Waterdrop - Q2 2024

Transcript

Tracy Li (Head of Investor Relations)

Morning, everyone. This is Tracy Li from Waterdrop Investor Relations. It's my pleasure to welcome everyone to Waterdrop's Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. Now we're in English live. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. Please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provision of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and they 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. 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 reconciliation between non-GAAP and GAAP. Joining us today on the call are Mr. Shen Peng, our Founder, Chairman, and CEO; Mr. Ran Wei, Director and GM of Insurance Business; Ms. Xu Xiaoying, Head of Finance Department; and Ms. Jasmine, Board Secretary. We'll be happy to take some of the questions in the mailing line at the end of the conference call.

Shen Peng (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Hello, everyone, this is Shen Peng. In May 2024, we celebrated Waterdrop's eighth anniversary. Now, over these years, we have continuously iterated in phase, particularly over the past two years, faced with a complex and changing environment, the company has actively transformed its business. We have placed greater emphasis on delivering the value, pursuing healthy operations, and ensuring sustainable growth.

As a technology company, amid the new wave of AI, we are actively exploring the application of large language models, such as LLM, in the industry, to build the competent company core competitiveness for the next stage. Thanks to our offices continuing to advance with existing strategies, achieving robust financial performance. The company's overall revenue reached a total of CNY 676 million. Our net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was nearly CNY 88.3 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase of over 300%. Waterdrop has maintained profitability for 10 consecutive quarters since Q1 of 2022. This quarter, Waterdrop consolidated its leading position in the industry. Firstly, our insurance business, quarterly FYP reached CNY 1.78 billion, with an operating profit margin exceeding 21%.

In April, we initiated a quality service upgrade year, offering good service, good product, and good claims to users to further build our brand influence. We also achieved the first export of customized solutions, exploring the broader application of the LLM with insurers. Secondly, Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding actively participates in the multi-level medical security system, offering services in bilingual language and improving user experience. Our operation efficiency improved, and the segment loss was reduced continually. Thirdly, in healthcare-related business, our patient recruitment platform deepened its cooperation with hospitals. Moreover, we achieved high-quality deliverables in CRO and the digital marketing with our clients. In addition, we are committed to the social responsibility and sustainable development. In June, the company won Annual Charity Project and Annual Charity Model at a 2024 charity gala.

By the end of June, Waterdrop Charity platform has partnered with 112 public charity organizations, and onboarded more than 15,500 projects. This concludes the recap of our Q2 performance. Currently, the industry is adapting to new policies, which may cause some challenges in short term. However, we are confident in the long-term benefits from high-quality development and will actively seize industry's opportunities. This year, the company remains committed to its financial guidance, targeting double-digit revenue growth while maintaining robust profitability. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our shareholders and investors, and for our shareholder interest and investor return, the company has been actively repurchasing shares in the open market for three consecutive years since 2021.

As announced, Waterdrop has cumulatively repurchased 49.2 million ADS for over $100 million. Recently, our board has approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the company to repurchase up to $50 million within the next 12 months. The repurchased shares will be used for ESOP, encouraging our employees and the company to grow together. In addition to our actual repurchase, in March, while releasing our full year results of 2023, the company announced its first special cash dividend distribution based on the strong profitability of 2023, which was paid in Q2. Moving forward, if our business remains healthy and remains profitable, we plan to distribute dividends at least once a year to reward the support of our shareholders and investors.

We are pleased to announce this quarter in October, the company will soon launch its second special cash dividend based on the first half of 2024 operating results. The total dividend amounts to about $7.5 million, with $0.002 per ordinary shares and $0.02 per ADS. The shareholders of ordinary shares and ADS as of the closing date of October 11th, 2024, US Eastern Time, are entitled to a dividend. I will now pass to Ran Wei to discuss our Insurance Business in Q2.

Ran Wei (Director and GM of Insurance Business)

Thanks, Mr. Shen. In Q2, the Insurance Business generated about CNY 1.78 billion in FYP, a QOQ increase of 1.4%. Insurance Business income was about CNY 577 million, and the operating profit was about CNY 120 million. The operating profit margin maintained at a level of more than 21%. During this quarter, our short-term insurance FYP hit CNY 1.25 billion, up 8.2% quarter-over-quarter. New policy premiums surged nearly 20% sequentially. We advanced our customer acquisition through platforms like Red Book, TikTok, WeChat videos, so on. We were able to gain user insights and provide more accurate products or recommendations via AI technology, driving the number of new users up by 16.8% to QoQ. We also focused on synergy and efficiency, further increasing premiums from existing customers.

