In mid-January this year, a highly anticipated event unfolded in the logistics sector: as China's express delivery industry entered a phase of consolidation amid slowing growth, S.F. Holding Co.,Ltd., a veteran player dominating the mid-to-high-end market, and J&T Express, which primarily handles e-commerce parcels, jointly announced a cross-shareholding agreement involving an investment of HKD 8.3 billion. This move, perceived by the market as a highly complementary alliance for mutual benefit, has further demonstrated its necessity through J&T's latest financial report. On March 30, J&T disclosed its full-year 2025 results, revealing that in its largest single market, China, the company handled 22.07 billion parcels in the past year, an increase of 11.4% year-on-year. However, its market share declined from 11.3% in 2024 to 11.1%, while the adjusted EBIT contributed by the Chinese market decreased from USD 150 million in 2024 to USD 93.855 million. Evidently, in the battle for market share amidst China's "anti-involution" climate, J&T urgently needs to transition from a "price war" to a "value war." According to J&T Express CFO Zheng Shiqiang, in China, the company continuously optimized operations and reduced costs last year, achieving a record-low per-parcel cost of USD 0.28. The cooperation with S.F. Holding will undoubtedly help J&T further optimize its costs in the domestic market. However, the growth potential offered by the domestic market for J&T is now quite limited; more attractive opportunities lie in the vast global marketplace. Notably pleasing to investors is that after nearly three years of operations in new markets such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Mexico, J&T achieved its first-ever adjusted EBIT profitability in these regions, recording USD 3.777 million. Simultaneously, in its home base, the Southeast Asian market, J&T achieved a triple success of "volume growth, market share expansion, and profit improvement," with adjusted EBIT surging 77.5% year-on-year to USD 540 million. Benefiting from growth in overseas markets, J&T's total annual revenue reached USD 12.16 billion last year, an increase of 18.5% year-on-year, while adjusted net profit soared 112.3% to USD 430 million, exceeding Bloomberg consensus estimates. The total parcel volume surpassed the 30 billion mark for the first time, reaching 30.13 billion parcels, a year-on-year increase of 22.2%. However, this global expansion is undoubtedly costly. To support its extensive cross-border parcel network, J&T has continued to invest heavily in asset-heavy infrastructure globally. As of the end of 2025, J&T's express delivery business covered 13 countries, with approximately 19,300 service points, operating 246 sorting centers and over 13,300 line-haul vehicles. It is precisely these substantial capacity investments that have facilitated close cooperation with global cross-border e-commerce platforms such as SHEIN, Temu, TikTok, and AliExpress, and enabled a partnership with Latin America's largest e-commerce platform, Mercado Libre. J&T's management has indicated that it is exploring potential opportunities in other regions, including Latin America, Europe, and North America. However, to capitalize on the rapidly increasing global e-commerce penetration rate, J&T must further enhance the density of its global express delivery network. The company mentioned in its financial report that the strategic cross-shareholding with S.F. Holding promotes deeper collaboration between the two parties. By integrating their overseas and cross-border logistics resources and terminal network resources, they aim to enhance global network coverage and service efficiency, which is beneficial for J&T's expansion in overseas regional markets. With new markets historically crossing the profitability inflection point, coupled with deep integration with S.F. Holding at the resource level, J&T has not only deepened its economic moat in per-parcel economics but has also unlocked vast growth potential for its transition from a "regional express dark horse" to a "global integrated logistics giant." In the battle for the global supply chain, Chinese enterprises are now fully present on the stage. What J&T holds in its hands is no longer merely the blade of a price war, but long-term strategic leverage based on global network and capital synergy.
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