PDD - Q3 2022

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to PDD's third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in the listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. At which time, if you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star one on your telephone. I must advise you that this conference call is being recorded today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Mr. Cheng Peng. Sir, please go ahead.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Cheng, and I will help host the earnings call. PDD earnings release was distributed earlier and is available on our website at investor.pddholdings.com, as well as through GlobeNewswire services. Before we begin, I would like to refer you to our safe harbor statement in earnings press release, which applies to this call, as we will make certain forward-looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures. Joining us today on the call are Lei Chen, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jun Liu, our VP of Finance. Lei will make some general remarks on our performance for the past quarter and our strategic focus.

Jun will take us through our financial results for the third quarter ended September 30th, 2022. During the Q&A session, Lei will answer questions in Chinese. I will help translate. Please kindly note that all translations provided are for reference purpose only. In case of any discrepancy between the original remarks and the translated version, statements in the original language should prevail. It is my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lei Chen. Lei, please go ahead.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Cheng. Hello, everyone. Thank you all for joining our Q3 2022 earnings call. Let me start by giving a brief overview of our third quarter results. Our total revenue for this quarter was RMB 35.5 billion. This represents a year-over-year increase of 65%. Over the past quarter, we worked closely with our merchant partners to serve our customers. We continue to provide our users with an enjoyable and affordable shopping experience to meet their growing demand for high quality and valuable money product. During the past few months, many product categories such as agriculture, consumer electronics, beauty and cosmetics, they all enjoyed positive consumer feedback. Many brands joined Pinduoduo and extended our consumers their best deals. We are happy to keep creating value for our consumers.

Meanwhile, we still have many areas to improve, and the current industry competition remains intent. We need to continue to deepen our value creation, increase our R&D investment to help further improve the supply chains efficiency, support upgrade of the price side, and facilitate agricultural digital inclusion. We celebrated our seventh anniversary last month, and we are extremely grateful for the support and trust from our consumers, merchants, farmers, and society. We will continue to uphold our core values of putting people first, benefiting all, and being more open, so that we can create lasting value for all the stakeholders. Technology is at the heart of our value creation. From the very beginning, we committed to introducing technology to improve the efficiency of supply chain and create value for all the parties through digitalization.

In the past year or so, we increased our investment in technology and focused on driving innovation through research and development. We have built a young, energetic, innovative team with strong technology background, and we are encouraged to see that our investment in technology is creating positive impacts to society. In agriculture, we keep promoting our holistic approach to digitalize the agricultural sector so that more and more people can benefit from advances in science and technology. Our approach in agriculture is a holistic way of creating inclusive growth. By leveraging the resources of Pinduoduo, we hope that more farmers will adopt agricultural technology to improve their productivity and put their farming practices in a more sustainable footing. The Harvest Festival last quarter is a good example of this approach.

In September, Pinduoduo launched a dedicated Harvest Pavilion on the platform to support annual Harvest Festival as its exclusive e-commerce platform partner. Lasting three months, the Harvest Pavilion features over 500,000 types of agricultural products across the country. We widen the market for farmers by bringing them into digital economy. The millions of consumers also make it more feasible to implement agricultural technology. Farmers are more willing to plant improve crops if they have confidence that consumers will buy them. During the Harvest Festival, we worked with CCTV and several professors from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the China Agricultural University to promote agricultural technology. For example, we introduced a new variety of sweet potatoes that are less prone to disease, developed by research institutes.

The Pinduoduo platform helped this new sweet potato to reach more consumers nationally, and this crop is now grown in many parts of China and is available year-round. Its success has helped many farmers to prosper. This is a good example of how market demand can bring more science out of the lab and into the field. We are committed to using the Pinduoduo platform for consumers to discover new agricultural treasures so that they can enjoy healthier and more nutritious food. In the Harvest Festival, we also showcase a series of new and improved wheat varieties cultivated by China Agricultural University with the support of our 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative. These wheat varieties have higher yield, higher quality, and are more resistant to disease. In addition, we continue to support various events to promote the adoption of agricultural technology.

