Over five years, an increase of over 200%. The logic behind the revaluation of CITIC Shares.

Source｜Financial Magazine

Author｜Reporter Chen Hongjie　Editor｜Yuan Man

The value reappraisal of CITIC Group lies in its efficient integration and use of China’s most comprehensive financial licenses, fully leveraging the moat business built through synergies, along with its advantages in cross-cycle risk resistance. It can achieve cycle complementarity and risk hedging, which is even more scarce and valuable in today’s market amid intensifying instability

On March 27, by Victoria Harbour, spring tides and capital surged in sync.

In JW Marriott Hong Kong’s afternoon, the Central skyline outside the window sketched a layered three-dimensional aesthetic; inside, a corporate earnings conference for a listed company—relevant to the reappraisal of Chinese assets—drew in many investors.

From 2021 to 2025, as the Hang Seng Index, Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, and Hang Seng High Dividend Yield Index each fell by 5.88%, 17%, and 10.7% respectively, CITIC Group’s (0267.HK) share price recorded a cumulative gain of more than 200%.

In the field of value investing, CITIC Group is regarded as one of the representative institutions, and in recent years it has increasingly become a target of the market’s pursuit.

This reflects that CITIC Group possesses sustainable core competitive strengths in profitability, business segments, corporate governance, and more. Its 2025 data show that it achieved revenue of RMB 769.26B, and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of RMB 58.73B (unless otherwise specially stated, all figures in this article are in RMB), up 3.0% and 0.9% year over year, respectively.

(Source: CITIC Group’s official website)

The value reappraisal of CITIC Group lies in its efficient integration and use of China’s most comprehensive financial licenses, fully leveraging the moat business built through synergies, along with its advantages in cross-cycle risk resistance. It can achieve cycle complementarity and risk hedging, which is even more scarce and valuable in today’s market amid intensifying instability.

Looking at the evolution of the global financial industry, integrated operations are widely believed to offer greater competitive advantages. As Ben Bernanke has said, if a financial company is large enough, it can provide a broader range of services, serving efficiently global non-financial enterprises.

Worth noting is that CITIC has developed into China’s largest direct financing institution and largest comprehensive asset management institution. This creates broad space and abundant opportunities for CITIC to further expand its comprehensive finance advantages, moving from “largest” to “strongest” in direct financing and asset management.

The deep internal driving forces behind CITIC Group’s future growth also come from the new value dimensions opened up by the group’s “three-three-five” strategy: treating investment as one of the three major core businesses alongside finance and real industry.

“This is an actual action to serve national strategies. Effective investment is an important lever for stabilizing growth and expanding incremental value. When CITIC develops its investment as a core business, we aim to allocate resources to national major strategies such as new quality productive forces and expanding domestic demand—being a ‘national team’ of long-term capital, and escorting the economy and society toward new and better development.” CITIC Group Chairman Qi Guohua said, adding that this is also the only way to promote high-quality development. Investment becomes a “multiplier” for the development of finance and real industry, better releasing the “multiplier effect.”

It rises from the very end of grass tips; it becomes a wave between tiny ripples. CITIC Group’s strategic adjustments are resonating with the global technology wave. At present, a new round of revolution represented by artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and biotechnology is accelerating. It is reshaping the global innovation map at an unprecedented speed and profoundly influencing the pattern of great-power competition.

If others have it, I can too. Beyond the full set of financial licenses, CITIC Group also has rich industrial resources that general investment companies do not. It can provide strong funding support and broad industrial application scenarios for investee enterprises. An ecosystem network has already formed linking investee enterprises, industrial resources, and capital resources; its uniqueness undoubtedly provides even more far-reaching potential for growth.

Supported firmly by an integrated layout that pairs finance with real industry, and powered strongly by investment as a key engine, CITIC Group—whose mission is to implement national strategies and help drive national rejuvenation—will, in the new journey of the “15th Five-Year Plan” and the next phase (“十五五”), show new initiatives, create new value, and achieve new breakthroughs.

Share Price Recovery: Gains of Over 200% in Five Years

“Within the short term, the market is a voting machine; and over the long term, the market is a weighing machine,” a company’s share-price rise or fall for a while may be disconnected from its true fundamentals. But over the long run, the market will gradually measure its intrinsic value.

