Despite various impacts such as high oil prices, rising labor costs and competitive international shipping prices, SF Express's gross profit margin rose 1.6% year-on-year in Q1 2023 through a series of measures such as promoting multi-network integration and strengthening cross-business synergies of segment resources.
S.F. Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SF Express", Chinese: 顺丰), headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, recently released its 2023 quarterly report. In the first quarter of 2023, SF Express achieved a total operating revenue of CNY 61.05 billion (USD 8.83 billion), down 3.07% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about CNY 1.72 billion, an increase of 68.28% from the same period last year.
Founded in 1993, SF Express is one of the leading enterprises in the express logistics industry, and is currently China's largest courier company and the fourth-largest delivery service provider in the world. SF Express provides convenient and reliable international express, logistics and supply chain solutions for manufacturing companies, trading companies, cross-border e-commerce companies, and consumers. Its service network in China covers 335 prefecture-level cities (including municipalities directly under the central government), with a city coverage rate of 99.4%. Furthermore, its international service network covers over 200 countries and regions worldwide. In Q1 2023, when domestic consumer demand recovered and new demands emerged, SF Express achieved a steady gross margin improvement of 1.6% through a series of measures such as promoting multi-network integration, strengthening cross-business synergies of segment resources, and expanding benefits of resource sharing.
Since 2010, SF Express has been actively developing its international business. In terms of operation mode, SF Express mainly adopts two modes of autonomous management strategy and asset-light strategy. In 2018, SF Express established strategic cooperation with Flexport, a well-known technology platform for global logistics in the U.S., and obtained a customs clearance license from the joint venture in Japan. In 2021, SF Express successfully acquired a 51.8% stake in Hong Kong's Kerry Logistics Network. Since then, its international business map has been reconstructed, with 37 international routes of all-cargo aircraft and 84 countries covered by international express.
According to China’s Less than Truckload (LTL) Ranking released by the authoritative logistics industry service agency Tucmedia, SF Express has been ranked first in the revenue scale for three consecutive years. In 2022, Shunfeng will be ranked first in the industry in terms of revenue and cargo volume, while maintaining industry-leading sustained growth. According to the "2022 Hurun Global 500 List", SF Express is the only domestic express logistics company on the list.
The major competitors of SF Express in the express logistics industry include Chinese companies such as YTO Express (Chinese: 圆通), Yunda Express (Chinese: 韵达) and ZTO Express (Chinese: 中通), as well as international players such as DHL from Germany and Fedex from the US.
Based on current industry trends, Wang Wei, Chairman and General Manager of SF Express, said that the logistics industry will shift from labor-intensive and capital-intensive to technology-intensive, with customers demanding higher levels of timeliness and customization, and the development of the logistics industry tends to be more international. Besides, digitalization has become the development consensus of logistics enterprises nowadays.
As of press time, SF Express closed at CNY 50.67 apiece, with a market cap of CNY 250.47 billion.