(Yicai) April 30 -- Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee reported a drop in net profit in the first three months, despite strong revenue growth driven by an accelerated store rollout and an increase in the number of monthly active customers.

Net profit slumped 3.6 percent from a year earlier to CNY510 million (USD74.6 million), the Xiamen-based firm said yesterday. Revenue surged 35.3 percent to CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion).

Profitability was weighed down by a 0.1 percent dip in same-store sales, which refers to sales at existing stores, it added. This is compared to a 9.2 percent jump in same-store sales a year earlier.

The rapid growth in coffee consumption in China last year, driven by intense competition in the food delivery sector, allowed Luckin Coffee to expand rapidly and this momentum continued into the first quarter of 2026, Chief Executive Officer Guo Jinyi said at the earnings call. Against this backdrop, the fluctuations in same-store sales are in line with market expectations.

Competition among delivery platforms was at its most intense during the second and third quarters last year, Guo said. As the price war cools down, performance metrics may continue to fluctuate in the short term.

Luckin Coffee operated 33,596 stores globally as of March 31, representing a quarter-on-quarter increase of 8.2 percent. The average number of transacting customers per month jumped 25.3 percent from the year before to 93.09 million.

The firm accelerated its international expansion in the first three months, adding 17 new overseas stores to bring the total global store count to 177.

However, Luckin Coffee does not plan to speed up its global expansion, Guo said. Instead, supported by a systematic middle-office system, it will focus on deepening its presence in existing overseas markets by strengthening localized operations, improving individual store performance and accumulating operational experience as well as user insights before scaling further.

Luckin Coffee has also entered the bottled coffee segment amid intensifying competition in freshly made beverages. On April 28, it launched three bottled coffee products for long-term sale. Yicai found that these products are being distributed through selected convenience stores and other channels in Beijing and are priced between CNY7 (USD1) and CNY10, positioning them between similar offerings from Starbucks and Nestlé.

The company has also announced the launch of its first share repurchase program, with a total amount of up to USD300 million over a one-year period.

Editor: Kim Taylor