The ceiling of the beverage industry is raised again! Nongfu Spring releases its 2025 financial report, with revenue of 52.553 billion yuan, up 22.5%, and profit of 15.868 billion yuan, up 30.9%.

How does Nongfu Spring’s dual-engine strategy achieve risk diversification and a win-win situation for growth?

Recently, Nongfu Spring announced its fiscal year 2025 results. During the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 52.553 billion yuan, surpassing the 50 billion yuan mark for the first time. Profit reached 15.868 billion yuan, an increase of 30.9%.

What is even more significant about this financial report is that the company not only quickly restored growth but also reached a new scale.

Against the backdrop of the global beverage industry entering a phase of stock competition, Nongfu Spring still achieved double growth in revenue and profit, with its profitability regarded as a “ceiling level” in the industry.

Behind this achievement is not a fierce price war nor short-term channel pressure stimulation, but rather stems from Nongfu Spring’s unique “water + beverages” dual-engine development pattern. Packaged water acts as the “ballast,” locking in a basic scale through high-frequency demand; beverages serve as the “propeller,” breaking through the growth ceiling. Both share the same distribution network, allowing distributors to gain both scale and profit, forging a distribution network that is difficult to shake.

Water Sources and “Water Pipelines”: Turning Uncertainty into Certainty

Nongfu Spring’s core capability still lies in water.

Zhong Shanshan stated in the earnings announcement that in 2025, the company’s bottled water business has regained growth, increasing by 17.3% compared to the same period in 2024. Currently, Nongfu Spring continues to hold the top position in China’s packaged drinking water market share.

The significance of the water business is not just in scale, but in stability.

For many years, Nongfu Spring has adhered to the model of “building factories at water sources and bottling at water sources,” deploying high-quality natural water sources nationwide. In 2025, the company added three new water sources: Badagong Mountain in Hunan, Longmen Mountain in Sichuan, and Nianqing Tangula Mountain in Tibet. In 2026, it will add another water source at Jiaozi Snow Mountain in Yunnan. Currently, Nongfu Spring has established 16 high-quality water sources across the country.

If water sources determine the “starting point,” then “water pipelines” determine efficiency.

Over nearly 30 years, Nongfu Spring has laid out water diversion systems and production networks nationwide, forming a stable connection between water sources and consumer markets. Although the average transportation radius per factory reaches 500 kilometers or more, overall efficiency has continued to improve through large-scale deployment.

It is evident that this model requires significant upfront investment, but once the network is established, costs and supply become more stable. In an industry where price competition intensifies, this stability becomes the greatest advantage.

“Slow Innovation” in Beverages: Early Deployment to Reduce Volatility

If water addresses “stability,” then beverages address “growth.”

Nongfu Spring’s 2025 financial report shows that the tea beverage segment’s revenue grew by 29%, surpassing 20 billion yuan; functional beverages and fruit juice beverages achieved double-digit growth of 16.8% and 26.7%, respectively.

When Dongfang Shuye was launched in 2011, it was not part of mainstream demand. However, as “reducing sugar intake from beverages” gradually became a consensus, sugar-free beverages began entering daily consumption scenarios, with sugar-free tea becoming one of the most accepted categories due to its closer resemblance to natural forms.

From the results, this is a typical “slow innovation”: not chasing trends, but laying out early and waiting for consumer habits to mature.

This strategy is also reflected in Nongfu Spring’s other beverage products. From fruit juices, functional drinks to coffee and soda water, Nongfu Spring employs a multi-brand, multi-product line layout to cover different groups and scenarios. On one hand, it meets basic needs; on the other, it caters to personalized consumption.

More importantly, this multi-category structure allows Nongfu Spring to flexibly combine products according to different channels and markets, improving single-store efficiency and expanding shelf share.

Nongfu Spring proves with its results that the “water + beverages” dual-engine is not only a scale amplifier but also a risk diversifier. When a single category faces fluctuations, the multi-point support of the beverage matrix enables Nongfu Spring to operate steadily and far. This is not only a victory in financial data but also a triumph of long-termism over short-term competition.

From Founder to Team: The Company Enters a More Stable Phase

In this earnings announcement, Zhong Shanshan specifically congratulated the new management team, praising them for withstanding public opinion challenges and becoming increasingly mature. This statement signals that the company is transitioning from “founder-driven” to “team-driven.”

It is understood that this team has worked its way up from the most basic positions. They share the corporate culture and have a thorough understanding of the business logic. This confidence and resilience enable them to stay calm during public opinion crises and persist in doing the “difficult but correct” things.

The formation of the new management team marks the maturity of Nongfu Spring’s talent development system. It also signifies that Nongfu Spring’s “internal strength” has officially taken the torch and possesses the capability to steer through storms.

“Be steady, be slow, be far” has become a clearer business philosophy at this stage. Many industry insiders believe that this pace choice by Nongfu Spring may be a key reason the company can navigate cycles. This thirty-year-old enterprise is now entering a more stable and more imaginative new stage.