Waterdrop - Q1 2024

Transcript

Tracy Lee (Head of Investor Relations)

Good morning, everyone. This is Tracy Lee from Waterdrop Investor Relations. It's my pleasure to welcome everyone to Waterdrop's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants are in listening mode on our English line. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. Please note that discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results will 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. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Also, this call includes discussion of certain non-GAAP measures. Please refer to our earnings release for our reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP.

Joining us today on the call, Mr. Yang Guang, Co-founder, Director, Finance VP, and GM of International Business. Mr. Yang Wei, Director and GM of Insurance Business. Mrs. Xu Xiaoying, Head of Finance, and Mrs. Jocelyn Li, Board Secretary. We'll be happy to take some of the questions on the main line at the end of the conference call. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, our first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Since the beginning of 2024, the domestic economy remains on track for recovery, leading to a steady growth in personal insurance industry. For Waterdrop, the company continues to pursue high quality development while improving our quality and efficiency. In terms of our financial performance, total revenue of Q1 reached CNY 705 million, up 16.3% year-over-year.

Yet net profit attributed to the company reached CNY 80.6 million, a significant increase of 62.2% year-over-year. Since Q1 of 2022, we have continuously recorded profitability for 9 consecutive quarters. In Q1, all our business segments maintained robust. For our insurance business, we actively optimize the product offerings, explore new service models, and continue to deepen AIGC empowerment. Insurance premiums significantly increased sequentially, representing an operating margins of over 20%. For Waterdrop medical crowdfunding, we are actively participating in multi-level medical assistance system to continue improving service quality. Spending loss was further reduced. For healthcare-related business, we continue to collaborate with domestic and international pharmaceuticals, expanding to a digital marketing solution service. During Q1, our revenue increased 7.3% YOY. In the first quarter, we continued to invest in R&D.

By now, we have obtained 4 LLM-related patents and submitted over 10 more patent applications. We are committed to improving efficiency in the entire insurance service loop. For our CSR and ESG efforts, Waterdrop adheres to sustainable development in ESG management, implementation, and as well as disclosure. In the latest rating published by IIGF, our rating increased to A-minus, reflecting a great leap forward in ESG. As of the end of Q1, our charity platform has partnered with 112 public charity organizations, launched more than 15,000 projects. One of multi-level medical assistance platform we joined was awarded a 2023 Project of the Year in 8th China Charity Annual Conference. With the capital market, we recently paid our first special cash dividend since listing. We look forward to bringing more value to our shareholders in the future.

Regarding share buyback, as of the end of May 2024, the company has cumulatively repurchased 45.5 million ADS in the open market for a total consideration of about $95.9 million. The repurchased shares will continue to be used for ESOPs to motivate our talented team. This is a recap of our performance in Q1. For the full year of 2024, Waterdrop financial guidance remains unchanged. First, a profitable year with double-digit revenue growth. Second, insurance operating margin above 8%. Third, sustainable growth in healthcare-related revenue. To achieve our goals, we will implement the following strategies. For insurance business, we will adhere to our user-first principle, further optimize traffic conversion, explore new service models and product innovation, invest in AIGC starting business operations to improve efficiency for both ourselves and industry.

For medical crowdfunding, we will continue to take advantage of technology capability to ensure sustainable development while fulfilling social value and meeting user needs. For healthcare business, we will swiftly boost the penetration worldwide, expanding the comprehensive service capability to more disease categories, and actively exploring digital marketing to broaden business boundaries. With abundant cash reserves, we're seeking suitable partnerships and M&A targets around insurance and healthcare sectors. Looking ahead, the company will continue to strengthen its business value and barriers, guided by our mission and value will continue to see more segmentization opportunities. Now I will pass to Yang Wei to discuss our insurance business in Q1.... Thanks, Yang. This quarter, our insurance business demonstrates steady growth. The total FYP reached about CNY 1.75 billion, increased by 3.7% year-over-year.

