Hong Kong Stock Movement | MEITUAN-W (03690) Rises Over 4% as Regulatory Authorities Launch Antitrust Investigation Assessment for Food Delivery Industry

MEITUAN-W (03690) surged more than 4%. As of writing, the stock was up 4.57%, trading at HK$102.9, with a turnover of HK$2.433 billion.

On the news front, on January 9, the Office of the State Council's Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Committee announced the launch of an investigation and assessment into the market competition conditions within the food delivery platform service industry.

MEITUAN expressed its firm support for the national initiative to conduct the market competition investigation and assessment for the food delivery sector.

Recently, irrational competition issues such as "price wars, subsidy battles, and traffic control" have become prominent in the food delivery market.

MEITUAN has repeatedly called for the industry to return to rational competition and firmly opposes "involution-style" internal competition.

Caitong Securities previously noted that MEITUAN, as a leading domestic local commerce platform, has core businesses covering food delivery, instant retail, and in-store hotel and travel services, while also actively developing new ventures like Xiaoxiang Supermarket and Kuailu, as well as expanding into overseas markets.

Overall, the macroeconomy represents the most significant beta factor; the higher growth rate of downstream service industries compared to goods retail and their relatively stronger discretionary nature determine the platform's greater growth potential and elasticity.

Against the backdrop of increasing online penetration rates, the food delivery business is relatively rigid, forming a stable foundation, while the in-store and instant retail businesses are accelerating their penetration, bringing high growth.