and above achieved mid-to-high single-digit growth, accounting for nearly 25% of total sales; sales volume of high-end products and above grew by nearly 10 percentage points year over year. Among them, the international high-end brand Heineken saw sales grow by nearly 20%; the national flagship “Old Snow” recorded a surge of 60%; Red Jue doubled its sales. With multi-brand matrix synergy, the foundation for high-end development has been firmly built.

At the earnings briefing, Zhao Chunwu emphasized that beer high-end positioning has entered its second half. The product structure is evolving from a pyramid-shaped profile to a balanced profile, and growth momentum remains abundant for the next five years. China Resources Beer will stay committed to the high-end strategy without wavering, continuously advancing upgrades to its product matrix and optimizing channels. Meanwhile, to keep pace with demand changes from younger consumer groups, it will accelerate efforts to plug shortfalls in emerging businesses such as instant retail and e-commerce. It has already reached deep cooperation with mainstream platforms including Meituan Flash Purchase, JD.com, and Waimatuo Wine Delivery (“歪马送酒”). During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, it will launch 15 e-commerce customized products. Looking ahead, it will also explore new models such as customization and contract manufacturing to open up new growth lanes. After more than 30 years of deep cultivation in the beer industry, China Resources Beer has built an unreplicable channel network, brand matrix, and operational capabilities. The steady growth of its core business provides solid assurance for advancing the company’s overall strategy.

As a key initiative for China Resources Beer to build a second growth curve, its liquor business faced external challenges from deep industry adjustments in 2025, achieving revenue of 1.496 billion yuan. Based on a prudent financial principle, the company made an impairment provision of 2.877 billion yuan for goodwill related to the liquor business, fully releasing potential risks brought by industry-cycle volatility, thereby laying the groundwork for a lighter setup and stable operations going forward. Management acknowledged that the liquor business has been in operation for only three years and is currently in a period of dual tests: industry adjustment and internal adaptation. Issues such as beer-and-liquor channel fit and stability in product price bands are still being optimized and improved. But this is a normal stage of new business development, and it is still too early to question the liquor strategy at this point.

In the face of industry pressure, China Resources Beer has moved forward to break through the liquor business with pragmatic actions. At the brand level, it adheres to the dual-brand strategy of “摘要+金沙回沙” (“Summary + Jinsha Huisha”). “摘要” focuses on the high-end business and cultural circles, while “金沙回沙” delves into the mass consumer market, with resource deployment precisely aligned to brand positioning. In price-band management, using a nationwide “single chessboard” approach, it strictly controls expenses and compresses the room for cross-regional channel dumping. It ensures end-to-end product traceability, completely abandons the bare-price rebate model, and shifts to an end-market and distributor profit-sharing mechanism, driving product prices to stabilize and rise again. In channel operations, it moves from extensive expansion to full lifecycle management of distributors—ditching growth driven by overstocking—and shifts to a sell-through-and-profit model that activates the channel’s intrinsic growth momentum. Although the dual empowerment strategy for both beer and liquor is still being refined, synergy effects have already begun to emerge. As research on channel adaptability and product optimization advances further, the business improvement trend will gradually become visible.

Zhao Chunwu said that the decision to expand into liquor is China Resources Beer’s strategic choice based on industry development rules. With the beer industry entering a stage of stock-level volatility, choosing the liquor track—one with a larger scale and broader room for error—is an inevitable choice for companies to build a second growth curve and achieve sustainable development. Although the company faces severe industry fluctuations in the short term, the correctness of the strategic direction will not be shaken by short-term cycle changes, and the company must not abandon long-term layout due to industry volatility. With three years of cultivation still at an early stage, China Resources Beer will deeply cultivate the market with a sense of reverence, adhere to a long-termist approach, continuously refine products, channels, and brands, and patiently wait for business value to be realized.

This earnings briefing session is both a review by China Resources Beer of its 2025 operating results and a strategic declaration for the future. With the coordination of the new management team making its first appearance at the earnings briefing headed by President Jin Hanquan, the company has formed a clear development path: steady growth in core businesses, shortfall reduction in emerging businesses, and long-term safeguarding in strategic businesses. Short-term earnings fluctuations are a normal phenomenon for the industry cycle and the period of strategic layout. The strong resilience of the beer business, the continued deepening of high-end positioning, and the orderly breakthrough of the liquor business together form the company’s core competitiveness for long-term development.

At a critical juncture in industry transformation, China Resources Beer, grounded in more than 30 years of industry experience, follows the guidance of a dual-wheel-driven strategy—innovating while staying committed, and moving forward under pressure. Going forward, the company will continue to uphold the long-termist philosophy: strengthen the beer core business, steadily cultivate the liquor business, cross industry cycles with strategic resolve, and unleash growth potential through operational innovation—creating continuous value for shareholders, customers, and consumers.