EQS Newswire: Huitongda Network Co., Ltd.: Huitongda Network (9878.HK) Announces 2026 Interim Results: Significant Improvement in Operational Quality, Notable Progress from its Implementation of "FMCG Retail Chains + AI ...

EQS Newswire / 31/08/2026 / 14:28 UTC+8

On August 28, Huitongda Network (9878.HK) announced its 2026 interim results.

In the first half of 2026, China's consumer market continued to show signs of structural divergence, with county-level and lower-tier markets becoming important drivers of consumption growth. Huitongda steadfastly advanced its strategic priorities of "improving quality, increasing efficiency, and driving transformation and upgrades", with "FMCG retail chains + AI technology" as its core focus. By continuously optimising its business structure, the Group continued to redirect its resources toward high-value sectors.

During the Period, Huitongda's revenue reached RMB23.58 billion, with net profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company reaching RMB153 million, representing a year-on-year ("yoy") increase of 10.5%. Gross profit margin increased by 0.5 percentage points yoy to 5.1%. Gross profit margin, net profit margin and net profit margin attributable to equity shareholders of the Company all reached historical highs. Net cash generated from operating activities amounted to RMB367 million, maintaining positive operating cash inflows for eight consecutive years. Revenue from the service business reached RMB448 million, representing a yoy increase of 43.8%. Of which, AI revenue amounted to RMB78.91 million, up 32.3% yoy, demonstrating the growing value generated by the Company's AI applications and empowerment capabilities.

The stable and sustained improvement in key financial indicators, namely gross profit margin, net profit margin, net profit margin attributable to equity shareholders of the Company, and operating cash flow, underscores Huitongda's ability to anticipate evolving consumer trends, while validating its strategic transformation progress centered on "FMCG retail chains + AI technology". At the same time, the Company continued to strengthen its technological foundation across large models, AI Agents, and smart supply chain capabilities, laying a solid foundation for further innovation in retail formats, operating models, and technology applications in China's consumer market.

FMCG Retail Chain Expansion Begins to Deliver Results

In recent years, China's consumer market has undergone significant structural changes. In 2025, nationwide convenience store sales exceeded RMB500 billion, representing a yoy growth of 8.7%, significantly outpacing other traditional retail formats. Meanwhile, in the first half of 2026, retail sales growth in county-level areas was 1.3 percentage points higher than that in urban areas. Amid the sustained consumption upgrades in lower-tier markets, emerging retail formats such as bulk-sale snack stores have seen rapid expansion, reshaping the urban and rural consumer market landscape.

Expanding retail network: Since the beginning of 2026, Huitongda has further accelerated its expansion into FMCG retail chains. The Company has made strategic investments in leading regional brands, including "Snack Preferred" (????), "Orange Blossom" (????), and "Kehoo Convenience" (????). Through efficient integration of respective supply chains, systems, AI Agents, and comprehensive operating capabilities, Huitongda has since established a multi-format retail chain network spanning convenience stores, bulk-sale snack stores, and community hard-discount supermarkets, with nearly 5,000 stores nationwide.

Since the partnerships began, Huitongda and its retail chain partners have moved quickly to upgrade store formats and optimise product mix, developing new retail scenarios such as "bulk-sale snack stores + convenience stores" that combine snacks, fresh food, and other high-frequency daily consumer products. These initiatives are designed to continuously improve per-store operating quality and market competitiveness.

Expanding upstream presence: Huitongda has also rapidly developed deep cooperation with leading brands, including Yili, Wahaha, Eastroc, Snow, Red Bull, WALOVI, JDB, Nestlé, Suntory, Daliyuan, Dayao and Nayuki. As Huitongda continues to strengthen its centralized supply chain capabilities, it is expected to further leverage its channel operations and platform advantages to support its self-operated, franchise, and member stores in lower-tier markets, where it enjoys competitive strengths.

Full-Stack AI System Accelerate Deployment

As a core component of its strategic upgrade, Huitongda focused on the end-to-end retail value chain during the first half of the year, accelerating the development of a full-stack AI system and capabilities spanning its self-developed industry-vertical large model and closed-loop AI applications.

