Asian Tech Press (Aug 30) -- Meituan (3690.HK), a Chinese food delivery and e-commerce giant, disclosed in its earnings announcement on Monday that the company may be subject to a hefty fine.

The company released its 2021 Q2 and interim results ended June 30, 2021 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. According to the announcement, Meituan's second-quarter revenue was 43.76 billion yuan ($6.78 billion), up 77% year-on-year. It reported a net loss of 3.36 billion yuan ($519.84 million) for the second quarter.

At the end of the announcement, Meituan said that in April 2021, China's top market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) launched an investigation into the company under the Anti Monopoly Law of China. As of the date of the report, the investigation is still ongoing and the company is actively cooperating with the SAMR.

Meituan stated that the company is unable to predict the circumstances or outcome of the investigation at this stage and that the company may be required to change its business practices and/or be subject to a hefty fine.

On April 26 this year, the SAMR issued a news release saying that it had launched a probe into Meituan for alleged anticompetitive behaviors such as "two-choose-one".

Subsequently, Meituan responded that the company will actively cooperate with the regulatory investigation and further improve its business compliance management.

(US$1 = 6.4566 yuan)