(Yicai) Aug. 29 -- Shares in Meituan soared over 10 percent today after the Chinese on-demand services giant reported an almost two-and-a-half-fold jump in net profit in the second quarter thanks to the roll out of more affordable options in its takeout and other services.

Meituan’s share price [HKG: 3690] surged 12 percent to trade at HKD115.10 (USD14.76) as of 2.30 p.m. China time. The stock has gained 40 percent in value so far this year.

Meituan’s net profit skyrocketed 142 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier to CNY11.4 billion (USD1.6 billion), while revenue jumped 21 percent to CNY82.3 billion (USD11.6 billion), according to the financial report released by the Beijing-based firm yesterday.

Meituan’s profit from its core local businesses, which include food delivery, its Instashopping service that helps small retailers digitize as well as hotel and travel bookings, surged 37 percent over the period to CNY15.2 billion (USD2.1 billion) while revenue soared 18.5 percent to CNY60.7 billion (USD8.5 billion), the report said.

The strong performance was spurred by the company’s budget offerings, such as its group buying meal function Pin Hao Fan, which lowers the price of meals through bulk buys and which was clocking up to 8 million orders a day in the second quarter.

The Pin Hao Fan model meets the needs of price-sensitive consumers, Wang Xing, Meituan’s founder, chairman and chief executive officer, said at the earnings call. Meituan continues to find creative solutions to meet changing consumer trends that are bringing challenges to all industries.

Meituan is also actively exploring a Branded Satellite Stores model, which are takeout-only restaurants that it runs with catering partners. As of the end of June, Meituan had opened 800 such stores with 120 brands, including hotpot chains Haidilao and Xiabuxiabu.

Revenue from Meituan’s new initiatives division, which includes group-buying unit Meituan Select and supermarket chain Little Elephant Supermarket, rose 29 percent to CNY21.6 billion (USD3 billion), and losses narrowed 75 percent to CNY1.3 billion (USD182.8 million).

Meituan announced a new share buyback program yesterday, saying that it will repurchase up to USD1 billion of shares in the open market when appropriate.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor