The "delivery platform war" has intensified performance divergence among leading new tea drink groups.

Recently, six listed new tea drink companies - MIXUE GROUP (2097.HK), Guzming (1364.HK), CHABAIDAO (2555.HK), Shanghai Auntie (2589.HK), Chagee Holdings Limited (CHA.O), and NAYUKI (2150.HK) - have successively disclosed their first half 2025 performance results. According to calculations, the six new tea drink companies generated combined revenue exceeding 30 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders exceeding 5 billion yuan in the first half of this year, with most companies achieving positive growth.

According to analysis, MIXUE GROUP maintained its industry leadership with revenue exceeding 14.8 billion yuan, representing 2.2 times that of Chagee Holdings Limited, 6.8 times that of NAYUKI, over 8 times that of Shanghai Auntie, nearly 6 times that of CHABAIDAO, and 2.6 times that of Guzming. MIXUE GROUP was also the most profitable tea drink company in the first half, earning nearly 2.7 billion yuan in net profit, a year-on-year increase of over 40%.

Veteran players NAYUKI and CHABAIDAO went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2021 and April 2024, respectively. This year has been dubbed the "new tea drink IPO year" with an exceptionally crowded listing pipeline. In February, March, and May this year, Guzming, MIXUE GROUP, and Shanghai Auntie successively listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, while Chagee Holdings Limited debuted on US markets in April.

Currently, the six tea drink groups have different positioning and operating models. MIXUE GROUP operates in the low-price segment with an average unit price of approximately 6 yuan. Guzming, CHABAIDAO, and Shanghai Auntie target the mid-tier market with prices ranging from 7 to 22 yuan, focusing on mass-market fresh tea drinks with street-side locations. NAYUKI and Chagee Holdings Limited position themselves as premium tea drink brands, emphasizing locations in high-end shopping centers and office building districts.

As of September 1 closing, year-to-date stock performance shows Guzming (1364.HK) up over 113%, MIXUE GROUP (2097.HK) up over 102%, Shanghai Auntie (2589.HK) up over 18%, and NAYUKI (2150.HK) up over 8%. Chagee Holdings Limited (CHA.O) has declined over 30% and CHABAIDAO (2555.HK) has fallen over 17% this year.

**NAYUKI Continues Losses, Chagee Holdings Limited Responds to Performance Deceleration**

Looking at first-half revenue growth rates among the six new tea drink groups: MIXUE GROUP grew nearly 40%, Guzming increased over 40%, Chagee Holdings Limited rose over 20%, Shanghai Auntie gained nearly 10%, and CHABAIDAO increased over 4%. Five companies achieved revenue growth, with only NAYUKI experiencing a 14.4% revenue decline.

In terms of net profit, Guzming achieved attributable net profit of 1.625 billion yuan in the first half, ranking first in net profit growth rate with a year-on-year increase exceeding 120%. Among others, MIXUE GROUP's net profit growth exceeded 40%, CHABAIDAO increased nearly 40%, and Shanghai Auntie grew over 20%. In contrast, Chagee Holdings Limited's first-half net profit declined nearly 40%, while NAYUKI continued modest losses but narrowed losses by over 70% year-on-year.

Specifically, NAYUKI's first-half directly-operated store revenue increased 5.1% year-on-year, with revenue proportion rising to 87.8%. However, total revenue was dragged down by bottled beverages and other businesses. The financial report noted that the first-half revenue decrease was mainly due to closing some underperforming stores, resulting in fewer directly-operated stores compared to the same period in 2024. NAYUKI had a net decrease of 160 stores in the first half, totaling 1,638 stores.

However, NAYUKI's financial report also indicated that first-half adjustments around its green and healthy strategy have shown initial results. Particularly with continued optimization of underperforming stores, store operating profits have been released, and the group has significantly narrowed losses. First-half average daily sales per directly-operated store increased 4.1% year-on-year to 7,600 yuan; average daily orders per tea drink store grew 11.4% year-on-year to 296.3 orders; and same-store sales at NAYUKI directly-operated stores increased 2.3% year-on-year to 1.7602 billion yuan.

Chagee Holdings Limited management also responded to performance deceleration reasons during the earnings call.

The financial report shows that in Q2 this year, Chagee Holdings Limited's net profit margin was 2.3% compared to 20.8% in the same period last year. Q2 operating profit margin was 3.2% versus 24.6% in the prior year. Regarding profit margin decline, Chagee Holdings Limited Global CFO Huang Hongfei explained on the call that this was mainly due to continued investment in new product development and overseas markets, as well as expanding overseas business losses, while Greater China business maintained healthy development with improved profitability compared to the same period last year.

Chagee Holdings Limited currently operates 208 overseas stores, representing over 80% year-on-year growth according to calculations. Q2 financial results show overseas market GMV reached 235.2 million yuan, up 77.4% year-on-year and 31.8% quarter-on-quarter, with growth rates far exceeding overall business levels, indicating its globalization strategy is entering the results conversion phase.

