On March 30, the stock price of Youyou Food (SH603697, stock price 10.19 yuan, total market value 4.358 billion yuan), the first stock of pickled pepper and chicken feet, fell all the way from the opening, falling more than 9% at one time and closing down 6.94%.
In terms of news, the company disclosed its 2025 annual report on the evening of the previous trading day (March 27). Although both full-year revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company achieved growth, the single-quarter performance in the fourth quarter "stalled" significantly: non-net profit after deduction fell by 82.4% year-on-year, and the month-on-month decline was as high as 93.93%.
At the same time, the exposure of the "bleached chicken feet" chaos at this year's "March 15" party also pushed the chicken feet industry chain to the forefront of public opinion. Youyou Food, as the industry leader, once attracted much attention. With internal and external factors intertwined, can the company get out of the shadow of its fourth-quarter performance and regain its growth momentum?
Net profit excluding non-profits will decline sharply in the fourth quarter of 2025
Youyou Food is mainly engaged in the research, development, production and sales of pickled pepper and chicken feet as its core product.
According to the company's 2025 annual report, the company's annual revenue was 1.589 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.39%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 186 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.94%.
It seems that the performance is good, but on March 30, Youyou Food's stock price plummeted, reaching a low of 9.94 yuan per share, which is also the company's new low stock price this year.
Looking at a single quarter, in the fourth quarter of 2025, Youyou Food achieved revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company of 344 million yuan and 11.7571 million yuan respectively, while deducting non-net profit was 3.6956 million yuan. Among them, revenue in the fourth quarter increased by 16.4% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to the parent company and net profit after non-deductions fell sharply by 67.4% and 82.4% year-on-year respectively. If you look at it from a quarter-on-quarter basis, Youyou Food's single-quarter net profit after non-profit deductions fell by 93.93% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Regarding the fourth quarter performance issue, on March 30, 2026, a reporter from "Daily Economic News" called Youyou Food Securities Department, but the call could not be connected.
According to a research report by Huatai Securities, Youyou Food's performance growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 has declined mainly due to the impact of the Spring Festival, while profits are under pressure mainly due to an increase in manufacturing expenses due to one-time investment in process equipment, and an increase in expenses due to one-time settlement of personnel salary performance at the end of the year.
Judging from the data, in the fourth quarter of 2025, Youyou Food's gross profit margin was 19.93%, which was significantly lower than the gross profit margin level of 26%-29% in the first three quarters. Under this circumstance, Youyou Food's gross profit margin in 2025 will be 25.78%, a decrease of 3.45 percentage points from 29.23% in 2024.
Just went through a change of general manager at the end of last year
On March 15, CCTV's "March 15" party exposed the shady story of chicken feet processing in Sichuan and Chongqing. The appearance is fair and plump, but behind the scenes are messy production workshops and illegal bleaching processes.
As the “first stock of pickled pepper chicken feet”, Youyou Food has also attracted attention from the outside world. So, under the background of pressure on performance in the fourth quarter of 2025 and tightening industry rumors, can Youyou Foods quickly get rid of the haze?
At the end of last year, Youyou Food just experienced a change of leadership. According to the announcement, the company held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on November 17, 2025, to elect the fifth board of directors. On the same day, the board of directors meeting elected Lu Youzhong as chairman and appointed Lu You as general manager. Lu Xin, the daughter of Lu Youzhong who previously served as a director, no longer appears on the list of the new board of directors.
This change of leadership has been speculated by the outside world as a succession-related arrangement. However, the company responded that the change of board of directors was a normal arrangement based on the company's strategic development. The appointment of the new general manager Lu You is a prudent decision made by the board of directors based on the company's long-term development needs and the rejuvenation and professionalization of the management. The company's operation and management team remains generally stable.
Public information shows that Lu You is 38 years old. He graduated from Southwest University with a bachelor's degree in food science and engineering. He once worked in the company's R&D department and later obtained a master's degree in food science from Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States. From 2019 to 2025, he served as the company's deputy general manager.
Regarding the company's future development, in the performance briefing for the third quarter of 2025, Lu You replied that after assuming the new position, the team and I will continue to adhere to the company's established strategic direction, strengthen strategic execution, and on the basis of consolidating the advantages of the main business, actively promote product innovation and channel expansion, and explore new performance growth points to inject new impetus into the company's long-term stable development.
The annual report of Youyou Food stated that in 2026, the company will further optimize the synergy efficiency of the supply chain, continue to deepen the national market layout, continuously enrich the product matrix, cultivate diversified growth drivers, and steadily improve its comprehensive competitive strength and risk resistance capabilities.
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