On March 30, Cross-border Tong (002640), the first A-share cross-border e-commerce company, disclosed its 2025 annual report.
Judging from the financial report data, the company’s operations are under pressure, and problems such as continuous losses and unbalanced business structure are still relatively prominent. However, at the same time, certain progress has been made in controlling expenses and reducing losses, improving cash flow, and optimizing business. The company is in a critical stage of transformation as a whole.
As an early entrant into the domestic cross-border e-commerce industry, Cross-Border Tong started in 2007. It initially started with unsalable small commodities in factories in the Pearl River Delta and sold them overseas through third-party platforms such as eBay. It quickly accumulated its first pot of gold with its “high cost performance + platform traffic dividend” and completed the accumulation of original capital.
In 2014, the company completed a backdoor listing through the acquisition of Global.com and officially changed its name to “Cross-border Tong”. It became the first cross-border e-commerce listed company in the A-share market and embarked on a path of large-scale expansion. It gradually expanded from a single platform distribution model to brand overseas, independent station operations and domestic and overseas warehouse network layout. It has cultivated well-known overseas brands such as ZAFUL and Gearbest, and built a full-link cross-border business system covering import and export.
At its peak, the company once occupied a leading position in the domestic cross-border e-commerce industry. In 2017, the total market value was close to 40 billion yuan. Its subsidiary Global.com accounted for more than 90% of the company’s total revenue, with annual revenue exceeding 10 billion. It became a “Big Mac” company in the industry. It not only set the benchmark for “the first cross-border e-commerce stock” in A-shares, but also led the wave of domestic small and medium-sized merchants “going overseas in bulk”, establishing an important position in the early stages of industry development.
However, in 2025, cross-border revenue and profits are still in a period of adjustment, and some indicators show signs of improvement, but the overall pressure pattern has not fundamentally changed.
During the reporting period, the company achieved operating income of 5.437 billion yuan, down 4.93% year-on-year. Revenue has been in decline for seven consecutive years.
From the peak of 21.53 billion yuan in 2018, cross-border revenue has plummeted to 5.437 billion yuan in 2025, with revenue shrinking by more than 75% in seven years.
In terms of profit, the net profit attributable to the parent company was -417 million yuan, a year-on-year loss reduction of 12.81%; the non-net profit after deducting was -290 million yuan, a year-on-year loss reduction of 25.84%. The narrowing of losses reflected the phased results of cost control measures, but it was still in the range of huge losses.
As of the end of 2025, the company has suffered cumulative losses of more than 900 million yuan for three consecutive years.
In 2023 and 2024, the company’s net profit attributable to the parent company will be -9.6882 million yuan and -479 million yuan respectively.
Basic earnings per share were -0.2713 yuan, and the weighted average return on net assets was -63.94%. The core profit indicators are still at a low level, and the quality of earnings needs to be improved.
It is worth noting that the net cash flow generated by the company’s operating activities reached 404 million yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 423.65%.
Mainly due to the remarkable effectiveness of inventory control, the inventory scale has dropped significantly by 54.96%, reducing capital occupation; at the same time, supplier account period management has been optimized, and the efficiency of capital withdrawal has been improved.
The improvement in cash flow status provides certain financial support for subsequent operations and transformation.
The current business of Cross-Border Tong shows obvious structural differentiation. Import business has become the main revenue source, while export business continues to be sluggish, and the overall business structure needs to be optimized.
In terms of import business, its subsidiary Youyi E-commerce achieved revenue of 5.089 billion yuan, accounting for 93.59% of total revenue, effectively supporting the company’s overall revenue scale.
This business mainly focuses on maternal and infant, health care product agency and agency operations. Although it is large in scale, it has the characteristics of thin profits. The net profit rate in 2025 will be less than 2.1%, and its profit contribution will be limited.
The performance of the export business is weak, with annual revenue of only 378 million yuan, accounting for less than 7% of total revenue. The proportion has shrunk significantly from the peak period, and has been losing money for three consecutive years. In 2025, the scale of losses will reach 150 million yuan.
The core export brand ZAFUL officially entered bankruptcy liquidation in early 2026 due to insolvency. The company’s independent channels and brand overseas capabilities have been significantly weakened. Currently, it can only rely on third-party platforms to maintain basic export business operations, and brand overseas business faces greater challenges.
In 2025, Cross-Border Communications will face multiple operational risks such as supply chain concentration and litigation disputes.
In terms of supply chain, the company’s top five suppliers accounted for 98.31% of the purchase volume, of which a single supplier accounted for 97.88%. The supply chain layout is highly concentrated, resulting in the company’s purchasing bargaining power being weak, and changes in core suppliers may have an impact on operational stability.
In terms of litigation, as of the end of the reporting period, the company and its subsidiaries were involved in more than 20 litigation and arbitration cases, with a total amount of 435 million yuan involved, most of which were passive responses. The total related expenses affected net profit by 346 million yuan, which was a certain drag on performance.
In response to the above problems, Cross-border Communications has promoted a series of self-rescue and transformation measures.
During the reporting period, the company divested itself of non-performing assets such as Global.com and ZAFUL, stopped the offline business of the 100-yuan trousers industry, focused on the core business of import and export, and reduced historical operating burdens; it optimized inventory management, and the inventory dropped by 63% year-on-year at the end of 2025. At the same time, strict
In order to control costs and expenses, sales expenses and administrative expenses decreased by 3.40% and 9.92% respectively year-on-year, and the cost control effect was remarkable; in addition, the company focused on high-margin self-operated categories such as maternal and infant products and home furnishings, trying to optimize the business structure and improve the overall profitability level.
Generally speaking, Cross-border Communications will still be in the intertwined stage of operating pressure and transformation breakthrough in 2025.
Although positive progress has been made in terms of loss narrowing, cash flow improvement and cost control, core issues such as continuous losses, unbalanced business structure, and supply chain concentration have not yet been resolved.
At present, competition in the cross-border e-commerce industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and refined operations have become the mainstream of development. Whether Cross-border Tong can continue to optimize its business structure, resolve operating risks, and cultivate core competitiveness will be the key to getting rid of operating difficulties and achieving sustainable development.
