36Kr - Q1 2022

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to 36Kr Holdings, Inc. first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Yang Li, IR Manager of the company. Please go ahead, Yang.

Yang Li (IR Manager)

Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and welcome to 36Kr Holdings first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. The company's financial operational results were released earlier today and have been made available online. You can also view the earnings press release by visiting the IR section of our website at ir.36kr.com. Participants on today's call will include our Co-Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng, and our Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Lin Wei. Mr. Feng will start the call by providing an overview of the company and performance highlights of the quarter in Chinese, followed by an English interpretation.

Ms. Wei will then provide details on the company's financial results before opening the call for your questions. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statement involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, the company's results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's 20-F and other public filings, as well as with the U.S. SEC.

The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required in the applicable law. Please note that 36Kr's earnings press release and this conference call include discussion of unaudited GAAP financial measures as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. 36Kr's earnings press release contains reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited GAAP measures. Please note that all amount numbers are in RMB. I will now turn the call over to our Co-Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng. Feng, please go ahead.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our fiscal year 2022 earnings conference call.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

Despite the recent resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing macro headwinds, we achieved solid top line performance in the first quarter with double digit revenue growth and a record high quarterly net income since our IPO. Notably, our advertising business and enterprise value added services both recorded robust results in year-over-year growth. As a prominent brand and a pioneering platform dedicated to serving new economy participants in China, we remain committed to establishing a high quality service system to build a flywheel of growth with diversified business offerings.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

I'd like to begin with an overview of our content initiatives. In the first quarter, we continued to upgrade our content offerings and creating new programs and formats to expand our service boundaries. For example, we launched several official content accounts during the first quarter. Kr Carbon, Waves, and Career Bonus for more coverage from the perspectives of China's dual carbon policy, investment institutions, and career development audiences respectively.

These programs quickly engaged users and have all enjoyed high popularity thus far. Our content team also explored new content formats and strengthened our collaboration with WeChat video accounts and live streaming projects. The live streaming audiences attracted by our new programs, Rising Digital, Control Digital, and CEO Tips. Going forward, we will roll out additional live streaming series focused on hot niche markets. These new video and live streaming projects fully mobilize 36Kr's content creation and editing capabilities as well as industry resources to deliver high quality content, industry updates, and expert opinions to our users. We are also meeting the content needs of more diversified user groups, which substantially broaden our user base.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

Furthermore, for our public active market content side, our Warren Buffett Shareholder Meeting Series that we jointly created with Tiger Securities also gained traction. Building on our content production capabilities, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the investment sales, target assets, and investment transactions discussed at meetings, winning acclaim among institutional users with our high-quality content and innovative formats.

After the meeting series, the Omaha Value Investment Education and Research Center reached out to 36Kr to explore future potential collaboration opportunities. Finally, alongside our efforts in short video and live streaming, we also continue to make strides in audio content during the quarter. For example, we established a collaboration with Ximalaya to showcase KR Finance's rich content in audio scenarios, which effectively elevate our user experience.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们的内容质量始终保持领先的地位，秉持PGC与UGC并重的策略，我们持续纳入更多的优质内容进入36氪生态体系。最近PV十万加及二十万加的数量持续升高。日前，我们发起的话题奥特曼卡牌引起网友热议，登上微博热搜。继实现连续十五个季度PV的增长之后，为了更好地反映36氪的内容影响力和用户覆盖度，从本季度开始，我们开始使用全网粉丝数量来代替PV，给各位投资人以更全面的视角来验证36氪在全网的表现。截至本季度，36氪全网粉丝数已达到两千四百多万，同比增长25%。

Speaker 8

Content quality is always a top priority for 36Kr as we remain committed to executing our content platform strategy with due focus on PGC and UGC. We have consistently incorporated more high-quality content into 36Kr's ecosystem. The number of content pieces on our WeChat official account with page views above 100,000 and 200,000 continuously increased during the quarter. Not only the topic, "Ultraman cards drain primary school students of pocket money" we initiated recently has sparked animated discussion online, catapulting the topic to Weibo's hot search list.

Our focus on premium engaging content is paying off, leading to a remarkable 15th consecutive quarter of page view growth. To better reflect 36Kr content influence and user coverage, starting from this quarter, we will report the total number of our followers instead of our page views. This new metric will provide investors with a more comprehensive perspective from which to assess 36Kr performance across the entire network. As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of our followers exceeded 24 million, a year-over-year increase of 25%.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

今年初，B站粉丝突破一百万以后，36氪短视频内容关注度持续走高。快手、抖音等平台的粉丝数也在迅猛增长。截至2022年第一季度，短视频全网粉丝数已接近七百万，快手粉丝数实现单日增粉十八万加。紧跟社会热点所创作的冬奥顶流冰墩墩播放量达三千万以上，荣登快手冬奥热搜榜第二的好成绩。

