Reporter | NUPiao
Last night on June 30, ST Suning (002024.SZ) dropped some serious news. Their wholly-owned subsidiary, Suning International, officially sold 100% of Kuyoushi (China) Holdings Co., Ltd. via the Jiangsu Provincial Equity Exchange. The price tag? A mere 2 million RMB.
Here’s the real kicker: With this deal done, Kuyoushi is officially out of Suning’s books. This isn’t just accounting magic; it’s a lifeline. We’re looking at a roughly 5% reduction in total liabilities, which helps fix the balance sheet and cuts down on operational risks. More importantly, it frees up Suning to double down on what they actually know—home appliances and 3C products. Analysts estimate this single transaction will boost the listed company’s net profit attributable to shareholders by about 1.271 billion RMB. That’s huge.
According to the filings, the assets were put up for grabs back in June 2026. By June 22, HK EXPRESS WORLD INTERNATIONAL LIMITED (known as “HK Express World”) stepped in to buy them all. The three parties have signed the transfer agreement. Now, HK Express World owns 100% of Kuyoushi (China), making it the sole owner.
Let’s be honest: Kuyoushi was dragging Suning down. Years of heavy debt and lawsuits stemming from the traditional supermarket model, combined with shifting consumer habits, made it a black hole. Getting rid of it completely is a game-changer for Suning’s financial health.
As one industry insider told us, “For Suning right now, those old supermarket units weren’t making money; they were bleeding cash and credit. This move is exactly what they needed to slim down non-core businesses.”
If you look back, the story started way back in 2019 when Suning spent a whopping 5.224 billion RMB to buy 80% and then the remaining 20% of Carrefour China. At the time, the entity was registered in the Netherlands as Carrefour China Holdings N.V.
Fast forward to August 2025, things got messy. Suning settled all outstanding payments, IP fees, and arbitration claims with the French Carrefour Group. They reached a full settlement, but there was a catch: “Carrefour China” was renamed to Kuyoushi, the trademark rights were terminated, and stores began stripping away the famous blue-and-red logo. Legally, the foreign brand and the listed company were finally separated.
From that moment on, all the supermarkets, supply chains, debts, and lawsuits under Kuyoushi were dumped onto that Dutch platform. It became the perfect target for Suning’s planned exit strategy—selling off regional subsidiaries piece by piece until the whole thing was gone.
Before the big sale, Suning had already been cleaning house for over a year. Many regional subsidiaries were sold for a symbolic 1 RMB because they were technically insolvent. Yep, you read that right—one yuan.
Here’s how the fire sale went down: In June 2025, Suning packaged up four locations (Ningbo, Hangzhou, Zhuzhou, Shenyang) for just 4 RMB total. These places had negative equity ranging from -92.2 million to -693 million RMB, with massive store closures and unpaid supplier bills. Then in September, another 12 stores across Shandong and North China were offloaded for 12 RMB. December saw 8 more locations in Chongqing, Nanchang, and Zhengzhou sold for 1 RMB each. Finally, in March 2026, the last four small platforms were cleared out for 8 RMB.
The logic here is simple: strip the losing assets from the books first to stop the daily drain on management and legal costs, paving the way for the final big sale. By the end of 2025, Kuyoushi’s total assets were only 1.315 billion RMB against a staggering 7.668 billion RMB in debt, leaving a negative equity of -4.459 billion RMB.
With Kuyoushi fully cleared out, Suning is officially exiting the hypermarket race. For the past six years, they were bleeding money maintaining two sets of teams, properties, and legal systems. Thousands of disputes over rent, labor, and supplies were distracting leadership. Now, they can pour all their capital and talent into upgrading offline appliance stores and building online retail channels, finally reducing the risk of operating outside their wheelhouse.
Right now, Suning is in a tricky spot: profits are up, but revenue is down. In 2025, revenue fell 13.79% to 48.958 billion RMB. While they reported a net profit of 58.14 million RMB, once you remove one-off gains, they actually lost 4.414 billion RMB. The bottom line relies heavily on asset sales and debt restructuring, not their core appliance business.
Q1 2026 didn’t change much. Revenue dropped another 21.82% to 9.178 billion RMB. Net profit ticked up to 28.905 million RMB (up 60.94%), but again, that’s just from selling assets. Operating cash flow is tight at 678 million RMB, and short-term debt pressure is intense.
Beyond falling revenue and high debt, the real enemy is competition. Online price wars are fierce, foot traffic in physical stores is drying up, and market share is being eaten away by JD.com and local appliance chains. This is a long-term headache for Suning’s main business.
However, there is a glimmer of hope involving a multi-year legal battle with Wanda Group. This could be the catalyst for fixing their cash flow.
On June 29, the Nanjing Intermediate Court ruled in Suning’s favor against Dalian Wanda Group. Wanda must pay 1.747 billion RMB within ten days for contract buyback, plus cover interest losses from Feb 2024 to Feb 2026. Court fees of 8.7768 million RMB are also on Wanda. If executed fully, this would flood Suning with cash and ease immediate debt pressure. But let’s stay realistic: Wanda is currently in its own asset disposal and debt restructuring phase. Whether they appeal or can actually pay up on time is still uncertain.
Motivated by the dual positives of the Kuyoushi sale and the Wanda lawsuit win, the stock reacted quickly. As of press time, ST Suning closed at 1.21 RMB, up 3.42%, with a market cap of 11.2 billion RMB.
