In the first half of 2025, China's home appliance market demonstrated growth resilience with both volume and value increases, supported by the "trade-in" policy. According to China Market Monitor data, domestic TV industry retail sales reached 15.27 million units during the reporting period, up 0.9% year-over-year, with retail value of 62.5 billion yuan, increasing 10.8% year-over-year. Affected by escalating tariff barriers and intensifying geopolitical conflicts, overseas market demand declined somewhat, with LCD TV cumulative exports of 48.53 million units in the first half, down 2.5% year-over-year.
As of August 31, all 10 A-share black appliance listed companies (classified by SW Level-2 industry) have disclosed their 2025 interim reports. According to financial report data, the 10 companies achieved total revenue of 102.151 billion yuan in the first half, up 6.3% compared to the same period in 2024, with combined net profit attributable to parent company (including losses) of 2.506 billion yuan, compared to 2.178 billion yuan in the same period of 2024. Looking more closely, four color TV companies generated total revenue of 92.517 billion yuan and combined net profit attributable to parent company (including losses) of 2.187 billion yuan, accounting for approximately 90.6% and 87.3% respectively, up 7.0% and 9.8% compared to the first half of 2024. During the reporting period, Zhaochi, CreateAsia, and Jiulian Technologies saw both revenue and net profit decline, while Coship Electronics turned from loss to profit.
In terms of revenue scale, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd. topped the list with 56.705 billion yuan, approximately 2.08 times the first-half revenue of second-place Hisense Visual Technology. Meanwhile, the leading company in other black appliance categories, Skyworth Digital, achieved revenue of only 4.095 billion yuan. *ST Gauss realized revenue of only 983.71 million yuan in the first six months of 2025, ranking last among the 10 companies. Coship Electronics achieved revenue growth of 606.5% year-over-year, with performance announcements showing that its newly added high-power supply business saw revenue surge 961.4% during the reporting period, serving as a key driver of improved performance. Jiulian Technologies' revenue declined 17.6% compared to the same period in 2024, which the company attributed to lower winning bid prices for China Mobile's centralized procurement project for intelligent network set-top boxes and slower shipment demand.
Regarding cost control, black appliance companies generally saw operating costs rise with main business expansion in the first half, with approximately two-thirds of companies experiencing cost growth rates higher than current revenue growth. Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd. was the only company to achieve revenue growth while reducing operating costs. Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd. also ranked first in costs at 51.283 billion yuan, nearly 30 billion yuan higher than second-place Hisense Visual Technology. Due to its new high-power supply business, Coship Electronics correspondingly increased operating costs by 269.8% to 294 million yuan, with new business costs accounting for approximately 89.8%. *ST Gauss also added security product sales business, leading to a 7.6% year-over-year cost increase, though it remained at the bottom due to relatively small business scale. Jiulian Technologies saw the largest decline, with operating costs decreasing 13.9% compared to the same period in 2024, slightly higher than the decline in sales revenue.
Black appliance companies maintained operating cost-to-revenue ratios between 80%-90%, with 70% of companies showing downward gross margin trends year-over-year. *ST Gauss had an operating cost ratio as high as 96.5%, with gross margin declining slightly by 0.1 percentage point year-over-year to 3.5%, clearly lagging behind peers. Performance announcements show that while the company's new security product business achieved 32.05 million yuan in revenue, operating costs reached 36.36 million yuan, resulting in a gross margin of -13.4%. In contrast, Coship Electronics' new high-power supply business achieved a gross margin of approximately 45.8%. Although not matching the gross margin levels of platform delivery, maintenance, and trading businesses, it still performed well, maintaining the top position with a 45.5% comprehensive gross margin during the reporting period, up significantly by 49.7% year-over-year.
In terms of expense efficiency, Chenyi Intelligence and Hisense Visual Technology saw comprehensive increases in sales, administrative, and R&D expenses, while *ST Gauss, Jiulian Technologies, Sichuan Jiuzhou, Skyworth Digital, and Coship Electronics all reduced both sales and R&D expenses. Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd. had the highest sales expense ratio at approximately 15.0%. Hisense Visual Technology and Chenyi Intelligence were the only two companies with increased sales expenses, rising 14.1% and 13.2% respectively, with Hisense Visual Technology's marketing promotion expenses increasing 64.6% year-over-year. Coship Electronics' sales expenses plummeted 30.3% compared to the same period in 2024, with scale under 3.5 million yuan.