Speaker 8

As the number of our followers on Bilibili swelled beyond 1 million in the beginning of 2022, 36Kr short video also gained traction on other platforms such as Kuaishou and Douyin, demonstrated by the surging number of our followers. As of the end of the first quarter of 2022, our short videos have attracted nearly 7 million followers in all. Not only we gained over 180,000 new followers of our official corporate account on Kuaishou in just one day. Riding on the popularity of Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics, we created a short video which was viewed more than 30 million times, rising to number two on Kuaishou's chart of top Winter Olympics related searches.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们对品牌的持续打磨不仅体现在创新上，也体现在坚持上。我们不忘初心，始终牢记赋能新经济的使命，秉持贴近创业公司的思路，去服务更多初创企业发展壮大，是我们一直在坚持的事情。顺境时，给予鲜花掌声，逆境时，携手同行。作为产业的陪伴和赋能者，我们希望在这个特殊时期能够真正助创业者一臂之力。五月初，我们正式启动了向光而行计划，帮助扶持企业，尤其是中小企业，在逆势中保持品牌声量，促进信息、资金、人才、技术四要素的充分链接。

Speaker 8

The incremental building of premium brands requires not only innovation in content and formats, but also an unvarying commitment to our mission of empowering new economy participants to achieve more. We have consistently adhered to our philosophy of working closely with startups and helping them grow bigger and stronger. We applaud them for their progress and lend a helping hand in times of difficulty.

As a convenient company and enabler of the industry, we hope to truly assist entrepreneurs during these exceptionally challenging times. To that end, in early May, we officially launched the Seeking the Light program to help businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to maintain their brand share of voice despite the market downturn. This program again facilitated the seamless integration of information, capital, talent, and technology.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

即使在疫情的反复影响下，我们在大湾区以及海外的布局依然没有放慢脚步。华南第二总部首次实现虚拟直播服务，非现场召开产品发布会，提供新思路。布局出海赛道的36Kr Global也积极为LET'S CHUHAI CLUB会员提供高效链接服务，帮助多家出海品牌与海外政府机构、投资机构进行对接，探讨在海外市场开展业务的可能。

Speaker 8

Moving now to our ongoing business expansion efforts. Despite the recent COVID-19 resurgence, we did not slow down our expansion in the Greater Bay Area and overseas markets. We conducted a virtual live streaming session in our dual headquarters in South China for the first time during the quarter, generating new ideas for product launches against the backdrop of recurring COVID-19 outbreaks. On the international front, 36Kr Global, which specialize in overseas markets, continue to provide efficient connection services, helping various Chinese brands operating overseas network with local government agencies and investment institutions to explore business development opportunities in those markets.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

新传媒核心模式构建了全新的服务闭环，塑造多元立体化的生态体系，秉持新经济服务者不变的初心。我们始终在拓展媒体的边界，精进商业模式。接下来我想给大家介绍一下主要业务的商业化表现。

Speaker 8

New products and models have helped us build a closed-loop service framework and a diversified three-dimensional ecosystem. Staying true to our mission of empowering new economy participants to achieve more, we consistently strive to broaden our needed service boundaries and refine our business model, which are also reflected in our commercialization performance. Next, let's look at our achievements on that front.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

广告业务作为我们的现金牛业务，在第一季表现稳健，本季度实现了13%的同比增长。即使在疫情反复及宏观经济受到挑战的背景下，我们以品效合一为主流的广告收入，持续打造创新服务形式，提升优质服务满意度，达到显著高于行业平均增速。

Speaker 8

As our cash cow business, advertising business performed well in the first quarter, achieving an increase of 13% year-over-year. Even against the backdrop of COVID-19 resurgence and macroeconomic challenges, our advertising revenue, derived mainly from brand marketing, has experienced growth far above the industry average. Thanks to our relentless efforts to create innovative service formats and improve customer satisfaction levels.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

借助短视频的形式，我们的广告单笔签约金额又创新高。其中Intel继续通过短视频的形式来宣传新产品，本次签约金额继续提高。新上线原创栏目《科学品测》完成三星Z Fold的宣传，签约金额显著高于传统图文形式。除此之外，我们也帮助松下、长安汽车、丰田、比亚迪、大力教育、科大讯飞等知名公司打造品牌概念或产品推广视频。持续加入的新客户与老客户的复购，充分说明我们利用短视频形式可以更好地为C端品牌进行准确宣传，同时也进一步提升了客单价。

Speaker 8

Leveraging our short-form video format, we achieve a new high in terms of contract size for our advertising services during the quarter. Not only Intel continue to promote its new products through our short video formats, with its contract that's continuing to rise. Moreover, we launched an original program, 科学品测, to promote Galaxy Z Fold series, resulting in a contract far larger than those of the traditional text and image-based marketing solutions.

We also help various well-known companies, including Panasonic, Changan Automobile, Toyota, BYD, Dali Education and iFLYTEK, promote their brand concepts and create product launch videos. The continuous stream of new customer and repeat orders of existing customer are a testament to the effectiveness of our short video format in brand marketing, targeting key consumers, while also further raising our average revenue per customer.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们始终创新的图文形式在本季度也有不俗的表现。例如，浩汉研究所通过对年轻人消费趋势的调查，及有理有据、有趣的表现形式，获得更多年轻群体的关注。为包括钉钉、华为、海澜之家、拼多多、自如、知乎、爱奇艺等客户在内的众多客户达到了独特的宣传方式，并被广泛备受好评。在这一季度，浩汉研究所的刊例价格已经有明显提升，超过同类型公众号，相信在未来会为我们拓展更大的服务版图，并有效抬升广告收入的天花板。