As a kind of long-term trend judgment, market capitalization is the barometer of a listed company’s comprehensive strength, market recognition, and future expectations. It represents an overall understanding of its development prospects.

During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, CITIC Group adhered to value creation as the core, carried out value presentation in a solid manner, and achieved notable results. Its growth momentum can be summarized by three keywords:

Continuous increase—since the overall listing, it achieved positive market-cap growth for five consecutive years for the first time; Multiplication—over the past five years, cumulative gains exceeded 200%, leading the industry with growth by a multiple; Superior increase—over the past five years, CITIC Group has consistently outperformed the broader market by a wide margin, performing better than the Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng Comprehensive Enterprises Index over the same period. Against the backdrop of a market rebound in 2025, CITIC Group’s market-cap growth trend became even more pronounced, with a rise of 38% for the full year.

(Source: CITIC Group’s annual report, Hang Seng Index, etc.)

From the perspective of dividend yield, since listing, CITIC Group’s cumulative dividends have exceeded HKD 140 billion. Recently, CITIC Group’s board of directors also decided to increase the dividend payout ratio for 2025 to 29%, up 1.5 percentage points from 2024. Compared with the announced shareholder return plan, this is an increase of 1 percentage point, with dividends up 6.4% year over year. Over the last three years, CITIC Group’s average dividend payout ratio is about 27.5%, with average dividend yield exceeding 6%. It is a preferred target for long-term capital investment.

That string of impressive figures above is attributable to sustained improvement in fundamentals. CITIC Group continues to deepen reforms, with bright spots in areas such as finance, real industry, and technology. Overall, its operating performance has maintained an upward and positive trend.

Looking further, finance has demonstrated distinctive strengths in system-wide coordination. By leveraging the role of financial holding companies as an overall coordinator, and led by the “Strong Core” financial project, CITIC has fully rolled out model innovation, built a comprehensive finance service system covering full licenses and full cycles, and driven major business segments to focus on their core businesses, improve governance, and develop in a differentiated manner. Finance subsidiaries have moved toward being better and better (“new and better”), with profits growing across the board, etc.

Real industry is accelerating transformation and showing value creation that can cross cycles. It has deeply implemented the real industry “Star Chain” project, and pushed forward three major actions—“revitalizing stars” in traditional industries, “creating stars” in emerging industries, and “exploring stars” in future industries—laying a solid foundation for building a modern industrial system. Its leading position has been further consolidated. The profits contributed by “star businesses” such as CITIC Metal’s copper and niobium have kept climbing. CITIC’s platinum group multi-metal mine in South Africa has been completed and started production. CITIC Publishing also maintains the number one industry position in the market share of mass-market book retail, etc.

Technology has made an all-out push, showing strong momentum driven by innovation. Focusing on cultivating and growing new quality productive forces, it has upgraded the technology “Rock” project. CITIC’s annual technology investment intensity has remained at a high level of around 3%, etc.

CITIC Group’s market-cap recovery is also closely related to China’s economy continuing to stabilize and improve. As reform dividends in the capital markets continue to be released and the value of Chinese assets continues to be reassessed, CITIC Group has long initiated a systematic market-cap management reform and has been gradually promoting its share price to return to intrinsic value.

In 2024, CITIC Group further rolled out multiple key initiatives, such as implementing self-funded share purchases by senior and middle management to actively convey confidence to the market; releasing a shareholder return plan, providing clearer guidance to the capital market regarding dividends; and including all of its listed subsidiaries in market-cap management performance assessments to drive corporate operating and management practices to better align with capital market expectations.

“The above measures are the watershed for CITIC Group’s valuation. They help strengthen investors’ confidence in its business prospects and returns.” In October 2025, HSBC analysts said in a research report.

In addition, many long-term investors at home and abroad have put in real money and have continued to increase their holdings. This is not only recognition of CITIC Group’s past performance, but also confidence in its future development. Among them, the proportion of holdings via Stock Connect (Hong Kong) increased from 0.78% over the past five years to over 5%.

Outperforming the Market: Multiple Metrics Reach Historical Bests

Value creation never comes from the luck of one strong long plank alone; it is nurtured by the inevitability of system-wide balance. No matter how turbulent the market may be, it is the steady that goes steadily, and it is the balanced that travels far. This is the key to crossing cycles.

