CHINA EARNINGS DIGEST: 15-21 March, 2026

Editor's note:

Earnings of China companies reflect economic, political, industrial and trade trends affecting the bottom line. To keep you up-do-date, we are compiling a weekly roundup of earnings results from major listed companies. Stock tickers are in parentheses.

TECHNOLOGY

Alibaba Group (9988.HK / NY:BABA), a Chinese conglomerate spanning AI assistants, cloud computing, e-commerce, food delivery, logistics, entertainment and media, digital map services and travel, reported profit in its third quarter ended December 31 plummeted 67 percent from a year earlier to 16.3 billion yuan (US$3.35 billion). Revenue in the quarter missed estimates with a 2 percent rise to 284.8 billion yuan. The drop in net was largely the result of a nearly 75 percent decline in operating income, impacted by investments in fast food delivery and other services.

Alibaba is the world's second-largest online retailer. Revenue from its e-commerce group, which includes Taobao, Tmall Group and travel service Fliggy, rose 6 percent. In its Quick Commerce group, encompassing the fast food-delivery service it began last April, revenue surged 56 percent, but adjusted profit fell 43 percent as the company spent heavily to fend off competition from Meituan and JD.com.

The company said in an earnings call with investors that it doesn't expect profitability in the food-delivery initiative until 2029. In a separate group that includes Freshippo supermarkets, Cainiao logistics, Alibaba Health, Amap, media and entertainment, and the Qwen consumer business, revenue dropped 25 percent.

Alibaba has been rapidly shifting its focus to artificial intelligence and how to wring profits from new technologies. Quarterly revenue from the Cloud Intelligence Group increased 35 percent to 43.3 billion yuan last year.

Chief Executive Eddie Wu told analysts on a conference call that Alibaba is entering "a new phase of reinvention and critical investment." He laid out an AI "full stack" approach spanning chips, cloud infrastructure and apps, aiming to quintuple cloud and AI revenue to US$100 billion in five years. The company's Qwen AI large language model had cumulative downloads surpassing 1 billion as of January 21, and the Qwen AI assistant is being integrated across the company's consumer businesses. This year, Alibaba introduced JVS Claw to capture a share of the OpenClaw "lobster" craze in China.

Multinational conglomerate Tencent (0700.HK / NY:TCEHY), China's largest company by market cap, reported fourth-quarter revenue rose13 percent from a year earlier to 194.4 billion yuan (US$28.3 billion) and profit increased 14 percent to 58.3 billion yuan, driven by strong performance in gaming and marketing services.

Domestic gaming revenue in the October-December quarter climbed 15 percent, while international gaming surged 32 percent. Social network revenue rose 3 percent, and marketing services revenue shot up17 percent, supported by improved advertising demand. Fintech and enterprise services posted an 8 percent, and capital spending was 46 percent lower.

For the full year, 2025 revenue rose 14 percent to 751.77 billion yuan and net increased 16 percent to 224.8 billion yuan. Domestic game revenue increased 18 percent, and international gaming was up 33 percent. Capital expenditure rose 3 percent.

Tencent, which is also involved in cloud computing, digital payments, music and video streaming, and online healthcare, operates WeChat, China's biggest social media platform, and the QQ instant messaging service. The company said investment in AI products and models will double this year. However, investors were disappointed by the company's announcement that it will curtail buybacks and by its failure to deliver a clear vision of how it will profit from AI assistant development.

Tencent ranked 14th last year on Global Finance's list of the world's biggest companies. It has entered the Chinese mainland craze triggered by OpenClaw with AI assistant QClaw. Tencent ranks top in the work in sales of video games. Its most successful titles include "Honor of Kings," "Delta Force," "Valorant Mobile" and more recently "Dying Light: The Beast."

Tencent Music, which is listed separately in Hong Kong, posted fourth-quarter revenue of 8.6 billion yuan, up 16 percent, on a 13 percent rise in revenue to 2.2 billion yuan. Music subscriptions rose 3 percent. For the year, revenue was up 16 percent to 329 billion yuan, yielding net income of 11.1 billion, up 66 percent. Paid users increased 5 percent.

Taiwan-based Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision: 2354.TW), the world's largest contract maker of electronics, posted a 2 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit from a year earlier to NT$45.5 billion (US$1.4 billion). The company is a top assembler of Apple iPhones and makes servers for Nvidia.

Revenue for the October-December period rose 22 percent to NT$2.61 trillion on strong demand for cloud and internet products. Sales in that sector, which includes AI servers, comprised 42 percent of revenue, overtaking consumer smart electronics to become the company's biggest income source.