Insurance-related income was CNY 610 million, up by 13.1% YOY. Operating profit for the insurance business reached CNY 130 million. FYP for short-term insurance products was CNY 1.15 billion in the first quarter, representing a sequential increase of 15.9%. Mostly new policy FYP grew by 41.6% sequentially. We have continually improved online traffic conversion and based on the user profile of each content distribution platform, we specifically optimize our product offering according to data. Our policy renewal rate remains at a high level, consistently above 95%, which indicates strong user recognition. FYP for long-term insurance products amounted to CNY 600 million in Q1, representing a QOQ growth of 13.4%. The contribution of YFYP generated for long-term insurance products to overall FYP was further increased.

The FYP of life, life insurance product to overall long-term product increased to 56.4%. We got a sequential increase in productivity per capita by 6.4%. The overall quality of long-term policy further improved, with the first year retention rate increasing by 2% per percentage point sequentially. We continue to develop our offline brokerage business. In Q1, we launched our new brand of offline brokers to Yixing Town, aimed to provide more comprehensive offline service and strengthening our brand awareness. On Shenlanbao, we got sequential increase in FYP and order job in insurance marketplace at Shenlanbao. We enhanced synergy in sales resources, content marketing and product partnerships. Our capability in tailoring various products to meet user needs continue to improve.

During this quarter, we launched Xinyibao, a long-term medical insurance product that guarantees renewal for 20 years and aims to provide high value coverage for females, especially for females. Our Weishouhu, disability income insurance for the elderly, has exceeded CNY 10 million in FYP for the first month it launched, reflecting a strong market demand. Targeting the market segment, we have successfully upgraded one of our star products, Jiehaoyun, to version 2.0, which gained top recognition on various platforms. For people with pre-existing conditions, we upgraded our Waterdrop Blue Ocean to offer zero waiting period and extended its enrollment age up to 105 years old. The overall carrier insurance product achieved CNY 100 million FYP during Q1, continuing to gain user trust. Moving on to technology empowerment. In Q1, we continued to expand the application of our AIGC.

The accuracy and efficiency of our large language model has been significantly improved. Our AI Broker has reached 90% of the average level of human broker in health insurance sector, capable of conducting independent dialogues with our clients for up to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, on our AI Copilot, which has been widely internally tested, reached an accuracy rate of over 90%, in insurance model, significantly boosting the efficiency of sales, quality controls, and others. We are also actively explore external applications to empower the industry with several partnerships currently under negotiation. By now, we have obtained 4 LLM-related patents and submitted over 10 more patent applications. Looking ahead, we will remain dedicated to positioning ourselves at the forefront. This concludes my remarks for today, and we now pass to Jesse for an overview of medical crowdfunding and healthcare business. Thank you, Rongwei.

As of the end of Q1 2024, around 456 million people cumulatively donated CNY 63.8 billion to over 3.17 million patients through our Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding. We sustain a focus on transparency and keep strengthening our risk management mechanism. For instance, before manual verification, we integrated algorithm recognition to identify false or fake medical documents and mitigate related risk effectively. In addition, for patients with a high risk of passing away, withdrawal of the donations are made in batches according to the stage of treatment, reducing the risk of fund misappropriation. We believe that the higher authenticity we have, the greater the donor's enthusiasm will be. In the meantime, we constantly prioritize user experience and constantly improve service quality.

For urgent cases, we open up an advanced payment application portal for patients who have passed the risk control review. We, when patients need to withdraw the funds, but 24-hour public notice period hasn't ended, we will use our own funds as advanced payment. This ensures that the patients can promptly get the funds for their treatment. During Q1, we actively participate in multi-level medical assistance programs initiated by local governments in China. In February, on International Rare Disease Day, Waterdrop launched the special rare disease care program on top of our existing support initiatives. By the end of Q1, more than 67,000 patients with rare disease have actual help through our Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding platform, and received donations of more than CNY 1.5 billion from 48.9 million donors.

