HK Stock Market Move | WANT WANT CHINA (00151) fell over 6% in the afternoon, with mid-term profits lower than market expectations. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has downgraded future earnings forecasts for the next two years.

WANT WANT CHINA (00151) fell more than 6% in the afternoon, dropping 5.89% as of the time of publication, to HK$4.63, with a turnover of HK$48.8245 million. On the news front, WANT WANT CHINA recently released its interim performance report as of the end of September. In the first half of the 2025 fiscal year, the company achieved revenue of RMB 11.108 billion, an increase of 2.1% year-on-year; net profit attributable to equity holders was RMB 1.717 billion, a decrease of 7.8% year-on-year. UBS believes that the company's revenue meets expectations, but profits are lower than market expectations, mainly due to operating expenses increasing by 10.6% year-on-year, with advertising and promotion expenses also increasing. Bank of America Securities issued a research report, reiterating a "underperform" rating on WANT WANT CHINA, believing that expanding into emerging and snack discount channels may drive sales volume and penetration rate growth, but could also weaken pricing power and raise channel costs, putting pressure on long-term profit margins. The bank is also concerned about weak demand for dairy beverages and competition from e-commerce platform subsidies. Accordingly, Bank of America Securities has lowered its earnings forecasts for WANT WANT CHINA for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years by 8% to 10%, reducing the target price from HK$5 to HK$4.7.