Citigroup: Expects Chinese beer consumption to follow the recovery of the leisure and dining industry sales, maintains a "buy" rating on China Resources Beer.

Citibank released a research report, expecting that the core net profit of China Resources Beer in 2025 will range from 5.1 billion to 5.3 billion yuan, surpassing the bank's forecast by 0% to 6%. Due to the fact that the terminal consumption of Chinese beer tends to be in leisure dining restaurants, the bank expects that Chinese beer consumption will follow the sales recovery of the Chinese leisure dining industry. Citibank's recent survey on Chinese alcoholic beverages also provides positive insights for the outlook of the Chinese beer industry by 2026. China Resources Beer remains one of Citibank's preferred "buy" stocks in the Chinese consumer industry, with a target price of 38 Hong Kong dollars. The industry ranking remains unchanged, with China Resources Beer being the top pick, followed by AB InBev Asia Pacific, and then Tsingtao Brewery.