Self-developed industry-vertical large model: Huitongda's "Qiancheng Cloud AI intelligent large model" has been filed with the Cyberspace Administration of China, and has been selected for the 2026 Nanjing's "Joint Key Laboratory for Smart Retail Forecast and Decision-Making". Targeting different customer groups, the Company has also established a differentiated portfolio of AI products:

Serving offline retail scenarios: Huitongda's "Qiancheng AI Super Store Manager" integrates over 24 scenario-based AI Agents, including AI Sales, AI Marketing, and AI Product Selection, covering the full retail operating chain from customer acquisition, order follow-up, to marketing planning and customer service.

Serving online e-commerce merchants: The leading e-commerce AI company acquired by Huitongda, Boundary Consulting (????), launched "Dabi AI" which integrates core capabilities including product analysis, competitor research, visual content generation, material management, operational skills training, and task automation into a single platform, enabling e-commerce merchants to efficiently complete their daily work from business analysis to content production and task execution.

Serving enterprise clients in the retail industry: Huitongda has also launched the "LeapoAI" platform, which integrates over 100 specialised features and provides supply chain clients with one-stop AI services to efficiently connect with upstream and downstream customers.

In the first half of 2026, Huitongda's AI revenue increased by 32.3% yoy, demonstrating accelerating commercialization and high-quality development.

Smart Supply Chain Foundation Further Strengthened

As one of the underlying infrastructures and services that support Huitongda's customers across the entire retail value chain, the Company's smart supply chain continued to expand its product range, strengthen its intelligent capabilities, and improve its brand operating efficiency.

TOP brands collaboration: In the first half of 2026, Huitongda further deepened its strategic cooperation with TOP brands such as Apple and Lenovo. Procurement from TOP brands remained above 50% and continued to increase, further strengthening the Company's channel and operating advantages in intelligent technology products.

Self-owned brand development: Huitongda partnered with brands such as WALOVI and Taohuatan Liquor to introduce a range of on-trend alcoholic and wellness beverages. Supported by its innovation across retail chains, AI marketing, distribution channels, and operating models, sales from the Company's liquor and beverage segment surged 142.7% yoy, and the contribution from higher-margin products continued to increase.

Huitongda will continue to leverage its innovative model featuring "reverse customization + short supply chain direct sourcing + digitalization" to improve the intelligent matching between supply and demand, helping upstream partners enhance overall efficiency, improve margin performance and strengthen resilience across market cycles.

Dual Drivers of "Industry + Capital" to Unlock Further Value

During the Period, the value created by Huitongda's dual driver "Industry + Capital" strategy became increasingly evident. Through strategic investments and acquisitions, the Company rapidly strengthened its capabilities across FMCG retail chains, AI, and intelligent manufacturing, while steadily advancing its "FMCG Retail Chains + AI Technology" strategy.

Intelligent manufacturing: Huitongda acquired a 25% equity interest in the A-share-listed company Jin Tong Ling, a high-end manufacturer, and became its controlling shareholder. Based on the strategic positioning in intelligent manufacturing, the Group achieved strong synergy between Jin Tong Ling's high-end equipment manufacturing technology and Huitongda's supply chain resources. With Huitongda offering digital and supply chain management experience to manufacturers, this formed a mutual empowerment between industry and capital, while boosting its upstream industrial capabilities.

AI technology: Huitongda acquired a 57% equity interest in Boundary Consulting, a leading e-commerce AI enterprise. Boundary Consulting's "Dabi AI," together with Huitongda's self-developed "Qiancheng Cloud AI", has formed an online-offline synergy while strengthening Huitongda's AI capabilities in e-commerce services.

In the first half of 2026, Huitongda continued to deliver stable growth while completing an important shift toward higher-quality development. Gross profit margin, net profit margin, and net profit margin attributable to equity shareholders of the Company all reached historical highs, with operating cash flow remaining positive for the eighth consecutive year. The results of its "FMCG Retail Chains + AI Technology" strategy are also becoming increasingly visible.

Going forward, Huitongda will continue to treat technological innovation as its core driving force, and physical retail network as its implementation platform, to further advance its strategic transformation centered on "FMCG Retail Chains + AI Technology". By leveraging the capabilities and resources accumulated through years of serving and empowering the lower-tier markets, the Company aims to develop new growth avenues across multiple retail formats and along the end-to-end retail value chain, driving comprehensive upgrades across the industrial and supply chains in the era of AI and new consumption.

31/08/2026 Dissemination of a Financial Press Release, transmitted by EQS News.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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