So-Young International - Q1 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for So-Young's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management give their prepared remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions and answers. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today's call, Ms. Mona Qiao. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Mona Qiao (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for joining So-Young's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining me today on the call is Mr. Xing Jin, our Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO, and Mr. Nick Zhao, CFO. Please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in our public filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 20-F. So-Young does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Xing Jin.

Xing Jin (CEO)

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. Our business performed well in the first quarter, with total revenues reaching CNY 318.3 million, exceeding the upper end of our guidance. At the same time, this marks the first time in five years that we achieved Non-GAAP profitability in the first quarter. Our new businesses continue to grow rapidly, with revenue from service of medical products and maintenance services increased 23.3% year-over-year. Our pipeline of upstream products continues to further diversify its offerings, while So-Young Prime maintained healthy development.

We have made significant progress in the expansion of our chain of clinics. In the first quarter, we opened and began operations at three clinics, all which boast unit area efficiencies well above industry average at a notable price advantage. In the first quarter, the cumulative clients served by our clinics increased 77% quarter-over-quarter. We've also made steady headway of vertical integration from products to institutions, driving restructuring of pricing system and value allocation in the industry. This will provide consumers with medical aesthetic services that are more cost efficient and help with sustainable development of medical and aesthetic practitioners. In terms of products, institutions, and So-Young platform, as we made steady progress in these initiatives, we are confident in the growth opportunities for us going forward.

In our POP segment, we continued to advantage our differentiated strategy to solidify our advantage within the premium segment of the market. By offering customized and high-value services, we are not only able to serve high-end users, but also assist institutions in boosting their profits. During the quarter, our order value increased by 11.3% year-over-year. In terms of traffic acquisition, we reallocated our budget away from low ROI online channels, and instead focused on cultivating and retaining a target user base within our private domains. We leveraged various channels within and outside of the So-Young platform and improved user engagement, aiming to enhance our monetization efficiency. As a result, in the fourth quarter, users acquired through private domains increased by 19.7% quarter-over-quarter.

Turning to So-Young Prime, we capitalized on the success of the model clinic we opened at our headquarters in Beijing in the latter half of 2023. Building upon this momentum, we accelerated our strategy transition from partner institutions towards establishing a chain of clinics. During the quarter, we opened three clinics, with operations firmly on track. By the end of this month, we expect to open and commence operations for our third batch of clinics. To efficiently drive this transition, we have established a comprehensive and standardized workflow system, covering everything from site selection and evaluation to clinic opening and operations. This has enabled us to expand at a pace that significantly surpasses the industry average and set an industry record for the rollout of new clinics. We plan to expand our chain of clinics nationwide, starting with 5-6 core cities.

At the same time, So-Young Prime continues to garner exceptionally high user satisfaction, with user satisfaction of over 4.9 out of 5 for each institution every month, at an ever-increasing repurchase rate.

Lastly, I will provide a quick recap of the progress we have made in our upstream supply chain business. Sales of the Korea brand, Elasty, continued to grow strongly over the quarter, increasing 80% year-over-year. In just one year, we have established a mature distribution network that covers 750 institutions through both direct and agency sales channels. Our recent launch of TruLift, a non-surgical anti-aging ultrasound device, has further diversified our product portfolio, with sales far exceeding expectations. The success of this product is a testament to the strength of our brand, word-of-mouth recognition among consumers, and domestically, how we are able to quickly bring new products to market and rapidly secure their market position through our expansive institutional network.

We recognize the immense potential for growth in China's medical aesthetics market. However, the industry still contends with a less than favorable public perception, despite its development over the past two decades. While a HA injection that costs tens of CNY can be sold for thousands of CNY, many institutions within the sector struggle to turn a profit. Realities such as this point to structural issues. So-Young will address these issues by establishing an industry platform. By integrating the upstream, midstream, and downstream resources of the medical aesthetic industry, we aim to fundamentally reduce costs and increase efficiency, and provide consumers with better and more cost-effective medical aesthetic services. This approach is designed to drive sustainable revenue and profit growth for the platform, while ultimately delivering greater long-term value to our shareholders.

I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Nick, to review the financial results for this quarter before taking your questions.