*ST Gauss had an administrative expense ratio of approximately 16.0%, ranking first among the 10 companies, nearly 10 percentage points higher than closely following Sichuan Jiuzhou and Chenyi Intelligence. Both Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd. and Zhaochi saw administrative expense increases exceeding 60% year-over-year, while *ST Gauss, Coship Electronics, and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd. controlled administrative expense growth within 5% compared to the first half of 2024. Although Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd.'s administrative expenses reached 893 million yuan, its expense ratio was low at 1.6%, far below industry peers.
Black appliance R&D expense ratios generally remained between 5%-7%. In the first six months of 2025, Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd.'s R&D expense ratio reached 12.1%, with 18 newly authorized patents. *ST Gauss dramatically cut technical service fees by 85.8%, driving R&D expenses down 34.2% compared to the same period in 2024. Despite expanding into new high-power supply business, Coship Electronics saw R&D expenses decline 13.4% instead of rising, with an expense ratio of only approximately 1.2%.
In terms of profitability, Hisense Visual Technology dominated with net profit attributable to parent company of approximately 1.056 billion yuan during the reporting period, nearly 400 million yuan higher than second-place Zhaochi. Both *ST Gauss and Jiulian Technologies fell into losses, with both companies recording net losses for three consecutive interim periods. Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd.'s net profit surged 2062.3% year-over-year to 88.66 million yuan, mainly benefiting from enhanced universality of key components and improved supply chain system efficiency. Influenced positively by new high-power supply business, Coship Electronics' net profit attributable to parent company also increased over 660% year-over-year.
Under combined effects, Coship Electronics led with a 37.4% net sales margin among the 10 companies, nearly doubling compared to the same period in 2024, approximately 29.0 percentage points higher than second-place Zhaochi's net margin. *ST Gauss ranked last with -31.4%, while Jiulian Technologies declined from -4.5% in the first half of 2024 to -11.6%.
Regarding earnings quality, Zhaochi's operating cash flow turned positive during the reporting period, while *ST Gauss, Coship Electronics, Skyworth Digital, Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd., and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd. generated net cash outflows from operating activities, with approximately 60% of companies seeing year-over-year decreases in net operating cash flow. Hisense Visual Technology had the most abundant operating cash flow, increasing 48.6% year-over-year to 1.802 billion yuan. Despite leading in revenue, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co.,Ltd. generated net cash outflow from operating activities as high as 913 million yuan, with accounts receivable growing 15.6% year-over-year. Coship Electronics' operating cash flow shifted from a net inflow of 2.03 million yuan in the same period of 2024 to a net outflow of 115 million yuan, with the decline far exceeding other companies, as its accounts receivable surged 209.7% year-over-year.
*ST Gauss's accounts receivable turnover days exceeded 300 days, while Hisense Visual Technology and Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd. had accounts receivable turnover days under 30 days, indicating faster cash collection. Performance announcements show that *ST Gauss's foreign customers are mostly TV operators and traders, highly susceptible to overdue payments due to changes in trade environment such as tariff policies. As of June 30, 2025, the company's overseas customer accounts receivable book balance was 167 million yuan, accounting for approximately 50%, with almost all difficult to collect.
Xgimi Technology Co.,Ltd.'s inventory turnover days reached 172 days, far higher than the 75-day average for comparable black appliance companies. The company explained this was to prepare for promotional activities organized by major e-commerce platforms and "Double Eleven" sales peaks, stocking up in advance to reduce shipping delays during peak sales seasons. Compared to the beginning of the period, its inventory commodity book balance increased 24.8%. Meanwhile, Hisense Visual Technology and Chenyi Intelligence had inventory turnover days of 44 and 47 days respectively, with the former optimizing 9.3% compared to the first half of 2024, while the latter extended 26.5% year-over-year.
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