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Zhu Wenqian

Yulu Ao

Shares of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart International Group slumped after the company’s management said it could miss the full-year 20 per cent sales growth target it had previously set.
Its shares fell as much as 8.9 per cent to HK$140.10 before paring the losses to 4.2 per cent at HK$147.70 as of 10am local time on Friday. The sell-off came after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings on Thursday night.
Wang Ning, founder and CEO of the Hong Kong-listed firm, sounded a note of caution about the outlook on Pop Mart’s interim-results earnings call.
“We had earlier guided for 20 per cent revenue growth for 2026,” Wang said. “The high base from last year’s outstanding performance has created pressure for this year, which will be more pronounced in the second half.”
The company described 2026 as a year of operational readjustment, he added.
“Driving sales is not the top priority, and corporate governance is showing positive momentum,” Wang said.
Pop Mart posted first-half revenue of 17.17 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion), up 23.8 per cent year on year, while net profit rose 10.14 per cent to 5.04 billion yuan, according to its earnings report filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Meanwhile, the company would launch a share buy-back plan worth between 2 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan over the next six months, it said after the market closed on Thursday.
The buy-back plan comes amid softer domestic sales and normalising demand following last year’s strong performance, which was fuelled by blockbuster toy character Labubu.
Since launching its first large‑scale share buy-back in 2022, Pop Mart has continuously raised shareholder returns through repurchases. As of April, cumulative buy-backs totalled around HK$1.74 billion (US$222 million), the company said.
Social media discussion around Pop Mart has started to fade, consistent with the decline in secondary-market prices
Sammi Xu, Deutsche Bank
In July, online sales of its products in China fell another 21 per cent year on year despite the launch of Labubu 4.0 and new releases from the Dimoo and Skullpanda lines, according to data from Moojing, which tracks sales on major Chinese e-commerce platforms Tmall, Taobao and Douyin.
“Pop Mart’s online sales have been declining since May,” said Sammi Xu, Deutsche Bank’s head of China consumer discretionary research, in a report on Tuesday. “Despite high pre-launch expectations, we believe social media discussion around Pop Mart has started to fade, consistent with the decline in secondary-market prices.”
This suggested Pop Mart and the broader plush toy trend could be losing traction among young consumers, Xu said.
“If this continues, we believe it will be difficult to reverse without a new product format or another celebrity-endorsed [product line] that can reignite discussion and scarcity-driven demand,” Xu said.


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Decline in sales growth will be ‘difficult to reverse’ without a new product format or powerful celebrity endorsement, analyst says


Decline in sales growth will be ‘difficult to reverse’ without a new product format or powerful celebrity endorsement, analyst says.


Pop Mart shares slump as Chinese toymaker warns it may miss 20% sales growth target

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Decline in sales growth will be ‘difficult to reverse’ without a new product format or powerful celebrity endorsement, analyst says

Decline in sales growth will be ‘difficult to reverse’ without a new product format or powerful celebrity endorsement, analyst says