The truth behind J&T’s partnership with SF Express has been revealed.

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In mid-January this year, the logistics industry witnessed a highly noteworthy event: as the domestic express delivery industry entered a period of stock integration due to slowing growth, veteran logistics service provider SF Holdings, which dominates the mid-to-high-end market, and J&T Express, specializing in e-commerce parcels, jointly announced a mutual shareholding investment deal worth HK$8.3 billion.

This move, seen by the market as a highly complementary “embrace for warmth,” is further shown to be necessary in J&T’s latest financial report.

On March 30, J&T disclosed its full-year results for 2025, showing that last year in its largest single market, China, J&T handled 22.07 billion parcels, an 11.4% year-on-year increase, but its market share dropped from 11.3% in 2024 to 11.1%, and the adjusted EBIT contributed by the Chinese market also dropped from US$150 million in 2024 to US$93.86 million.

Clearly, in the “anti-involution” stock competition in the Chinese market, J&T urgently needs to shift from a “price war” to a “value war.”

According to J&T Express CFO Zheng Shiqiang, in China, J&T continuously optimized operations and reduced costs last year, achieving a record-low per-parcel cost of US$0.28.

Its cooperation with SF will undoubtedly help J&T further optimize costs in the domestic market.

However, the room for growth that the domestic market can now offer J&T is very limited; more attractive opportunities lie in the vast global marketplace.

What pleases investors is that, after nearly three years of operating in new markets such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Mexico, J&T has, for the first time, achieved an adjusted EBIT turnaround, recording US$3.78 million.

Meanwhile, in its stronghold in Southeast Asia, J&T achieved a “triple win” of increased volume, expanded share, and improved profits, with adjusted EBIT surging 77.5% year-on-year to US$540 million.

Thanks to growth in overseas markets, J&T’s total revenue last year reached US$12.16 billion, up 18.5% year-on-year, with adjusted net profit soaring 112.3% year-on-year to US$430 million, exceeding Bloomberg’s consensus expectations; for the first time, total parcel volume surpassed the 30 billion mark, reaching 30.13 billion parcels, up 22.2% year-on-year.

However, this global expansion is undoubtedly expensive.

To support its massive transnational parcel network, J&T continues to invest heavily in asset-intensive infrastructure worldwide. By the end of 2025, J&T's express business covered 13 countries, with about 19,300 service points, operating 246 transit centers and more than 13,300 line-haul vehicles.

It is precisely these expensive capacity investments that have enabled close cooperation with global cross-border e-commerce platforms such as SHEIN, Temu, TikTok, and AliExpress, and prompted collaboration with Latin America's largest e-commerce platform, Mercado Libre.

J&T management revealed they are studying potential opportunities in other Latin American countries, Europe, and North America.

But to seize market opportunities as global e-commerce penetration rapidly increases, J&T must further enhance the density of its global express network.

J&T mentioned in its financial report that the company’s strategic cross-shareholding with SF promotes deeper cooperation between the two parties. By integrating both sides’ overseas and cross-border logistics resources, as well as terminal network resources, they can improve global network coverage and service efficiency, facilitating the company’s expansion in overseas regional markets.

As new markets historically cross the profitability inflection point, coupled with deep connection to SF at the level of fundamental resources, J&T has not only deepened its economic moat in per-parcel efficiency, but also opened broad growth space for its leap from a “regional black horse in express delivery” to a “global integrated logistics giant.”

In this global supply chain battle, Chinese-funded enterprises have fully entered the stage, and what J&T now holds is not just the blade of a price war, but also a long-term stake based on global network and capital synergy.

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