Annual Report Analysis of New-style Tea Beverage Sector: NAYUKI's Descent from Industry Pioneer to Laggard

Deep News04-29

Recent disclosures of 2025 financial results by five Hong Kong-listed tea beverage chains—including Mixue Group, Guming, Cha Bai Dao, Shanghai Auntie, and NAYUKI—have highlighted increasing divergence within the sector. Combined revenue for these companies exceeded 600 billion yuan last year, with aggregate net profit attributable to shareholders surpassing 100 billion yuan. However, performance is sharply divided: Mixue Group maintains its leading position, while Guming, Shanghai Auntie, and Cha Bai Dao report steady profits. In contrast, NAYUKI, once hailed as the first listed new-style tea chain, stands out as the only company among the five to experience declining revenue, sustained losses, and a net reduction in store count.

In terms of revenue scale, the five tea beverage firms display a clear hierarchical structure. Mixue Group, leveraging its network of nearly 60,000 stores globally, achieved revenue of 335.6 billion yuan in 2025, a 35.2% year-on-year increase. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached 58.87 billion yuan, up 32.7%, translating to nearly 60 billion yuan in annual earnings. By producing 100% of its core beverage ingredients in-house and operating a logistics system covering 33 provinces, Mixue has effectively converted its high-quality, low-cost supply chain advantages into consistent and substantial cash flow.

Guming Holdings reported 2025 revenue of 129.14 billion yuan, growing 46.9% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders surging 110.3% to 31.09 billion yuan. This doubling of profit reflects the company's deepening penetration into lower-tier markets. The majority of Guming's stores are located in second-tier cities and below; as of December 31, 2025, 11,059 stores—82% of its total—were situated in these areas, while only 416 stores were in first-tier cities and 2,079 in new first-tier cities, accounting for 15%. The total number of stores reached 13,554 by the end of 2025, a 36.7% increase from 9,914 stores at the end of 2024.

Cha Bai Dao posted revenue of 53.95 billion yuan, a roughly 10% increase, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 8.2 billion yuan, up 71%. Despite slower revenue growth, the company maximized profit resilience through its supply chain advantages.

Shanghai Auntie achieved revenue of 44.66 billion yuan, a 35.96% increase, with net profit rising 52.41% to 5.01 billion yuan. The company successfully met its "10,000-store target," adding 2,273 new stores to reach a total of 11,449 by the end of 2025.

Among the five major players, NAYUKI is the only one still reporting losses. In 2025, NAYUKI's total revenue was 43.31 billion yuan, down 12% from 49.21 billion yuan in 2024. The net loss attributable to shareholders was 2.4 billion yuan, marking the second consecutive year of losses. Notably, the total number of stores decreased by 152 to 1,646 by the end of 2025, with a net closure of 165 core directly-operated stores driving the contraction.

Divergence is also evident in capital market valuations. As of the market close on April 27, 2026, Mixue Group led the industry with a market capitalization of 110.4 billion Hong Kong dollars, followed by Guming at approximately 60 billion Hong Kong dollars. Cha Bai Dao and Shanghai Auntie had market capitalizations of 9 billion and 15 billion Hong Kong dollars, respectively. NAYUKI's market capitalization, however, had fallen below 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, with its share price plummeting over 95% compared to its first-day closing price in 2021. In just over four years, the former pioneer has become the worst-performing listed new-style tea chain.

NAYUKI's strategic adjustments have consistently lagged behind industry trends—from initially rejecting franchising to eventually adopting it, from insisting on large-format stores to promoting smaller PRO outlets, and from maintaining premium pricing to being forced into price wars. When the company officially launched its franchising business in July 2023, it was several years behind pioneers like Mixue and Guming. Although it drastically reduced the single-store investment threshold from 1 million yuan to 580,000 yuan in early 2024 and ambitiously projected opening 2,000 to 3,000 franchise stores within two to three years, by the end of 2025, NAYUKI had only 358 franchise stores in total—far short of its target—with a net increase of just 13 stores for the entire year.

By the end of 2025, NAYUKI's total store count stood at 1,646, a net decrease of 152 from 1,798 stores at the end of 2024. Directly-operated stores plummeted from 1,453 to 1,288, accounting for the bulk of the contraction with a net closure of 165 stores. Franchise stores remained nearly stagnant, totaling only 358.

This scale of contraction against the industry trend is particularly stark as competitors collectively enter the "era of 10,000 stores." The vast disparity in store-level scale means NAYUKI continues to face disadvantages in supply chain bargaining power, brand visibility, and consumer reach frequency.

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