The financial report also noted that Chagee Holdings Limited's Q2 total GMV was 8.1031 billion yuan, up 15.5% year-on-year, benefiting from expansion of tea house networks in Greater China and overseas. Q2 average monthly GMV per tea house in Greater China was 404,352 yuan, representing over 20% year-on-year decline according to calculations. Greater China market Q2 same-store GMV growth was -23%, compared to 38% in the prior year.

Regarding this, Huang Hongfei explained on the call that this mainly stemmed from two factors: first, comparison against exceptionally strong Q2 2024 data; second, intensified price wars on delivery platforms, and while Chagee chose not to participate in short-term discount activities, this caused some customer diversion, affecting sales performance.

Huang Hongfei further indicated that given last year's high base, Chagee Holdings Limited expects Q2 2025 same-store GMV to continue facing pressure. Therefore, Chagee has slowed store expansion pace in 2025 to alleviate same-store business growth pressure. Meanwhile, Chagee believes the price war triggered by tier-one cities will not continue indefinitely, and its impact will gradually weaken.

In terms of store count, as of end of first half, MIXUE broke through 50,000 stores, Guzming exceeded 10,000 stores, and MIXUE GROUP's new store growth exceeded 20%. Shanghai Auntie, CHABAIDAO, and Chagee Holdings Limited had approximately 9,000, 8,000, and over 7,000 stores respectively. Among these, Chagee Holdings Limited had the fastest store opening pace in the first half with net store growth exceeding 40%, compared to over 80% year-on-year growth last year.

Huang Hongfei noted on the call that despite Chagee Holdings Limited maintaining price integrity and premium brand positioning, the current competitive environment under the delivery war has created certain impact and pressure on short-term performance. Meanwhile, Chagee Holdings Limited is actively advancing international market strategic expansion, requiring planned resource investment to build organizational architecture. While these measures have certain impact on short-term profitability, they are key strategic investments that will help Chagee achieve operating leverage in new markets.

"Advancement of globalization strategy made phased progress in Q2, with overseas markets gradually becoming an important engine driving overall company growth. Product pricing in overseas markets has achieved certain increases, proving continued strengthening of brand premium capabilities," said Chagee Holdings Limited Founder, Chairman and Global CEO Zhang Junjie on the call, noting that 178 stores in Malaysia showed profitability exceeding expectations; Singapore stores maintained stable daily average sales above 1,500 cups in Q2, with single-store profit models continuously optimizing.

Zhang Junjie also introduced that Chagee Holdings Limited has proactively built localized teams in core markets including Asia-Pacific and North America. In May this year, the first North American store officially opened in Los Angeles, USA, and in August, Chagee Holdings Limited's second US store began trial operations. In the second half of this year, Chagee Holdings Limited will continue increasing strategic investment in overseas markets, continuously improving global talent pipeline and operational system development.

**How Much Does the Delivery War Actually Impact New Tea Drinks?**

In this earnings report, multiple tea drink companies disclosed delivery order data.

NAYUKI's financial report shows that in the first half, approximately 44.2% of directly-operated store revenue came from delivery orders placed through third-party delivery platforms, with about 3.9% from delivery orders through the group's proprietary platforms. First-half revenue from delivery orders as a proportion of total group revenue increased 7.5 percentage points year-on-year, with delivery order business revenue growing 7.5% year-on-year. First-half delivery service fees (fees paid by the group to third-party delivery service providers) totaled 200.7 million yuan, accounting for 9.2% of total group revenue compared to 6.7% in the prior year period.

CHABAIDAO also noted in its financial report that first-half promotional activities on external channels provided complementary boost to store revenue.

In the delivery war, new tea drinks appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of multiple rounds of subsidies.

According to a Goldman Sachs research report published in August, net profit forecasts for Guzming and MIXUE were raised due to delivery subsidies lasting longer than expected. The report also noted that subsidies have boosted short-term store sales growth for new tea drink brands in the near term, but may face growth decline after subsidies withdraw in 2026. The analysis suggests that after subsidy normalization, industry consolidation will accelerate, benefiting leading companies with outstanding supply chain and brand advantages.

"Frankly speaking, Chagee is one of the few players that did not participate in this delivery war," introduced Chagee Holdings Limited Founder, Chairman and Global CEO Zhang Junjie. In the current industry environment of generally trading market share through price wars, Chagee Holdings Limited maintained price strategy consistency while delivery GMV proportion increased against the trend to 52%, with 73.9% of orders coming from user repurchases. As of end of Q2, Chagee Holdings Limited's registered membership exceeded 200 million, reaching 206.9 million people, a net increase of 14.55 million quarter-on-quarter and 42.7% year-on-year growth.