During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, CITIC Group’s total assets compound annual growth rate reached 9.7%. The compound annual growth rates of operating revenue and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders were 9.3% and 3.1%, respectively. The asset quality of the financial segment has been continuously strengthened. The asset-liability ratio of the real industry segment has stayed stable while trending downward. Its MSCI ESG rating rose from BB to AA, reaching the best level in history.

CITIC Group’s performance in its most recent complete fiscal year across its subsidiaries has been even more outstanding. In 2025, facing multiple challenges, CITIC Group’s performance held steady and improved. Operating revenue and net profit achieved steady growth: revenue reached RMB 58.73B, and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders reached RMB 212.48B.

Of this, the financial segment’s revenue and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders increased year over year by 6.2% and 6.0%, respectively. Profits from banking, securities, and insurance businesses each hit record highs. Financial subsidiaries achieved capital savings of RMB 11.2 billion. The real-industry key businesses demonstrated resilience. Sub-subsidiaries such as CITIC Dicastal, CITIC Metal, and CITIC Pacific Energy achieved record-high profits.

Breaking it down, CITIC Bank achieved revenue of RMB 70.62B in 2025 and net profit attributable to its shareholders of RMB 74.83B, up 3.0% year over year. Asset quality remained stable, with the non-performing loan ratio at 1.15%, declining for seven consecutive years.

CITIC Securities seized market opportunities. Last year, it generated revenue of RMB 30.05B, up 29%; it achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 38k, up 39%.

After implementing a “three-category” business transformation, CITIC Trust adjusted in line with changes in market demand. By the end of 2025, trust assets reached RMB 3.95B. Newly signed contract revenue grew 34% year over year. Income from proprietary businesses was RMB 6.33B, a record high. It achieved revenue of RMB 3.05B and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 33.66B, increasing 18% and 15% year over year, respectively.

Focusing on client needs in retirement security, health, and other protection categories, CITIC Prudential Life, with a rich product system, achieved RMB 4.95B in original premium income in 2025, up 12%. Net investment performance increased by RMB 4.7 billion year over year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was RMB 50k, up 5170%.

The outline of the “15th Five-Year Plan” clearly states that it is necessary to “continue to deepen comprehensive reforms in capital market investment and financing… and enrich financial products and services that meet residents’ wealth management needs.”

Data show that in the direct financing segment, in 2025, CITIC’s two brokerage firms’ underwriting and issuance of domestic equity financing reached RMB 389.1 billion, with a market share of more than one-third. The scale of M&A restructuring transactions was RMB 368.4 billion, with a market share of 42.6%, and both ranked first in the market. CITIC Bank and the two brokerage firms’ domestic bond underwriting and issuance scale reached RMB 130k, with a market share of 16%, also ranking first. In the asset management segment, as of the end of 2025, CITIC Group’s total assets were RMB 1.3 trillion, with off-balance-sheet business scale of RMB 6 trillion, and its asset management scale of nearly RMB 1.1 trillion.

At the same time, CITIC Group’s real-industry segment remained stable with an upward trend. In 2025, in the advanced intelligent manufacturing segment, it achieved revenue of RMB 600k and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of RMB 0.802 billion. As the world’s largest aluminum wheel manufacturer, CITIC Dicastal achieved wheel sales of 95.17 million units and aluminum castings sales of 173 thousand tons, up 15.7% and 13% year over year, respectively.

Advanced materials are the core driving force pushing forward modern technology and industrial transformation. In 2025, CITIC Group’s advanced materials segment revenue and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders both increased by 3.0% and 2.3%, respectively, versus the prior year. CITIC Special Steel’s net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company increased 15.7% year over year to RMB 110k. Nanjing Steel Co.’s net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company increased 26.8% year over year to RMB 57.17B.

Net profit growth of 20% or more was also seen in CITIC Metal. Its copper and niobium volumes both achieved double-digit growth. In 2025, CITIC Metal achieved revenue of RMB 802M and net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 173k, up 9.6% and 20.2% year over year, respectively. The Peruvian Toromocho copper mine project operated steadily, and shared gains increased by more than double. In addition, CITIC Pacific Energy’s power generation volume grew 94% year over year, achieving net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB 5.93B, up 22.2%, reaching a new record high.

