Cosmo Lady first-half net profit rises nearly 6%; e-commerce GMV sprinting toward 7 billion yuan target — BigGo Finance

Chinese lingerie brand Cosmo Lady (02298.HK) disclosed its 2026 interim results on August 28, reporting first-half revenue of 1.267 billion yuan (approximately $188.5 million), down 11.76% year-on-year. However, profit attributable to owners of the company reached 61.21 million yuan (approximately $9.1 million), up 5.91% year-on-year, presenting a classic “profit up, revenue down” pattern. Basic earnings per share came in at 2.8 fen.

The biggest driver behind the countertrend profit growth was a significant improvement in gross margin. According to the financial report, the group’s overall gross margin climbed sharply from 46.4% in the same period last year to 51.4%—a full 5 percentage point increase.

By business segment, intimate apparel products contributed segment results of 82.89 million yuan (approximately $12.3 million) in the first half, up approximately 19% from the same period last year. The industrial projects and logistics segment posted results of 10.83 million yuan (approximately $1.6 million), down slightly by about 1.1% year-on-year. The company explained that growth in the intimate apparel segment was mainly driven by collaboration with joint venture partners to expand e-commerce operations, effectively boosting the brand’s market share.

Sub-brand Cotton Republic emerged as a bright spot in the offline channel. In the first half, the brand’s revenue grew 43% year-on-year, with 17 new stores opened during the period, demonstrating the expansion momentum of its youth-oriented product line in the end market.

E-commerce was undoubtedly the most eye-catching part of this interim report card. In the first half of 2026, Cosmo Lady’s e-commerce GMV reached 2.73 billion yuan (approximately $406.2 million), surging 69.6% year-on-year, with a three-year compound annual growth rate of approximately 141%. During the 6.18 shopping festival, e-commerce GMV contributed 570 million yuan (approximately $84.8 million), of which livestream channel GMV was approximately 190 million yuan (approximately $28.3 million). In its interim results, the company explicitly stated that it is going all-out in 2026 to achieve its strategic full-year e-commerce GMV target of 7 billion yuan (approximately $1.0 billion).

On the cost control front, total operating expenses in the first half amounted to 587 million yuan (approximately $87.3 million), down 2.7% year-on-year. Selling and marketing expenses fell 2.2% year-on-year, while general and administrative expenses declined 5.6% year-on-year. The contraction on the expense side provided another layer of support for profit growth.

In terms of brand building, Cosmo Lady continued its Chinese New Year “red product” marketing strategy, deepening its red-product marketing collaboration with Hong Kong feng shui master Mak Ling Ling and leveraging scenario-based operations to generate buzz. The company also built on the “100 celebrities are wearing it” campaign theme to extend the brand from functional recognition toward lifestyle identification.

On the product side, the group continued to refine its tiered, full-price-range hit product matrix, launching core items during the period such as the “Peach Cup,” “Lift No-Trace Bra,” and “Pilates Bra,” covering different consumer tiers. Among them, the “Little Black Magnet Master Foundation Bra” achieved high growth on the strength of its comfort, invisibility, and built-in SPA experience selling points, becoming one of the top hit products driving revenue.

Cosmo Lady has made “creating good-quality, affordable national lingerie” its core brand strategy, continuously advancing brand rejuvenation and national-brand building. Judging from first-half data, the explosive growth of the e-commerce channel and the structural improvement in gross margin are injecting new growth logic into this traditional lingerie company—even as overall revenue continues to contract, profit quality and channel structure are undergoing positive changes.