Gu Ming (01364) announced interim results. Adjusted profit of 1,568 billion yuan increased by 44.4% year-on-year

According to the Zhitong Finance App, Gu Ming (01364) announced interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2026. The group obtained revenue of 7.47 billion yuan, an increase of 31.9% year on year; profit attributable to parent company owners was 1,571 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.4% year on year; adjusted profit of 1,568 billion yuan, up 44.4% year on year; profit per share was 0.66 yuan.

The company mainly opens stores and operates the “Ancient Ming” brand through the franchise model. The company manages an extensive network of stores while maintaining steady growth in GMV and a track record of profit. As of June 30, 2026, the company's store network covered more than 200 tier-level cities in China, including 14,351 stores, an increase of 28.4% over 11,179 stores as of June 30, 2025.

The company believes that second-tier cities and the townships and towns of tier-level cities represent huge undeveloped markets and have great potential. As of June 30, 2026, the number of the company's stores in second-tier cities and below accounted for 82% of the total number of stores, a slight increase from 81% as of June 30, 2025. Furthermore, as of June 30, 2026, the proportion of the company's stores located in townships and towns, usually in administrative areas far from the city center, has further increased to 45% from 43% as of June 30, 2025, indicating the company's ability to further deepen its layout in China's low-tier market.

In the six months ended June 30, 2026, the opening rate of the company's new stores was slower than the six months ended June 30, 2025, mainly because the company is increasingly paying attention to store quality, prioritizing upgrading existing stores to 6th generation stores, and adopting stricter location criteria for new stores. Furthermore, compared with the same period in 2025, the number of stores closed for the six months ended June 30, 2026 increased, mainly due to the high number of stores at the beginning of the period.

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the company's single-store GMV, single-store daily GMV, number of cups sold in a single store, and average number of cups sold per day remained generally stable compared to the 6 months ended June 30, 2025. Mainly due to the rich variety of coffee drinks and the company's expansion into the breakfast scene, this was partly offset by a reduction in subsidies from third-party food and beverage takeout platforms. As the company expanded its store network and opened a number of new stores, the total amount of GMV and the total number of cups sold increased accordingly.