International Business Boom: SF Express's 2025 Revenue to Surpass 300 Billion Yuan, with Significant Growth in Net Profit Attributable to Shareholders | Financial Report Highlights

Ask AI · How can strategy adjustments deliver a significant rebound in second-half gross margin?

SF Holding’s full-year performance saw steady growth, with international business expanding rapidly. The company plans to pay a final cash dividend of 4.3 cents per share.

SF Holding achieved full-year operating revenue of RMB 308.23 billion in 2025, up 8.4%; profit attributable to owners of the company was RMB 11.12 billion, up 9.3%; and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was RMB 32.78 billion, basically flat versus the prior year. Basic earnings per share were RMB 2.23, up about 5.7% from RMB 2.11 in 2024.

The same-city express delivery business’ net profit doubled, and the supply chain and international business turned from loss to profit. Against the backdrop of a complex and ever-changing competitive landscape in the global logistics market, the company maintained strong operational resilience by dynamically switching between scale-expansion and value-driven strategies.

The board proposes a final cash dividend of 4.3 cents per ordinary share (inclusive of tax). Together with the interim cash dividend already paid of about RMB 2.32 billion, the total cash distribution for 2025 is expected to be RMB 4.46 billion, about 40% of profit attributable to owners of the company, which is in line with the company’s previously announced five-year shareholder return plan.

International business delivers high growth, contributing a second growth curve

International business is one of the most impressive sources of incremental growth in SF Holding’s 2025 performance. SF Holding (excluding controlling subsidiary KLN Logistics Group Limited) achieved aggregate revenue growth of 55.4% from international express, cross-border e-commerce logistics, overseas warehouses, and international supply chain businesses.

The company continues to deepen its “Asia’s only one, with global coverage” strategy. During the year, it opened multiple new all-cargo freighter routes to Oslo, East Midlands, Miami, Hanoi, and others. As a result, the company’s cumulative operation of all-cargo freighter routes reached 69, with international flights of nearly 14,000 departures, up 53% year over year.

Full-year operating revenue for the supply chain and international business segment was RMB 72.94 billion, up 3.5%.

Notably, KLN, an international freight forwarding subsidiary, was dragged down by fluctuations in international trade and a clear decline in ocean freight prices, which weighed on overall segment revenue growth. If KLN is excluded, supply chain and international business revenue would have grown 32.3% year over year. Net profit for this segment turned from a loss of RMB 0.76 billion in 2024 to a profit of approximately RMB 0.19 billion, an improvement of about RMB 0.95 billion, i.e., a turnaround in losses of RMB 0.95 billion.

The company states that about 65% of the Fortune China 500 companies are using SF’s international services. The ongoing upgrade trend in cross-border e-commerce fulfillment models—from “pre-stocking in overseas warehouses + local fulfillment”—has also continued to bring incremental opportunities to the company.

Same-city instant delivery: profitability improves significantly

In 2025, SF’s same-city instant delivery business achieved operating revenue of RMB 12.72 billion, up 43.4%. Segment net profit was approximately RMB 0.28 billion, up 109.7%, with net profit doubling and reaching a historical high.

The company said its performance growth benefited from the expansion of the instant retail industry, which drove a rapid increase in order demand. At the same time, by optimizing its operating base through lean management and technology enablement, it also scaled the profitability business areas, with the size of profitable business areas growing by nearly one time year over year.

In 2025, SF Same City had 1.12 million active merchants, up 72% year over year. The overall on-time performance completion rate was about 95%, and the average delivery time for orders within 3 kilometers was 22 minutes.

Gross margin under pressure; second-half strategy adjustment shows results

In 2025, SF Holding’s overall gross profit was RMB 40.28 billion, up 3.6%. However, gross margin fell slightly from 13.68% in 2024 to 13.07%, a decline of 0.61 percentage points. The company attributed this to measures implemented at the start of the year to “activate the operating” mechanism, increased front-end incentives for business, and higher strategic resource investment. As a result, labor costs as a percentage of revenue rose by 2.46 percentage points year over year.

Entering the second half of the year, the company gradually and dynamically fine-tuned its market strategy, switching incentive orientation from “scale-driven” to “value-driven.” In the fourth quarter, gross margin rebounded to 14.01%, the highest level among all quarterly results for the year. Profit attributable to owners of the company in the fourth quarter increased 9.3% quarter over quarter compared with the third quarter, which was better than the expectations communicated to the market during the company’s Q3 earnings call.

The revenue ratio of fleet capacity costs fell by 0.97 percentage points year over year, reflecting the company’s ongoing efforts in optimizing its land-transport model and improving efficiency through network tiering.

Growth in express and oversized goods business size brings some profit pressure

The express and oversized goods business segment achieved full-year revenue of RMB 217.55 billion in 2025, up 8.7%. Within that, time-sensitive express revenue was RMB 131.05 billion, up 7.2%; economy express revenue was RMB 32.05 billion, up 17.6%; and express freight business revenue was RMB 42.13 billion, up 11.9%. The year-over-year growth rate of express freight volume exceeded 27%.

Segment net profit was approximately RMB 10.60 billion, down 3.5% year over year, mainly due to the increased front-end incentives and increased strategic investment under the “activate the operating” mechanism. Full-year business volume surpassed 16.7 billion shipments, up 25.4% year over year, with a growth rate higher than the overall industry level.

Capital structure continues to improve; free cash flow remains ample

As of December 31, 2025, the group’s total assets were RMB 216.47 billion. The asset-liability ratio fell to 49.03%, down 3.11 percentage points compared with the end of the prior year, the lowest level in recent years.

For 2025, the net cash generated from operating activities was RMB 27.56 billion, down 14.4% year over year, mainly due to increased tax payments and changes in business structure. The company’s net free cash flow inflow was RMB 17.93 billion, indicating overall strong liquidity. At period end, cash and cash equivalents, fixed-income instruments, and structured deposits totaled approximately RMB 41.66 billion.

The company also completed an H-share placement in July 2025, raising net proceeds of approximately HKD 2.934 billion; and issued convertible bonds, with net proceeds of approximately HKD 2.909 billion, mainly to strengthen international and cross-border logistics capabilities.

Strategic layout: two major axes—deepening supply chain and AI-driven technology

In Q4 2025, SF Holding formally established a Supply Chain BG at the group level, focusing on seven major industries: high-tech, industrial equipment, automobiles, consumer goods, retail food, retail dining, and life sciences and pharmaceuticals. It builds a “sales—solutions—operations” iron triangle mechanism. The company said that comprehensive logistics revenue in the above industries each achieved high growth of over 20%.

In artificial intelligence applications, SF’s domain-focused logistics large model has already exceeded 10 billion daily Token consumption on average. The number of internally active AI agents exceeds 5,000, covering more than 30 core business scenarios such as prediction, planning, marketing, fulfillment, customer service, and customs-related operations. SF Technology was selected as one of Fortune’s 2025 “China’s Top 50 Technology Companies,” and it is the only logistics technology company included.

Of note, on January 15, 2026, the company signed a subscription agreement with J&T Express. It plans to subscribe for J&T Express’s Class B shares at HKD 10.10 per share, and to issue 225,877,669 H shares to J&T. The issuance price will be HKD 36.74 per share. The expected net proceeds will be approximately HKD 8.299 billion.

This transaction is subject to the satisfaction of relevant prior conditions before it can be completed, and it may also generate strategic synergies with respect to SF’s international business layout.