Glonghui, November 10 | Jefferies published a report stating that the overall sales volume of unified enterprises in the third quarter in the third quarter in China fell by the number of units from year to year, and the number of beneficiary beverages continued to grow and food products declined slightly, which was slightly lower than expected; the gross margin of the third quarter improved 1% year-on-year, beneficiary raw material prices and less promotion, while the gross margin of the food and beverage business recorded positive growth, with gross margin expanding by about the number of units. According to the bank, net profit for the third quarter increased 11.2% year-on-year to 591 million yuan, in line with expectations. Among them, the profit margin for food and beverages improved quarterly, while net profit for the first three quarters increased 5.7% year-on-year. According to the bank, the unified management is confident that positive growth will be recorded from the fourth quarter of this year to January next year. Mainly, the fourth quarter of this year is a low season for beverage sales. The company has recently increased investment in catering channels and New Year's gift packages to drive sales, but it does not want to be overly optimistic about the fourth quarter's performance. Jefferies believes that sales growth in the fourth quarter may be more difficult than expected based on the impact of the base figure and the impact of the macro environment, but raw material prices continued to be low or help profit margins expand. The bank lowered the target price for unified enterprises in China from HK$8.62 to HK$8.02, maintaining its “buy” rating.