Our flagship Smart Agriculture Competition is currently underway in Shanghai, this is an annual precision farming contest aimed at encouraging researchers to develop practical technologies. We are partnering with China Agricultural University and Zhejiang University for this competition, with technical support from FAO China and the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The theme of the competition this year is vertical farming. Participating teams will compete to produce lettuce in shipping containers using lighting, crop modeling, and algorithms to control input variables. Several participating teams from the first two editions have already implemented their technology in a working farm, as well as on large-scale pilots to scale the solution. We hope that this initiative can inspire more young researchers, bring more research findings to the market, and support the development of smart agriculture.

In the same way we are improving agricultural digitalization, we are helping to upgrade real economy enterprises and the manufacturers by connecting them directly with the end consumers. Our pioneering team purchase model can quickly and directly connect demand and supply through gathering consumer demand. We have leveraged digital econ technology to shorten the product development cycle and help manufacturers create products that closely match market needs. This can help manufacturers to build their brand. In the past seven years, we have helped incubate nearly 1,000 manufacturing brands through technology. Since the beginning of this year, we have launched several activities to support the manufacturing industry.

For example, this year, we launched the New Craftsman campaign to help local craftsmen and their manufacturers find a bigger market for their products through e-commerce. We have allocated dedicated resources to support high quality local products and help small enterprises upgrade their branding. The New Craftsman program is now in many regions across the country, helping local manufacturers to build their brand. We hope to use the Pinduoduo platform to help more of these undiscovered manufacturers reach more potential buyers. The increased demand and exposure also benefit the local communities through more income and more job opportunities. As we enter our eighth year of operation, we remain passionate and excited about the future. We are a young company with a team full of drive and energy, and we will constantly explore areas to create positive value through technology. With that, Jun will take us through the financials.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Thank you, Lei. Hello, everyone. I will go through our performance in the quarter ended September 30th, 2022. In terms of P&L, our total revenues in the quarter were RMB 35.5 billion, up 65.1% from RMB 21.5 billion in the same quarter of 2021. This was mainly driven by an increase in revenues from online marketing services and transaction services. Revenues from online marketing services and others were RMB 28.4 billion this quarter, up 58.4% compared with the same period of 2021. This was primarily due to an increase in merchant activities in Q3. Our transaction services revenue this quarter were RMB 7 billion, up 102% versus the same period of 2021. Moving on to costs and expenses.

Our total cost of revenues increased 13% from RMB 6.6 billion in Q3 2021 to RMB 7.4 billion this quarter. Total operating expenses this quarter were RMB 17.6 billion versus RMB 12.8 billion in the same quarter of 2021. Our investment in certain projects, including a few agriculture-related projects, was affected in Q3. Our total operating expenses as a percentage of our total revenues have declined from 59.6% in Q3 2021 to 49.7% in this quarter. Looking into specific expense items, our non-GAAP sales in the marketing expenses this quarter were RMB 13.4 billion, up 39% versus the same quarter of 2021.

On a non-GAAP basis, our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our revenue this quarter was 37.9% compared with 44.9% for the same quarter in 2021. Our non-GAAP general and administrative expenses were RMB 226.3 million, versus RMB 178.1 million in the same quarter of 2021. Our non-GAAP research and development expenses were RMB 2.1 billion, an increase of 15% from RMB 1.9 billion in the same quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily due to an increase in headcount and the recruitment of more experienced R&D personnel. We're committed to growing our R&D capabilities. We step up our spending to drive innovation on our platform so as to better meet evolving consumer needs and lay the foundation for sustainable growth.

In area of agriculture, where we continue to deepen our investment in agri tech and promote its adoption. Technology is also key to increasing supply chain efficiency and helping facilitate the development of manufacturing industry. Operating profit for the quarter was RMB 10.4 billion on a GAAP basis, compared with operating profit of RMB 2.1 billion in the same quarter of 2021. Non-GAAP operating profit was RMB 12.3 billion, versus RMB 3.3 billion in the same quarter of 2021. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 10.6 billion, compared with RMB 1.6 billion in the same quarter of 2021.