"From a sustainable development perspective, competition driven by massive subsidies lacks sustainability," Zhang Junjie also stated on the earnings call regarding Q2's industry-wide "delivery war." For fresh beverage companies and Chagee Holdings Limited, participating in this war would help store GMV growth and product sales, but would cause tremendous damage to franchise store profits and discounts. Excessive focus on price competition may bring structural challenges to all supply chain segments, including merchant operations, service assurance, and platform healthy development. "Chagee believes that short-term users attracted through short-term subsidies and price wars are not Chagee's core user group and cannot build long-term brand loyalty. Chagee resolutely refuses to blindly follow trends and get involved in price war whirlpools, firmly refusing to engage in price wars. Chagee has never won customers through discounts and coupon distribution.

"The company has recognized that July delivery business growth slowed compared to June, and future delivery business is expected to gradually return to normal," MIXUE management noted at the interim results meeting regarding the delivery war. Through jointly seizing opportunities with franchisees, they are driving domestic average store revenue improvement and further enhancing store profitability. However, the delivery war also brings challenges, with surging orders creating pressure for stores and negative impacts on store service quality, staff experience, and consumer experience. Long-term, demand stimulated by subsidies will not continue indefinitely, and subsidy intensity will gradually decrease.

"Milk tea belongs to high-frequency repurchase products. If early stages can attract users but later stages cannot, it will start high and end low," Guzming management stated during the interim results meeting regarding the delivery war. First-half performance was limitedly boosted by the delivery war. Q3 platform competition intensified, but Guzming did not aggressively follow, instead embracing dine-in, mainly concerned about continued profit margin decline after subsidy retreat and preventing damage to brand price perception. Management noted that in the delivery war, the vast majority of franchisees saw declining profit margins. However, due to increased volume and certain operating leverage, overall profits increased further.

Recently, lemon tea brand Lemon Right founder Xu Baihe told media that currently opened stores and those under renovation total about 380, with store count expected to exceed 400 by year-end and planned expansion to 1,000 stores by end of next year.

"The company has always cooperated with delivery platforms and participated in the delivery war periodically this year, but didn't participate deeply and maintained relatively high actual revenue, so platforms were willing to provide traffic," Xu Baihe said regarding this year's delivery war. Overall, the delivery war had certain impact on Lemon Right store profits. August store profits and revenue declined 0.5% year-on-year, but the impact wasn't that significant.

Xu Baihe further explained, "First, Lemon Right only does this when platforms provide resources and subsidies - if they don't provide them, we don't participate. Second, we conducted many customer acquisition and repurchase activities through platforms. Only new customers can participate in the delivery war game, depending on whether brands can bear it - we control a threshold. Third, we selected some stores for customer acquisition and repurchase, turning the delivery war into an effective customer acquisition channel for Lemon Right."

**Looking Ahead to H2: Chagee Emphasizes No Price War Participation, NAYUKI Will Adjust New Store Formats**

Looking ahead to the second half, new tea drink groups including MIXUE GROUP, Guzming, Shanghai Auntie, and CHABAIDAO all mentioned penetrating existing markets and further market sinking. Shanghai Auntie also mentioned improving franchise store profitability, shortening investment payback periods, and in online sales channels, further strengthening cooperation with third-party online platforms, exploring more digital operation methods, and optimizing product supply and marketing strategies.

MIXUE GROUP's globalization strategy advances steadily, with approximately 4,700 stores opened outside mainland China. Looking forward, MIXUE GROUP mentioned dynamically adjusting overseas development strategies, continuing to focus on Southeast Asian market development while planning timely expansion into other markets, sustainably investing in capacity building, and increasing R&D innovation driven by new technologies and materials. MIXUE GROUP also noted continued deep cultivation of brand IP, expanding the "Snow King" content matrix through launching more quality content in diverse forms including but not limited to animation series, films, and specialty merchandise.

"Under the premise of not damaging value, Chagee will maintain reasonable price competitiveness, returning saved costs to users and partners," Zhang Junjie mentioned on the earnings call regarding future outlook. Chagee's store menus will see significant new product launches by year-end. Q4 will gradually introduce 4.0 automation equipment to significantly reduce labor costs in existing stores while greatly improving production and operational efficiency. Additionally, the company will fully launch core ingredient upgrade plans in H2, covering all key ingredient categories including tea leaves, milk sources, and syrups.

NAYUKI stated in its financial report outlook that it will continue efforts to boost store revenue performance and optimize cost structure, continue optimizing existing stores mainly through store format adjustments; continuously improve store models for new formats launched in H1 this year, such as "NAYUKI green" stores, and continue exploring new formats or consumption scenarios to cover broader consumer groups; increase single-store revenue through diversified product matrix and precision brand marketing strategies.

Regarding financial security, NAYUKI noted that the group holds 2.7932 billion yuan in cash and deposits, an increase of 3.7% from end-2024. The group has sufficient cash and cash flow to respond to timely business adjustments and steady development, and the board is confident that the series of adjustment measures can bring ideal benefits to the group.