Hui Zhao (CFO)

Hello, this is Nick. Please be reminded that all amounts quoted here will be in CNY. Please also refer to our earnings release for detailed information about our comparative financial performances on a year-over-year basis. Total revenues during the quarter were CNY 318.3 million, up 2.6% year-over-year, exceeding the high end of our guidance. Growth was primarily driven by sales of medical products and maintenance services, which increased 23.3% year-over-year to CNY 86.5 million, driven by the sales, sales volumes increase of cosmetic products and medical equipment. Information services and other revenues were CNY 208.7 million, a slight decrease of 0.7% year-over-year. Reservation service revenues decreased 22.3% year-over-year to CNY 23.1 million, primarily due to the policy change for commission rates and subsidies.

Cost of revenues were CNY 117.3 million, up 3.2% year-over-year, primarily due to increased costs associated with the sales of cosmetic products and medical equipment. Within cost of revenues, cost of services and others were CNY 74.2 million, down 8.9% year-over-year, primarily due to a decrease in payroll costs. Cost of medical products sold and maintenance services were CNY 43.1 million, up 33.7% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in costs associated with the sales of cosmetic products and medical equipment. Total operating expenses were CNY 237.8 million, up 3.5% year-over-year.

Sales and marketing expenses were CNY 113.3 million, up 0.7% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in payroll costs associated with the expansion of our marketing team. G&A expenses were CNY 85 million, up 38.1% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in payroll costs associated with the expansion of the administrative employees to support the enhancement of our core and new strategic businesses. R&D expenses were CNY 39.6 million, down 29% year-over-year, primarily attributable to improvements in employee efficiency. Income tax benefits were CNY 2.6 million, compared with CNY income tax benefits of CNY 4.3 million in the same period of 2023.

Net loss attributable to So-Young was CNY 21.2 million, compared with a net loss of CNY 11.9 million during the same period last year. Non-GAAP net income attributable to So-Young was CNY 4.1 million, compared with CNY 2.8 million non-GAAP net loss attributable to So-Young in the same period of 2023. Basic and diluted loss per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders were CNY 0.21 and CNY 0.21 respectively, compared with basic and diluted losses per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of CNY 0.12 and CNY 0.12 respectively during the same period of 2023.

We have maintained a robust cash position with cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and term deposits, term deposits and short-term investments totaling CNY 1.3 billion as of March 31, 2024. Effectively flat when compared with December 31, 2023. For the second quarter of 2024, we expect total revenues to be between CNY 380 million and CNY 400 million. The updated outlook is based on the current market conditions that reflects the company's preliminary estimates of market and operating conditions and the customer demand. This concludes our key remarks. I will now turn the call to the operator and open the call for Q&A. Operator, we are ready to take questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, sir.Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star and then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using speaker equipment, please pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. To withdraw your question, please press star and then two. Again, if you would like to ask a question today, please press star and then one now. The first question we have comes from Chloe Wei of CICC. Please go ahead.

Chloe Wei (Equity Analyst)

So let me translate myself, thanks management for taking my question, congrats on the solid, first quarter results. The top line well ahead of our expectation. So my question is about the full year outlook, from what we got from the prepared remarks, I believe our tone have turned more positive. So is there some trend and maybe management want to share with us? And given the headwind from the macro, how should we think about our full year top line growth? Thank you.

Xing Jin (CEO)

Development of medical aesthetics industry in the first quarter is in line with our observation and expectation at the beginning of the year. First, the Chinese medical aesthetics market is gradually recovering with the overall consumption markets. As retail sales of consumer goods in China increased by 4.7% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, medical aesthetics consumption data has also reflected a gradual growth trend. Second, as the medical aesthetics user group turns mature, user demands are more diversified. It's difficult to attract high quality clients simply with low prices. More enriched products and services are required to cater to differentiated, user demands.

In 2024, we will maintain our strategies based on, on our existing business, we will establish a platform that vertically integrates upstream supply chains, midstream operations, and downstream distribution channels to fundamentally opt-optimize costs and enhance efficiency. This strategy approach will enable us to deliver superior and more cost effective services to consumers.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question we have comes from Jinpeng He of CITIC Securities. Please go ahead.

Jinpeng He (Analyst)

So, okay, thanks for this opportunity. Just two questions. First is, how to consider the decline of the traditional metrics such as MAU and, what's the business difference, advantages in this intensified traffic competition? Yes, thank you.