Basic earnings per ADS was RMB 8.38, and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 7.34. Was just basic earnings per ADS of RMB 1.31 and diluted earnings per ADS of RMB 1.15 in the same quarter of 2021. Non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 12.4 billion, compared with RMB 3.1 billion in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 8.62 versus RMB 2.18 in the same quarter of 2021. In summary, we think the current level of profitability in Q3 is temporary and unlikely to maintain. On the one hand, the reinvestment in certain projects were factored in the last quarter. On the other hand, we continue to see good user engagement which contributed to revenue growth.

This shows that our financial and business cycles are not always in sync. We plan to increase our investment to further drive innovations on our platform and strengthen our core capabilities. As such, we think it's unlikely that the profit level of the past quarter can be maintained. That completes the profit and loss statement for the third quarter 2022. Allow me move on to cash flow. Our net cash flow generated from operating activities was RMB 11.7 billion, compared with RMB 8.7 billion in the same quarter of 2021, primarily due to the increase in net income and changes in working capital. As of September 30th, 2022, the company had RMB 137.8 billion in cash equivalents and short-term investments. Thank you. This concludes my prepared remarks.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Jun. We will move on to the Q&A session. For today's Q&A session, Lei and Jun will take questions from analysts on the line. We could take a maximum of two questions per analyst. Lei will answer questions in Chinese, and I will help translate Lei's remarks for ease of reference. Operator, we may now take questions on the line.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press pound or hash key. Participants are requested to restrict two questions at each time. The first question comes from the line of Joyce Ju from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Joyce Ju (VP)

Thanks management for taking my question. I have two questions. My first question is, your online marketing services revenue this quarter delivered a faster growth rate than last quarter. What is the reason for this reaccelerated growth in the third quarter? How should we understand the growth rate momentum in the future? The second question is, could management share the latest updates on your international initiative? Could you share your views or any takeaways at this stage? Does the current level of development meet the management's original expectations?

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Uh. [Foreign language].

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Joyce, let me take your two questions. With regards to your first question on growth. During the third quarter, we worked closely with our merchants to create value for our consumers. We keep bringing our consumers more savings, more fun shopping experience in the Pinduoduo platform. We adopted different methods, including coupons and also promotional events, to better serve our consumers.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

与 此 同 时 呢, 我 们 也 看 到 了, 就 是 在 Pinduoduo 平 台 上 呢, 消 费 者 对 于 品 质 好 货 的 需 求 日 趋 旺 盛, 也 需 要 我 们 去 积 极 地 满 足 他 们 的 需 求. 今 年 以 来 呢, 和 我 们 合 作 的 品 牌 越 来 越 多, 这 为 消 费 者 呢, 提 供 了 更 多 的 选 择. 包 括 在 农 产 品, 3C, 家 电, 美 妆 等 多 个 品 类 中 呢, 我 们 都 得 到 了 不 错 的 消 费 者 的 反 馈. 在 这 里 呢, 我 们 也 很 感 激 消 费 者 对 于 我 们 一 直 的 信 任.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

At the same time, we saw that our consumers' demand for high quality products are growing. We actively make effort to satisfy their demand. This year, more and more brands have started to cooperate with us. They provide more choices for our consumers. Categories such as agricultural produce, electronics, home appliances, as well as cosmetics. These categories have received positive consumer feedbacks. We are grateful toward the trust our consumers placing us.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

也 该 看 到 ， 行 业 内 的 竞 争 呢 ， 仍 然 非 常 的 激 烈 。 消 费 者 的 需 求 ， 越 来 越 的 多 元 化 。 这 就 意 味 着 呢 ， 我 们 自 身 还 有 很 多 需 要 提 升 的 地 方 。 短 期 的 投 资 被 动 减 少 ， 其 实 呢 ， 并 不 利 于 我 们 长 期 的 业 务 竞 争 力 的 发 展 。 我 们 会 接 下 来 会 继 续 加 大 投 入 ， 通 过 更 好 地 理 解 和 服 务 消 费 者 需 求 ， 持 续 地 扎 根 实 业 ， 通 过 对 农 业 实 体 ， 对 制 造 产 业 不 同 环 节 呢 ， 进 行 这 个 科 技 投 入 ， 踏 实 地 做 好 价 值 创 造 。 这 个 我 觉 得 才 是 这 个 平 台 长 期 高 质 量 发 展 的 支 撑 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

In the meanwhile, we should see that, industry competition is, still intense.

