Zhejiang Supor Co.,Ltd. reported its first annual net profit decline in five years, yet the company has once again announced an exceptionally high dividend payout, distributing almost all of its annual earnings.
On April 2, Supor released its 2025 financial results. During the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 22.772 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.54%. However, its net profit attributable to shareholders dropped by 6.58% to 2.097 billion yuan, indicating a situation where revenue growth did not translate into profit growth.
Despite this earnings pressure, Supor was notably generous with its dividend distribution. The company plans to distribute cash dividends totaling 2.096 billion yuan, which accounts for 99.95% of last year's net profit attributable to shareholders, effectively distributing nearly its entire annual profit.
This is not the first instance of such a substantial dividend payout from Supor. In both 2023 and 2024, the company's dividend payout ratio exceeded 99%. Over the past three years, cumulative dividends have surpassed 6.5 billion yuan. Due to its significant shareholding, the controlling shareholder, French group SEB, emerges as the primary beneficiary of this substantial dividend distribution.
Behind the lavish dividend payouts, concerns about Supor's operational performance are apparent. Last year, the company's sales expenses increased by 10.41% year-on-year, yet this did not yield proportional returns. Revenue grew by only 1.54% during the same period, and net profit attributable to shareholders experienced negative growth.
In terms of regional market performance, Supor also faced challenges in its international sales segment. In 2025, the company's overseas sales revenue decreased by 0.85% year-on-year, and its gross profit margin declined by 1.43 percentage points.
Supor's near-total profit distribution will see its French controlling shareholder receive over 1.7 billion yuan.
Alongside disclosing its 2025 annual report on April 2, the leading small household appliance company also announced its latest dividend plan, indicating another high-payout-ratio distribution.
According to the announcement, Supor plans to distribute a cash dividend of 26.3 yuan per 10 shares to all shareholders, totaling approximately 2.096 billion yuan in cash dividends. No bonus shares will be issued, and there will be no capital reserve conversion into share capital this year.
Given that Supor's net profit attributable to shareholders for 2025 was 2.097 billion yuan, this distribution plan means the company is paying out almost all of its 2025 profits.
Supor stated that this profit distribution plan is designed to actively reward shareholders and fully considers the company's medium-to-long-term development and the overall interests of all shareholders.
Considering the company's substantial accumulated retained earnings, relatively ample cash assets, and the absence of major capital expenditure projects in the near term, the company intends to implement a high-ratio cash dividend plan.
Supor emphasized that the implementation of this plan is not expected to significantly impact the company's operating cash flow or debt repayment capacity and does not harm the interests of shareholders, particularly minority shareholders.
A review reveals that Supor has maintained a tradition of high dividend payout ratios in recent years. The company has previously indicated that it has implemented a relatively high dividend distribution policy since 2021.
Data shows that in 2023 and 2024, Supor's total cash dividends were 2.176 billion yuan and 2.239 billion yuan, respectively. The net profits attributable to shareholders for the same periods were 2.18 billion yuan and 2.244 billion yuan, resulting in dividend payout ratios consistently above 99%.
Calculations indicate that over just the three years from 2023 to 2025, Supor's cumulative cash dividend distributions exceed 6.5 billion yuan.
Supor also mentioned that future dividend distributions will comprehensively consider factors such as business operations, financial condition, and funding requirements, aiming to reward shareholders with sustainable, cash-based dividend plans.
As of December 31, 2025, Supor had 23,894 shareholders. Its ultimate controlling shareholder, the French SEB Group, will be the largest beneficiary of the dividend distribution.
Information indicates that SEB INTERNATIONALE S.A.S, controlled by the SEB Group, directly holds 83.16% of Supor's shares. Based on the 2025 dividend plan, the former is set to receive over 1.7 billion yuan in dividends.
Contrasting sharply with the high dividend payout is the underlying performance weakness revealed in Supor's 2025 annual report.
The annual report shows that in 2025, Supor achieved revenue of 22.772 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.54%. However, net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.097 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.58% compared to the previous year, presenting a pattern of revenue growth without corresponding profit growth.
Looking at quarterly performance, in the fourth quarter of 2025, Supor reported revenue of 5.874 billion yuan, down 0.68% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 731 million yuan, down 9.98% year-on-year, with both metrics showing a decline.
Extending the timeline further reveals that Supor's growth momentum has been continuously slowing in recent years. From 2023 to 2025, the company's revenues were 21.304 billion yuan, 22.427 billion yuan, and 22.772 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 5.62%, 5.27%, and 1.54%, respectively.
During the same period, net profits attributable to shareholders were 2.18 billion yuan, 2.244 billion yuan, and 2.097 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 5.42%, 2.97%, and -6.58%, respectively. This also shows a continuously slowing trend, culminating in the first negative growth in nearly five years during 2025.
As a well-known domestic developer, manufacturer, and leading brand of kitchenware and small household appliances, Supor's main business can be divided into cookware and electrical appliances.
Last year, the cookware business contributed revenue of 6.966 billion yuan, an increase of 1.89% year-on-year. The electrical appliances business generated revenue of 15.489 billion yuan, up 1.23% year-on-year.