Speaker 8

Our consistent innovation in text and graphics content also contributed to excellent commercialization performance. For example, our Youth attracted increased attention from young user groups with surveys on young people's consumption trends featuring well-founded reasonings and fun formats, and garnered widespread acclaim by creating unique promotion methods for customers including DingTalk, Huawei, HLA, Pinduoduo, Ziroom, Zhihu and iQIYI. Given all Youth advantages, in the first quarter, we were able to raise its record to a level considerably higher than that of similar official accounts. Going forward, we believe this program will propel the expansion of our service presence and raise our advertising revenue ceilings.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

接下来我来介绍一下我们重点的企业服务业务。企业的增值服务本季度同比增长35%。即使在疫情的影响下，我们通过策略调整以及开发新形式，企服增值服务收入依然取得了逆势增长。

Speaker 8

Turning now to our enterprise value-added services, which grew 35% year-over-year in the first quarter, despite COVID-19 impact, thanks to our strategy adjustments and new service formats.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

在企业服务上，战投客与钉钉联合主办的起伏春天论坛，深度参与论坛议程制定与内容策划。我们借助自身在起伏赛道的认知和布局，不仅帮助参会的企服平台更好地了解到行业的最新动态及未来发展机会，也助力钉钉获取更多产业链的潜在合作伙伴。

Speaker 8

On the corporate service side, 36Kr jointly hosted the Spring of Enterprise Service Forum with DingTalk and collaborated with them to plan events, agenda and content. Leveraging our knowledge of and presence in enterprise services, we not only help the participating enterprise service platforms better understand the latest industry updates and future development opportunities, but also assisted DingTalk in finding potential partners along the value chain.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

在机构合作上，战投客携手东方证券举办双碳新物种可持续创新大赛，在新能源、新材料、新技术、新模式四大赛道，共同挖掘更具潜力的创新型企业，进一步帮助企业深入理解双碳政策，把握市场需求，对接产业资本。

Speaker 8

In terms of institutional collaboration, 36Kr partnered with Orient Securities to organize the Dual Carbon New Species Sustainable Innovation Contest, aimed at discovering innovative companies with potential in four major sectors, new energy, new materials, new technology, and new business models. We hope to help companies gain a deeper understanding of the dual carbon policy by gauging market demands and connect with industrial capital.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们在国内的服务版图拓展进程在本季度也取得了好的成绩。我们与众多政府机构达成合作，比如南京建邺区政府、工信部旗下的信通院以及海外人才协会旗下的HICOOL商学院等，在元宇宙、工业互联网等创新领域进行资源整合，将产业链上游企业与政府紧密连接，促动产业升级。除此之外，我们也在持续拓展企业端的客户资源，提升客户来源多样化。截至第一季度，企业客户占比显著提升，企业客户数及执行金额同比大幅增长。未来我们将以服务区域优质创新企业为发展重点，企业客户的持续拓展也正在成为我们国内业务的新的增长点。

Speaker 8

Our regional expansion also achieved good results during the quarter. We enter into partnership with additional government agencies, including Jianye District Government in Nanjing, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the HICOOL Business School of Beijing Overseas Talents Association to integrate resources in innovative fields such as the metaverse and industrial internet, fostering close connections between local governments and enterprises in both the upstream and downstream of the industry chain to empower industry upgrade. In addition, we are also working to expand our enterprise client base as a new growth avenue.

During the first quarter, the proportion of our enterprise clients grew substantially, notably both the number of enterprise clients and the value of contract execution increased significantly year-over-year. Moving forward, we will also focus on serving high quality, innovative local enterprises who are becoming new catalysts to our regional business growth.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

针对订阅服务，我们也正在进行更多的尝试，在商学院培训系统搭建、机构互动等形式上进行了创新。这一季度，机构及企业客户贡献的收入同比增长57%，投资机构签单数量较2021年同期实现了翻倍增长，其中老客户复购占比高达70%。

Speaker 8

Moving on to our subscription services. We continue to test the waters with new variations in the subscription services, including launch innovations in business school training programs and other forms of institutional interactions. Supported by our continuous upgrade and premium service policies. In the fourth quarter, revenue from institutional and corporate clients increased 57% year-over-year. The number of contracts signed by investment institutions nearly double compare with the same period in 2021, among which the repeat orders from existing customers accounted for up to 70%.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

最后我想与大家分享一下企服点评的最新进展。从运营数据上来看，各主要指标相比去年同期都有迅猛的增长，月活数同比增长25倍，达到接近90万，环比增长49%。真实点评数量同比增长接近50倍，超过了2.1万条，环比增长27%。同时，在我们逐步搭建平台服务体系与扩大平台知名度的基础上，平台已收录近6,000款主流软件，覆盖市场上16个大行业，以及200个细分行业的主要软件，收入占比总市场规模的80%，涵盖头部、核心、腰部及市场熟知的SaaS软件。自2019年9月上线商家端功能以后，入驻商家数量已达700家，比上个季度的400家相比，增速非常明显。

Speaker 8

Lastly, I'd like to share with you the latest upgrades on our enterprise service review platform. In terms of operating data, major metrics all improved substantially year-over-year. Our monthly active users growth more than 25 times year-over-year to nearly 900,000, up 49% sequentially, and the number of authentic reviews surged almost 50 times to over 21,000, up 47% sequentially. Meanwhile, as we continue to establish our platform service system and boost its reputation, we showcase nearly 6,000 pieces of mainstream software on the platform, covering the main enterprise service software of 16 industry and 200 industry segments, accounting for 80% of the entire market.