Consumer preferences and demand become more and more diversified. We still have many areas to improve. The impact of our overall investment activity, in fact, is not beneficial to our long-term competitiveness. In the future, we will continue to step up our investments, and we will invest to better understand our consumers' needs and serve them better. We will also need to continue to immerse ourselves deeply in the real economy and invest in technology R&D to help improve the efficiency of the agriculture as well as the manufacturing sectors. These would support our high quality development over the long run.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

有 关 于 就 是 你 的 第 二 个 问 题 ， 我 们 在 今 年 Q2 的 业 绩 会 上 呢 ， 当 时 提 到 正 在 筹 划 这 个 国 际 业 务 。 相 信 很 多 人 也 关 注 到 了 ， 我 们 是 今 年 的 9 月 份 推 出 了 自 己 的 国 际 电 商 平 台 。 目 前 呢 ， 这 项 业 务 呢 ， 已 经 进 行 了 几 个 月 的 时 间 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

As for your second question, for our international business, in our last quarter's earnings conference call, we share with you the international business that we are working on. I believe that many of you may have noticed that we rolled out our international marketplace in September. It has just been a few months since we are started this business.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

国际 业务 对于 我们 整个 团队 来说, 那 么 是 一 种 新 的 探索. 我们 还是 需要 从 消费者 的 需求 出发, 那 么, 尽量 地 发挥 我们 之前 所 积累 的 在 运营 以及 供应 链 方面 的 经验, 那 么, 希望 能够 努力 创造 出 一 种 独特 的 价值.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

For our team, the international business is a new area to explore. We will start from the fundamental needs of consumers and apply the operation and supply chain know-how and experiences that we have gained over the years and strive to create our own unique value.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

同 时 ， 我 们 会 充 分 地 尊 重 不 同 市 场 之 间 的 这 种 多 样 性 。 我 们 也 理 解 ， 这 项 业 务 需 要 不 断 地 尝 试 ， 过 程 会 充 满 着 挑 战 。 我 们 会 保 持 耐 心 ， 与 消 费 者 和 我 们 的 合 作 伙 伴 一 起 为 消 费 者 创 造 出 长 期 的 价 值 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Also we are fully respect that there are many differences across different markets. We also understand the need to constantly experiment. We expect that the process will be full of challenges. We will be patient and work together with our partners to create the long term value for our consumers.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

那 目 前 呢 ， 这 项 业 务 呢 ， 还 是 处 在 初 期 的 摸 索 的 阶 段 。 那 么 我 们 所 提 供 的 服 务 存 在 的 很 多 可 以 继 续 进 行 优 化 的 地 方 ， 然 后 会 呢 ， 我 们 会 不 断 地 学 习 ， 提 升 自 己 ， 这 个 过 程 呢 ， 可 能 是 需 要 时 间 的 ， 但 是 呢 ， 从 中 积 累 的 经 验 呢 ， 对 于 公 司 和 团 队 都 是 会 非 常 具 有 意 义 。 谢 谢 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Currently we are still in the early stage of exploration. We have many areas to improve in terms of the services that we provide. We need to learn and also optimize the process itself will take time. I'm pretty certain that the experience that we gain along the way will be very valuable for our company and also for our team. Thank you. Operator, we are ready to move on to the next question.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Thomas Chong from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Thomas Chong (Regional Head of Internet and Media)

