The Zhitong Finance App learned that Goldman Sachs released a research report stating that China Resources Beer (00291) was included in the “buy with confidence” list. The bank expects the focus to remain on the beer business, with strong high-end execution this year and beyond, with a focus on profitability. The liquor business will focus on business transformation in the short term, and the long-term strategy is channel penetration. It also predicts that Runbier will accelerate the high-end of its products this year, that the average price of products will rise, and that there will be strong gross margin expansion.

The bank expects beer stocks to benefit from China's economic recovery, and channel recovery will also unleash strong growth in high-end product sales, push gross margin upward, and at the same time experience cost relief. Even though the bank took into account the impact of the recent pandemic on its performance forecast for the fourth quarter of last year, the bank viewed the fourth quarter of last year as a low point in the industry, and improved quarterly in the first quarter of this year, benefiting from a low base in the second quarter. The bank also predicts continued increases in alcohol prices and product portfolio upgrades, which may cause the average selling price of beer marketer products to rise 4% to 7% year over year.