Changes in Hong Kong stocks | NetDragon (00777) rises nearly 5%, AI reduces costs and increases efficiency to unleash medium-term profit potential, and the company is expected to evolve into a “double hit on profit and valuation”

The Zhitong Finance App learned that NetDragon (00777) rose nearly 5%. As of press release, it had risen 4.8% to HK$8.4, with a turnover of HK$5.138 million.

According to news, in the first half of this year, NetDragon achieved revenue of 2.09 billion yuan, and profit attributable to company owners was 36 million yuan, an increase of 20.0% over the previous year. Looking at the specific business, Changqing IP, the flagship in the gaming sector, showed extreme resilience, and Magic Domain MAU surpassed 3 million to drive a month-on-month recovery in revenue. At the same time, the company continues to increase efficiency through AI. Currently, the share of AI employees in the workload has increased to 35%-40%. In terms of shareholder returns, the company has paid an interim dividend of HK$0.5 per share and promised to distribute a total of not less than HK$600 million within 12 months from March 26, 2026, with a corresponding dividend rate of about 13.5%.

CITIC Construction Investment Securities believes that NetDragon's performance in the first half of the year clearly confirms the release of operating leverage brought about by cost reduction and efficiency and AI empowerment. In the short term, an interim dividend of HK$0.50 per share and a shareholder return plan of over HK$600 million provides an extremely high margin of safety; in the medium term, as game flow stabilizes in the second half of the year, myND.a i achieves EBITDA balance, and the inflection point of education is realized in 2027, the company has sufficient conditions to evolve from “high dividend defense” to “double impact on profit and valuation.”