晚 上 好 ， 谢 谢 管 理 层 接 受 我 的 提 问 。 我 的 第 一 个 问 题 是 关 于 我 们 第 三 季 度 收 入 增 长 的 驱 动 力 ， 如 果 把 收 入 拆 分 成 GMV 还 有 take rate， 我 们 在 这 两 个 指 标 的 趋 势 情 况 请 问 可 以 分 享 一 下 吗 ？ 另 外 的 话 ， 公 司 对 于 商 家 在 take rate 政 策 等 方 面 呢 ， 有 没 有 发 生 变 化 ？

Speaker 8

Thanks management for taking my question. My first question is related to the main drivers behind this quarter's revenue growth. If we further break down the revenue to GMV and take rate, can you share more about the trend in these two factors?

Have you changed the take rate policy for merchants on your platform?

Then I have another quick follow up.

Thomas Chong (Regional Head of Internet and Media)

我 的 第 二 个 问 题 呢 ， 是 跟 第 一 个 问 题 呢 也 有 一 些 关 联 的 。 除 了 对 商 家 的 take rate 政 策 外 ， 管 理 层 可 否 再 更 多 介 绍 一 下 我 们 对 于 商 家 ， 还 有 在 产 业 上 游 有 没 有 一 些 扶 持 政 策 ， 还 有 措 施 ， 以 及 在 助 力 供 给 侧 这 方 面 上 ， 公 司 对 未 来 是 否 就 是 这 个 计 划 还 要 展 望 。 谢 谢 。

Speaker 8

My second question is also related to the first one. Apart from take rate policies, I'm also wondering for merchants and the industry upstream, can you also help to share if you have support measures and policies could management share more about your progress and the plan in this area. Thank you.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

Thomas, 你 好. 我 先 回 答 一 下, 就 是 有 关 助 力 这 个 制 造 业 和 供 给 侧 这 方 面 的 问 题. 从 创 始 以 来, 我 们 一 直 在 通 过 我 们 自 己 的 技 术 背 景, 提 升 制 造 业 的 效 率. 我 们 首 创 的 拼 单 这 样 一 个 模 式, 能 够 通 过 汇 聚 订 单, 直 接 连 接 需 求 侧 和 供 给 侧, 帮 助 制 造 业 企 业 减 少 中 间 的 环 节, 从 而 帮 助 他 们 直 接 触 达 消 费 者. 在 这 个 过 程 中, 帮 助 他 们 打 造 自 身 的 品 牌. 在 过 去 的 7 年 里 面, 我 们 已 经 通 过 技 术 帮 助 打 造 了 近 1,000 家 的 这 个 制 造 业 品 牌. 应 该 说 我 们 一 直 是 在 和 制 造 业 的 企 业 共 同 的 成 长.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Hi Thomas. Let me address your second question around our support for the manufacturing sector and the supply chain first. From the beginning, we have been leveraging our technical background to help improve the efficiency in the manufacturing sector and the team purchase model that we pioneered and aggregate order and connect the demand side and the supply side directly. This helps manufacturers reduce the intermediary layers, help them directly reach out to our consumers. In the process, it helps the brands create their own brand for manufacturer. Over the past seven years, Pinduoduo has helped to build up nearly 1,000 brands through technology. We are growing up with many manufacturers together.

In addition, we also provide one-stop digital solution, covering the entire value chain, to our manufacturing partners, in order to help traditional manufacturers and factories to go through a digital transformation. We cooperate with these manufacturers on product designs and adjustment. This significantly lowers the cost and reduces the uncertainty during the R&D and also production processes. All of these that we have done also help consumers get quality products with savings. We can generate value for consumers in the process. This in turn can create a virtual cycle amongst our consumers, our manufacturing partners, and also the Pinduoduo platform.

