Labubu-mania unabated, guidance rises to USD 4 billion

The annual sales target of 20 billion yuan will be exceeded, and at this point even the 30 billion mark seems easily attainable. Popmart, the Chinese manufacturer of Labubu dolls, beats all expectations and runs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (+12.5%, reaching its highest level since its IPO in December 2020), after a six-month run (closed with a 400% increase in profits and revenues of 13.9 billion yuan), but above all on the wave of growth prospects. Much of the credit for the results goes to the Labubu-mania, rampant in the United States in particular, which the company is preparing to ride further, launching the new mini version on the market as early as next week. CEO and founder Wang Ning said during the financial results conference call that he could not accurately predict profit growth amid the global frenzy of Labubu doll collecting. Moreover, while earlier this year Pop Mart hoped to reach 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in sales, it now believes 30 billion yuan 'would be pretty easy'.

Pop Mart's sales increased 204% year-on-year in the first six months to 13.88 billion yuan ($1.93 billion) in the first half of 2025. This exceeded analysts' average estimate of 13.76 billion yuan and compares with a 62% growth in the same period last year. Net profit jumped 397% to 4.57 billion yuan.

Beijing-based Pop Mart is pursuing its global expansion plan, capitalising on the worldwide craze for Labubus, soft toys that have become a pop culture phenomenon in Western markets (a craze shared by celebrities such as Rihanna and David Beckam and Madonna herself, who wanted a giant Labubu-shaped cake for her birthday, celebrated in Tuscany a few days ago). Foreign sales grew by 440%, reaching 5.6 billion yuan in the first six months of the year. Today, according to the Financial Times, Pop Mart is worth more than twice as much as competitors like Hasbro and Mattel combined.

Pop Mart expects the total number of overseas shops to exceed 200 by the end of the year, up from the current 140, said co-chief operating officer Moon Duk II during the financial results conference call. Shop expansion in the US market will remain rapid over the next one to two years, said Co-Operating Director Si De. Net shop growth in Mainland China will not exceed 10 shops this year, according to Wednesday's conference call, as the company wants to focus on improving the operations of each existing shop rather than expanding aggressively.

"We believe Pop Mart's strong incubation and intellectual property management capabilities and overseas expansion will continue to support its solid growth momentum" in the second half of the year, wrote analysts at Citigroup Inc. including Lydia Ling.