Mona Qiao (Head of Investor Relations)

In terms of online traffic, all industries are experiencing intensified competition for traffic. For So-Young App, we continue to boost engagement and attract more organic user traffic through operation of community content and self-media resources. In addition, through extensive private domain operations, we strive to connect So-Young App with private domains, expanding its traffic pool as we increase private domain retention rate and user engagements. This part of data is not reflected in our MAU, but judging from recent transaction data such as GMV and online orders, it has remained basically stable. It hints to the effectiveness of this strategy. It can also help lower traffic costs and enhance profits... Thirdly, in terms of cooperation with third party traffic sources, we emphasize on traffic accuracy and placement ROI. Reduce budget for channels with low ROI to further reduce placement costs and increase margins of our platform.

Compared to our peers, we have two competitive advantage. First, we have high-quality users and a high average order value. Second, we benefit from our own offline medical aesthetic institutions, including So-Young Chain Clinics and shared hospitals, which provide us with greater room for innovation. For surgical customers, we organize offline consultations and invite multiple renowned doctors to participate. Centralized consultations help users save time and transportation costs, and face-to-face communication also improves users' decision-making efficiency. For high-end injection customers, we screen high-quality doctors on the platform and complete service deliveries within our own or cooperative institutions. With this approach, we have stronger control over the contract fulfillment and delivery process, while simultaneously commanding price power and conducting refined user operations in a closed-loop manner, thus avoiding the risk of user attrition.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The next question we have comes from Yibing of Haitong. Please go ahead.

Yibing Wang (Analyst)

Okay, thanks. Thanks for management. I'll translate myself. My question is about the So-Young Prime. I want to ask, is the current progress of the opening new clinics under So-Young Prime in line with your expectation? And what's your midterm to long-term plans for, proprietary chain clinics? Thank you.

Mona Qiao (Head of Investor Relations)

We planned to open 15 clinics in 2024 at the beginning of the year. By the end of the first quarter, we opened 3 clinics. Since then, we added 2 more before today's earnings. Now we are opening 6 clinics in all, generally in line with our expectation. During the process, we have established a comprehensive and standardized workflow system, covering everything from site selection and evaluation to clinic opening and operations. This has enabled us to expand at a pace that significantly surpasses industry average and set an industry record for the rollout of new clinics. Emphasizing on authentic products, cost, performance, and transparency. Our aim is to position standardized light medical aesthetic services as the first choice of everyday cosmetic consumption. We expect to reach the scale of 100 clinics-150 clinics in the next three years.

While expanding our chain of clinics, we continue to build our operation team, combining our advantage in product supply, development, and innovation. We are driving the build out of a standardized management system for light medical aesthetics institutions, as well as an end-to-end online process management capabilities to improve operating and management efficiency for institutions. In the future, we will continue to improve efficiency per staff and efficiency per unit area for our chain of clinics. Increase penetration of our proprietary supply chain products, improve margin of our chain clinics while providing users with more cost-effective services.

Xing Jin (CEO)

User satisfaction is fundamental to chain operation. With that in mind, we emphasize more on user satisfaction. From January to April, user satisfaction in our chain of clinics reached 98% and in line with our expectations. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

The next question we have comes from Janie Tan of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Janie Tan (Analyst)

The second question is, with the cash reserve of approximately, then the CNY 1.3 billion, what is the digital plan and usage? Thank you.

Mona Qiao (Head of Investor Relations)

On product side, first, Elasty maintains strong momentum, with sales increasing 80% year-over-year, and revenue increased 56.5% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. In addition, we spent just one year to establish a mature distribution network covering 750 institutions through both direct and agency sales channels. In the future, we will continue to integrate upstream supply chain, help companies to increase profit and return to users with profit-products of sound cost performance, reaching win-win situation.

Second, we continue to expand our product pipeline. The launch of facelift product, TruLift, further diversifies our photoelectric category, with sales far exceeding expectations. This is a testament to the strength of our brand, word-of-mouth recognition among consumers, and domestically, how we are able to quickly bring new products to market and rapidly secure their market position through our expansive institutional network. We expect to add more products and continuously generate incremental revenue and profit growth from the supply chain business.

Hui Zhao (CFO)

This is Nick. We will use the cash for two purposes. First of all, we will continue expanding along upstream and downstream of the industry, including upstream product pipeline and downstream chain of clinics, to lay solid ground for our integrated industry platform. And secondly, we will share repurchase plan or potential dividend to return values to our shareholders. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of our question and answer session and our conference. Thank you for joining us today. You may now disconnect your lines.