In 2025, CITIC Group’s new consumption segment achieved revenue of RMB 2.87B and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of RMB 2.69B, up 1161.9%. CITIC Publishing’s digital intelligence and IP-focused operating strategy delivered solid results. In 2025, revenue was RMB 1.4B and net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 0.130 billion, up 0.9% and 9.6% year over year, respectively. Dah Chang Xing disposed of inefficient businesses, and profit increased by 8.5 times year over year, etc.

In addition, CITIC Group carried out a package of measures to reduce financing costs, pushing down financing costs for non-financial businesses significantly. In 2025, total interest expense paid to outsiders was RMB 48.15B, down RMB 530M year over year, a decline of 18%. Proceeds from disposals and collections from outsiders totaled RMB 1.7B. Rental income from commercial and office properties was RMB 2.37 billion, and net profit was RMB 1.39 billion, etc.

Building a Moat High and Deep: Integrated Operations as a Shield, Investment Expands New Frontiers

In the deep night of 1987, in the CITIC Bank office inside Beijing International Tower, the lights were still on. A client manager had just hung up a call with a deposit customer, and then leaned forward again to prepare materials for the next day’s loan review meeting.

More than thirty years passed in a flash. Tonight, the lights in the CITIC building shine brilliantly, reflecting a broader financial landscape: what used to be a single line of deposit-and-loan business has long evolved into comprehensive, three-dimensional, and global financial demands.

At present, faced with the combined effects of multiple factors—such as interest-rate marketization, a highly uncertain external environment, and the complexity of internal coordination among enterprises—large financial institutions are urgently trying to solve unprecedented systemic challenges. Full financial licenses, and the comprehensive financial services formed on that basis, are one of CITIC’s biggest characteristics and advantages.

Comprehensive finance is not just a pile of licenses; it is an “ecosystem synergy” formed around the customer. CITIC’s advantages in comprehensive finance come, on the one hand, from the strong development of each financial business. Its businesses, including banking, securities, trust, insurance, funds, futures, etc., all hold leading industry positions, strong professional capabilities, and deep customer bases—providing solid support for making comprehensive finance better. On the other hand, they are also due to the high importance attached to business linkage. CITIC Financial Holding Company plays a coordinating role: internally it improves synergy and linkage mechanisms, and externally it outputs comprehensive solutions, providing customers with one-stop, full-cycle comprehensive financial support.

Not only that, CITIC’s comprehensive structure also brings advantages in cross-cycle risk resistance, clear strengths in business synergy, and a competitive edge in globalized comprehensive operations. These are unique advantages that a single enterprise entity cannot easily replicate.

If comprehensive finance and the real-industry “Star Chain” project are viewed as the foundation for development, then investment business opens up infinite imagination space for CITIC Group. Looking toward “15th Five-Year Plan” and beyond, CITIC research proposed implementing the “three-three-five” strategy, defining investment clearly as one of the three major core businesses.

Currently, China’s emerging industries have already entered a concentrated explosion period for innovation results. Investment demand is large and potential returns are high in key areas such as artificial intelligence, new materials, and new energy. By increasing strategic investment in emerging areas, CITIC will be able to secure positions in key tracks and build a “second growth curve.”

Of course, investment is not a new business for CITIC. From the time CITIC was founded, it already carried a distinct investment gene. After 46 years of unremitting efforts, CITIC has accumulated deep expertise in the investment field.

Qi Guohua said that for comprehensive enterprises, business structure is a core variable affecting development quality and efficiency. By vigorously developing investment as a core business, CITIC can effectively implement the concept of “the company is also a product,” promoting the dynamic optimization of its strategic layout and the transition and conversion between new and old drivers.

Data show that in 2025, CITIC’s equity investment alliance managed fund scale of over RMB 340 billion, and nurtured and incubated more than 1200 technology innovation enterprises. CITIC Securities and CITIC Jianou Securities focus on embodied intelligence and artificial intelligence, future manufacturing, future materials, and future energy, sorting out segmented tracks and establishing a representative enterprise observation pool. They also leverage their advantages in direct investments, funds, and other businesses to add more than 100 investment projects in total across the above tracks, etc.

Peng the roc rides the wind in one day and soars upward ninety thousand li. Guided by the “three-three-five” strategy, the continuous growth creation capability that has evolved through resonance among investment, finance, and real industry is pushing CITIC Group’s intrinsic value and market value toward each other—also becoming the most dependable steady investment target in investors’ minds.