HK Stock Market Move | XIAOCAIYUAN (00999) rose more than 5%. The company significantly accelerated store expansion in the second half of last year. Proactively adjusting prices has strategic significance.

XIAOCAIYUAN (00999) rose more than 5%, up 4.43% as of press time, at 8.95 Hong Kong dollars, with a turnover of 24.3882 million Hong Kong dollars. On the news front, a GF SEC research report pointed out that according to the XIAOCAIYUAN official account, as of the end of 2025, the company has a total of 810+ nationwide stores, a net increase of 143+ compared to the end of 2024, with a net increase of 5 stores in H1 and 138+ stores in H2, showing a significant increase in store expansion in H2. In addition, the company aims to achieve the goal of a thousand stores by 2026, with an increase of nearly 200 stores compared to the end of 2025, and the store growth rate between 2025 and 2026 is around 23% (calculated based on the average number of stores at the beginning and end of the period). The report believes that the company's proactive price reduction for core dishes by the end of 2025 has strong strategic significance, highlighting its cost-effective advantage and is expected to continue to open up the ceiling for the expansion of Chinese-style dining. Huatai stated that XIAOCAIYUAN is enhancing its core competitiveness of "tasty yet affordable" by optimizing its channel structure and lowering menu prices. The growth rate of takeaway income in the second half of 2025 reached 13.7%, accounting for 39% of income; the gross profit margin in the first half of 2025 increased by 2.6 percentage points year-on-year to 70.5%. By the end of 2025, the company has voluntarily lowered the prices of core dishes by about 20%, expecting short-term impacts on same-store sales but long-term benefits for increased customer traffic. In terms of business, the company accelerated store openings in the second half of 2025, with a net increase of 146 stores to 818 stores, covering 14 provinces/193 cities, with continued reinforcement in advantageous regions such as Jiangsu/Anhui, and accelerated penetration in new areas such as Shaanxi/Shandong.