YTO Express Group Co Ltd

On the evening of October 8, several A-share listed companies disclosed progress on share buybacks, with Midea Group having repurchased nearly 10 billion yuan and planning to cancel all repurchased shares. Midea Group's announcement showed that as of September 30, the company had repurchased 123 million A-shares through centralized bidding, accounting for 1.61% of its current total share capital, with the highest transaction price at 87.71 yuan per share and the lowest at 73.66 yuan per share, for a total payment of 9.94 billion yuan, excluding transaction fees. The buyback plan originally set a repurchase amount of no more than 13 billion yuan and no less than 6.5 billion yuan, with a repurchase price not exceeding 100 yuan per share. After board review, the use of repurchased shares was changed from equity incentive plans and employee stock ownership plans to cancellation to reduce registered capital. On the same day, CATL disclosed that it had repurchased 10.9452 million A-shares, accounting for 0.2482% of total share capital, with a total transaction amount of 3.303 billion yuan. Its buyback plan proposes to use no less than 20 billion yuan and no more than 40 billion yuan, and the repurchased shares will also be cancelled to reduce registered capital. In addition, GigaDevice repurchased 2.4519 million shares, paying 948 million yuan; Salubris repurchased 8.3196 million shares, with a total transaction amount of 266 million yuan; Jianlong Weina repurchased 1.0002 million shares, paying a total of 26.4348 million yuan; YTO Express repurchased 2.2933 million shares, with a cumulative repurchase amount of 39.9847 million yuan.

YTO Express released its 2026 interim report, with net profit attributable to the parent company of 3.175 billion yuan, an increase of 1.344 billion yuan from the same period last year, up 73.44% year on year. Total operating revenue was 38.893 billion yuan, an increase of 3.01 billion yuan from the same period last year, up 8.39% year on year, marking five consecutive years of growth. Net cash inflow from operating activities was 3.959 billion yuan, up 50.28% year on year. The company's latest gross margin was 12.04%, up 3.44 percentage points from the same period last year, achieving five consecutive quarters of growth; the latest return on equity was 8.55%, up 2.88 percentage points from the same period last year.

YTO Express disclosed its 2026 half-year report. In the first half, it achieved operating revenue of 38.893 billion yuan, up 8.39% year on year. Net profit attributable to the parent company was 3.175 billion yuan, up 73.44% year on year. Basic earnings per share were 0.9276 yuan. The company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.2 yuan per 10 shares, tax included. During the reporting period, the company's express delivery business completed 16.278 billion parcels, up 9.52% year on year, exceeding the industry average growth rate by 4.5 percentage points.

YTO Express announced plans to repurchase shares using its own funds, with the buyback amount set at no less than 30 million yuan and no more than 50 million yuan. The repurchase price will not exceed 25 yuan per share, and the repurchased shares will be used for employee stock ownership plans or equity incentive plans. Based on the upper limit of the repurchase price, the number of shares to be repurchased ranges from 1.2 million to 2 million, accounting for 0.04 percent to 0.06 percent of the company's total share capital. The repurchase period is within 12 months from the date the board of directors approves the plan. The company stated that this buyback is based on confidence in its future development prospects and recognition of its corporate value, aiming to stabilize investor expectations, boost market confidence, and further establish and improve a long-term incentive mechanism.

The two Tong and one Da have released their June operating data. Business revenue continued to grow year on year, but single-ticket prices diverged. Yunda Holding's single-ticket price was 2.11 yuan, up both year on year and month on month. STO Express's single-ticket price rose 6.03 percent year on year to 2.11 yuan, but fell 0.03 yuan from May. YTO Express's single-ticket price was 2.06 yuan, slightly lower year on year but up 0.02 yuan from May. In terms of business volume, STO and YTO both posted year-on-year growth, while Yunda Holding was roughly flat. He Dan, a director in the Asia-Pacific corporate ratings team at Fitch Ratings, analyzed that the anti-cutthroat competition drive in the first half boosted express companies' profitability, but single-ticket prices will not keep rising. In the second half, the anti-cutthroat competition push is very likely to continue, though the intensity may be relatively moderate, which will help the industry maintain a rational pricing environment and support profit recovery.