HK Stock Market Move | MEITUAN-W(03690) rises over 4% again, accelerating expansion in the Middle East market. Institutions say that the subsidy strategy of food delivery platforms has become more rational.

MEITUAN-W(03690) rose more than 4% again, with a cumulative increase of over 12% for the week. As of the time of writing, it has increased by 3.33% to HK$108.7, with a turnover of HK$54.32 billion. On the news front, recently, Meituan's international delivery brand keeta officially launched its operation in Kuwait. With this, Kuwait becomes keeta's third landing point in the Gulf region after Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It is reported that based on the successful landing and progress in Saudi Arabia in the past year, keeta is further accelerating its expansion pace in the Middle East market. In August this year, keeta went online in Qatar, and in less than a month, it officially entered Kuwait, showing that Meituan is accelerating the construction of a "multi-country linkage" international development model. Shenwan Hongyuan Group released a research report stating that in July, the Market Supervision Administration interviewed the three major platforms, emphasizing the need to standardize promotions and promote rational competition, leading to a rationalization of subsidy strategies. Meituan, Taobao, and JD.com are promoting structural efficiency improvement through differentiated projects such as "Pindao Good Rice", "Explosive Product Group", and "Seven Fresh Kitchen", reducing the number of foam-type orders and moving towards long-term sustainable growth. GF SEC, on the other hand, indicated that looking ahead to Q3 and Q4, the e-commerce sector is expected to continue to be under pressure from food delivery competition, and performance may continue to be under pressure. In the long term, once both sides reduce the intensity of subsidies, Meituan and Alibaba are expected to reach a turning point in profitability.