China Pharmacy: Same-store recovery accelerated in 2Q26 amid consolidation; future growth driven by three reinforcing structural tailwinds

Research evidence excerpt

China Pharmacy: Same-store recovery accelerated in 2Q26 amid consolidation; future growth driven by three reinforcing structural tailwinds

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research

22 July 2026

China Pharmacy

Same-store recovery accelerated in 2Q26 amid

consolidation; future growth driven by three reinforcing

structural tailwinds

The pharmacy call series we held over the past few days points to a clear operating Healthcare

ACinflection for the listed China pharmacy chains. Same-store growth re-accelerated Yang Huang

in 2Q26 across all three names (Yifeng ~6%, LaoBaiXing [LBX] 5–6%, Dashenlin (852) 2800 3812

also accelerating month-on-month), versus low-single-digit prints in 4Q25–1Q26, yang.huang@jpmorgan.com

driven mainly by foot traffic. Management and our channel expert attribute the foot J.P.MorganMorganBrokingSecurities(Hong (AsiaKong)Pacific)LimitedLimited/ J.P.

traffic growth to an accelerating industry clear-out in the last two years, and the

Eric Zhao, CFA

store base is expected to shrink from ~700k toward 400–500k over 3–5 years, (86-21) 6106 6256

redistributing traffic to surviving stores, especially ones of leading chains. At the eric.zhao@jpmorgan.com

same time, tightening medical-insurance supervision (flight inspections, white-list SAC Registration Number: S1730524050001

regime, drug traceability requirement and prescription controls) is squeezing small J.P. Morgan Securities (China) Company Limited

and mid-size chains hardest, converting regulatory pressure into an M&A wave Derek Choi

and franchise pipeline for the large chains at falling valuations (mid-small chain’s (852) 2800-8744

P/S now is 0.3–0.5x). We see three reinforcing structural tailwinds for leading derek.c.choi@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P.