36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform now boast complete coverage of leading brands as well as coverage of many mid-range brands and other widely known SaaS apps available in the market. Since merchants-oriented features were launched in September 2021, a total of nearly 700 merchants have set up presence on our platform compared with approximately 400 merchants a few months ago, nearly doubling our coverage of mainstream SaaS provider in just a short period of time.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

值得重点说明的是，经过我们的线上线下运营的共同发力，以及上线新功能三周客企服点评自动化报告的结果下，有效提升了平台知名度和流量。线索量自去年同期已经大幅上涨，线索转化率已经稳定达到30%以上。线索量及转化率的显著提升，是我们可以高效赋能SaaS厂商精准获客及有效降低厂商获客成本的重要衡量指标。

Speaker 8

I'd like to highlight that through the joint efforts of our online and offline events, as well as our newly launched feature, the 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform Automatic Report, we have effectively enhanced the platform's visibility and traffic. The number of leads has grown significantly compared with the same period of last year, with steady conversion rate of 30%. The significant improvement in the number of leads and their conversion rates are key indicators of our capability to efficiently empower SaaS providers to acquire customers profitably while lowering their customer acquisition costs.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

本季度，企服点评在商业化上有不错的表现。截至目前，我们已经与金蝶、北森、保利威、鸿合、EC SCRM完成签单。未来将会继续在获客与品牌管理及营销服务中为厂商赋能。

Speaker 8

In the first quarter, our enterprise service review platform performed well in terms of commercialization. Up to now, we have signed contract with Kingdee, Beisen, Polyv, HiteVision, and EC SCRM and will empower these clients in customer acquisition, brand management, and marketing services.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

At the two sessions this year, the government stressed the strategic importance of digitalization. We will continue to improve our enterprise service review platform service system to contribute to the digital transformation of more enterprises and government agencies. To be more specific, this year, we will remain focused on growing our platform influence using a set of industry evaluation standards and creating our own magic formula for China's enterprise service industry, seeking consistent breakthroughs in the areas of software product libraries, user review libraries, key person databases, and knowledge graph libraries.

Meanwhile, we are also accumulating typical collaborative cases to lay a solid foundation for commercialization and establish strategic partnership in the upstream and downstream of the industry chain. We believe that with our relentless efforts, our enterprise service review platform will have a promising future in commercialization.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

In conclusion, I'm pleased to say that despite the COVID-19 resurgence and complicated internal and external economic conditions, we still achieved solid first quarter results. Notably, our new business initiatives, 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform, continued its strong growth trajectory, with major metrics improving substantially year-over-year.

Most certainly, its commercialization success during the quarter clearly demonstrates that the enterprise service review platform is becoming 36Kr second growth engine. We will capitalize on the growth prospects in the new economy to scale new heights as we start the next chapter of our development.

Going forward, we will continue to be a torchbearer for the new economy sector for expanding our user base and cultivating our diverse content and service ecosystem, while also shouldering our corporate social responsibilities and empowering more industry participants to achieve greater success.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Ms. Lin Wei, who will discuss our key financial results. Please go ahead, Lin.

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Paul, and hello everyone. Our first quarter results kicked off the year with a solid start despite multiple headwinds, including COVID-19 resurgences and macroeconomic challenges. We achieved growth of 14% year-over-year in our total revenues and a record high quarterly net income since our IPO of RMB 33 million, marking our second consecutive quarter of profitability. Notably, not only did our advertising business maintain its strong growth trajectory with a year-over-year increase of 13%, our enterprise value-added services also recorded remarkable growth of 35% year-over-year.

In addition, thanks to our disciplined cost control measures, strengthened efforts in accounts receivable collection, as well as our strategic refocus on core business and disposal of certain lingering assets, our profitability improved significantly during the quarter. Looking ahead, we will continue to solidify our industry presence in China's new economy space, cultivating our diverse ecosystem of business communities along with our user base to empower more enterprises, while also expanding our monetization approaches to deliver sustainable growth.

Now I'd like to walk you through more details of our first quarter 2022 financial results. Total revenues were RMB 49.6 million in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 14% compared to RMB 43.5 million in the same period of last year. Online advertising services revenue increased 13% year-over-year to RMB 37.6 million in the first quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to more innovative marketing solutions we provided to our customers.

The number of advertising customer and the average revenue per advertising customer both increased in the first quarter of 2022. Enterprise value-added services revenue increased 35% to RMB 9.3 million in the first quarter of 2022 compared to RMB 6.9 million in the same period of last year. Subscription services revenue were RMB 2.7 million in the first quarter of 2022 compared to RMB 3.4 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in revenues from individual subscriptions as some of our offline training programs were canceled or delayed due to the resurgence of COVID-19.

However, on the institution side, our institutional subscription revenues increased by 57% year-over-year, mainly driven by the growth in the number of institutional subscribers. Cost of revenues was RMB 23.9 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 20.2 million in the same period of last year. This increase was generally in line with the company's revenue growth. Gross profit increased 10% year-over-year to RMB 25.7 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 23.4 million in the same period of last year. Gross profit margin was 51.8% in the first quarter of 2022, compared to 53.7% in the same period of last year.

