"Soy Sauce Ma" returns: steady growth in revenue and profit, stock price surges within two days

Ask AI · Does the surge in accounts receivable reflect a new competitive landscape in the condiment industry?

21st Century Business Herald reporter Liu Jingxi

On March 27, Haitian Flavor Industry (603288.SH) released its 2025 annual financial report. The report shows that in 2025, the company’s total revenue for the full year was RMB 28.87 billion, up 7.32% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 7.04 billion, up 10.95% year over year. Both revenue and net profit hit new highs.

This is after the company reached a trough in 2023: the year-over-year growth rates of operating total revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders have remained positive for the second consecutive year, and the growth rate of net profit has again outpaced the growth rate of revenue. This indicates that Haitian achieved “increasing revenue also means increasing profit.”

（Haitian Flavor Industry’s core operating data over the past five years）

Image source: 21st Century Business Herald

Looking closely, Haitian Flavor Industry’s performance this time benefited from sales growth across all product categories on the revenue side, and from the favorable realization of cost reduction and efficiency improvements on the cost side.

In terms of products, soy sauce remains the “keystone” for total revenue, contributing the largest share of revenue. In 2025, this business recorded RMB 14.93 billion, accounting for 51.72% of total revenue, up 8.55% year over year.

Oyster sauce and seasoning sauces are the other two major businesses. In 2025, they reported RMB 4.87 billion and RMB 2.92 billion respectively, up 5.48% and 9.24% year over year, accounting for 16.86% and 10.1% of total revenue, respectively.

Meanwhile, the “other businesses” that the company has been actively promoting—vinegar, cooking wine, and compound seasonings—performed strikingly. In 2025, these recorded RMB 4.68 billion, up 14.55% year over year.

On the cost side, the annual report shows that in 2025 the company’s gross margin reached 40.22%, up 3.2% year over year.

The company explained that, on the one hand, lower costs benefited from a dividend of declining raw material costs. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the national average market price of soybeans in 2025 was RMB 4,234 per ton, down from RMB 4,376 per ton in 2024, a decrease of 3.25%.

On the other hand, it also confirms that the favorable cost reduction and efficiency improvement driven by the company’s efforts to enhance supply chain efficiency is being realized. Through technologies such as AI for batch selection of soybeans and big-data fermentation, the company’s manufacturing expenses in 2025 decreased by 9.98% compared with 2024.

It is worth noting that in 2025, Haitian Flavor Industry’s accounts receivable was RMB 300 million, a record high. For comparison, before 2022, Haitian Flavor Industry’s accounts receivable was less than RMB 60 million. This suggests that the company has begun to proactively loosen credit terms, allowing for credit sales, to respond to industry competition and channel pressure.

In June 2025, Haitian Flavor Industry officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, showing “ambitious” plans for expanding into international markets. In its financial report, Haitian Flavor Industry stated that 2025 is a key milestone in its process of internationalization, with products already sold to more than 80 countries and regions worldwide. However, for the revenue generated by overseas markets in 2025, Haitian Flavor Industry did not mention it in this financial report.

On March 30, the closing prices of Haitian Flavor Industry’s A/H shares rose significantly compared with March 26, after the financial report was released. As of the close, Haitian Flavor Industry’s A shares (603288.SH) closed at RMB 40.34 per share, and its H shares (03288.HK) closed at HKD 36.84 per share. In the two trading days, the gains for both exceeded 9%.

（Haitian Flavor Industry’s performance in A/H shares）