Investment bank revenue grew over 25% year-on-year, CITIC Construction Investment's revenue returned to growth last year, and senior executives' salaries were cut by over 20%.

Ask AI · What market opportunities are behind the performance rebound of CITIC Construction Investment?

Source: Times Finance Author: Zhang Xinying

Image source: Tuchong Creative

After experiencing several consecutive years of revenue decline, CITIC Construction Investment (601066.SH; 06066.HK) has returned to a growth trajectory.

On the evening of March 26, CITIC Construction Investment disclosed its 2025 annual report. During the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 23.322 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.41%; and achieved net profit attributable to the parent company of 9.439 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.68%.

“In the past year, overall, all business segments of the company worked together to make steady progress towards building a first-class investment bank and investment institution. The investment banking business continues to maintain industry leadership, solidifying advantages and highlighting competitiveness,” said Liu Cheng, Chairman of CITIC Construction Investment, in his address.

As a leading brokerage firm, CITIC Construction Investment once entered the club of over 10 billion yuan in net profit in 2021. However, from 2022 to 2024, the company’s revenue declined for three consecutive years, dropping from around 30 billion yuan in 2021 to 19 billion yuan in 2024. According to the financial data for 2025, the company has emerged from its performance low point, with revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company both achieving double-digit growth, and the net profit attributable to the parent company reaching the third-best result in history.

From the revenue composition, the investment banking business segment, which has long been the core business of CITIC Construction Investment, achieved revenue of 3.132 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 25.76%.

In 2025, after a period of consolidation, the A-share equity financing market welcomed a dual resonance of policy support and capital influx. According to the financial report, in 2025, CITIC Construction Investment completed 33 A-share equity financing projects, ranking third and fifth in the industry for the number of projects and underwritten amount, respectively. Among them, the number of IPOs underwritten was 12, with an underwritten amount of 19.661 billion yuan, ranking third and second in the industry, respectively; 21 equity refinancing projects were completed, with an underwritten amount of 72.112 billion yuan, ranking third and fifth in the industry.

As a sponsor or lead underwriter, CITIC Construction Investment participated in the first batch of four major state-owned banks’ Tier 1 capital supplement projects and assisted Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank in completing the issuance of A-shares to specific investors.

In the past year of 2025, the Hong Kong stock market also became a battleground for Chinese brokerage firms. In 2025, CITIC Construction Investment International participated in and completed 7 Hong Kong IPO sponsorship projects in the Hong Kong market, including 1 De-SPAC project, with a total equity financing scale of 45.839 billion HKD.

Among them, the Hong Kong IPO project of CATL (03750.HK) raised 41.006 billion HKD, making it the largest IPO in the Hong Kong market in nearly four years and the largest Hong Kong IPO project in the new energy sector in history. CITIC Construction Investment International was one of the co-sponsors.

In addition to investment banking, the trading activity in the A-share market significantly increased in 2025, with a substantial growth in market trading scale, which significantly boosted CITIC Construction Investment’s economic, wealth management, and margin financing businesses. As the “ballast stone” business of the brokerage firm, the financial report indicates that in 2025, the wealth management business segment of CITIC Construction Investment achieved revenue of 8.221 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.37%.

CITIC Construction Investment also disclosed in the financial report that in 2025, the company’s securities brokerage business added 1.7325 million new client accounts throughout the year, bringing the total number of clients to 17.1231 million by the end of the reporting period. During the reporting period, the scale of financial products exceeded 410 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 60.27%; the scale of non-monetary public funds reached 143.2 billion yuan, ranking fifth in the industry; and investment advisory services covered 1.0852 million people, a year-on-year increase of 71.95%.

The other two major businesses also achieved growth. According to CITIC Construction Investment’s disclosure, in 2025, the trading and institutional client services business segment achieved operating revenue of 9.724 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.75%; the asset management business segment achieved operating revenue of 1.428 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.75%.

Against the backdrop of strong performance, CITIC Construction Investment also proposed a generous dividend plan to reward investors. According to the profit distribution plan disclosed on the same day, the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.75 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares to all shareholders based on the total share capital of 7.757 billion shares as of December 31, 2025.

Earlier, CITIC Construction Investment had already implemented a mid-year profit distribution for 2025 in January this year, distributing a cash dividend of 1.65 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares. In total, the company’s cash dividend for the entire year of 2025 will reach 2.637 billion yuan, accounting for 31.24% of the net profit attributable to the parent company’s shareholders in the consolidated financial statements for 2025 (excluding perpetual subordinated bond interest).

While performance has significantly increased, the compensation for CITIC Construction Investment’s executives has noticeably decreased. The annual report shows that in 2025, the total pre-tax compensation for all directors, supervisors, and senior executives was 16.1152 million yuan, while the total pre-tax compensation for executives in 2024 was 20.1468 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of over 20%.

Specifically, the highest compensation in 2025 was for Chairman, Executive Director, and Executive Committee Director Liu Cheng, with a salary of 1.4794 million yuan. This compensation level is lower compared to the 1.8374 million yuan salary of former Chairman Wang Changqing, who retired in 2024.

In terms of overall employee numbers, CITIC Construction Investment slightly reduced its workforce in 2025. According to the financial report, as of the end of 2025, CITIC Construction Investment had a total of 12,618 employees (including outsourced personnel), a year-on-year decrease of 3.27%.