JS Global's APAC Pivot: South Korea DTC and Japan Defense in Focus
Revenue falls, but adjusted profit rises as the company shifts away from a weak China market.
1691.HK · Earnings Call · 2026-08-25
A Strategic Reallocation
JS Global Lifestyle reported first-half 2026 results that confirm a deliberate and meaningful geographic pivot. Group revenue declined 4.3% to $741 million, yet adjusted net profit rose 9.6% to $14.8 million, turning a year-ago loss into a profit. The divergence is no accident: management is reallocating capital and engineering DNA toward Asia-Pacific, scaling back exposure to a soft Chinese small-appliance market while doubling down on high-growth regions. The fiscal numbers tell the story plainly. Third-party revenue fell 1.2% to $711 million, but SharkNinja APAC grew 6.2% in reported terms and 31.4% excluding South Korea's business-model switch. SN APAC now contributes 34.4% of third-party revenue, up from 31.9% a year earlier. Meanwhile, Joyoung's domestic revenue slipped from $483 million to $457 million on weak demand. The mix shift is exactly what management wants: higher-margin, innovation-led product lines over legacy China categories like cordless vacuum and soymilk maker.The South Korea DTC Transition
The most consequential change is the complete conversion of South Korea to a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model. After a disruptive first quarter, the transition is done. As CEO Run Han stated, “we have completed our transition to DTC and resumed our sales in the second quarter” — Run Han, Senior Executive · 2026-08-25. Revenue in Korea plunged from $58 million to $18 million in H1 due to the switch, but management is bullish: in the closing remarks, Han highlighted that “According to the sales results in July, it's quite encouraging” — Run Han, Senior Executive · 2026-08-25. The move gives JS Global direct control over pricing, consumer data, and channel economics in a market where online retail is dominated by Coupang and NAVER—a very different playbook from the distributor-led approach of the past.Defending Japan
Japan presents a starker challenge. The country's cordless vacuum category is under ferocious price competition, and revenue there fell from $66 million to $63 million, though constant-currency growth was +2.6%. COO Leon Liu acknowledged the pressure: “we have seen some competitors continuously dropping their prices” — Leon Liu, Senior Executive · 2026-08-25. In response, the company is launching cost-effective models, expanding Ninja's presence (the Crispi air fryer and new soup maker), and localizing hero products for Japanese preferences. The strategy is to reduce dependence on a single category and build a more balanced portfolio—a risky but necessary bet in a market where household penetration of Ninja is still nascent.Gross Margin Resilience and Product Innovation
Despite commodity and component cost inflation, SN APAC expanded gross margin by over a point. Liu explained the levers during Q&A:The improvement stems from a richer product mix—beauty devices, coffee makers, and food processors—combined with continuous VAVE (value engineering) and supply-chain scale. This is not merely cost-cutting; it reflects a maturing APAC organization after three years as a standalone entity. New product launches like the Ninja Crispi and Shark CryoGlow mask are driving category expansion, and the pipeline includes a blender, slushi machines, and an APAC-exclusive soup maker. Product innovation remains the core growth engine, especially in emerging markets like India and Southeast Asia, where revenue jumped 240% to $35 million.On the one hand, we have seen the impact of the U.S. Iran war and there have been impacts on the oil price. The plastic parts have been more expensive and also for some commodity like copper and other metals, there have been some impact as well. But generally speaking, against this backdrop, we maintained a growth of about over 1 point in gross profit margin.