In the second half of 2025, the personnel changes and performance results of beer giant CHINA RES BEER (00291.HK) have become focal points of industry attention. The 54-year-old former President Zhao Chunwu has been promoted to Chairman of the Board while temporarily assuming presidential duties, becoming the next leader to guide CHINA RES BEER in "conquering new territories." Behind this power transition lies the company's current situation of "steady growth in beer business while short-term pressure on liquor business." The liquor challenges left by the Hou Xiaohai era now fall on Zhao Chunwu's shoulders, and from the current circumstances, this executive who has deeply cultivated the beer industry is facing his first major battle after taking office.

**Veteran Executive Takes the Helm**

In early September, CHINA RES BEER announced that Executive Director Zhao Chunwu has been transferred from President to Chairman of the Board, while simultaneously being appointed as Chairman of the Company's Finance Committee. Additionally, Non-executive Director Guo Wei was appointed as a member of the Finance Committee, further improving the management structure.

Zhao Chunwu has long-standing ties with CHINA RES BEER. From his professional background, he has been deeply rooted in the CR beer sector for an extended period. The 54-year-old Zhao Chunwu has experienced remarkably rapid promotion over the past three years. He was appointed Vice President of CHINA RES BEER in May 2022, and in August 2023, was further promoted to Executive Director and transferred to President, simultaneously serving as a member of the company's Executive Committee, Nomination Committee, Finance Committee, and Share Option Scheme Committee.

Notably, after CHINA RES BEER completed its liquor business acquisition in 2023, the company initiated organizational restructuring, establishing the CR Snow Business Division and CR Wine Business Division. Since then, Zhao Chunwu has concurrently served as General Manager of China Resources Snow Breweries (China) Investment Co., Ltd., deeply participating in the core management work during the company's "dual beer and liquor business" layout phase.

Looking back at his career history, Zhao Chunwu joined China Resources Snow Breweries (China) Co., Ltd. as early as 2003, starting as Deputy General Manager of the Sales Development Department. Subsequently, he held core management positions at multiple subsidiary companies, including General Manager of CR Snow Beer's regional companies in Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai, accumulating rich experience in regional market operations and business expansion.

Zhao Chunwu's appointment as Chairman comes more than two months after Hou Xiaohai stepped down. On June 27 this year, CHINA RES BEER announced that Hou Xiaohai decided to resign from his positions as Executive Director and Chairman due to his intention to "devote more time to personal arrangements." According to financial reports, Zhao Chunwu's total compensation in 2024 was 3.48 million yuan, roughly equivalent to Hou Xiaohai's 3.60 million yuan for the same period.

"The current management team has a high degree of consensus on the next development steps. Regarding the strategy under Hou Xiaohai's previous leadership, we will mainly continue and develop it, without major changes," Zhao Chunwu stated at the interim results conference.

**Premium Beer Drives Growth**

Just before the new leader's official announcement, CHINA RES BEER's first-half performance report was formally released. This financial report presents a distinct divergence of "steady growth in beer business" and "short-term pressure on liquor business."

The financial report shows that in the first half of this year, CHINA RES BEER achieved revenue of 23.942 billion yuan, up 0.8% year-on-year; profit attributable to shareholders reached 5.789 billion yuan, up significantly by 23%; comprehensive gross margin improved by 2 percentage points to 48.9%, maintaining an upward trend in overall profitability.

Specifically, CHINA RES BEER's beer business delivered impressive results in the first half, becoming the core driver of profit growth. In the first half, beer business revenue reached 23.161 billion yuan, up 2.6% year-on-year; beer sales volume was approximately 6.487 million kiloliters, up 2.2% year-on-year.

What sweetened the beer business was the premiumization strategy. The financial report disclosed that the company's mid-to-high-end and premium beer sales volume increased by over 10% year-on-year. At the brand level, Heineken brand achieved over 20% sales volume growth despite a high base from the previous year; Lao Xue brand sales volume increased by over 70% year-on-year; and Hong Jue brand sales volume doubled compared to the first half of 2024.

