SF Holding's Q1 revenue increased by 6.9% year-on-year, with international business growth of 9.9%, and a slight improvement in profitability | Financial Report Insights

SF Holding delivered an impressive financial report for the first quarter of 2025. From the core financial data, the company achieved an operating revenue of 69.85 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; the net profit attributable to shareholders reached 2.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%, with a growth rate significantly faster than that of revenue. It is noteworthy that the total parcel volume increased by 19.7% year-on-year to 13.56 billion pieces, while the revenue growth rate was only 6.9%, indicating a decline in the value per parcel. However, through economies of scale and refined operations, the company achieved higher profitability. On Monday evening, SF Holding released its first-quarter financial report, and here are the core highlights: Performance Highlights: Q1 2025 revenue of 69.85 billion yuan (YoY +6.9%), net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.23 billion yuan (YoY +16.9%); Business Scale Expansion: Total parcel volume reached 13.56 billion pieces (YoY +19.7%), express logistics revenue grew by 7.2%, and supply chain and international business grew by 9.9%; Profitability Improvement: Gross margin of 13.3% (YoY +0.1 percentage points), net profit margin of 3.2% (YoY +0.3 percentage points); Cash Flow Performance: Operating cash flow of 4.06 billion yuan (YoY -14.2%), mainly affected by reduced tax incentives; Capital Operations: Successfully issued Southern SF Logistics REIT (raising 3.29 billion yuan), completed a 859 million yuan share repurchase plan; Continuous Optimization of Business Structure and Lean Cost Control SF continues to deepen its diversified layout strategy, with both express logistics and supply chain international business achieving steady growth: Express Logistics Business: Revenue increased by 7.2% year-on-year, maintaining stable growth, mainly benefiting from a comprehensive product matrix and enhanced service capabilities. Supply Chain and International Business: Revenue increased by 9.9% year-on-year, with growth exceeding the overall company level, indicating significant achievements in international network construction and supply chain market expansion. This optimization of the business structure provides SF with a more balanced source of growth, reducing reliance on a single business line and enhancing the company's ability to respond to market fluctuations. In particular, the leading growth rate of international business indicates that SF's globalization strategy is steadily advancing. Additionally, SF achieved structural cost reduction through operational model transformation and network planning optimization during the reporting period: Significant cost control results: Management expense ratio decreased by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year, and R&D expense ratio decreased by 0.1 percentage points. Reasonable investment in market development: Sales expense ratio increased by 0.1 percentage points, mainly used to strengthen market promotion and sales team building. Dual Approach to Capital Operations, Optimizing Asset Structure The company has been active in capital operations, on one hand boosting market confidence through share repurchases, and on the other hand revitalizing existing assets through REITs: Share repurchase plan: The company completed the second phase of A-share repurchase in 2024, repurchasing approximately 23.27 million shares for a total amount of about 859 million yuan, and plans to change the purpose of the repurchased shares from "employee stock ownership plan or equity incentive" to "cancellation and reduction of registered capital." Successful issuance of REITs: The initiated Southern SF Logistics REIT raised 3.29 billion yuan and was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on April 21. It is particularly noteworthy that the successful issuance of REITs marks an important step for SF in the light asset model of the logistics industrial park, helping the company improve its asset structure, enhance capital return rates, and provide funding support for the subsequent development of new logistics infrastructure. In the first quarter, SF's net cash flow from operating activities was 4.06 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.2%, mainly affected by a reduction in tax incentives. Cash outflows from investing activities remained high, reflecting the company's ongoing investment in infrastructure and network capabilities. In terms of financing activities, the net cash flow was -3.38 billion yuan, a significant change from 3.64 billion yuan in the same period last year, mainly influenced by increased loan repayments, acquisition of minority equity, and repurchase of company shares