This year, we have introduced several dedicated initiatives to support manufacturers with technology. This includes many industries, such as consumer appliances, apparel, sports, cosmetics, home care, as well as furniture. We will continue to invest in this area to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. Thank you.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Okay. Thanks, Thomas. I will take your first questions about the GMV. Well, in the third quarter, we worked closely with our merchants to serve our consumers and improve their shopping experience. As the consumer activities and engagement grow, we think the merchants are naturally coming to our platform for growth and opportunities. For financial metrics such as GMV and revenue, they are mainly the reflection of the value we create. For us, the most important thing is to constantly increase value creation. We will continue to invest to deepen user much engagement and further build up our technology capabilities. This will lay the foundation for our long-term development. Thanks.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Operator, we can move to the next analyst in line.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next questions come from Ellie Jiang from Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Ellie Jiang (Senior Research Analyst)

Let me translate my questions, up to, first, could management talk about the latest industry trends, including what we saw, in fourth quarter to date? Have we, can you talk about our performance during the 11 Promotion? What are the key industry themes have we seen, for the Double 11 itself?

Second question is on the overseas. Could management share with us the financial impact for this initiative? What are the main financial statement line items that they impact? Could you talk, could you help us quantify the impact for the third quarter? What level of investment do you expect to make going forward? Thank you.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

Ellie, 你 好 。 我 先 回 答 一 下 ， 就 是 有 关 这 个 行 业 趋 势 的 一 部 分 的 这 条 。 就 是 ...

对 于 这 个 问 题 呢 ， 我 觉 得 我 们 自 己 的 想 法 始 终 是 说 是 要 从 消 费 者 的 根 本 需 求 出 发 。 其 实 我 们 是 希 望 一 年 中 的 每 一 天 都 能 够 持 续 地 为 消 费 者 创 造 价 值 。 这 个 呢 ， 是 我 觉 得 是 行 业 发 展 ， 也 是 我 们 自 己 发 展 的 动 力 。 我 们 也 充 分 理 解 呢 ， 就 是 优 化 消 费 者 的 体 验 ， 加 深 消 费 者 对 我 们 的 信 任 ， 这 是 一 个 需 要 花 时 间 逐 步 来 发 展 的 过 程 。 购 物 节 也 好 ， 各 种 推 广 活 动 也 好 ， 只 是 呢 ， 我 们 服 务 好 消 费 者 的 众 多 方 式 里 面 的 一 种 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Hi, Ellie.

So, let me take your question on industry trends first. For this question, we always start from consumers' fundamental needs, and we hope to create value for our consumers on each single day throughout the year. I think it is the core driver for the industry and also for ourselves. We also fully understand that to improve consumer experience and deepen their trust in us, it takes time and it is a gradual process. For a shopping festival and promotion, they are just one of the many ways to serve our consumers well.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

我 们 希 望 消 费 者 在 拼 多 多 上 呢 ， 能 有 这 种 多 实 惠 、 多 乐 趣 的 购 物 体 验 。 所 以 说 我 们 在 策 划 这 种 购 物 节 活 动 的 时 候 呢 ， 我 们 也 是 以 消 费 者 为 中 心 ， 通 过 简 单 的 规 则 呢 ， 让 消 费 者 能 够 享 受 到 购 物 的 乐 趣 。 今 年 呢 ， 我 们 联 合 了 许 多 的 品 牌 和 商 户 ， 给 消 费 者 带 来 了 更 多 的 品 质 好 货 ， 满 足 了 他 们 在 这 种 不 同 品 类 ， 不 同 场 景 中 更 加 多 元 的 需 求 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

We hope that consumers can get more savings and more fun from shopping on Pinduoduo.

When we plan shopping festivals and events, we remain consumer-centric, and we use simple rules to provide our consumers with an enjoyable shopping experience.

This year, we have cooperated with many brands as well as merchants to bring more quality products to consumers in order to satisfy their diversified needs across different categories and in different consumption scenarios。

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

那 与 此 同 时 呢 ， 如 果 我 们 就 来 去 看 整 个 行 业 的 情 况 呢 ， 应 该 看 到 是 说 ， 竞 争 仍 然 是 非 常 激 烈 的 ， 我 们 仍 然 有 许 多 需 要 提 升 的 地 方 。 因 此 呢 ， 我 们 需 要 耐 心 地 在 供 给 端 进 行 投 入 。 那 么 加 大 技 术 创 新 投 入 呢 ， 来 进 一 步 地 提 升 这 个 供 应 链 的 效 率 ， 那 么 推 动 呢 农 业 实 体 发 展 ， 推 动 这 个 供 给 侧 的 升 级 ， 那 么 从 而 呢 更 好 地 服 务 我 们 广 大 消 费 者 的 品 质 好 物 需 求 。 谢 谢 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

At the same time, if we look at the industry, we do see the competition remains intense.

