AEON’s Mainland Losses Overtake Hong Kong’s for First Time

AEON's Hong Kong-listed retail arm lost more money in mainland China than in Hong Kong in the first half of 2026, according to interim results the company filed Thursday — the first time in the three most recent years of half-year breakdowns that the mainland side has out-lost the home market.

The mainland segment lost HK$146 million in the six months to June 30, versus HK$117 million in Hong Kong. A year earlier the ratio ran the other way: HK$66.1 million on the mainland against HK$162 million in Hong Kong. The year before that, HK$37.0 million against HK$144.3 million. Calculated against AEON's own segment filings, the mainland's share of the group's combined segment losses has climbed from 20 percent in the first half of 2024, to 29 percent in 2025, to just over 55 percent this year — the first time it has crossed the halfway mark.

Group net loss widened 21.3 percent year-on-year to HK$275 million for the period, with the portion attributable to shareholders up 9.9 percent to HK$239 million. It is the group's fourth consecutive first-half loss, following shortfalls of HK$78.2 million in 2023, HK$171.2 million in 2024 and HK$217.4 million in 2025.

The two businesses are moving in opposite directions. Hong Kong revenue slipped 0.6 percent to HK$1.774 billion, but the segment loss narrowed 27.7 percent, which AEON attributed to store-network changes including an early exit from its Kowloon City lease, alongside a 32.3 percent jump in online sales. The mainland told a different story: revenue fell 2.8 percent to HK$2.086 billion and the segment loss more than doubled, which the company linked to a soft property market, cautious consumers and intensifying price competition among mainland retailers. AEON closed its Zhuhai Yangming Plaza store during the period after its lease expired, and spent HK$175 million buying out the remaining 35 percent of Guangdong AEON it did not already own, taking that unit to full ownership.

The mainland slide is not new. Trade outlet Huxiu has reported that AEON's China operations have run losses every year since 2018, when a HK$59.8 million shortfall marked the start of a run that management has since tried to break through store closures and centralized purchasing — [that reporting has not been independently checked against a primary company filing and is flagged below]. What has changed is the geography of the retreat: AEON has been closing stores across northern China, including its last Beijing location this May, while concentrating new openings in the Greater Bay Area and expanding into Wuhan and Changsha. Guangdong now accounts for 45 of AEON's 74 mainland stores.

The company's auditor flagged a material uncertainty over AEON's ability to continue as a going concern, citing net current liabilities of HK$1.996 billion at June 30 and net cash outflow from operating and lease activities of HK$178 million during the half. AEON said its parent, Japan's AEON Co., has agreed to extend repayment on a HK$787 million intercompany loan and committed additional financial resources — a version of the same support arrangement the subsidiary disclosed a year earlier, when it cited net current liabilities of HK$1.414 billion and a smaller loan extension from Tokyo.

AEON says it plans three new supermarkets in the Greater Bay Area — in Zhuhai, Foshan and Guangzhou — in the second half of the year, along with five more Mono Mono specialty stores in Hong Kong.