Lyon: China Resources Brewery (00291)'s revenue for the first half of the year was in line with expectations, and the liquor business dragged down gross margin below expectations

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Lyon released a research report saying that China Resources Beer (00291)'s revenue in the first half of the year was 24.24 billion yuan, up 1.2% year-on-year, slightly lower than the bank's and market expectations of about 1%. Profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 5.169 billion, down 10.7% year-on-year, 5% and 11% lower than the bank's expectations and market expectations, respectively.

According to the report, the beer business revenue and gross margin trend was generally in line with expectations after excluding one-time projects. Beer business revenue was 23.67 billion yuan, up 2.2% year over year, in line with this forecast; beer sales increased 1.7% year over year, sales of sub-premium beer and above increased more than 10% year over year, and “Heineken” sales increased 20% year over year. The average sales price of beer increased 0.4% year over year.

The liquor business was the main drag, with revenue of 570 million yuan during the period, down 27% year-on-year; EBIT loss was 281 million yuan. Overall gross margin fell 1.2 percentage points year over year to 47.7%, and sales and administrative expenses ratio fell 0.9 percentage points year over year to 22.3% year over year. Core net profit fell 4.5% year-on-year to RMB 5.109 billion.