The slight fluctuation of GP margin was because enterprise value added services accounted for a higher mix of total revenues this quarter than a year ago, while its margin was a bit lower than that of our advertising business. Operating expenses were RMB 33.4 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 64.8 million in the same period of last year. Sales and marketing expenses were RMB 29.7 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 35.7 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in payroll-related expenses and marketing expenses.

G&A expenses were a negative RMB 10 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 20.2 million in the same period of last year. The fluctuation was primarily attributable to the release of the allowance for credit losses of RMB 32.9 million, partially offset by the increase in the payroll-related expenses. The release of allowance for credit losses was mainly due to the collection of RMB 36.6 million of long aged accounts receivable during the quarter, as we continuously increase our efforts in accounts receivable collection.

Research and development expenses were RMB 13.8 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 9 million in the same period of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to the increase in payroll-related expenses as we bolstered our research and development capabilities, especially for our Enterprise Review Platform. Share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenues, sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, as well as G&A expenses totaled RMB 4.1 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 2.7 million in the same period of last year. The increase was primarily due to the grant of new share options.

Other income was RMB 40.3 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to RMB 1 million in the same period of last year. As we previously announced through our 6-K filing, in March 2022, the company, as one of the investors in the Round B financing of Hangzhou Jialin Information Technology Co., Ltd., acquired its 7.3% equity interest backed by transferring the 100% equity interest the company held in Beijing Dianqier Creative Interactive Media Culture Co., Ltd. to Hangzhou Jialin, which is a fresh produce supply chain solution provider in China.

The subscription price is the same for the company and other independent investors in this financing round. The fair value of equity interest the company acquired is RMB 40 million. The company recognized approximately RMB 38 million of gain arising from such investment and disposal in the first quarter of 2022. Net income was RMB 32.6 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to net loss of RMB 40.5 million in the same period of last year. Non-GAAP adjusted net income was RMB 36.7 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to net loss of RMB 37.8 million in the same period of last year.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to 36Kr Holdings ordinary shareholders was RMB 33 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared to net loss of RMB 39.5 million in the same period of last year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS were both RMB 0.8 in the first quarter of 2022, compared to basic and diluted net loss per ADS of RMB 0.9 in the same period of last year. As of March 31st, 2022, the company had cash equivalents and short-term investments of RMB 171.1 million, compared to RMB 216.1 million as of December 31st, 2021.

This was mainly attributable to payment of year-end employee bonuses and benefits, as well as small-sized long-term investments were made in several new economy start-up companies during the first quarter of 2022. This concludes all of our prepared remarks today. We will now open the call for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question at this time, you will need to press the star then the one key on your touchtone telephone. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, if you wish to ask your question to management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question coming from the line of Jing Chen from CICC. Your line is open.

Jing Chen (Equity Research Analyst)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

Congratulations on the first quarter financial performance. I have two questions. The first is how is the impact of COVID-19 on the company's business in the second quarter? Are there any corresponding adjustments to mitigate the negative impact? My second question is cost and expense control has become a key trend this year and the company's net profit is also increasing. Can you provide some guidance in terms of cost reduction in the year? How should we look ahead to the profitability of the company? Thank you.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

好，应该说我们从三月份开始能感觉到这个市场的变化，然后从四月份的上海疫情开始，到五月份的北京严格的疫情管控，应该说对整个的Q1的收尾和Q2的整个业绩是有一定的影响的，然后主要体现在企业增值服务方面，特别是线下活动的交互是比较困难的，然后所以我们看到一些项目出现了暂停或者延后。在广告方面，影响也是存在的。由于疫情的管控，宏观经济面临挑战，所以我们的客户的广告投放意愿也会受到一定的收缩。

Speaker 8

We have seen this change since March in this year and from April, when the pandemic started in Shanghai to May, when Beijing also implemented strict control measures. COVID-19 has impacted us in both Q1 and second quarter. The delivery of our enterprise value-added services, especially offline activities, was impacted, resulting in project suspensions or delays. It also affected our advertising business. Pandemic-related control measures pose challenges to the macro economy, reducing customer willingness to pay for advertisements.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

但我们一直以来都是以积极的心态来应对。对于线下交付困难的情况，我们会为客户提供可选的其他方案，比如说线下服务改成线上服务，以及通过视频直播等形式来进行业务。同时对于广告业务，我们针对疫情期间客户面临的困难局面，推出了暖冬计划，提供优惠的价格，希望和大家共度时艰。

Speaker 8

We have maintained a positive attitude towards addressing these challenges. In case their offline delivery was impossible, we provided other options such as online solutions like live streaming and short video. In addition, for advertisement business, we launched the Warm Winter Initiative to provide favorable price for customers in need to help them over during this pandemic period.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

接下来我们可以看到上海和北京的陆续解封，我相信我们的业务会逐渐地回到正轨，确保各项业务的顺利开展和交付。我们对于下半年和整个业务大盘是抱有积极的期望的。在广告方面，我们希望能够延续一直以来的向上的势头，持续在广告形式、客单价以及客户数方面有所突破。在企服点评平台作为我们企业增值服务的一个重要环节，我们希望它的商业化能在今年取得一个比较大的突破，以及重新打磨的订阅类产品，比如我们的商学院，我们希望在下半年会逐渐地逐步地上线，为公司的业务注入新的活力。