Foxconn's gross margin dropped to 5.88 percent from 6.15 percent, mainly reflecting tax increases. For the full year, revenue surged 18 percent to a record NT$8.1 trillion, and net rose 24 percent to NT$189 billion. Foxconn's formal name is Hon Hai Precision Industry.

Horizon Robotics (9660.HK), a developer and supplier of artificial intelligence chips used in self-driving cars and advanced driver-assistance systems, swung to a loss of 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in 2025 from a year-earlier profit of 2.35 billion yuan, impacted by research and development spending that surged 63 percent to 5.2 billion yuan.

Revenue from client contracts rose 58 percent to 3.8 billion yuan. Product solutions revenue jumped 144 percent, accounting for 43 percent of total sales, compared with 28 percent in 2024. The Beijing-based company said it shipped over 4 million in-vehicle intelligence chips last year, up 39 percent. High-end smart driving chip shipments surged nearly fivefold to 1.8 million, driving over 80 percent of product solutions revenue. The company reported it ranked first in China's sub-200,000 yuan vehicle segment with a 44 percent share.

Nasdaq-listed Niu Technologies (NY:NIU), a Chinese electric scooter maker, narrowed it net loss to 39.4 million yuan (US$5.7 million) in 2025 from 193.2 million yuan a year earlier, on a 31 percent rise in revenue to 4.3 billion yuan. For the fourth quarter, the company's net loss widened to 88 million yuan from 72.5 million yuan as revenue fell 17 percent to 676.2 million yuan.

Chief Executive Li Yan said AI is the company's core competitive advantage. The company has released Niu Aios, the world's first AI-powered operating system for two-wheeled electric vehicles, alongside two flagship AI-integrated smart scooters.

AUTO

Leapmotor (9863.HK), the Stellantis-backed Chinese electric car startup, swung to a 2025 net profit of 538 million yuan (US$78 million) from a year-earlier loss of 2.82 billion yuan on strong vehicle sales. It was the first annual profit since the automaker began sales in 2019. Deliveries doubled to 596,555 vehicles, including about 11 percent exports. Revenue slightly more than doubled to 64.73 billion yuan.

The company reported its gross margin rose to 14.5 percent from 8.4 percent in 2024, reflecting improved economies of scale as production volumes increased. No figures were reported for the fourth quarter. In 2025, the company launched three new models and upgraded three existing SUV models. US-based Stellantis bought about 20 percent of Leapmotor in 2023.

Chinese automakers Geely (0175.HK) and Chery (9973.HK) delivered robust financial results for 2025. Geely's sales surged 39 percent to more than 3 million units, boosting revenue 25 percent to 345 billion yuan (US$48 billion). Despite a 17.7-billion-yuan decline in one-time financial gains and research and development expenses, Geely's net profit still edged up 0.2 percent to 16.85 billion yuan, indicating a significant leap in core profitability. Furthermore, Geely is actively consolidating its premium electric vehicle assets by taking a 51 percent stake in Lynk & Co through its Zeekr car unit, and is moving to privatize Zeekr.

Meanwhile, Chery posted a 11 percent revenue increase to a below-expected 300.3 billion yuan. Its net profit jumped 36 percent to 19.5 billion yuan. A standout achievement was Chery's stellar overseas performance, with international revenue hitting 157.4 billion yuan and overtaking its domestic sales of 142.87 billion yuan. This milestone firmly cements Chery's status as China's leading automotive export group.

Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng (9868.HK / NY:XPEV) delivered its first profitable quarter in the last three months of 2025. Net profit turned to 380 million yuan (US$55 million) from a 1.33 billion yuan loss a year earlier. Revenue rose 9.2 percent to 22.3 billion yuan. For the full year, the company narrowed its loss to 1.1 billion yuan from 5.8 billion yuan a year earlier.

Revenue for 2025 surged 88 percent to 76.7 billion yuan on a 126 percent surge in deliveries to 429,445 vehicles, cost reductions and an improved product mix of models. XPeng said it benefited from increased revenues generated by technical research and development services, parts and accessories sales, and carbon credit trading.

Headquartered in Guangzhou, XPeng develops in-house advanced driver-assistance and intelligent operating systems. The firm is currently expanding into more advanced self-driving technology aimed at what is called Level 4 autonomous driving. It is also branching out into development of humanoid robots, "flying cars" and robotaxis.

MARITIME

Cosco Shipping (1919.HK / 601919.SS), a Shanghai-based marine transport conglomerate and subsidiary of state-owned shipping giant Cosco, reported 2025 revenue rose 11 percent to US$1.67 billion, with profit edging up 1.1 percent to US$312.1 million. It said throughput rose 6.2 percent to 13 million twenty-foot equivalent units, the industry measure for container cargo. Throughput at overseas terminals rose 11.5 percent, compared with a 4.6 percent increase in Chinese mainland.

