China Resources Beer, Mastering the "Stability" Strategy

Ask AI · How does the “Dual Empowerment of Beer and Baijiu” help companies navigate industry cycles?

By 2025, the alcohol market will continue to face tests of both ice and fire: the beer industry is bidding farewell to rapid expansion and entering an era of “shrinking volume and improving quality” driven by value competition; meanwhile, the Baijiu industry is undergoing deep adjustments, with structural reshuffling intensifying the Matthew effect.

In this overall pressured environment, China Resources Beer still delivered an outstanding annual performance. The full-year results released on March 23 show that the company’s revenue remains at the top of the industry. Excluding non-recurring items like goodwill impairment of Baijiu, core profit indicators continued to steadily rise.

As the absolute leader in China’s beer industry, China Resources Beer uses beer as its ballast and the “Dual Empowerment of Beer and Baijiu” as its growth engine. It has kept pace with industry transformation, forging a path from scale expansion to high-quality value cultivation, providing a vibrant example for the industry to cycle through.

Performance Continues to Lead

The structural adjustment of China’s alcohol industry entered deep waters in 2025. The output of above-scale beer companies decreased slightly by 1.1% year-on-year, with “stabilizing volume and improving quality” becoming the main theme; the Baijiu industry faced rare declines in both volume and price, with revenue and net profit of 20 listed liquor companies on the A-share market falling in the first three quarters last year. Small and medium-sized liquor companies are accelerating their exit, leading to industry concentration at the top.

Against this backdrop, China Resources Beer (00291.HK) still performs “as steady as Mount Tai.” The full-year revenue reached 37.985 billion yuan, an increase of 6.537 billion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, further consolidating its scale advantage.

After deducting special items, the company’s profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 9.9% to 9.879 billion yuan. Shareholder net profit surged by 19.6% to 5.724 billion yuan, with both core indicators maintaining high growth.

Benefiting from the continued development of its premiumization strategy, the company’s overall gross profit margin increased by 0.5 percentage points to 43.1%; net cash flow from operating activities rose by 2.9% to 7.127 billion yuan. Ample cash flow not only supports business expansion and capacity optimization but also provides solid backing for shareholder returns.

China Resources Beer’s dividend plan in 2025 is impressive: the full-year dividend per share will reach 1.021 yuan, a 34.3% increase year-on-year, hitting a five-year high, with a payout ratio rising to 98.2%. During industry adjustments, China Resources Beer remains generous with dividends, reflecting sincerity to shareholders and confidence in the long-term development of its core business.

High-End Drive Boosts Performance Against the Trend

As the beer industry enters a phase of volume contraction, the competitive logic has shifted from “scale and market share” to “quality and value.” Expansion of mid-to-high-end products, category innovation, and channel optimization have become the three core drivers.

China Resources Beer is undoubtedly a big winner in this industry upgrade. In 2025, the company’s beer sales reached 11.03 million kiloliters, a 1.4% year-on-year increase, further consolidating its market share. The core reason for this countercyclical growth is its persistent product upgrade strategy, which resonates strongly with industry trends.

In 2025, sales of sub-premium and above beers grew by mid-to-high single digits year-on-year, accounting for nearly 25% of total sales. Premium and above beer sales increased by nearly 10%. The performance of key products was especially notable: Heineken achieved nearly 20% growth despite a high base last year; “Old Snow” surged by 60%; “Red爵” doubled. The high-end product matrix aligns perfectly with consumer upgrades from “drinking more” to “drinking better, more refined, and distinctive.”

The breakthrough in high-end products, combined with effective raw material cost savings, led to a 1.4 percentage point increase in gross profit margin to 42.5%. With the implementation of “lean, efficient, and refined” management strategies, operating expenses were effectively reduced, significantly boosting profitability. After excluding special items, China Resources Beer’s pre-interest, pre-tax, and pre-depreciation profit from beer business reached 9.611 billion yuan, up 17.4% year-on-year.

