CTG DUTY-FREE (01880) shares declined by nearly 3% in Hong Kong trading on Thursday. As of the time of writing, the stock was down 2.98% to HK$48.56, with a trading volume of HK$24.46 million.

On the news front, CTG DUTY-FREE recently released its mid-year performance report for 2026. According to GF Securities, the company achieved total revenue of RMB 27.59 billion in the first half of 2026, a year-on-year decrease of 2.0%. Net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 3.11 billion, up 19.5% year-on-year, while core net profit (excluding non-recurring items) reached RMB 3.08 billion, an increase of 18.7%. For the second quarter alone, revenue stood at RMB 10.69 billion, down 6.3% year-on-year, with attributable net profit of RMB 760 million, up 14.5%, and core net profit of RMB 740 million, a 12.5% increase.

GF Securities analysts believe that since the beginning of the year, airport duty-free shops in Shanghai and at Beijing Capital International Airport have been impacted by factors such as operational transitions following new tender awards. This is expected to have caused temporary pressure on sales performance, dragging on the company's first-half revenue. A steady recovery is anticipated in the second half of the year. Additionally, the CTG DUTY-FREE online mini-program on Ctrip has not yet fully resumed operations, which has also put some pressure on online duty-paid business sales. However, as Shanghai's distribution gradually recovers and Hainan member purchase channels absorb some online demand, the overall recovery of online duty-paid sales is expected in the coming period.