Jefferies has issued a research report maintaining its "buy" rating on China Resources Beer (00291) with a target price of HK$35.7, continuing to list it as one of its preferred stocks. Since the company announced its interim results, the market had already anticipated a profit warning due to provisions for its baijiu business. Excluding these provisions, the company's net profit for last year would have been between RMB 5.9 billion and RMB 6.1 billion, surpassing expectations. The report further noted that, based on channel checks, China Resources Beer's beer business sales trend for January to February this year is expected to outperform peers, owing to healthy channel inventory levels.