Appliance-Maker Midea’s Business Rebounds Past Pre-Pandemic Levels

What’s new: Midea Group Co. Ltd., a leading Chinese maker of home appliances, reported first-quarter results that exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

The company posted 75.2 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) in revenue for the first three months of the year, up nearly 10% from the same period two years earlier in 2019 before the global pandemic began, according to its results released late on Thursday. Its latest quarterly profit was 6.13 billion, also up 5.7% from the same period in 2019.

The company also reported results for the full year 2020. Its annual revenue rose 2.2% compared with 2020 to 284.2 billion yuan, while its profit rose 12.4% to 27.2 billion yuan.

Background: Like many consumer-facing companies, Midea took a big hit in the first half of last year when many Chinese remained housebound during various states of lockdown during the height of the nation’s Covid-19 outbreak.

But the company managed a relatively strong rebound by posting both revenue and profit growth for the entire year, as China’s situation stabilized in the second half of the year. By comparison, rival Gree Electric posted full-year profit and revenue declines of 10% to 15%.

Midea has benefitted in particular from strong demand for its air conditioners, which passed former leader Gree’s for the first time last year in revenue terms.

Related: Appliance Giant Gree’s Business Rebounds in First Quarter

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here. 

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)

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