China Payment Firms Post Higher Revenue but Mixed Profit as Equity Sales Lift Results

China's payment institutions reported broadly higher revenue in their first-half results, but several showed weaker profit growth or outright declines, according to Jiemian News. Among seven major players, six posted year-on-year revenue growth: Lakala reported revenue of 3.257 billion yuan, up 22.86%; Xingyi Payment, a unit of Newland, reported revenue of 1.786 billion yuan, up 26.55%. Yika, however, reported revenue of 1.249 billion yuan, down 23.9%, and said its mainland GPV fell 23% to 880.4 billion yuan amid a weaker macro environment in mainland China. Profit trends were more uneven. As of the end of June 2026, three payment firms posted year-on-year net profit growth, three reported declines, and one reported EBITDA loss. Lakala, Helibao under Renrendong Holdings, and Yika posted net profits of 669 million yuan, 62.0175 million yuan and 41.918 million yuan, respectively. Xingyi Payment, Jialian Payment and Lianlian Digital reported net profits of 223 million yuan, 27.0306 million yuan and 10.94 million yuan, respectively, while HNA Pay under Highsun Technology reported an EBITDA net loss of 3.719 million yuan in its payment and digital services business. Jiemian News also noted that equity disposals had a large impact on some firms' bottom lines. Lakala said profit from selling BlueFocus shares on the secondary market accounted for 69.16% of its total net profit; excluding non-recurring items, its net profit attributable to shareholders was 219 million yuan, up 50.28%. Lianlian Digital said its year-earlier profit base was boosted by 1.60146 billion yuan from the sale of part of its stake in LianTong and 452.18 million yuan in dilution gains; adjusted operating profit for the first half rose 147.3% to 156 million yuan. Several listed payment firms are also expanding overseas. Lianlian Digital said its global payment TPV reached 249.9 billion yuan in the six months to June 30, 2026, up 25.9%, while global payment revenue rose 27.1% to 600 million yuan. Newland said it is accelerating overseas licence deployment to support cross-border payments and overseas acquiring. Analysts quoted by Jiemian News said overseas expansion and AI investment may support longer-term growth, but near-term profitability remains under pressure from competition, compliance costs and higher technology spending.