We need to invest patiently in the supply side. We need to step up our investment in technology and innovations to further improve the overall supply chain efficiency. We need to support the development of the agriculture sector and also the manufacturing sector. These would essentially enable us to better serve our consumers' increasing demand for quality products. Thank ću.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Thanks, Ellie. We'll take your question about the financial statements on our international initiative. Well, first of all, our international business is currently in a very early stage. It is still going through constant trials. Whereas, we focus on how to create unique value. We believe that financial metrics are the natural results from the value that we create. The international business still very early, as I just mentioned. Its current impact on our financial numbers is small. As with any other part of the business, we carefully evaluate the ROI of every investment. Thank you.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Operator, we can move on to the next question.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question comes from Kenneth Fong from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Kenneth Fong (Director Credit Risk Management)

晚 上 好 ， 谢 谢 管 理 层 接 受 我 的 提 问 。 我 有 2 个 问 题 ， 第 一 个 就 是 管 理 层 可 否 跟 我 们 分 享 一 下 公 司 在 农 业 这 个 战 略 上 面 有 一 些 新 的 想 法 和 发 展 呢 ？ 有 没 有 一 些 案 例 可 以 跟 我 们 分 享 的 ？ 那 过 去 1 个 季 度 农 业 这 个 战 略 方 面 对 我 们 财 务 有 什 么 影 响 ？ 另 外 就 是 百亿农业项目 ， 这 个 可 以 我 们 跟 我 们 分 享 一 下 一 些 新 的 进 展 吧 。 我 另 外 1 个 问 题 是 关 于 盈 利 方 面 的 。 我 看 到 公 司 已 经 连 续 6 个 季 度 实 现 盈 利 ， 我 们 也 看 到 其 他 的 互 联 网 公 司 也 慢 慢 开 始 转 移 到 挣 本 挣 效 。 我 所 以 想 理 解 一 下 ， 就 是 过 去 几 个 季 度 公 司 的 盈 利 也 是 否 ， 看 到 管 理 层 也 追 随 着 类 似 这 个 挣 本 挣 效 这 个 策 略 呢 ？ 我 们 接 下 来 应 不 应 该 期 待 公 司 在 其 他 ， 未 来 几 个 季 度 的 ， 盈 利 方 面 也 会 ， 有 这 个 类 似 的 展 现 出 来 呢 ？ 我 继 续 翻 译 一 下 。

Speaker 8

Thank you management for taking my question. May management share about the latest thoughts and developments in agriculture?

Are there any cases or projects that you are putting resources into? What are the latest financial impact on your financial statement? For your 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative, is there any update to share? My second question is about profitability. We have delivered profitability for six quarters in a row. We have also noticed that many of your peers have started to focus more on cost control and efficiency improvement. Does your profitability for the past three quarters mean you have started to pursue a similar strategy? Should we expect a similar level of profitability to continue over the next few quarters? Thank you.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

Kenneth， 你 好 ， 我 先 回 答 一 下 ， 就 是 有 关 这 个 农 业 方 面 的 问 题 。 我 们 之 前 呢 ， 有 分 享 过 农 业 呢 ， 是 我 们 一 个 长 期 的 战 略 ， 我 们 是 希 望 通 过 推 动 科 技 来 支 持 农 业 的 发 展 。 目 前 呢 ， 我 们 的 很 多 努 力 呢 ， 还 处 在 一 个 早 期 的 阶 段 ， 但 是 呢 ， 的 确 已 经 看 到 了 很 大 的 价 值 创 造 的 空 间 。 也 借 这 个 机 会 呢 ， 可 以 向 大 家 介 绍 一 下 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Hi Kenneth, let me address your question on agriculture first. We have shared with you before that agriculture is our long-term strategy. We hope to promote agricultural development through technology. For many of our efforts, we are still in the early stage of our agricultural strategy. We already see a lot of areas to create value, and we are also very happy to take this chance to introduce more about our latest developments in this area.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

