Seven-Year Veteran Step Down, Why Yifeng Pharmacy Still Deserves Optimism?

Listing | Zhongfang.com

Review | Li Xiaoyan

On March 6, Yifeng Pharmacy (603939.SH) announced that Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Wang Yonghui has resigned from all positions due to personal reasons. His responsibilities are temporarily taken over by Director and Executive President Gao Youcheng. As a leading pharmaceutical retail company with annual revenue approaching 25 billion yuan, this senior management change coincides with a critical period for annual report disclosures. Coupled with the departure of several vice presidents over the past year, it has attracted market attention to the company’s operations and industry trends.

Objectively, this personnel adjustment is not a signal of operational risk but a normal organizational iteration as the chain pharmacy shifts from rapid expansion to high-quality development. Against the backdrop of stricter medical insurance regulation, intensified industry competition, and business model restructuring, Yifeng is proactively adapting to the new industry phase by maintaining steady operations and optimizing its organization, demonstrating resilience and foresight typical of industry leaders.

Wang Yonghui’s career combines cross-sector vision with professional depth. He holds a master’s degree in Management Science and Engineering and is a Certified Global Management Accountant (CGMA). Early in his career, he worked at Guangzhou Bank, ABB, Lidehua Electric, and Jiuyi Global, covering finance and industrial manufacturing fields. Since joining Yifeng in April 2018, he has accompanied the company through nearly seven years of rapid growth. In June 2024, he officially took on the role of CFO, with a 2024 salary of 2.2922 million yuan, ranking third among management, highlighting his important role in corporate governance.

During his seven years at Yifeng, Wang Yonghui has been deeply involved in core tasks such as building the financial system, coordinating mergers and acquisitions, and strengthening internal controls and compliance, helping the company grow from a regional leader to a nationwide pharmacy chain giant. His cross-sector background has brought diversified financial management ideas, supporting store expansion, supply chain upgrades, and digital transformation, ensuring financial security, cost control, and risk prevention.

This departure notice clearly states personal reasons. The company has prepared a comprehensive transition plan, with Executive President Gao Youcheng temporarily assuming CFO responsibilities. Gao has extensive experience in pharmaceutical retail, familiar with the company’s strategic layout, operations, and financial systems, ensuring seamless handling of annual report preparation, audit communication, information disclosure, and investor relations. From a corporate governance perspective, this arrangement complies with listed company regulations and minimizes the impact of personnel changes on daily operations, demonstrating mature emergency management and organizational resilience.

It is worth noting that Yifeng’s finance team is well-structured, with clear division of responsibilities and stable core personnel. Even with the CFO change, the continuity and compliance of financial work can be maintained. For A-share listed companies, personnel adjustments before annual reports are sensitive, but with robust transition mechanisms and a mature team, there should be no substantial impact on the authenticity of financial data or audit progress.

Looking at the longer term, management turnover at Yifeng has been relatively frequent over the past year: Vice President Wang Fei left in April 2025, Vice President Zhang Jia left in August, and now Wang Yonghui’s departure adds to the list of three vice-presidents leaving. Some market voices interpret this as a sign of operational instability, but in reality, it reflects the company’s proactive organizational optimization during its transition from scale expansion to efficiency improvement—an inevitable choice at this stage of industry development.

Over the past decade, the pharmacy chain industry has achieved rapid growth through store expansion and M&A integration, with land-grabbing becoming the main development model. As a leading enterprise, Yifeng has rapidly increased market share through nationwide layout and large-scale acquisitions, establishing a broad store network and supply chain system. However, as the industry enters a stock competition era, with stricter medical insurance regulation, adjustments to drug pricing systems, and accelerated online-offline integration, relying solely on scale expansion for growth is no longer sustainable. Precision operations, digital empowerment, and compliance-driven development have become core competitive advantages.

In this context, management iteration essentially reflects a realignment of organizational capabilities and strategic direction. As the company shifts its strategy toward “strong service, optimized products, improved efficiency, and strengthened organization,” it requires management talent better suited to new retail, digitalization, and big health services, promoting the transformation from “drug sales terminals” to “community health stations.” The departure of executives responsible for expansion, procurement, and finance due to personal career plans or capability adjustments is a normal part of corporate growth, not an indicator of crisis.

