Yalla Group - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Transcript

Speaker 6

Hello everyone, and welcome to Yalla Group Limited's second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We issued our earnings press release earlier today, and it is now available on our IR website as well as all newsletter outlets. Before we continue, 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 involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our future results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in our earnings release and our annual report filed with the SEC. Yalla Group Limited does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Please also note that Yalla Group Limited's earnings press release and this conference call include a discussion of unaudited GAAP financial information as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Yalla Group Limited's press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited most directly comparable GAAP measures. Today, you will hear from Mr. Tao Yang, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an overview of our latest achievements and growth strategies. He will be followed by Mr. Saifi Ismail, the company's President, who will briefly reveal our recent business developments. Mrs. Karen Hu, our Chief Financial Officer, will then provide additional details on the company's financial results and discuss our financial outlook. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call to questions. Mr. Jeff Chu, our Chief Operating Officer, will join the Q&A session.

With that said, I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tao Yang. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 0

Thank you everyone for joining our second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We delivered another strong set of results in the second quarter of this year. Our total revenue is close to $84.6 million, once again beating the high end of our guidance. We also made significant strides in improving our operational efficiency by optimizing user acquisition strategies and refining our internal processes, which contributed to a year-over-year expansion in our net margin to 43.2%. This impressive performance demonstrates our ability to increase user engagement across our ecosystem and achieve high-quality, efficient growth by anticipating and meeting the MENA region's evolving social networking and entertainment needs. Throughout Yalla Group Limited's history, the company has been committed to the long-term development of the MENA region's local internet industry.

We were one of the first to explore online entertainment in the region, and over the past 10 years, our team has grown from six people to over 800 employees, serving over 40 million MAUs across the MENA region. Our product strategy prioritizes creating products with the potential to reach a massive user base, while also demonstrating a long lifecycle. We strive to develop sustainable business models for long-term growth, and we remain confident that our commitment and patience will pay off, as it has over the last decade. This Q2 marks the ninth anniversary of Yalla Group Limited's launch. For Yalla Ludo, one of our flagship products and the MENA region's leading casual game platform, we expect its lifecycle to reach 10 to 15 years or even beyond. We continue to operate our products with great dedication, fostering a friendly, positive, and vibrant online community.

Building on our core business's strong fundamentals, we are also strategically expanding into new verticals to capitalize on the MENA region's digital transformation, leveraging our substantial user base, localized expertise, and strong user acquisition capabilities. We have broadened our business footprint with game distribution services. We hope to become an indispensable resource for leading global game content providers who are as excited as we are about the MENA region market. We are primed to have good games of all kinds launched in the MENA region efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, as our user scale grows, we are also exploring opportunities to expand into additional online local services to reach even more users across the MENA region.

Moving on to our new gaming pipeline for this year, we have continued to strategically invest in mid-core and hardcore games with a robust product pipeline featuring multiple new titles scheduled for release in the coming two quarters. In the third quarter, we expect to release two Max 3 titles targeting distinct user segments. In the fourth quarter, we aim to release another self-developed roguelike game, while also preparing for hardcore games distribution in collaboration with a leading game developer. We will continue to refine our gaming business strategy and plan to ramp up external partnerships and our game distribution capabilities going forward to more effectively diversify our product portfolios. This allows us to explore a broader range of game genres and offer users more diverse options while gaining deeper insight into market dynamics and a more precise understanding of user appetites in the MENA region.

Technology is another key factor driving our growth. As part of our efforts to propel technology innovation and talent development, we initiated a new round of internship collaborations with Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence with a focus on AI application projects. By integrating cutting-edge academic research insights with real-world industry practices, this partnership among industry, academia, and research institutions injected fresh ideas and intellectual resources into our ongoing technology innovation, while also deepening Yalla Group Limited's long-term commitment to advancing the development of MENA's AI ecosystem. Before I turn the call over to Saifi, an update on our share repurchase plan. In the first quarter, we allocated an additional $22 million, bringing our total minimum commitment to $50 million for the full year. We continue to execute our share repurchase program, consistently enhancing shareholder returns. In the first half of this year, we made encouraging progress.

As of June 30, 2025, the company had repurchased a total of more than 6.2 million ADSs to a total of $41 million in this year, completing 82% of our 2025 minimum goal. We will continue with displaying the execution of the share repurchase program through the end of the year and expect to reach or potentially exceed our full-year goal. We remain open to further scaling up our execution under the current share repurchase program. Furthermore, as we mentioned on our last call, the company has decided to cancel all shares repurchased this year. As of August 11, 2025, the company had canceled more than 6.2 million ADSs. We will consistently place shareholders' interests at the core of our capital allocation decisions and continuously refine our capital return strategy to generate long-term value for our shareholders.