Moreover, our short-term product range has expanded with more offerings, meeting diverse needs and raising average premiums by 7.7%. In April, we initiated a Quality Service Upgrade Year, introducing initiatives like Direct Claims Line, claims within 24 hours, and Service Star Program to enhance the customer satisfaction, maintaining a high renewal rate with a sequential increase. The long-term insurance FYP reached CNY 530 million, and the YOY and QOQ performance were pressured by high base figures and product supply change from last year facing challenges. The company restructured its service team, phasing out low-efficiency operations and expanded high-yield teams, which led to 1.7% rise in quarterly per capita premiums.

We enhanced our comprehensive life planner approach, increasing life planner month premium contribution, emphasizing private domain operations for online sales. We leveraged heavy promotions to boost the user engagement, resulting in a 22% increase in private domain premiums. We also enriched our product lineup with our disability insurance product premiums reaching CNY 80 million in Q2. To improve user experience, we introduced upgraded membership service offering, health management and other exclusive benefits, expanding our brand visibility. During this quarter, the company continued building its offline brokerage business, completing team upgrades and improving services. We also strengthened cooperation with insurance carriers and improved product competitiveness. On Shenlanbao, the team consolidated its advantage in user acquisition and premiums per lead increased steadily.

Waterdrop and the Shenlanbao continue to strengthen synergy as insurance technology, explore the application of AI in the planner model, and improve user acquisition efficiency. In Q2, the company promoted innovation and customization in insurance products, including upgrading in cancer protection insurance, maternal and child insurance, and inclusive insurance. In terms of health insurance, based on the deep insight into users, the company has intensively upgraded its cancer insurance product, providing a combination of reimbursement and fixed payments for cancer patients, and improved user ability to cope with the risk, providing users with long-term protection. The series of maternal insurance, [Foreign language], continue to lead the industry. This product has been upgraded to version three point oh, and we have launched the Parent-Child Critical Illness Insurance under this brand, extending coverage to meet protection needs after the child's birth.

In the field of insurance for pre-existing conditions, our inclusive insurance, Relax Insurance, chronic disease insurance, and hospital-based scenario insurance products have been highly praised by a large number of customers, with related premiums that scale exceeding CNY 100 million. In Q2, we continued R&D investment and near LLM application in medical, critical illness, and so, other insurance products. In Q2, we secured five and filed over 30 more patents related to LLM. Our R&D is now focused on self-service scenarios, developing a full-process AI insurance consultant platform. This application can replicate human voice and accurately identify customer's intention, setting a new standard in the insurance industry.

Our medical insurance service now features an AI consulting team, which has already matched the average performance of human consultants in certain scenarios, with operational cost of just 10% of human consultants. Leveraging our AI technology, we have signed a strategic partnership with one of the top insurers in this quarter, making our first AI empowerment of customized commercial AI consulting solution. Another LLM application, AI copilot Bangbang, is applied to multiple scenarios of our insurance business. Bangbang can help with explanation of terms and policies, product comparison, product recommendation, and interactive assistance. It effectively creates efficiency and improves user experience. It has assisted more than 60% of our human consultants in insurance programs hundreds of thousands of times.

Next, Jieru Li will introduce the development of the company's crowdfunding and health-related business in Q2.

Jieru Li (VP of Finance)

Thank you, Ran Wei. As of the end of Q2 2024, around 461 million people cumulatively donated CNY 65.1 billion to about 3.15 million patients through our Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding. In Q2, we adhered to the user first service for most principle. We continue to optimize our business process and provide users with more personalized service. For instance, in regions populated by ethnic minorities, our platform now supports bilingual phone advising, aiding in the spread of cases within local communities, and bolstered by AI-assisted and bilingual case verification to minimize fraud, further enhancing our reputation and credibility. We actively participated in the construction of, as a multi-level medical security platform.