The company said the global market last year faced pressure from tariffs, geopolitical tensions and slower global trade, and noted estimates that growth in global container throughput is projected to slow to 1.8 percent this year.

Cosco Shipping has a port terminal in Abu Dhabi. Chairman Zhu Tao said throughput will be affected by the current war in the Middle East but will have "limited" impact on overall business volume. In a press briefing, Zhu declined to comment on this month's decision to suspend operations through the Panama Canal, where Cosco accounts for about 4 percent of container shipping. The company has become entangled in a dispute between the US and China over control of two canal ports.

ENERGY & RESOURCES

Fujian Province-based Zijin Mining (601899.SS) reported 2025 net profit surged nearly 62 percent to 51.8 billion yuan (US$7.2 billion) as gold prices climbed to record highs. Operating revenue climbed 15 percent to 349 billion yuan. The increases came on gains in output.

Zijin gold production surged 23 percent to 89,540 kilograms, accounting for almost a quarter of China's total production. Copper production edged up 1.6 percent to about 1 million tons. The Shanghai-listed mining giant said it made significant strides in its green energy transition. Clean energy accounted for 54 percent of its total annual electricity consumption, reaching 6.3 billion kilowatt per hour.

INDUSTRIALS

Fuyao Glass Industry Group (600660.SS / 3606.HK), a Chinese company that gained "notoriety" in a documentary produced by former US President Barack Obama, reported 2025 revenue of 45.79 billion yuan (US$6.35 billion), up 16.7 percent from a year earlier, while net profit attributable to shareholders rose 24.2 percent to 9.31 billion yuan.

The company said fourth-quarter profit totaled 12.5 billion yuan and profit was 2.25 billion yuan, but gave no comparative figures. The company said growth was supported by rising global automobile production and continued expansion of its overseas operations, which accounted for half of revenue. But it warned about risks from geopolitical conflicts and trade tensions. Fuyao supplies automotive glass to major carmakers including Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen and Tesla.

The company has major operations in the US, where sentiment toward Chinese investments has soured under the Trump administration. A Fuyao site in the US was raided last year by federal immigration agents. The company later released a statement that denied any misbehavior, and confirmed that all employees were legally approved to work in the US. It was featured in the 2019 documentary "American Factory," produced by Obama, that highlighted some negative effects of globalization.

TELECOMS

China Unicom (0762.HK), the Chinese mainland's third largest telecom carrier and the world's fifth largest, reported 2025 net profit rose 1 percent year from a year earlier to 20.8 billion yuan (US$3 billion). Growth was impacted by investments to attract new users via new technologies and services.

Beijing-based Unicom said it had more than 1.2 billion subscribers, up 110 million from a year, earlier thanks to development in the Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles and 5G. The company has been investing in network modernization and digital computing infrastructure, including early-stage 6G development. Revenue in 2025 grew 0.7 percent to 392.2 billion yuan.

The company said earlier it plans to spin off its intelligent networking unit China Unicom Smart Connection Technology and list it on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

CONSUMER MARKET

US-listed Weibo (9898.HK / NY:WB), a popular microblogging site in China, narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to US$4.7 million from US$8.9 million a year ago on a 4 percent increase in revenue to US$473 million. For the full year, 2025 revenue was flat at US$1.76 billion and net income rose to US$499 million from US$300.8 million. Weibo, which was spun off from Sina Corp in 2014, reported 567 monthly active users at the end of December.

Beijing-based sportswear and athletic gear maker Li Ning (2331.HK) said net profit in 2025 fell 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 2.9 billion yuan (US$425 million) in a domestic market of fierce competition and weaker consumer demand. Revenue gained 3.2 percent to 29.6 billion yuan. The Hong Kong-listed company was founded by champion gymnast Li Ning and generates the bulk of its revenue from offline sales on the Chinese mainland. It has resorted to new online gimmicks to woo younger consumers in its latest marketing campaign for athletic shoes.

Beijing-based Dingdang Health Technology (9886.HK), which competes with Alibaba and JD in the emerging market for AI-driven consumer healthcare, narrowed its 2025 loss to 52.1 million yuan (YUS$7.6 million) from 380 million yuan a year earlier on improvement in its profit margin to 35 percent.

The company reported a one-time foreign-exchange loss of 11.9 million yuan. Revenue for the year rose 4.7 percent to 4.89 billion yuan, with online "smart" pharmacy express services rising 8.4 percent and offline sales up 3.9 percent. Marketing expenses rose 8.5 percent. The company delivers drugs and operates an online medical AI assistant, primarily in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.