Overall, our second quarter performance once again affirmed Yalla Group Limited's strategic effectiveness and the MENA market's vast potential. We are steadily compounding our advantages in this compelling market, where we've cultivated deep roots over many years. Going forward, Yalla Group Limited will continue to unlock monetization opportunities through a diversified gaming lineup while working alongside partners to foster a sustainable digital ecosystem. We are excited to have your support as we help propel the MENA region's transformation from a digital hotspot into a true global innovation epicenter. Now, I would turn this call over to our President, Mr. Saifi Ismail, for a closer look at our recent developments.

Speaker 4

Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Let's take a closer look at our second quarter operations and our product performance. First, I would like to share our operational and product performance highlights in the second quarter. We increased our group's average monthly active users by 8.8% year over year to 42.4 million. In light of the sharp MAU increase during Ramadan in the first quarter, we adjusted our user acquisition strategy in quarter two, allocating more resources to acquiring and returning high engagement, high-quality users, and reducing spending on channels, demonstrating less efficient conversion metrics. This approach will allow us to scale our community while ensuring a vibrant and engaged user base. As a result, the group delivered year over year and sequential revenue growth this quarter, despite a short-term sequential dip in MAU.

Starting next quarter, we expect MAU growth to normalize at 2% to 3% quarter over quarter, with full-year MAU growth projected at around 10% year over year, as we remain focused on consistent user base expansion. Next, I would like to delve into the meaningful strides we made in the second quarter across product operations and brand building. During the quarter, we conducted several strategically designed campaigns and fostered in-depth brand partnerships, further solidifying our market position and driving stronger user retention. One highlight was this quarter's co-branded campaign between Yalla Ludo and the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism. We embedded Dubai's culture icons and signature landmarks into gameplay and mission design, delighting users with a richly immersive experience. Its dynamic blend of Yalla Ludo's entertaining gameplay and Dubai's tourism appeal garnered highly positive user feedback and sparked substantial organic social media buzz, significantly boosting in-game activity.

This quarter also marked the successful conclusion of Yalla's ninth anniversary celebration. We launched a platform-wide event series featuring exclusive missions and generous rewards. Mechanism user enthusiasm reached an all-time high, with Gold Coin consumption reaching a new record for this event series. This event's performance demonstrated the strong affinity users have for our platform, while also affirming our event design capabilities and the vibrancy of our online community. We also leveraged our strengths in event design and user engagement to deepen our corporate responsibility efforts. During Riddle Alha 2025, we designed a public welfare initiative with far-reaching impact, inviting users to contribute by participating in online events to accumulate goodwill credits. As a gesture reflecting the event's shared goodwill, Yalla Group Limited donated to the Unisaved Mina Regional Office on behalf of all users.

We were delighted to see this campaign enrich users' digital experience while encouraging participation in meaningful social good. On a related note, we released our 2024 ESG report this quarter, marking another key milestone in our journey toward greater transparency and standardization in sustainable development. The report systematically outlines Yalla Group Limited's vision, practices, and commitments in driving sustainable growth, fulfilling social responsibilities, and strengthening corporate governance, highlighting our concrete actions and positive outcomes in areas including promoting digital inclusion, safeguarding user well-being, supporting community development, and advancing responsible governance. In short, we drove notable gains in user engagement and commercial value across our core businesses during the second quarter of 2025.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to driving product innovation, deepening strategic partnerships, and actively fulfilling our corporate social responsibilities as we advance with firm convictions toward our vision of becoming the most popular platform for online social networking and entertainment activities in Mina. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Karen Hu, who will discuss our key financial and operational results.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Saifi, and hello everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Excellent execution across our operations drove this quarter's strong results, underscored by better-than-expected revenues and enhanced profitability. Our revenue system had a healthy growth trajectory of 4.1% year over year. We also continued to execute disciplined cost management and improved our overall efficiency, boosting our net income by 16.4% year over year to $36.5 million, with net margin expanding by 4.6 percentage points year over year to 43.2%. Boosted by this success, we continue to accelerate our expanded share repurchase program. We remain committed to driving product innovation, optimizing operations, and elevating shareholder value as we advance toward our vision of becoming the most popular platform for online social networking and entertainment activities in the MENA region. Let's move on to our detailed financials for the second quarter of 2025.

Our revenues were $84.6 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 4.1% increase from $81.2 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by our growing user base and enhanced monetization capability. Turning to our costs and expenses, our total costs and expenses were $53.9 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 4.6% increase from $51.6 million in the same period last year. Our cost of revenues was $27.9 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 3.7% decrease from $29 million in the same period last year, primarily due to lower commission fees paid to third-party payment platforms as a result of diversified payment channels and lower share-based compensation expenses recognized in the second quarter of 2025. Cost of revenues as a percentage of total revenues decreased to 33% in the second quarter of 2025 from 35.7% in the same period last year.

