Kweichow Moutai Says 2023 Operating Income Rose

By Jiahui Huang

Chinese liquor giant Kweichow Moutai said its 2023 operating income rose from a year earlier, coming in above guidance and indicating strong fourth-quarter sales.

China's most valuable liquor brand said in a post on its official website that operating income last year rose 20.5% to 164.48 billion yuan ($22.97 billion). That handily beat the company's guidance of CNY149.5 billion provided in late December.

Renhuai-based Moutai, which generates the bulk of its sales in the world's second-largest economy, said total profit in 2023 climbed 19% to CNY108.35 billion.

It didn't provide other metrics.

Moutai is scheduled to release a fuller account of its annual earnings in late March or early April. The company typically revises its preliminary figures.

Moutai's Shanghai-listed shares closed 0.5% lower at CNY1,604.91 on Wednesday, taking losses this year to 7.0%.

Signs of sales strength from Moutai could cheer market watchers at a time when they are looking for fresh indications of the state of consumption in China--the country's main economic driver. Barring the pandemic years, China's growth rate in 2023 was one of its slowest in decades.

Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2024 05:16 ET (10:16 GMT)

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