Company Reports

We will discontinue analyst coverage of Want Want China on or about Sept. 1, 2026.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei, and QQ candies. The company’s products have been particularly popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. By leveraging its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

Want Want China's fiscal 2025 (ended March 2026) revenue rose 4% year over year, but net profit dropped 12% due to heavy investments and promotional spending in emerging channels. These new channels and overseas markets now account for nearly 30% of total revenue.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei, and QQ candies. The company’s products have been particularly popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. By leveraging its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

We review our earnings forecasts for Want Want China ahead of its fiscal 2025 (ending March 2026) full-year results announcement, expected in June 2026.

Want Want China reported first-half fiscal 2025 (ending March 2026) results with revenue growing 2.1% year on year but net profit declining 7.8% due to lower gross margin and higher operating expenses.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

China's dairy sector continues to face pressure in 2025 due to weak consumption and competition among industry players.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

Want Want China's fiscal 2024 (ending March 2025) revenue declined by 0.3% year on year. Nonetheless, net income increased by 8.7%, thanks to input cost tailwinds and effective cost control.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

We reviewed our fiscal 2024 (ending March 2025) earnings forecasts for narrow-moat Want Want. We reduced our net income estimate by 2%, while leaving revenue projection unchanged. The cut to net income is due to higher operating expenses and lower interest income forecasts. We continue to anticipate an acceleration in sales growth in the fiscal second half versus the first half, thanks to gifting demand during the Lunar New Year period and resilient overseas sales. Our longer-term forecasts are largely unchanged and we retain our fair value estimate at HKD 6.40 per share, which implies 16 times fiscal 2024 price/earnings and 10 times enterprise value/EBITDA. We view shares as undervalued, offering an attractive dividend yield of over 6% at the current share price.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

Narrow-moat Want Want’s first-half fiscal 2024 (ending March 2025) revenue and net profit trail our estimates, primarily due to soft sales volume in the snack food segment. partially offset by input costs tailwind and improved operational efficiencies. We moderately reduce our 2024-28 revenue and net income projections by 2%, but keep our fair value estimate at HKD 6.40 per share. We continue to view shares as undervalued, as Want Want has been making progress in channel and product transitions that should maintain its competitiveness. In addition, the estimated fiscal 2024 dividend yield of 7.2%, backed by the firm’s strong net cash position as of the end of September, also looks attractive to investors, in our view.

After reviewing our forecasts for narrow-moat Want Want China, we keep our fiscal 2024 (ending March 31, 2025) estimates intact. We think Want Want remained conscious of promotional spending during the fiscal first half as the operating environment was challenging. Nonetheless, we expect revenue to increase 4% year on year during the period, with input costs tailwind driving gross margin expansion. We project a better sales trend in the second half of fiscal 2024, given stocking demand for the Lunar New Year in 2025 driving the full-year net margin to reach 18.5%. Our fair value estimate is unchanged at HKD 6.40 per share, which implies 15 times fiscal 2024 price/earnings, 10 times enterprise value/EBITDA, and a 5.1% dividend yield. We see the current share price as undervalued, supported by an attractive dividend yield of 6.4% for fiscal 2024.

Narrow-moat Want Want China’s fiscal 2023 (ending March 31, 2024) revenue and net income were below our estimates, but we observed constructive results in management’s channel execution and product development. We also see potential for the company to expand its presence in overseas markets. We think these could help Want Want to achieve higher long-term growth and thus forecast a fiscal 2024-28 sales CAGR of 3.9%, versus 3.1% during fiscal 2023-27. Our fiscal 2024-27 net profits are also increased by 4% to 8%. Consequently, we lift our fair value estimate to HKD 6.40 per share, from HKD 6.00, which implies 15 times fiscal 2024 price/earnings, 10 times EV/EBITDA, and a 5.1% dividend yield. We reiterate our view that shares are undervalued now as we think management’s execution could help the company to navigate through the current adverse operating environment.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

Want Want China derives revenue and profit mainly through a few flagship packaged food and beverage products that it developed decades ago, including Hot-Kid milk, sugar-coated rice crackers, savory senbei and QQ candies. The company’s products have particularly been popular among children. Margins are maximized through scaling these flagships with its nationwide offline distribution channel. Leveraging on its brand and the vast distribution network, the company has been able to achieve higher levels of gross profit and operating margin compared with domestic peers, with the majority of earnings distributed to shareholders.

We retain our fiscal 2023 (ending March 2024) projections for narrow-moat Want Want China, with revenue and net income growing 5% and 23% year on year, respectively. We expect a sharp rebound in fiscal 2023 earnings as fiscal 2022 was hit by elevated milk powder and palm oil prices as well as operating deleverage for the dairy segment. We estimate that second-half fiscal 2023 top-line growth would be driven by gifting demand during Lunar New Year as Want Want launched gift pack stock-keeping units across the dairy and food categories. Subsequent channel restocking should also lift sales to distributors for the fiscal period. We keep our fair value estimate of HKD 6 per share, which implies 15 times fiscal 2024 P/E, 9 times enterprise value/EBITDA, and a 5.7% dividend yield. We think the company’s shares are undervalued with an attractive 2024 dividend yield of 7.3% based on the current price.