CDFG had a strong rebound in Q4.

China’s largest travel retailer – China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp (CTG Duty Free, also known as China Duty Free Group (CDFG) – has reported a -4.9% drop in 2025 revenue to RMB53.7bn/$7.8bn, with net profit* down by –16% to RMB3.59bn/$521.7m The preliminary results are an improvement on 2024, but show how tough the market had remained in the first half of last year.

However, there were signs of a recovery by the third quarter of last year as TRBusiness reported, and the fourth quarter proved quite robust. The travel retailer saw a year-on-year revenue increase of +2.8% to RMB13.83bn/$2bn in Q4, while net profit* hit RMB534m/$66.6m, a year-on-year rise of +53.5%.

During the full-year reporting period, CDFG’s gross profit margin and operational efficiency for its principal duty-free business continued to improve. The margin increased by 0.51 percentage points year-on-year, and the inventory turnover ratio rose by approximately 10%.

Profitability was heavily down in 2025.

In particular, the company’s gross profit margin in Q4 increased by 4.12 percentage points, year-on-year. In a statement, CTG Duty Free said it had “strived to stabilise its operating performance, focused on enhancing quality and efficiency, and deepened innovation-driven development”.

In Hainan, CDFG has also capitalised on the opportunities presented by the new offshore duty-free policy and the official island-wide customs closure. The company’s key stores in Hainan achieved record sales and footfall during the Spring Festival period this year, auguring well for Q1 results.

CTG Duty Free closes DFS Greater China deal

CTG Duty Free has also just completed the acquisition of DFS’s Greater China business, first announced in mid-January, and, on 11 February, it officially opened an inbound and outbound duty-free shop in Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), with about 1,600 internationally known brands available to travellers.

Shaking on the deal: Luke Chang, Executive Director and President of CTG Duty Free, and Michael Schriver, President of LVMH North Asia.

The DFS acquisition is a major expansion in CDFG’s retail footprint as it takes ownership and operations of DFS’s travel retail stores in Hong Kong and Macau, plus core intangible assets, including DFS brands and intellectual property, for exclusive use in China. The deal also potentially deepens cooperation with DFS shareholders LVMH and billionaire Robert Miller and his family by finalising their subscription for newly issued H-shares in CTG Duty Free. This “cements a strategic partnership among the three parties in global travel retail”, said the Chinese company.

At the signing ceremony, Luke Chang, Executive Director and President of CTG Duty Free, said that his company will “move swiftly to begin integration and operational work” and elevate DFS’s shopping experience to build what he called a “super platform for commercial excellence and cultural confidence”.

* attributable to the owners of the parent company

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