We contribute through our platform, the Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding, charitable funds, and collaboration with pharmaceuticals. We provide a fast track for rare disease patients to respond, as well as dedicated consultants and fundraising support. Waterdrop Charity works with the charity funds to help these patients seek medical resources, get local medical insurance policy updated, and so on. Through that, we've continuously updated our care initiatives for patients, bringing more hope to those in need. In Q1, our healthcare-related business continued its momentum. We expanded our digital capabilities in clinical trial solutions and multi-channel marketing solutions. For this quarter, healthcare-related income reached CNY 25.3 million, representing an increase of 7.3% year-over-year. The number of corporations, pharmaceuticals, and CROs reached 179, and the number of new programs reached 88. Both figures remain high level.

Leveraging a broad patient base and strong digital ability, Yifan platform continued to enroll sustainable suitable candidates for our pharmaceutical clients. In Q1, Yifan platform successfully enrolled over 800 patients. As of the date, about 7,800 patients were enrolled. Our performance has been recognized by our clients. For instance, in psoriasis clinical trial products for global top five MNC. We work as an exclusive Chinese third party patient recruitment partner and successfully enrolled over 60 patients within three months, which is 20% faster than the regular time needed. As our fulfillment gains recognition in the industry, we continue to deepen our collaborations with leading pharmaceuticals and CROs, both domestically and internationally. We have already cooperated with 7 out of the global top 10 pharmaceuticals. The CRO business continued its steady development as our reputation and influence strengthen.

We won a new bid for a clinical trial project in the field of cell therapy for listed pharmaceuticals in Q1. In addition, two key clinical trials using our platform completed their initiation in the first quarter, including the smooth launching of new brand centers. Looking ahead, we'll continue to explore potential digitalization in the healthcare sector. The platform will continuously build and improve integrated solutions across the entire industry chain. In Q1, we further expanded in the field of digital multi-channel marketing, leveraging our experience in patient management for chronic disease. We saw an increasing number of clients. The cooperation with MNCs has further deepened. Meanwhile, we signed a strategic cooperation with the leading domestic pharmaceuticals. We believe that Waterdrop will become a preferred partner in marketing for more and more pharmaceuticals. The above concludes my speech.

Now I will pass over to Xiaoying Xu, the Head of Finance, to discuss company's financial performance. Thank you, Jasmine. Hello, everyone. I will now walk you through our financial highlights for Q1. Before I go into details, please be reminded that all numbers quoted here will be in RMB. And please refer to our earnings release for detailed information on our financial performance on both a year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis, respectively. We are thrilled to kick off 2024 with solid financial results. The company revenue in Q1 amounted to CNY 705 million, representing a QOQ growth of 16.3%. The revenue structure is more diversified, of which the insurance related income amount to CNY 607 million.

The performing business contributes revenue of CNY 67.4 million, and the healthcare related income of about CNY 25.3 million, with all three business segments growing steadily. At the same time, the company also continued to focus on operational efficiency, with overall operating costs and expenses of CNY 658 million, up 10.5% year-over-year and 4% quarter-over-quarter. Among them, Q1 operating costs were approximately CNY 331 million. Operating costs showed a year-over-year increase of 33.6% because of the consolidated functional involved, representing a sequential increase by 9.6%, mainly due to an increase in the referral and the receipt.

In terms of expenses, S&M expenses amount to CNY 182 million, representing an increase of 5% and 4.2% on YOY and QOQ basis, respectively, which maintained a healthy and steady trend, and benefiting from our effective cost control. G&A expenses amount to CNY 89 million, representing a decrease of 7.1% and 7.3% on YOY and QOQ basis. R&D expenses amounted to CNY 56 million. The decrease is due to the impact of team restructuring. In Q1, our profitability improved significantly. Net profit attributable to the company ordinary shares amounted to CNY 80.6 million, an increase of 62.2% year-over-year and 36.5% quarter-over-quarter. Since Q1 of 2022, we have continuously recorded profitability for two consecutive years.

We generated a net cash flow from our operating activities of $179 million. Looking ahead, we will continue to create value for our users and shareholders with great profitability and growth. And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for joining. Have a good time.