Speaker 8

As the lockdowns in Shanghai and Beijing gradually lift, we believe our business will slowly return to normal and we will take steps to ensure a smooth business operation and delivery. We have great and positive expectations for the second half of the year. For the advertising business, we hope to continue the upward momentum and make breakthroughs in the form of our advertising output and the number of customers. As an important component of enterprise value-added services, we hope our Enterprise Service Review Platform to make a big breakthrough in its commercialization this year. Repolished subscription products such as business school will also be gradually launched in the second half of the year, injecting new vitality into the company's business.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

第二个问题是关于降本增效以及后续的盈利能力。我们注意到在2022年以来，各大公司人员优化的新闻不绝于耳，但是目前36氪还没有裁员的计划，我们的降本增效更多的是集中在对业务成本端的严格把控，这种把控在第一季度财报中也是有所体现的。比如在收入两位数增长的前提下，我们的毛利率基本保持在平稳水平，我们的营销费用等开支在同比下降，同时对一些过往年度的应收账款进行了回收等，从而实现了第一季度三千多万的净利润。

Speaker 8

Since the beginning of 2022, there has been a stream of news about employee optimizations in other companies. So far, 36Kr does not have any plans to cut headcount. Our cost reductions and efficiency enhancements focus more on the strict control of business costs, which are already reflected in the first few financial statements. For example, while maintaining double-digit revenue growth, we have achieved a steady gross profit margin benefiting from the year-over-year decline in sales and marketing expenses and improved accounts receivable collections, contributing to over RMB 330 million of net income in Q1.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们的判断是36Kr本身在业务基本面是向好的，疫情好转，业务恢复正常，我们会努力增长收入，提高业务运营效率。我们认为好的业绩以及严格的成本费用把控是我们认为正确的降本增效之路。

Speaker 8

We think 36Kr's business fundamentals remain positive. As the pandemic eases, our business will return to normal. We will work hard to increase revenue and improve operating efficiency. From our perspective, good performance and less strict cost and expense control are the right ways to cost reductions and efficiency improvements.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

关于盈利方面，因为我们在上Q预计过2022年整体的盈利，目前来看，我们已经实现了盈利。Q2受到疫情的影响，我们持审慎的态度，但我们预计在上半年总体实现盈利是可以预期的。到下半年，基于看好中国宏观经济的恢复，同时我们会迎来Q3、Q4的业务旺季，下半年盈利我们也持审慎乐观的态度。总体上来说，我们认为在疫情不出现大规模反复及政策持续的情况下，我们对全年盈利持审慎乐观的态度。

Speaker 8

Regarding profitability, we talked about the full year profitability in last quarter and we keep profitability in this quarter given the impact of COVID-19. The second quarter, we are cautious but still anticipate the overall profitability in the first half of the year. Looking to the second half of the year, we are positive about the recovery of China's macroeconomic and this growth driving our business. Meanwhile, as the third quarter and fourth quarter is the big season for us, profitability in the second half of the year should also be achieved. In general, as long as the pandemic does not recur on a large scale, we maintain our outlook on full year profitability cautiously optimistic.

Yang Li (IR Manager)

Okay, so do you have any other questions?

Operator (participant)

Our next question coming from the line Peipei Qiu of Industrial Securities. Your line is open.

Peipei Qui (Analyst)

管理层好，可以听到我的声音吗？

Yang Li (IR Manager)

可以，佩佩。

Peipei Qui (Analyst)

丹老师好，魏总好，恭喜一季度还是非常不错的一个业绩。我这边的话，主要想问一下企服点评相关的问题，就是企服点评我们一直也是说是我们的第二增长曲线嘛，可能未来。那今年在疫情影响下，可能整体的宏观的经济环境是比较弱的，那我们怎么考虑我们这个商业化的一个节奏。I will translate my question. Given the difficult macroeconomic environment, how do you consider the commercialization pace of your Enterprise Service Review? The 点评 business. Thank you.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

谢谢佩佩。事实上我们在内部分析中，我们认为，随着疫情的出现，线上SaaS厂商的获客将变得更加困难，所以我们认为，企服点评是从疫情中会受益的一个板块。然后我们对企服点评的平台的KPI，更多的还是集中在目前的平台建设和产品打造方面。我们的KPI目前更多的还是对运营指标的考量，比如说平台的正式点评数量、月活以及产品入驻数量、商家入驻数量。那我们在这里再说一下相关的运营数据。截止到2022年的三月底，企服点评平台的日活较去年增长二十五倍至九十万，累计点评数同比增长超过五十倍，超过二点一万。平台已经收录近六千款主流软件，我们平台的线索量已经比去年同期大幅上涨，线索转化率能够达到30%以上。我想这些指标在接下来会得到继续的优化。

Speaker 8

Thank you, Peipei. In the sense of the pandemic, we think the SaaS provider will have more difficulty in acquiring the customer from offline. The 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform will benefit from this situation. Our KPIs for the enterprise service review platform are still focused on developing the platform and refining our products, primarily covering operating metrics such as the number of authentic reviews, MAUs, as well as product functions on the platform. I'd like to share with you some operating data.

