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Regional Chinese supermarket/department-store chain based in Hunan, operating under the Better Life brand.
Regional Chinese supermarket/department-store chain based in Hunan, operating under the Better Life brand.
In one line: A regional Chinese grocery/department-store chain.
Moat: none (distribution). Regional store network but weak balance sheet and competitive pressure in recent years.
Headquarters: Changsha, Hunan, China · Employees: 5,426
Size Better Life Commercial Chain Share (002251.SZ) is a China Consumer Staples company (Food Retail) with a market value of $1.34B, the 1806th largest of 4,839 China companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at CN¥3.37 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 18.8%, against -4.4% for the median peer and -16.4% for the China market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 11.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.6%); the operating margin is 4.9% (peer median 2.8%).
Valuation It trades at 42.1× forward earnings against a peer median of 15.9× (most expensive of 16).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 11% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is -23%, so the hurdle is +34 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.5 points below its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 16 Apr 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CN¥4.53B | CN¥4.20B | CN¥3.33B | CN¥2.98B | CN¥8.62B |
| Revenue growth | — | +26% | +12% | -65% | — |
| Gross profit | CN¥1.66B | CN¥1.15B | CN¥814M | CN¥714M | CN¥1.10B |
| EBITDA | n/a | CN¥601M | CN¥317M | CN¥191M | -CN¥176M |
| Net income | CN¥22.3M | CN¥113M | CN¥1.21B | -CN¥1.89B | -CN¥2.54B |
| Free cash flow | CN¥304M | CN¥261M | -CN¥529M | -CN¥1.76B | -CN¥879M |
| Capital expenditure | CN¥673M | CN¥400M | CN¥328M | CN¥423M | CN¥1.29B |
| Total debt | CN¥7.12B | CN¥6.93B | CN¥7.01B | CN¥12.4B | CN¥13.4B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Life Commercial Chain Share 002251.SZ | $1.34B | -19% | +11% | 5% | 42.1× | 10.8% |
| Yonghui Superstores 601933.SS | $3.76B | -23% | -16% | -3% | 273.4× | n/a |
| Sun Art Retail 6808.HK | $1.37B | -24% | -10% | 0% | n/a | 1.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 002251.SZ | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -1.8% | +3.7% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -18.8% | -4.4% | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -47.3% | -14.4% | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +11.1% | +2.6% | highest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 4.9% | 2.8% | 5th highest of 20 |
| Forward P/E | 42.1× | 15.9× | most expensive of 16 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 10.8% | -3.5% | 3rd most demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | -23.1% | +3.0% | lowest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +33.9 pp | -7.6 pp | most demanding of 20 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -2.5 pp | +2.1 pp | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Life Commercial Chain Share 002251.SZ | China | $1.34B | -19% | +11% | 5% | 42.1× | 10.8% | -23.1% |
| Grocery Outlet GO | United States | $1.29B | +59% | +5% | 4% | 21.6× | 4.4% | +8.4% |
| Aryzta ARYN.SW | Switzerland | $1.28B | -26% | -3% | 7% | 13.0× | -6.6% | +3.0% |
| Arcs 9948.T | Japan | $1.27B | +5% | +2% | 3% | 15.9× | -10.6% | +2.4% |
| Chongqing Chongbai Technology 600729.SS | China | $1.26B | -9% | -11% | 4% | 11.3× | -10.4% | -6.9% |
| Valor 9956.T | Japan | $1.25B | -6% | +9% | 3% | 8.8× | -2.7% | +4.8% |
| Life 8194.T | Japan | $1.43B | +1% | +3% | 3% | 12.1× | -11.0% | +3.0% |
| Taiwan FamilyMart 5903.TWO | Taiwan | $1.23B | -4% | +7% | 2% | 23.4× | -2.4% | +5.2% |
| San-a 2659.T | Japan | $1.22B | -2% | +6% | 7% | 16.4× | -12.3% | +3.9% |
| Ingles Markets IMKTA | United States | $1.53B | -5% | +1% | 3% | n/a | -1.4% | +3.0% |
| Yesway YSWY | United States | $1.56B | -4% | n/a | n/a | 21.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Fuji 8278.T | Japan | $1.11B | -1% | -1% | 1% | n/a | 2.6% | +20.9% |
| Toly Bread 603866.SS | China | $1.01B | -15% | -2% | 8% | 24.1× | 0.5% | -1.8% |
| Chengdu Hongqi Chain 002697.SZ | China | $1.01B | -5% | -1% | 5% | 14.3× | -17.5% | +1.1% |
| United Super Markets 3222.T | Japan | $999M | -7% | +11% | 0% | n/a | 31.5% | +5.6% |
| BGF Retail 282330.KS | South Korea | $1.82B | +9% | +5% | 3% | 10.8× | -18.3% | +7.9% |
| Weis Markets WMK | United States | $1.92B | +10% | +4% | 2% | n/a | 4.3% | +3.8% |
| Jiangxi Guoguang Commercial Chains 605188.SS | China | $908M | -26% | +3% | 1% | n/a | 27.5% | +4.6% |
| Shanghai Bailian 600827.SS | China | $1.99B | -5% | -9% | -2% | 15.9× | -3.5% | -6.7% |
| Jiajiayue 603708.SS | China | $874M | -12% | 0% | 2% | 25.6× | -12.7% | +1.5% |
| Axial Retailing 8255.T | Japan | $865M | +30% | +3% | 4% | 15.1× | -10.9% | +2.9% |