Hong Kong stocks concept tracking | New Year flavor "eat" full! Online reservations for New Year's Eve dinners increased by more than 3 times, catering industry demand rebounds (with concept stocks)

As the Spring Festival approaches, reservations for the New Year's Eve dinner are in high demand. Data from Meituan shows that from January 1 to January 16, the search volume for "New Year's Eve dinner reservations" and "recommended New Year's Eve dinner restaurants" on the platform increased by 256% compared to the previous period, and online reservations for New Year's Eve dinner made half a month in advance increased by 305% year-on-year. Industry experts point out that the high demand for New Year's Eve dinner reservations reflects the vitality of Spring Festival catering consumption, and it is expected that the catering industry will continue to grow in 2025. In preparation for the peak season of Spring Festival catering consumption, many catering enterprises have taken various measures, such as launching new specialty products, organizing Spring Festival events, and staying open during the Spring Festival, to further stimulate the market vitality of Spring Festival catering consumption. Currently, XIABUXIABU has launched a variety of New Year's Eve dinner sets and introduced new specialty products such as Carp and Prawn Paste and Hotpot Soup with Peppery Lamb Offal. Zhang Yanmei, Vice President of Xiabu Group, stated that the Spring Festival is the peak season for hotpot companies, and in order to ensure that consumers can better enjoy the New Year festivities, Xiabu Group launched cross-industry collaborations, consumer raffles, points redemption activities at the end of last year. While preparing for the Spring Festival, they also give back to the consumers, continuously improving service quality, and aiding in consumption growth. Xibeier also stated that based on the growth of the overall Xibeier business in 2024 and the consumption habits of customers at various points, they estimate that there will be a significant increase in customer flow during the Spring Festival, and there will be queues. Therefore, Xibeier has made preparations for the catering service during the Spring Festival period, ensuring the quality management of the stores and high standards of food quality, scientifically and reasonably arranging manpower at both the store and supply chain ends, supplementing part-time workers, and all 390 stores nationwide will operate as usual without closing. On January 17th, the 500th restaurant of KFC China in Beijing made its debut in Haidian District, Beijing. The restaurant was jointly created by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Beijing KFC. With the approach of the first "intangible cultural heritage" Chinese New Year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, and KFC Beijing jointly launched the Snake Year themed couplets. Haidilao's backend data shows that as of January 21st, Haidilao has received reservations for about 40,000 tables for dining on New Year's Eve throughout the country. In order to ensure a better dining experience during the Spring Festival, the platforms are also actively involved. It is reported that Meituan has launched the "Spring Festival Non-Stop" campaign, with over a million catering businesses nationwide signed up to participate. At the same time, Meituan will also collaborate with high-quality merchants to carry out Spring Festival consumer promotion activities across multiple peak consumption seasons, including Xiaonian, New Year's Eve, Spring Festival, and Lantern Festival. In addition, the market for pre-made New Year's Eve dinner dishes is gradually becoming popular, with many catering companies and fresh food e-commerce platforms stepping up their efforts. It was reported that this year Dingdong Maicai platform has launched local specialty dishes such as Hui-style Smelly Mandarin Fish, Squirrel Mandarin Fish, Inner Mongolia Roast Lamb Leg, and Cantonese Pigeon, etc; Dingdong Maicai's own brand Cai Changqing has also launched Peking Duck Sets and Sauce Pork and Fried Goods in East China to meet consumers' demand for New Year's Eve family banquets and Spring Festival gatherings. China Quanjude recently stated on its interactive platform that this year's New Year's Eve gift boxes are richer in cuisine and more exquisite in combination, includes series such as "Family Portrait", "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" Gift Box, and "Fengze Garden Meat" Gift Box. Consumers can easily replicate the dining taste at home by following the instructions on the packaging. These products are currently available on Douyin, Tmall, JD official flagship stores, Quanjude Group Mall, Quanjude stores, and various outlets. CICC released a research report stating that in 2024, hotels and tourism related sectors faced an overall situation of "stable quantity and price reduction" under the high base of the previous year, while catering, duty-free, and personal services continued to face pressure on both quantity and price. Looking ahead to 2025, with still ample room for chainification and consolidation degrees to increase, industry "infrastructure" with scale and brand advantages is expected to continue to increase market share and achieve growth through the cycle, while the industry is expected to see a warming demand and price turning point. CITIC SEC released a research report stating that the central government's clear emphasis on domestic demand will directly benefit catering, representing a pro-cyclical sector with greater elasticity of recovery. Leading companies in the terminal catering sector have raised prices first to reflect the overall stable competition trend, with a low likelihood of intensifying price wars. The catering supply chain sector is expected to benefit from the recovery of downstream catering performance, and the bank is bullish on the profit recovery driven by the improvement in demand, continued cost reduction, and competition relief in 2025. Related concept stocks: JIUMAOJIU(09922): Public information shows that JIUMAOJIU is a catering group with a core business of operating Chinese-style catering chains. Founded in Haikou, the group has been in operation for over 28 years, and operates various Chinese-style catering brands such as "JIUMAOJIU Northwest Cuisine", "Tai Er Sauerkraut Fish", and "Fearless Hotpot" in different sub-sectors of Chinese-style catering. HAIDILAO(06862): In mid-January, Nomura issued a research report stating that it raised the target price of HAIDILAO(06862) by 7.9%, from HKD 15.1 to HKD 16.3, while maintaining a "buy" rating. The report stated that HAIDILAO had a better profit margin in the second half of the 2024 fiscal year under favorable cost conditions. It is expected that HAIDILAOs net profit growth in the second half of the 2024 fiscal year will be stable at a year-on-year increase of 13%. Revenue in the second half of the year is expected to increase by 2% year-on-year, benefiting from a low single-digit year-on-year increase in same-store sales. The positive aspect is that Nomura expects HAIDILAO's average selling price (ASP) to improve by 1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, HAIDILAO accelerates the opening of new stores, with 50 new stores opened in the second half of 2024. Nomura forecasts that due to favorable cost conditions and better operational efficiency, HAIDILAO's operating profit margin will improve year-on-year and by the half-year. XIABUXIABU(00520): XIABUXIABU is a catering group that mainly operates a chain of small hotpot brands, covering brand catering operations, meat processing, supply chain circulation, channel sales, engineering design, commercial real estate, and the entire catering industry chain. CHINA RES BEER(00291): In late January, CICC issued a research report stating that it gave CHINA RES BEER(00291) an "outperform market" rating, and adjusted the group's earnings forecast for the fiscal year 2024 and 2025 downwards.2% and 4% respectively, to reflect the weak performance of the group in the previous quarter and the slow expansion of profit margin this year, the target price has been lowered from 35.9 Hong Kong dollars to 30.9 Hong Kong dollars.HELENS (09869): In July last year, HELENS announced two major growth directions. HELENS plans to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange for a second time, entering the Singapore securities market and increasing global visibility, while providing financial support for its international business expansion. In addition, HELENS also launched the community model. Community stores have a richer store model and product types, targeting a wider age range, extending operating hours, and aiming to attract a more diverse consumer group.