Our selling and marketing expenses were $8.7 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 2% increase from $8.5 million in the same period last year, primarily due to higher advertising and market promotion expenses attributable to our continued user acquisition efforts and expanding product portfolio. Selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenue decreased to 10.2% in the second quarter of 2025 from 10.5% in the same period last year. Our general and administrative expenses were $9 million in the second quarter of 2025, an 18.8% increase from $7.6 million in the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in incentive compensation and higher exchange loss. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased to 10.8% in the second quarter of 2025 from 9.3% in the same period last year.

Our technology and product development expenses were $8.3 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 28.6% increase from $6.5 million in the same period last year, primarily due to an increase in salaries and benefits for our technology and product development staff, driven by an increase in their headcount to support the development of new businesses and expansion of our product portfolio. Technology and product development expenses as a percentage of total revenues increased to 9.9% in the second quarter of 2025 from 8% in the same period last year. As such, our operating income was $30.9 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 3.4% increase from $29.6 million in the same period last year. Interest income was $6.8 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared with $7.1 million in the same period last year.

Income tax expense was $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, compared with $5.8 million in the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in U.A.E. corporate tax. As a result of the foregoing, our net income was $36.5 million in the second quarter of 2025, a 16.4% increase from $31.4 million in the same period last year. Our non-GAAP net income in the second quarter of 2025 was $39.4 million, an 11.7% increase from $35.2 million in the same period last year. Moving to our liquidity and capital resources, our cash position remained solid and healthy. As of June 30, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, term deposits, and short-term investments of $704.1 million, compared with $656.3 million as of December 31, 2024.

We continue to return value through our share repurchase program, pursuant to the company's current share repurchase program beginning on May 21, 2021, with an extended expectation date of May 21, 2026. As of June 30, 2025, the company has cumulatively completed cash repurchases in the open market of 13,535,437 ADSs, or Class A ordinary shares, for an aggregate amount of approximately $90.4 million since the inception of the current share repurchase program. The aggregate value of ADSs, or Class A ordinary shares, that remain available for purchase under the current share repurchase program was $59.6 million as of June 30, 2025. In addition, the company had canceled 6,230,299 ADSs, or Class A ordinary shares, as of August 11, 2025. Moving to our outlook for the third quarter of 2025, we expect our revenues to be between $78 million and $85 million.

The above outlook is based on the current market conditions and reflects company management's current and preliminary estimates of the market and operating conditions and customer demand, which are all subject t

Speaker 5

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then one. If your question has been addressed, the electoral... Apologies, everyone. This is the operator. Apologies for not being able to hear me earlier. Our first question comes from Chloe Wei at CICC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Yeah, okay. This is Chloe Wei from CICC Internet. Firstly, congratulations on the solid results. My question is about the outlook. Regarding the Q3 outlook, mentioned in the prepared remarks, we see a potential year-over-year decline in the following quarter. Could you help us understand the thinking behind this? Should we think that this projection is still considered conservative at the early stage? Also, could management please provide commentary on the 2025 guidance, specifically on the expected revenue growth trajectory and margin trends? Thanks.

Speaker 3

Hello, Chloe. This is Karen. Thank you for this question. For the second half of 2025, we are confident of maintaining a solid revenue performance. Excluding share contributions for the new products, we expect the full-year revenue to be flat and deliver low single-digit growth compared to 2024. Our new game titles may also generate additional revenue growth later this year. We will provide an update to the market after those games are launched, and we have better visibility into this performance. Regarding the revenue growth and net margin trends, we believe an estimate of around 14% is reasonable, excluding any potential investments in new products. We've set aside 5% of our full-year revenue for selling and marketing expenses for these new products, and we will flexibly adjust the budget according to the users' feedback on these new products.

Basically, if we decide to spend more on selling and marketing, we expect to see good growth in our company's revenue. We will update the market later. Thank you. Thank you for your question.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Our next question today comes from Xueqing Zhang with CICC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hey, thanks, management, for taking my question about your user strategy. As you mentioned in your prepared remarks, there is a shift in your user acquisition strategy this quarter. Could management share more color on your specific adjustment and the reasonable pending? Thank you.