At the end of March 2022, DAUs on our enterprise service review platform rose 25 times year-over-year to 900,000, and the number of reviews surged almost 50 times to over 21,000. Up to now, our Enterprise Service Review Platform has showcased nearly 6,000 pieces of mainstream software on the platform. The number of leads on our Enterprise Service Review Platform has increased dramatically on a year-over-year basis. With a steady conversion rate of over 63%, these metrics will continue to improve.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

正如我们在上一次的财报中预测的，我们会在今年开始企服点评和突破的商业化。我们的商业化主要会集中在销售线索、产品宣传以及研报等三个方向。在Q一的时候，我们已经逐步开始了商业化的试水动作，从平台宣传、线索类的产品都开始同步展开，目前已经取得了一定的效果。我们已经与多家企业达成了服务协议，其中包括金蝶、萌和、EC SCRM、北森等著名公司，我们已经完成了签单，未来将会在获客与品牌管理及营销服务中持续提供服务。

Speaker 8

Last quarter we said we will start our commercialization this quarter, and our Enterprise Service Review Platform commercialization will focus on generating sales leads, product promotion, and research reports. This year we launched our commercialization plan featuring simultaneous brand marketing and lead-related products. We already see some results. We have reached service agreements with several enterprises, including signing contracts with Kingdee, Ximalaya, EC SCRM, and Beisen. We will continue to provide them with service regarding customer acquisition, brand management and marketing services.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

我们相信，随着产品打造的日益完善，商业化探索的顺利展开，企服点评平台对三亚旅游以及当地企业的推动作用也会日渐显著。

Speaker 8

We believe as we refine our product and advance commercialization smoothly, the 36Kr enterprise service review platform role in boosting 36Kr's overall fundamentals will be more significant, and it will become the second growth of the company, and we want that to become as early as possible and materially change the market perception of 36Kr evaluation logic. Maybe in the future quarters, the portion from 36Kr enterprise service review platform revenue and will be increased significantly.

Peipei Qui (Analyst)

Okay, thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question coming from the line of Lingyi Zhao with SWS Research. Your line is open.

Lingyi Zhao (Equity Research Analyst)

[Foreign language].

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Lingyi, for your questions. This is Lin. I will answer your first question regarding the pandemic impact on the business and outlook for this year's profitability. Mr. Feng will answer the other two questions for you. Yes, just as Mr. Feng just mentioned, the COVID-19 and the macro challenges did have some impact on our, you know, later Q1 and first half of Q2's business. Especially, you know, on some of our enterprise value-added services, there are some offline events involved, where we could see some impact. However, we have taken several measures to mitigate that impact.

For example, we hold online plus offline forums, and we utilize the online, you know, live streaming forum, as well as the short video format to host the forums and the conference for our customers. That's for our enterprise value-added services. Actually, that revenue segment grew 35% year-over-year in Q1, even, you know, outgrew the total revenue. That's a very significant growth during Q1. Regarding the advertising business, obviously, that's a major component of our total revenue. That again also increased 13% year-over-year.

If you look at the industry average, if you look at those companies who already reported their Q1 results, and if you look into their online advertising, I would say it's easy to say that most of them have booked a negative year-on-year growth. Well, we have a double-digit year-on-year growth. I think that's thanks to our specific 36Kr's content strengths and brand image that the SMEs as well as big companies, the Fortune 500 companies, all comes to us to pursue brand image as well as performance-based ads. With that said, our advertising business is less reliant on the macroeconomy and more resilient to the cycles.

That's why we think, you know, we have a very good result in Q1. Looking into Q2 and the rest of the year, first of all, with the pandemic, the control is lifted, our offline events, our enterprise value-added services will come back. With the macroeconomy gradually recover, the advertising spending will also come back. We have a lot of, you know, initiatives, for example, the adjustment to a rate card and some, you know, more innovative marketing solutions especially our short form video is picking up very quickly.

That gives us confidence that in the second half or in the remainder of the year, we can catch up what's left in the first half, especially in Q2. We are still, as Mr. Feng mentioned, we are still very cautiously optimistic about the full year, and we would re-maintain our, you know, forecast for the full year basis profitability. Hope that answers the question, Lingyi.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

好的，然后关于这个如何来保证这个广告的韧性，我想首先还是要继续打造我们的内容的影响力。我们依然认为内容的影响力和内容的质量是我们能够取得广告收入的本质的原因，那我们会在持续内容，在内容打造、渠道建设等方面进行建设，来保持三十六氪内容的高质量的水平，从而加强平台的影响力。

Speaker 8

For the resilience of the online advertising services, we think maintaining our influence and maintaining the quality is the most important thing for 36Kr. We will continue to enrich content offerings and consistently provide high-quality content. We will continue to diversify our distribution channels so as to strengthen the influence of 36Kr.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

其次就是我们要提高我们的产品的交付质量，然后提升我们广告的效果。从图文到短视频再到直播，我们会在不断的现有基础上不断去优化，为客户提供更多的选择方案，加强客户对36Kr品牌的粘性。

