Yingjia Gongjiu (SSE: 603198) announced on March 10 that its general manager, Qin Hai, submitted an early resignation and will be replaced by an internal candidate, Yang Zhaobing. Qin will remain on the company’s board and serve on its remuneration and assessment committee and strategy committee, while the company named Yang to the general manager role following board nomination and committee review.
Yang, born in August 1976, is a long-serving company insider whose career rose through production and sales roles — from a workshop worker to regional sales director and a series of senior sales and operational posts. He has been a company director since 2014 and has held senior management roles across Yingjia’s sales organisation and group structure, most recently serving as vice president and concurrently as sales company general manager through December 2025 to March 2026.
The leadership change comes as Yingjia reports a material deterioration in core profitability. For the first three quarters of 2025 the company recorded operating revenue of 45.16 billion yuan, down 18.1% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders fell 24.7% to 15.11 billion yuan; non-GAAP net profit declined 26.2% to 14.74 billion yuan; and net cash from operating activities dropped 38.1% to 7.89 billion yuan. The company attributes the declines primarily to weak consumer demand and falling sales.
Analysts say Yingjia’s results are part of a wider contraction in China’s baijiu sector. Guotai Haitong notes that policy shifts are accelerating an industry-wide clearing that could push results to a cyclical bottom, potentially by the first half of 2026. Tianfeng Securities frames the current market as the tail end of a roughly five-year adjustment: valuations and institutional holdings are low, market sentiment is pessimistic, and any recovery will probably require a broader macroeconomic rebound in consumption.
From a governance perspective the transition is notable for its continuity. Qin’s retention of board roles while vacating the general manager post suggests a managed handover rather than a rupture; promoting an experienced sales executive instead of hiring externally points to an operational emphasis — stabilising channels, defending revenue and cash flows, and executing cost and inventory management.
For investors and industry observers, the immediate questions are whether Yingjia can arrest the revenue decline without deep price discounting, how much inventory and promotional expense remains in trade channels, and whether margins and cash generation will stabilise as the sector seeks a bottom. Full-year 2025 results have not yet been released; the coming quarterly reports and any guidance on channel inventory, pricing strategy and marketing intensity will be important signals of the company’s ability to navigate the current downturn.