Meanwhile, Yifeng continues to introduce high-quality external talent and develop internal talent pools, optimizing management structure. By recruiting professionals from retail, FMCG, and internet industries, the company enhances capabilities in non-drug operations, digital marketing, and omnichannel management, injecting new vitality into its transformation. This ongoing management adjustment—where good talent replaces less suitable—helps maintain innovation and adapt to market changes, ultimately supporting sustainable development.

Despite management changes and industry slowdown pressures, Yifeng’s performance remains steady, demonstrating strong risk resistance. In the first three quarters of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 17.286 billion yuan, up 0.4% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.225 billion yuan, up 10.3%. While revenue growth has slowed, profit growth remains in double digits, reflecting effective cost reduction, efficiency improvements, and structural optimization.

Based on the first three quarters, Yifeng’s full-year revenue is expected to remain between 24 billion and 26 billion yuan, maintaining its position in the top tier of the industry. In an environment where the overall pharmaceutical retail industry is transitioning from high growth to structural adjustment, this achievement is notable. The company has effectively offset industry pressures through supply chain centralization, store digital upgrades, chronic disease management services, and non-drug product expansion, achieving a healthy balance of stable scale and improved profitability.

From an industry perspective, chain pharmacies are entering a high-quality development phase. In January 2026, the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments jointly issued the “Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Pharmaceutical Retail Industry,” supporting mergers and acquisitions, promoting integrated wholesale and retail, and enhancing professional services, guiding industry transformation. As prescription outflow accelerates, medical insurance outpatient coverage expands, and aging deepens, the channel value and social function of retail pharmacies continue to rise, shifting from simple drug sales to community health service providers, further expanding market space.

The current industry adjustment is not a “downward cycle” but an upgrade from extensive growth to intensive development. Leading chain companies leverage capital, branding, supply chain, and digital advantages to accelerate the integration of small and medium pharmacies, increasing industry concentration; simultaneously, they optimize store structures through closures, innovation, and service upgrades to improve profitability. As a leading enterprise, Yifeng actively promotes organizational adjustments and strategic upgrades, seizing industry transformation opportunities and consolidating its leadership position.

Of course, the CFO’s departure just before the annual report may cause some short-term market concerns: whether the change affects the report’s timeliness and quality; whether frequent management changes disrupt strategic execution; and whether industry transformation pressures increase operational uncertainties. While these concerns are reasonable, they should not be overstated.

In the short term, Yifeng has completed handovers, with the acting CFO ensuring smooth financial operations, and the annual report and audit work progressing as planned, avoiding delays or data inaccuracies. In the long term, the company’s strategic direction is clear, governance is sound, and business fundamentals are solid. Management turnover will not alter the company’s long-term development logic.

As a necessity industry, pharmaceutical retail is characterized by resilience and steady growth. Coupled with policy support and consumption upgrades, the long-term development trajectory is clear. Yifeng has built a nationwide store network, a comprehensive supply chain, mature digital operations, and a large member base, forming a core competitive advantage that is difficult to replace. This organizational optimization is an active adjustment to adapt to the new industry stage, improve operational efficiency, and unleash growth potential. Short-term fluctuations do not change the long-term positive trend.

The CFO departure at Yifeng reflects a broader industry shift in pharmacy chains. The era of relying solely on scale expansion has ended; a new high-quality development era centered on efficiency, compliance, service, and digitalization has begun. For Yifeng, orderly management succession and ongoing organizational optimization are necessary strategies to respond to industry changes and maintain a competitive edge. For the industry as a whole, proactive adjustments by leading companies will accelerate the clearing of outdated capacity and promote more concentrated, specialized, and regulated development.

Market should view senior management changes in listed companies rationally, avoid short-term emotional reactions, and focus on fundamental business health and long-term strategy. With steady performance, sound governance, and clear transformation pathways, Yifeng remains a high-quality leader in pharmaceutical retail. As organizational adjustments complete and strategies take effect, the company is expected to achieve new breakthroughs during the industry’s transformation.