Midea Group said third-quarter revenue fell 4.12% from a year earlier to 107.3 billion yuan, its sales slipping as the boost from Beijing's trade-in subsidies faded. Rival Haier Smart Home reported a steeper 10.13% drop in revenue for the same quarter.

The two Hong Kong- and mainland-listed companies filed their results on Oct. 29. Together they give investors the clearest read yet on how China's appliance market is coping as it laps the subsidy-driven surge of 2025. For holders of Midea and Haier shares in Hong Kong, the filings also show how much a rising yuan is costing exporters with large overseas sales.

Midea's profit rises on investment gains

Midea's headline numbers diverged. Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 25.93% to 14.9 billion yuan in the quarter, according to its filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Stripping out non-recurring items, profit fell 15.7% to 9.19 billion yuan.

The gap came from 5.75 billion yuan of non-recurring gains in the three months, net of tax. Most of that was 7.67 billion yuan of pre-tax gains from fair-value changes on, and disposals of, financial assets and derivatives. For the first nine months, Midea booked 10.8 billion yuan of fair-value gains, compared with a loss of about 1 billion yuan a year earlier, and its investment income roughly quadrupled to 5.38 billion yuan.

Midea blamed the slide in core profit mainly on the yuan's continued appreciation this year. The company explained that exchange losses on its foreign-currency holdings count as recurring items, while gains on the derivatives it uses to hedge that risk are booked as non-recurring. Its finance line swung to a 4.13 billion yuan expense for the nine months, from income of 6.75 billion yuan a year earlier, which the company attributed to exchange gains and losses. The yuan reached a four-year high against the dollar in October.

The comparison base was demanding. A year ago, Midea's third-quarter revenue rose 10% to 111.9 billion yuan as state-funded trade-in incentives lifted appliance purchases, Yicai Global reported at the time.

For January through September, Midea's revenue rose 1.19% to 367.4 billion yuan and attributable profit rose 9.27% to 41.4 billion yuan. Profit before non-recurring items fell 22.49% to 28.8 billion yuan. Operating cash flow dropped 29.58% to 40.2 billion yuan.

Its business-to-business units, outside the core household appliance lines, gave a mixed picture. Nine-month revenue at Building Technology and Robotics & Automation each rose 10%, to 30.9 billion yuan and 24.9 billion yuan. Industrial Technology fell 13% to 18.3 billion yuan.

The company also stepped up share buybacks. Treasury shares on its balance sheet rose to 19.1 billion yuan at the end of September from 8.2 billion yuan at the end of 2025, which Midea attributed to repurchases.

Haier Smart Home cites weak demand and one-off costs

Haier's profit fell with its sales. Third-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders dropped 12.31% to 4.68 billion yuan, and profit excluding non-recurring items fell 32.17% to 3.52 billion yuan, according to its filing.

Haier gave a blunt description of its home market. China's appliance retail sales fell 10% from a year earlier to 179.1 billion yuan in the quarter, the company said, citing All View Cloud data that cover all retail channels and exclude 3C electronics. That quarterly measure is broader than the statistics bureau series for larger retailers, which showed appliance and audio-visual sales down 4.9% for the first nine months. It pointed to the high base from 2025, the waning effect of the national trade-in program, weak consumer sentiment and a shift toward cheaper products.

Two other factors weighed on profit. Haier booked a net foreign exchange loss of 364 million yuan in the quarter, against a 134 million yuan gain a year earlier, because of the stronger yuan. It also took about 500 million yuan of one-off costs to reorganize its global supply chain and overseas regional platforms.

Overseas markets were uneven. Haier said U.S. appliance demand stayed soft, with core industry shipments down about 4% in the quarter, though pricing and growth in Air & Water and small appliances partly offset weaker demand in North America. Core European markets grew by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage in local currency, and the company reported strong growth in emerging markets including India, Pakistan and Vietnam.

Haier's nine-month gross margin held at 27.2%, roughly flat. The company said its China margin narrowed because of higher commodity prices and heavy price competition, while its overseas margin improved, helped by a one-off tax refund. For the first nine months, revenue fell 5.23% to 221.8 billion yuan and attributable profit fell 13.67% to 15 billion yuan.

What the numbers show

Haier said it gained share in a shrinking market: its online retail value share in China rose 2.9 percentage points to 20.6% over the first nine months, citing All View Cloud. Share gains did not stop domestic sales from falling, and at both companies the stronger yuan turned currency moves from a source of profit into a cost.

Inventory is one figure to track. Haier said its inventory turnover lengthened by 5.6 days from the end of 2025 to 79.7 days, as it stocked up ahead of rising commodity prices and big promotions, including the Singles Day shopping festival that peaks on Nov. 11.