Speaker 0

Thank you for the question, Xueqing. We delivered outstanding MAU growth during Ramadan in the first quarter. In light of that, in the second quarter, we adjusted our user acquisition strategy by refining our evaluation standards for user acquisition channels and optimizing our channel mix. We also allocated more resources toward acquiring and retaining highly engaged users. We believe this will result in a vibrant, deeply engaged community as we expand our user base over the long term, despite a slight short-term fluctuation in MAU during the quarter. Starting next quarter, we expect our MAU growth to return to 2 to 3% quarter over quarter, and we're talking around 10% year-over-year growth in MAU for the full year. Furthermore, if our new initiatives perform well in the second half of the year, they should drive even stronger user acquisition.

We'll continue to provide updates on our user growth strategy as it evolves. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Our next question today comes from Tianhui Liu with CITIC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Good morning, management. Thanks for taking my question. This is Alex from CITIC Securities. I have a follow-up on the game pipeline. Could the management share the progress on your mid-core and hardcore games and provide more details on the pipeline? Thanks.

Speaker 0

Hi, Alex. Thank you for your continued interest in Yalla's gaming business. We've been efficiently advancing our new game pipeline as planned. This quarter, we will release two Meta 3 titles targeting different user segments, both of which are in the final stages of fine-tuning. We also plan to release our first roguelike mobile game in Q4. Additionally, we're working closely with the leading game developer in preparation for hardcore games distribution and expect to get it done this year. Overall, our pipeline for the next two quarters is very robust. At the same time, we're also looking for opportunities to ramp up our pipeline more efficiently through collaboration on game distribution. We'll keep you updated on the progress of this new initiative. Thank you, Alex.

Speaker 2

Thank you. That's very clear.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Our next question comes from Xiaoyue Hu with Haitong International. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hello. Thank you, management, for taking my question. Could management provide an update on the execution of the share repurchase program and share any future plans for shareholder returns? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Xiaoyue. This is Karen. I will answer this question. Thank you for your question about the shareholder returns. We continue to efficiently execute our buyback program with progress in line with our expectations. With the additional $22 million we announced last quarter, the minimum share repurchase commitment for the full year has reached $50 million. As of June 30, 2025, we have repurchased over 6.2 million shares for approximately $41 million so far this year. Additionally, we completed the cancellation of these shares, which we purchased in this year. For the remaining four months of this year, we will continue to execute our share repurchase program and plan to complete or potentially exceed our committed amount. We will provide a further update on our repurchase plans next quarter. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Our next question comes from Lincoln Kong with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you, management, for taking my question. My question is about the game business. Can management share your game distribution strategy for the new mid-core and hardcore titles? Thank you.

Speaker 0

Sure, Lincoln. Thank you for your question. Our strategy for new mid-core and hardcore game distribution is anchored on our three core competitive advantages. First, deep localization. With a decade of experience in the Middle East, our dedicated in-market team has extensive local know-how, allowing us to accurately grasp user preferences in both aesthetics and content. This ranges from incorporating Arabic design principles to weaving in narratives to ensure meaningful cultural resonance. Second, efficient user acquisition. Our marketing team is highly experienced with user acquisition in MENA. In addition to acquiring users from external online channels, we also leverage our existing user base from our product ecosystem for precise targeting, creating a unique, low-cost, high-conversion acquisition channel. Third, strong community operations. Our local operations team creates tailored in-game events, while our large-scale customer service team provides dedicated user care.

This combination builds strong community ties and high emotional engagement among our users. This advantageous position allows us to expand our influence in the MENA market. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Very helpful.

Speaker 5

Our next question comes from Jenny Yuan with UBS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hi. Thanks, management, for taking my question. My question is about our long-term growth strategy. How does management assess the long-term potential of the MENA market and what is our growth strategy going forward? Thank you.

Speaker 4

Thanks for the question, Jenny. The MENA region has a young population of 500 million and remarkably high mobile internet penetration, placing it at a bifocal moment in its digital transformation. We believe several internet verticals in the Middle East are still in their early stages. With substantial untapped opportunity to bring offline activities online, there is still considerable room for growth in both users' online spending habits and overall size of the addressable market. From Yalla's perspective, our legacy businesses have relatively long life cycles and currently deliver solid revenue, providing us with a strong business foundation. Building on this, we are committed to investing in the development and distribution of mid-core and hardcore games over the long term.

In many parts of the world, gaming has been a key sector since the early days of the internet, driving deeper thought around user acquisition, internet monetization, talent development, and technological innovation. We are committed to continuously refining our team and products with this in mind. On the social networking front, we will also continue to explore new opportunities to expand our service offerings to a broader user base. Beyond online entertainment, we are also evaluating potential opportunities in local lifestyle services. We will actively explore new areas to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the MENA region's digital transformation. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Speaker 3

Thank you once again for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you in the next quarter. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Yalla's Investor Relations or Piacente Financial Communications. Both parties' contact information is available in today's press release as well as on our company website. Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.