Benefiting from proactive cost-cutting and efficiency measures, Supor's comprehensive gross profit margin slightly improved, rising from 24.65% in 2024 to 24.87%, although it remained below the 26.3% level achieved in 2023.
Notably, in 2025, Supor's sales expenses reached 2.409 billion yuan, a significant increase of 10.41% year-on-year. This growth rate far exceeded the company's 1.54% revenue growth during the same period.
Supor attributed this to intensified competition in the domestic market. To support and achieve sustained growth in domestic sales scale, the company invested marketing resources commensurate with sales growth, leading to a slight year-on-year increase in sales expenses for the period.
During the same period, Supor's R&D expenses increased by 1.33% year-on-year to 476 million yuan, accounting for 2.09% of operating revenue, unchanged from the previous year.
Commenting on the 2025 performance results, Supor noted in its earnings report that the decline in net profit attributable to shareholders was primarily due to the comprehensive impact of its export business, coupled with a decrease in overall returns on monetary funds resulting from lower interest rates.
Supor also faced pressure in its overseas sales last year, with growth lagging behind some peers.
Established in 1994 and headquartered in Hangzhou, Supor operates seven R&D and manufacturing bases located in Yuahuan, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Wuhan, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Besides selling cookware and electrical products domestically, Supor's products are also distributed globally to over 80 countries and regions, including Japan, Europe, America, and Southeast Asia, through the French SEB Group.
Regionally, last year, Supor's domestic sales business achieved revenue of 15.334 billion yuan, an increase of 2.74% year-on-year. Its overseas sales business generated revenue of 7.438 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.85% year-on-year.
Regarding domestic sales, Supor stated that facing a complex domestic market environment and more rational consumer demand, the company achieved stable revenue growth compared to the same period last year through continuous innovation and strong channel competitive advantages. It maintained leading market share for core categories both online and offline.
For the overseas sales business, revenue saw a slight year-on-year decrease primarily due to slightly reduced orders from major overseas clients. Concurrently, the gross profit margin for overseas sales decreased by 1.43 percentage points year-on-year.
A securities firm pointed out in a research report that geographically, a "strong domestic, weak international" characteristic is evident. Weak overseas sales were affected by sluggish sales of the SEB Group in Europe and America and tariff impacts. The relatively better domestic performance benefited from a lower base in 2024.
The securities firm anticipates that in the short term, tightening national subsidy policies and demand overdraft effects will continue to negatively impact domestic sales. Meanwhile, overseas sales face high base pressure due to export surges in the first quarter of 2025, leading to expectations of potential pressure on the company's first-quarter operating performance.
Another securities firm mentioned in its report that in 2025, the company's overseas sales revenue was 7.44 billion yuan, down 0.9% year-on-year. Growth was better in Q1 but slowed from Q2 onwards, with H2 revenue down 8% year-on-year. This was mainly because the SEB Group, affected by US tariffs and weak demand in key European markets, impacted Supor's export business.
In 2025, SEB's consumer business revenue in North America declined by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis, with Q2 and Q3 down 11.5% and 14.4% respectively. However, Q4 saw a recovery with 4.7% growth, reflecting a gradual normalization of the North American market environment. The impact on Supor is expected to be limited in the long term.
The report also stated that according to the agreement with SEB, Supor's overseas sales gross margin has remained stable, fluctuating around 18%. Given that North American exports constitute a relatively small proportion, production capacity can be adjusted through the Vietnam factory, and cooperation with SEB continues to deepen, it is expected that Supor's competitiveness in overseas sales will further improve, with a quick recovery in overseas profit margins anticipated.
In fact, the competitive landscape in the domestic small household appliance market is becoming increasingly polarized. Data indicates that in 2025, the overall retail sales value of kitchen small appliances was 63.3 billion yuan, up 3.8% year-on-year, with an average price of 242 yuan, up 11.4% year-on-year.
Against this backdrop of moderate overall market growth, divergence among companies is becoming more pronounced. Monitoring data shows that in 2025, Supor maintained the leading market share in cookware both online and offline, ranking first on major e-commerce platforms.
Despite maintaining a leading industry position, Supor's performance growth rate has noticeably lagged behind some peers, with its net profit attributable to shareholders even declining year-on-year.
For comparison, in 2025, another company achieved revenue of 951 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.13%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 114 million yuan, surging 63.35% year-on-year.
Another competitor's performance report showed that in 2025, it achieved revenue of 5.235 billion yuan, an increase of 10.02% year-on-year, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 401 million yuan, a significant increase of 39.17% year-on-year.
Supor acknowledged in its annual report that the domestic home appliance market has transitioned from a pure incremental era to an era coexisting with incremental and stock demand, showing a trend of polarization.
As consumption in the cookware and home appliance market polarizes, premium brands continue to expand into lower-tier markets and adjust product and pricing strategies to capture market share. Intensifying price competition brings sales impacts, and competition based on cost-effectiveness is expected to intensify further.
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