首 先 ， 我 们 是 通 过 自 己 的 技 术 背 景 ， 提 升 了 农 货 这 个 流 通 的 效 率 。 在 今 年 的 Q3 ， 我 们 通 过 Harvest Festival 、 超 级 农 货 节 等 一 系 列 这 种 农 产 品 的 专 门 的 推 广 活 动 ， 覆 盖 了 thousands of 产 区 ， 帮 助 了 当 地 农 户 ， 不 断 地 拓 宽 市 场 。 同 时 在 消 费 者 这 边 ， 就 是 让 消 费 者 能 在 更 短 的 时 间 里 面 得 到 这 种 新 鲜 的 优 质 的 农 产 品 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

First of all, with our technical background, we help improve the distribution efficiency of agriculture produce. During the third quarter in our dedicated promotional events such as the Harvest Festival and Agricultural Festival, we cover thousands of production regions and help farmers broaden their market access. This also helps consumers enjoy fresher and high quality agriculture produce within a shorter amount of time.

Lei Chen (Chairman and CEO)

销量 的 增 加 呢 ， 也 能 够 让 更 多 的 农 业 产 品 呢 ， 更 快 地 走 向 市 场 ， 提 升 呢 ， 这 个 科 技 这 个 转 化 的 速 度 。 例 如 呢 ， 在 我 们 的 丰收节 领 域 呢 ， 我 们 向 消 费 者 推 广 了 多 种 通 过 最 新 的 农 业 科 技 培 养 出 来 农 产 品 。 在 我 们 的 资 源 投 入 下 呢 ， 我 们 帮 助 这 些 产 品 呢 ， 迅 速 地 打 开 了 市 场 ， 提 升 了 农 业 科 技 转 化 率 。 针 对 百亿农业专项 ， 我 们 也 在 近 期 呢 ， 展 示 了 由 这 一 专 项 提 供 支 持 的 这 个 China Agricultural University 培 育 的 ， 具 有 突 破 性 的 ， 小 麦 的 新 品 种 。

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

On top of that, sales volume can also help commercialize Agritech solutions and support research efforts and improve the how commercialization happens. For example, in our Harvest Festival event, we introduced many agricultural products created with the help of Agritech and with resources that we devote into agriculture, we can help these products roll out to the market quickly and help turn more Agritech breakthroughs and innovations into consumer products. As for our 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative, we recently introduced a few new wheat varieties developed by China Agricultural University with support from this initiative.

In agriculture, we will continue to remain down to earth and make long-term patient investment as well as bring a more agritech results to the market. Going forward, we will continue to share updates with you in the future. Thank you.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Thanks, Kenneth. I will take your second question about our profitability. First of all, I would like to point out the high profitability level for Q3 is unlikely to continue. Over the past quarter, some of our projects, such as a few agriculture-related projects, as I just mentioned in my remarks, were impacted in terms of project timeline and investment pace. The expenses line items on our quarterly results were affected. On the other hand, our quarterly revenue increased as a result of increased merchant activities. Therefore, profitability is partially due to such time lapse. This shows that our business cycle and financial reporting cycle are not always in sync. We think such profitability level may not be sustainable. In addition, we are still in the development stage.

Profitability is not our current priority. We will continue to step up investments, especially to support agriculture and manufacturing industry through our technology. This may cause fluctuations in our future profitability and the Q3 level will not continue. Thank you.

Peng Cheng (Director of Investor Relations)

Okay, operator. It's about time. Thank you everybody for joining us today on the conference call. If you have any further question, please feel free to reach out to our team. Thank you all, and have a great day.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may all disconnect.