On May 26, China retail technology company Meituan (stock code: 3690.HK) released its Q1 2025 financial report. The report shows Meituan’s revenue for the first quarter reached CNY 86.6 billion, an 18% year-on-year increase, and the net profit was CNY 10.06 billion, an 87.3% year-on-year increase.
Meituan's core local commerce revenue grew by 18% to CNY 64.3 billion, with delivery revenue of CNY 25.72 billion, up 22.1%, and commission revenue of CNY 24.05 billion, up 20.1%.
In Q1 2025, the new business segment’s revenue grew by 19.2% year-on-year to CNY 22.2 billion, with operating losses narrowing by 17.5% to CNY 2.3 billion, and the operating loss margin improving by 4.6 percentage points to 10.2%. The revenue growth in the new business segment was mainly driven by the growth in Meituan’s food and grocery retail business and its overseas operations.
(Source: Meituan Q1 2025 Performance Report)
Meituan’s overseas expansion began in 2023, and it has already gained substantial operational experience in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. In May 2023, KeeTa entered the Hong Kong market and quickly became one of the top three delivery platforms in Hong Kong within six months by offering various discounts, timely delivery, and high-quality service. By March 2024, KeeTa’s market share in Hong Kong reached 44%.
In September 2024, KeeTa launched in Saudi Arabia, covering all core cities, with continuous increases in users, orders, and merchants. Wang Xing, Meituan’s founder and CEO, stated, “Internationalization is one of Meituan’s long-term development strategies, and we will continue to push forward in expanding overseas markets. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern regions, our valuable experience and advanced technology in the delivery industry will benefit users, and this excites us.”
In a post-earnings conference call, Wang Xing discussed Meituan’s overseas business, saying, "The Saudi delivery business launched in September last year is operating very well, and we plan to expand to more developed cities around the world in the future." On May 12, Meituan announced its plan to introduce its delivery service, KeeTa, into Brazil in the coming months, with a USD 1 billion investment in the project over the next five years.
Meituan’s core competitive advantage in overseas markets comes from its strong system capabilities. In the domestic market, Meituan has focused on deepening its food delivery business and successfully built a real-time delivery network that supports over 60 million orders daily. In addition, Meituan has developed a leading global order allocation system and algorithms, strong logistics capabilities, and rich offline operational experience. KeeTa can replicate these advantages in overseas markets by offering competitive products and services, ensuring more timely deliveries and better consumer experiences for international customers.