Product innovation and channel reform continuously inject new momentum into business growth.

In 2025, product innovation in the beer industry accelerated toward diversification of flavors, health orientation, and scene-based applications. China Resources Beer responded swiftly by developing Belgian-style white and black beers, launching new categories like tea beer and fruit beer, and innovatively introducing products such as “Zhang Zhongjing Medicinal Beer” and “Oyster Peptide Beer,” precisely targeting young consumers and health-conscious markets.

Instant retail and e-commerce platforms have become new engines for market growth. China Resources Beer stepped out of traditional channels, forming strategic partnerships with Alibaba, Meituan Flash, JD.com, Ele.me, and others. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, it developed 15 exclusive e-commerce products, with online and instant retail GMV growing rapidly, aligning with the industry shift from “product-centered” to “consumer-centered” channels.

Generation Z has become the main force of beer consumption, and the trend toward drinking for pleasure is inevitable. In brand marketing, China Resources Beer closely follows youth trends, creating differentiated marketing systems for different brands.

“Brave the World” deeply associates with marathons and trail running events, promoting integration of culture, tourism, commerce, and sports; “Brave the World SuperX” focuses on e-sports, mountain climbing, and other young scene-based activities to enhance recognition among young consumers; “Old Snow” partners with popular films like “Fengshen Part Two” and Scottish Premier League matches, giving the classic brand a youthful vibe. International brand Heineken leverages top events like F1, UEFA Champions League, ATP, and popular movies to capture young consumers.

This multi-dimensional youth-oriented marketing continuously enhances China Resources Beer’s brand influence, keeping the “thirty and thriving” spirit vibrant.

“Dual Empowerment of Beer and Baijiu” Deepens Value

In 2025, the deepening reform of China’s alcohol industry continues. The beer industry emphasizes quality improvement, high-endization, innovation, and digitalization as core growth drivers, with leading brands and channels further strengthening; the Baijiu industry undergoes profound adjustments, shifting consumer scenarios toward mass markets. The industry transitions from “volume and price” to “value cultivation,” with channel efficiency and youth-oriented transformation becoming key to high-quality development.

Facing these industry changes, China Resources Beer leverages its core advantages in beer and adheres to the “Dual Empowerment” strategic layout for the future.

In the face of shrinking volume competition, the company focuses on the high-growth segment of sub-premium and above beers, continuously consolidating its premium product market position;

On the product side, it emphasizes craft innovation and revitalization of domestic barley, creating differentiated products to meet new consumer demands;

By leveraging the “Chinese and international brands” dual-drive advantage, it accelerates the development of new channels like chain stores and online platforms, building an intelligent, low-cost supply chain system. Through technological innovation, it aims to reduce costs and improve efficiency, realizing value in profits.

The Baijiu business remains committed to long-termism, maintaining its fundamentals amid adjustments and exploring breakthroughs in transformation. In 2025, its revenue reached 1.496 billion yuan. Excluding goodwill impairment, EBITDA still hit 264 million yuan, demonstrating strong business resilience.

In response to short-term market changes in Baijiu, the company plans to reshape prices to adapt to the shift toward social and personal consumption scenarios; it also plans to develop low-alcohol Baijiu products aligned with the industry’s trend toward youthfulness and lower alcohol content. Additionally, it focuses on flagship series like “Summary” and “Jinsha,” maintaining pricing strategies and strengthening consumer cultivation, aligning with industry trends of moving from粗放 to精细, from quantity to quality, and from high speed to high quality development.

By 2025, cross-industry integration in the alcohol sector is increasingly evident. The high overlap between beer and Baijiu consumption scenarios provides a natural foundation for their coordinated development. Amid the wave of industry transformation, China Resources Beer, anchored in beer and empowered by dual strategies, steadily deepens its value cultivation. This ingrained “stability” is not only the company’s confidence to cycle through periods but also its core strength on the path to becoming a world-class enterprise.