Zhou Hei Ya International Holdings Company Limited, listed under the ticker 01458, released its interim results for the first half of 2026 on August 20th. During the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of RMB 1.461 billion, marking a year-on-year increase of 19.5%. Net profit reached RMB 91.496 million, underscoring the resilience of its overall growth trajectory. Notably, the proportion of profitable stores increased, further solidifying the operational foundation of its physical retail network.

A key highlight is that the channel business has emerged as the group's primary growth engine. In the first half of the year, the combined growth rate for online and offline channels hit 80.4%, with offline channels surging by an impressive 207.2%. This remarkable performance cements the channel business's role as a core driver of expansion.

As the consumption scenarios and channel dynamics of the casual marinated snack industry continue to undergo structural shifts, omnichannel coverage has become a critical competitive moat. During the period, Zhou Hei Ya prioritized its channel business as a key growth lever, crafting tailored operational strategies for diverse retail formats such as membership-based supermarkets, snack discount stores, convenience store chains, and e-commerce platforms. By integrating a dual approach of benchmarking and sales conversion optimization, the company drove rapid growth across its channel portfolio.

Offline channels achieved significant breakthroughs in benchmarking. The company focused on membership stores and convenience store chains as its core arenas, employing a progressive strategy that moved from establishing benchmarks and standardizing execution to scenario-based marketing. This approach deepened collaborations with leading retail partners like Sam's Club, Pangdonglai, and Yonghui, simultaneously boosting shipment volumes and channel influence while broadening the scope of penetration. As a result, offline channel growth reached 207.2%.

Online channels also sustained strong momentum, growing at a rate of 37.4%. The company leveraged Douyin as its primary content hub to build brand momentum, creating a complete operational loop that spans content seeding, traffic accumulation, and omnichannel conversion. Traditional e-commerce platforms absorbed spillover traffic, while fresh food retail channels steadily increased volume, with multiple segments working in tandem to refine overall conversion efficiency.

The precision alignment of the product portfolio provided robust support for channel expansion. Zhou Hei Ya developed a comprehensive product system covering long-shelf-life, medium-shelf-life, short-shelf-life, custom, and gift-pack offerings, accurately matching the consumption contexts and customer needs of various channels. Among these, the medium-shelf-life series emerged as a core bestseller due to its broad channel adaptability, achieving full omnichannel coverage and surpassing RMB 50 million in sales during the period, with strong sell-through momentum.

The company's signature flavor profile remains a key asset, and during the reporting period, Zhou Hei Ya continued to refine its black duck flavor product line, maintaining a coordinated development of long, medium, and short preservation formats to meet demand across all channels. The pace of new product launches accelerated steadily, expanding the product matrix. In the first half of the year, several new items, including tiger-skin chicken feet, deboned duck feet, fresh marinated duck four treasures, and traditional marinated duck feet, were rolled out. Among these, the fresh marinated duck four treasures debuted exclusively through Sam's Club, receiving favorable market feedback due to its precise scenario positioning and flavor advantages, which also highlighted the company's improving systematic R&D capabilities.

Thanks to its sustained product innovation, Zhou Hei Ya garnered multiple industry accolades at the 8th iSEE Global Food Innovation Awards. The company's founder, Chairman, and CEO, Zhou Fuyu, was named "Innovator of the Year," while the pocket-style dried duck earned the "iSEE Global Food Innovation Award Silver Prize," and the spicy shredded chicken received the "iSEE Global Taste Award 2-Star Certificate."

Brand building efforts were also systematically upgraded. The company anchored its positioning as a premium casual marinated snack brand, revamping its visual identity and brand assets. It intensified omnichannel marketing around high-relevance consumption scenarios for younger demographics, such as late-night snacks, binge-watching, and travel. By using hit products to drive sales of core items, the brand further strengthened its youthful image.

Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, the structural divergence in the domestic consumer market is expected to persist, and the reshaping of the casual marinated snack industry will continue, making omnichannel operational capabilities even more critical. Zhou Hei Ya stated that it will build on its first-half achievements by focusing on three core strategic directions. First, it aims to upgrade its growth model by enhancing channel coverage and penetration depth, pushing the channel business toward higher-quality scale expansion. Second, it will strengthen brand and product competitiveness by continuously improving the product matrix, accelerating the rollout of innovative products, comprehensively upgrading brand visuals and communication systems, and deepening mindshare among younger consumers. Third, it will reinforce its operational foundation by improving store-level operations and per-store profitability, advancing cost reduction and efficiency initiatives, and building flexible supply chain capabilities to boost overall operational efficiency.

In parallel, the company is making long-term investments in areas such as compound seasonings and overseas markets. Leveraging its core flavor assets, Zhou Hei Ya is extending into home cooking and convenient ready-to-eat scenarios through products like marinade packets and hot pot bases. It is also exploring international expansion through both channel trade exports and store formats, reserving new growth momentum for the long term.

Industry analyst Zhu Danpeng commented that against the backdrop of intensifying competition and increasingly blurred category boundaries in the casual marinated snack sector, Zhou Hei Ya's latest results demonstrate strong endogenous growth resilience and sustainable core competitiveness. However, the most noteworthy aspect is the company's breakthrough in omnichannel channel business, which highlights its comprehensive coverage capabilities across membership supermarkets, snack discount stores, convenience store chains, and other diverse formats. These capabilities are now beginning to unlock economies of scale. The transition from a store-dependent model to a dual-driven approach combining physical stores and channels is yielding significant results. As channel penetration deepens and flexible supply capabilities come online, the company is well-positioned to consolidate its industry leadership on a path of quality-driven scale growth.