Huaxi Securities: First give China Duty-Free "Buy" rating, ushering in a new chapter of development in Hainan's duty-free policy.

Huaxi Securities research report pointed out that China Central has achieved revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company of 39.862 billion yuan and 3.051 billion yuan from January to September in 2025, a year-on-year decrease of 7.34% and 22.13%, respectively. Among them, the revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company in Q3 reached 11.711 billion yuan and 452 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.38% and 28.94% respectively. The revenue in Q3 showed a significant narrowing trend, and operations gradually stabilized and rebounded. In September 2025, the duty-free sales volume in Hainan increased by 3.4% year-on-year, returning to positive growth for the first time in nearly 18 months. During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays this year, the total amount of duty-free sales supervised by Haikou Customs on outlying islands was 944 million yuan, an increase of 13.6% year-on-year. The duty-free sales in Hainan outlying islands showed signs of bottoming out and warming up. Considering the bottoming out and reversal trend of the company's operations, coupled with the new development opportunities and dividends of the closure of the free trade port, as well as the future growth space of duty-free shops in the city, it is expected that the company's operations will experience a reversal of difficulties and usher in a new round of growth. The company is covered for the first time with a "buy" rating.