Thanks to this project and our charitable initiatives, in June, the company won Annual Charity Project and Annual Charity Model at the 2024 Charity Gala. In future, the company will continue leveraging the user insight and service capabilities to bring more social value. During this quarter, our healthcare-related income was CNY 26.4 million, up 4.2% throughout quarter-over-quarter. We collaborated with a total of 185 pharmaceuticals and CROs. Moreover, we initiated services for 88 new programs during Q2, with a focus on digital training and clinical trial and multi-channel marketing solutions to serve a broader client base from this angle. The healthcare-related business has been established for over two years and has quickly rising to the top league. This year, we will continue to maintain our competitive position in the industry.

At the same time, we will place more emphasis on the balance between business growth and operational efficiency, adjust the investment, and promote the balanced development of business. In Q2, with its robust patient network and AI technology, the E-Find platform enrolled over 820 patients, bringing the total up to over 8,600. In a partnership for an asthma trial with a leading MNC, it used targeted online media and patient communities to enroll 145 patients in less than 8 months, expanding treatment options for our patient and earning a prize for our clients. Moreover, a key CRO project finished enrollment in less than 4 months, surpassing client expectation. With our outstanding deliverability, our cooperation with both domestic and international leading pharmaceuticals has continued to expand.

This quarter, in cooperation with one of the global top five pharmaceuticals, the platform won this for three consecutive clinical trial projects because of our good reputation. In addition, the orders in hand continue to accumulate. We also formally reached a cooperation with a number of leading MNCs this quarter, and it is expected to start cooperation in the second half of 2024. The E-Find platform is committed to empower industry with digitalization and actively participate in virus-related academic seminars. This quarter, the platform joined the DCT practice case and analysis project initiated by China Society for Drug Regulation, and we shared AI-enabled cases in the intelligent subject recruitment model with hundreds of experts and scholars, and we gain extensive recognition and trust.

In terms of digital multi-channel marketing business, the platform has embedded AI capabilities in multiple business needs, such as reporting, report interpretation, knowledge base construction, and patient management Q&A. In the process of patient management projects with the leading MNC, with our help, their patient return rates and the customer satisfaction has been significantly improved. Thank you for listening. I will now hand over to Xiaoying Xu to discuss our financial performance.

Xu Xiaoying (Head of Finance)

Thank you, Jieru Li. Hello, everyone. I will now walk you through our financial highlights for the second quarter. 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 year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis, respectively.

In Q2, despite industry challenges, the company's overall performance remained stable. The company achieved net operating revenue of CNY 676 million, stable year-over-year, but down 4.1% quarter-over-quarter. The insurance related income amounted to CNY 574 million, down 5.4% sequentially. Corresponding services amounted to CNY 69.3 million, up 2.9% quarter-over-quarter. While healthcare related income was CNY 26.4 million, up 4.2% sequentially. Regarding operational costs and the expenses, the company continued to focus on improving operational efficiency. In the second quarter, the company overall operating costs and the expenses were CNY 624 million, representing a decrease on both year-over-year and a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Operating costs fell from CNY 333 million in the second quarter of 2023 to CNY 319 million in this period. With the inclusion of in scope of consolidation, operating costs increased by CNY 11.5 million in personal costs year-over-year, partially offsetting the CNY 12.9 million decrease in cost of referral and services, and 8.6 million decrease in cost of patient recruitment from [one team]. In the combined influence, operating costs decreased by 4.2% compared with the same period last year. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, operating costs decreased by 3.7%, mainly due to a decrease in the cost of referral and service fees of CNY 10 million. S&M expenses were CNY 157 million, decreased by 23% year-over-year, and 13.6% quarter-over-quarter.

It's mainly due to the decrease in marketing expenses to third party traffic channels and personal costs in this quarter. G&A expenses was, were, CNY 94 million, decreased by 2.1% year-over-year, mainly due to the decrease in personal costs because of the team adjustment. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, it increased by 5.6%, mainly due to the combined impact of increasing allowance for doubtful accounts and reduced professional service fees. R&D expenses were CNY 53.3 million, down 38.5% year-over-year, and 2.8% quarter-over-quarter, due to the decrease in personal cost and share-based comprehensive expenses. In second quarter, the company maintained stable operations.

Net profit attributable to the company's ordinary shareholders increased by 307% from 21.7 million in Q2 2023 to 88.3 million in the current period. Operating cash inflow remains positive this quarter with a net inflow of 50 million. Looking ahead, we will continue focusing on operational quality, optimizing financial performance, and maintaining a healthy business development. And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for joining. Have a good time.