Cross-border Commerce's cash flow recovers after losing 400 million in one year and 900 million over three years

On March 30, 2025, Cross-border Tong (002640), the first cross-border e-commerce stock in the A-share market, disclosed its 2025 annual report. Judging from the financial report data, the company’s operations are under pressure, with ongoing issues such as consecutive losses and an imbalanced business structure still standing out. At the same time, it has made some progress in controlling expenses to reduce losses, improving cash flow, and optimizing its business. Overall, it is in a critical stage of pushing through a transformation.

From a “hundreds-of-billions” revenue benchmark to more than 900 million yuan in accumulated losses over three years

As an early entrant in China’s cross-border e-commerce industry, Cross-border Tong traces its origins back to 2007. It started by targeting slow-moving small commodities from Pearl River Delta factories, selling overseas through third-party platforms such as eBay. With “high cost performance + platform traffic growth dividends,” it quickly accumulated its first bucket of money and completed the initial accumulation of capital.

In 2014, the company completed a backdoor listing by acquiring Global Easy Go, officially changing its name to “Cross-border Tong.” It became the first cross-border e-commerce listed company in the A-share market, kicking off a path of large-scale expansion. It gradually expanded from a single-platform stocking model to brand going-global, operating independent websites, and building overseas and domestic warehouse networks. Brands it once cultivated include ZAFUL and Gearbest, among others, building an end-to-end cross-border business system covering imports and exports.

At its peak, the company once held a leading position in China’s cross-border e-commerce industry. In 2017, its total market value was close to RMB 40 billion. Its revenue from Global Easy Go accounted for more than 90% of the company’s overall revenue. With annual revenue exceeding RMB 10 billion, it became an “industry giant.” It was not only a benchmark as the “first cross-border e-commerce stock” in the A-share market, but also helped lead the wave of “bulk going-global” by domestic small and medium-sized merchants—establishing an important status in the early stage of industry development.

Revenue has fallen for seven consecutive years; last year’s losses narrowed to RMB 417 million

In 2025, Cross-border Tong’s revenue and profit were still in an adjustment period. Some local indicators showed signs of improvement, but the overall pressure pattern did not fundamentally change. During the reporting period, the company achieved operating revenue of RMB 5.437 billion, down 4.93% year over year. Revenue has now been in a declining channel for seven consecutive years. From RMB 21.53 billion at its peak in 2018, Cross-border Tong’s revenue slid straight down to RMB 5.437 billion in 2025. Over seven years, the revenue contraction exceeded 75%.

On the profit side, net profit attributable to shareholders was -RMB 417 million, with losses narrowing by 12.81% year over year. Net profit excluding non-recurring items was -RMB 290 million, with losses narrowing by 25.84% year over year. The narrowing of losses reflects the phased effectiveness of expense-control measures, but it is still within the range of large losses.

By the end of 2025, the company had posted cumulative losses for three consecutive years exceeding RMB 900 million. In 2023 and 2024, net profit attributable to shareholders was -RMB 9.6882 million and -RMB 479 million, respectively. Basic earnings per share were -RMB 0.2713, and the weighted average return on net assets was -63.94%. Core profitability indicators remained at low levels, and the quality of earnings still needs improvement.

It is worth noting that the net cash flow from operating activities reached RMB 404 million, up sharply by 423.65% year over year. The main reason is that inventory management delivered significant results: the inventory scale dropped by 54.96%, reducing capital occupation. At the same time, it optimized supplier account-term management, improving the efficiency of cash collection. The improvement in cash flow conditions provides some financial support for subsequent operations and transformation.

High volume but thin margins—imports have become the main revenue driver**

Cross-border Tong’s current business shows a clear structural split: import business has become the main source of revenue, while export business has remained weak, and the overall business structure still needs optimization. In terms of imports, its Younyi E-commerce achieved revenue of RMB 5.089 billion, accounting for 93.59% of total revenue, effectively supporting the company’s overall revenue scale.

This business mainly focuses on maternal and infant products, health products agency services, and fulfillment/operating services. Although the scale is large, it has the characteristic of thin profit margins. In 2025, its net profit margin was below 2.1%, so its contribution to profitability has been limited.

Export business performed poorly. Full-year revenue was only RMB 378 million, accounting for less than 7% of total revenue. Compared with its peak period, the share shrank significantly, and it has recorded losses for three consecutive years. In 2025, the loss scale reached RMB 150 million. The core export brand ZAFUL entered bankruptcy liquidation in early 2026 due to liabilities exceeding assets. As a result, the company’s independent channel and brand going-global capability has weakened significantly. Currently, it can only rely on third-party platforms to maintain basic operations for its export business, and the brand going-global business faces major challenges.

Divesting bad assets and optimizing inventory to self-rescue

In 2025, Cross-border Tong faced multiple operating risks, including concentrated supply-chain issues and litigation disputes. In terms of the supply chain, the top five suppliers accounted for as much as 98.31% of procurement value, among which a single supplier accounted for 97.88%. This indicates a highly concentrated supply-chain layout, which has resulted in relatively weak procurement bargaining power. Changes in core suppliers could affect operating stability. In terms of litigation, as of the end of the reporting period, the company and its subsidiaries were involved in more than 20 lawsuits and arbitration cases, with the total amount involved reaching RMB 435 million. Most cases involved the company responding to claims passively. Related expenditures totaling RMB 346 million affected net profit, creating some drag on performance.

To address the above issues, Cross-border Tong advanced a series of self-rescue and transformation measures. During the reporting period, the company divested bad assets such as Global Easy Go and ZAFUL, stopped the offline business of the Hundred-Dollar Pants (Baiyuan Ku) line, focused on its core import-and-export business, and reduced historical operating burdens. It optimized inventory management: by the end of 2025, inventory fell 63% year over year. At the same time, it tightened controls over cost and expenses. Sales expenses and administrative expenses fell 3.40% and 9.92% year over year, respectively, showing significant cost-control effects. In addition, the company ramped up maternal-and-infant and home-furnishing categories of high-gross-margin self-operated products, attempting to optimize its business structure and raise overall profitability.

Overall, Cross-border Tong in 2025 is still in a phase where operational pressure and transformation breakthroughs are intertwined. Although it has made positive progress in narrowing losses, improving cash flow, and controlling costs, the core issues—consecutive losses, an imbalanced business structure, and supply-chain concentration—have not yet been resolved. With competition in the cross-border e-commerce industry growing ever more intense, refined operations has become the mainstream approach. Whether Cross-border Tong can continue to optimize its business structure, mitigate operating risks, and cultivate core competitiveness will determine whether it can get out of its operating predicament and achieve sustainable development.

Byline: Nandu · Bay Finance and Society reporter Chen Yingshan