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中国食品(00506):下半年收入增速改善明显,盈利能力继续稳步提升

Investment Rating - The report maintains an "Outperform" rating for the company, with a target price of 5.27 HKD per share based on a 14x PE valuation for 2025E [9]. Core Insights - The company reported total revenue of 21.49 billion RMB for 2024, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 0.2%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 861 million RMB, up 3.36% year-on-year. The second half of the year showed significant revenue growth improvement, driven by average price increases despite a decline in sales volume [2][8]. - The gross profit margin increased by 2.61 percentage points to 37.79%, with gross profit rising by 7.65% year-on-year. The sales expense ratio increased due to heightened market competition and promotional spending [2][8]. - The company is focusing on restructuring to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency, with notable performance in the soda and functional drinks categories [2][8]. Financial Data and Forecast - Total revenue projections for 2025-2027 are 23.13 billion RMB, 24.62 billion RMB, and 26.05 billion RMB, respectively. Net profit attributable to shareholders is expected to be 975 million RMB, 1.10 billion RMB, and 1.24 billion RMB for the same years, with corresponding EPS of 0.35 RMB, 0.39 RMB, and 0.44 RMB [2][5][8]. - The company achieved revenue of 16.37 billion RMB in the soda category for 2024, a year-on-year increase of 2.50%, maintaining the leading market share [3][8]. - The juice category reported revenue of 3.13 billion RMB, down 7.46% year-on-year, focusing on profit packaging development [3][8]. Business Strategy and Performance - The company is optimizing its customer structure and marketing network, achieving significant growth in direct sales and maintaining a controllable business revenue ratio of approximately 90% [4][5]. - The smart retail business has shown rapid revenue growth, and the COFCO Enjoy Club has also seen revenue increases with improved average product prices [2][8]. - The company is expanding its product offerings, including new packaging for soda and innovative marketing strategies targeting younger consumers [3][4][8].