#Instant retail

Meituan: A High-Quality Franchise With Temporarily Broken Earnings

Meituan is China's largest local-services platform, monetizing food delivery, in-store and hotel services, and instant retail, with 2025 revenue of RMB364.9 billion. A subsidy war with Alibaba and JD flipped Core Local Commerce from RMB52.4 billion of 2024 operating profit into a loss and pushed the group to a RMB23.4 billion net loss in 2025, even as platform GTV and transaction volume kept growing. Rating Hold: the franchise stays high-quality and the balance sheet strong, but at HK$68.50 the shares lack a clear margin-of-safety cushion until Core Local Commerce proves post-war profitability can stick.