A new profit alert from Xiamen Yan Palace Bird’s Nest Industry Co. Ltd. (1497.HK) has something for all investors, both the bulls and the bears.

For the bulls, China’s leading maker of edible products derived from birds nests revealed it returned to profit growth in the second half of 2024, rebounding from a steep drop in the first half of the year. For the bears, the announcement reveals the exact opposite trend for the company’s revenue, which began contracting in the second half of the year, in contrast to annual revenue growth every year since at least 2021.

The revenue contraction looks the most worrisome, since it shows that Yan Palace is getting sucked into the same vortex of weak consumer sentiment that’s having a similar effect on many consumer-facing companies around China.