Speaker 8

Next, to improve product delivery, quality and advertising effect, we will continue to optimize our product and provide customers with more options from text, images to short form video and live streaming. This strategy will strengthen customers' stickiness to 36Kr.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

最后作为一个阶段性的举措，我们会针对疫情期间客户投放意愿的变化，会推出一个暖冬计划，然后提供优惠的广告价格。在疫情之后，我们会随着需求的变化而灵活调整定价策略。

Speaker 8

For this period measure, we launched the Warm Winter Initiative to provide variable pricing for customers in difficulty to help tide them over during the pandemic period. When the COVID-19 is under control, we will adjust our pricing strategy flexibly according to the demand.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

对，第三个问题是关于如何来培养这个企服平台的品牌和用户心智。那我想首先重要的还是我们的内容的能力。我们有一个独特的知识图谱的功能，我们希望能够去达到整个行业中比较领先的标准化的服务体系，打造出属于中国人的魔力四象限，其中包括软件产品库、用户点评库、关键人数据库以及知识图谱。我们希望这四个点能进行持续突破，然后将36氪企服点评平台打造成为中国最大、最权威和最便捷的企服软件选型平台。

Speaker 8

We think the content ability is our advantage for 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform. For user to expansion, we will remain focused on growing our platform influence, building a set of industry evaluation standards, and creating our own Magic Quadrant for China's enterprise service industry. Seeking consistent breakthroughs in the areas of software product libraries, user review libraries, key person databases, and knowledge graph libraries to build 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform become China's largest, most authoritative, and most convenient enterprise service software selection platform.

Dagang Feng (Co-Chairman and CEO)

说到这个企服点评平台的商业化进度，正如我们上个季度曾经分析过的，虽然今年还会是以运营数据的优化为我们的首要任务，但我们也会开始尝试我们的商业化的试水行为。那在整个Q1，我们已经签约了一些，比如包括金蝶、红核，包括北森之类的一些知名的公司成为我们的客户。我们对Q1的商业化进度是乐观的，我们也会在接下来的几个季度中继续去尝试我们的商业化，并进一步增强我们的商业化的规模。

Speaker 8

For the commercialization process, as we said in last quarter, we will start the commercialization this quarter, but we still will improve our operating data and efficiencies. For the commercialization part, we will still be positive. We have already cooperated with Beisen, Kingdee, and some famous brands. In the future, we think this will become the second growth engine for the company and will have much more potential in regard to the commercialization. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question coming from the line of Jing Tang with DH Capital. Your line is open.

Jing Tang (Equity Research Analyst)

我的问题是想追问一下广告业务，可以听到吗现在？ 啊，可以听到。 好的。就是前面大家也提到中国整体，今年第二季度都受到了疫情和宏观环境的影响，但是公司的广告业务仍然在一季度实现了同比较大的增长，主要是比行业的平均水平是要好的。我的问题就是可以请管理层具体地分享一下广告业务比行业要好的具体驱动因素吗？然后我自己翻译一下。

Speaker 8

Good evening, management. Congratulations on the strong results and thanks very much for taking my question. My question is regarding advertising business. As mentioned, along with the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 in China in the first and second quarter and weak macro environment recently, we still achieve a strong growth year-over-year in advertising business that outpaces other industry. Can management share what the driver for this performance? Thank you.

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Tang, for your question. This is Lin. I will answer your question. Yes, our advertising performed quite well in Q1. I think it's mostly driven by both the number of advertising customers as well as the ARPU. Our number of advertising customers increased 2% compared to the same period of last year, while our ARPU increased 11% compared to the same period of last year. Talking about the advertising ARPU, I think there are several factors. First of all, you know, at every beginning of the year, we will adjust our rate card based on the supply and demand because our resources, our advertising inventory is really very highly sought after, so we, you know, adjusted upward our rate card. That's number one.

Number two is, we have, you know, launched several initiatives including our short-form video content as well as a lot of content columns that are specifically targeting at CN users. For example, you know, the OUs in Chinese, the Qifu Dianping, Hao Han and Kexue Pin Ce, Chaoren Ke Ping. Those columns are really expanding the customer base as well as increasing the contract size, which translate into the higher ARPU for us. That's number one from the, you know, technical point, the number-wise, how we calculate the increase of our advertising revenue.

Secondly, in terms of, you know, qualitative analysis, our advertising is mostly brand advertising, thus it's less vulnerable to economic cycles because, you know, you know, either in up times and down times, companies always need to build their brand image. That's why our, you know, brand advertising is less reliant on macroeconomy and more resilient to the cycles. That's number two. I think, given that side, our advertising is a major component, but remember that the 36Kr Enterprise Review Platform is picking up as well. That commercialization of that product will be much more performance-based, which is a very good and perfect supplemental, you know, flavor to add into our overall products, offerings.

Because 36Kr's Enterprise Review Platform, that commercialization will be based on sales leads, that's mostly performance-based, as well as some, you know, research reports and some, you know, marketing resources. That's a very good combination in the future. I think that's a good balance between brand and a performance-based business that's very good for the future growth for the company. Hope this answers your question, Tang.

Jing Tang (Equity Research Analyst)

[Foreign language].

Speaker 8

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.

Yang Li (IR Manager)

Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact 36Kr's investor relations through the contact information provided on our website, ir.36kr.com. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes this conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.