Core Viewpoint - Wuchan Group has emerged as the new "profit king" in the snack industry, while the traditional giant Zhou Hei Ya continues to experience revenue decline despite the return of founder Zhou Fuyou [1] Financial Performance - Zhou Hei Ya reported a revenue of approximately 1.2226 billion yuan for the first half of 2025, a year-on-year decline of 2.9% [1] - The company's gross profit slightly increased by 2.7% to 716.6 million yuan, while net profit attributable to shareholders surged by 228% to approximately 108 million yuan [1] - The increase in profit is attributed to improvements in store operations, channel expansion, brand building, and supply chain optimization [1] Store Operations - Zhou Hei Ya closed 592 stores in the first half of the year, a 17.13% decrease from the previous year, leaving a total of 2,864 stores [2] - This marks the first time in recent years that the number of stores has fallen below 3,000 [2] - The company's financial costs decreased by 11.8% due to the optimization of store structure and closure of inefficient stores [3] Employee Management - The number of employees decreased by 12.6% to 3,756, with a reduction of 293 employees compared to the beginning of the year [4] - Employee and labor costs for the first half of the year were 233.1 million yuan, with an average cost per employee of 62,000 yuan, down from 67,000 yuan in the same period last year [5] Sales Performance - Total sales volume declined by 1.61% to 14,380 tons, with core products like duck and duck by-products seeing a revenue drop of 0.7% to 989 million yuan [7] - Online channel revenue also fell by 3.95% to 170 million yuan compared to 177 million yuan in the previous year [7] - The average order value decreased by 3.62% to 535.6 yuan, down from 555.7 yuan in the same period last year [8] Market Dynamics - Despite rising prices for duck neck snacks, consumer spending has become more cautious, leading to a decline in average order values [8] - The growth of the takeaway market has provided some revenue increase, with takeaway sales reaching 380 million yuan, accounting for 23% of self-operated store revenue [8]