However, it cannot be ignored that the beer market's growth space is limited, and the industry has entered an oligopolistic competition phase, with strong competitors everywhere. Data shows that from January to June, production by above-scale beer enterprises was 19.044 million kiloliters, down 0.3% year-on-year, continuing the overall "volume contraction" trend.

Industry observers believe that the beer industry has bid farewell to the extensive expansion phase and entered a new stage centered on value competition. Even leading industry players currently face considerable challenges, especially premium beer products priced above 10 yuan, which have begun experiencing slower sales momentum.

CHINA RES BEER is also making various attempts to respond to these changes, such as cooperating with liquor instant retail platforms, using "community" models to increase product sales, and capturing the "last mile" of consumption scenarios through instant retail. In March 2025, CR Snow Beer signed an agreement with Waima Wine Delivery, with both parties agreeing to focus on deploying the Waima Wine Delivery platform, strengthening competitiveness in new channels such as liquor specialty stores and lightning warehouses by optimizing supply data and improving premium product coverage.

"Waima Wine Delivery's instant fulfillment capabilities and user insight experience will provide strong support for Snow Beer to expand its young consumer base," Zhao Chunwu stated.

Additionally, CHINA RES BEER management emphasized at the August earnings briefing that instant retail is a core growth engine, with the company's partnerships covering leading platforms such as Meituan Flash Purchase, JD Flash Delivery, and Taobao Flash Purchase. From financial data, CHINA RES BEER's instant retail layout has shown results, with GMV from online business and instant retail business growing approximately 40% and 50% year-on-year respectively in the first six months.

**Liquor Revenue Down Over 30%**

Zhao Chunwu's current appointment carries certain pressure. In stark contrast to the beer business performance, CHINA RES BEER's liquor business encountered periodic challenges in the first half of this year, posting losses.

The financial report shows that in the first half, CHINA RES BEER's liquor business revenue was 781 million yuan, down significantly by 33.7% year-on-year; EBIT was a loss of 152 million yuan. Among this, the flagship product "Zhaiyao" contributed nearly 80% of the liquor business revenue.

Starting in 2021, Hou Xiaohai led the team's entry into the liquor industry, successively investing in Shandong Jingzhi Liquor and Anhui Golden Seed Winery. At the end of 2022, CHINA RES BEER acquired a 55.2% stake in Jiasha Liquor Industry for 12.3 billion yuan, creating the largest M&A transaction in the liquor industry in recent years.

When CHINA RES BEER previously disclosed its acquisition of Jiasha Liquor Industry, Jiasha's revenue for the full year 2021 and first half 2022 was 3.641 billion yuan and 2.001 billion yuan respectively. Since CR's takeover, against the backdrop of cooling enthusiasm for sauce-flavored liquor, Jiasha Liquor Industry, once called the "dark horse of sauce liquor," has seen revenue decline rather than increase compared to pre-acquisition levels.

Wei Qiang, Vice President of CHINA RES BEER responsible for liquor business, stated that market performance in the first quarter was acceptable, but in May and June, overall industry prices declined significantly. From August's perspective, there was a brief stable period, but the extent of adjustment remains to be seen in the second half.

Wei Qiang added that liquor industry prices have stabilized slightly, and whether the second half can rebound depends on future peak seasons like Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year shopping festivals. Wei also mentioned that as overall liquor industry prices decline, especially with significant price reductions in premium liquor, CR Wine Industry is also reshaping the price system for "Zhaiyao."

In the recent price restructuring of "Zhaiyao," the key is to allow retail terminal prices to adjust with market fluctuations rather than stubbornly maintaining a single price range, to ensure normal terminal shipments and dealer profitability.

It can be said that how to open markets and increase sales volume while stabilizing flagship product prices is an important issue CHINA RES BEER currently faces.

At the earnings conference, regarding the future development of liquor business, CHINA RES BEER stated it would concentrate resources on developing "Zhaiyao" and "Jiasha" brands and bottled liquor, expanding coverage and sales of mid-range and bottled liquor; leveraging the mature channel network of the beer business to focus on promoting banquet scenario consumption; and promoting liquor product price system restructuring while strengthening cost control.

Currently, company management needs to concentrate on resolving the pain points facing the liquor segment while stabilizing the beer segment's market position.