Full Truck Alliance - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Full Truck Alliance's Second Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mao Mao, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Mao Mao (Head - Investor Relations)

Thank you, operator. Please note that today's discussion will contain forward looking statements relating to the company's future performance, which are intended to qualify for the Safe Harbor from liability as established by The U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, assumptions and other factors.

Some of these risks are beyond the company's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those mentioned in today's press release and discussion. A general discussion of the risk factors that could affect FDA's business and financial results is included in certain filings of the company with the SEC. The company does not undertake any obligation to update forward looking information except as required by law. During today's call, management will also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures for comparison purpose only. For a definition of non GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP financial results, please see the earnings release issued earlier today.

Joining us today on the call from FTA's senior management are Mr. Hui Zhang, our Founder, Chairman and CEO and Mr. Simon Cai, our Chief Financing and Investment Officer. Management will begin with prepared remarks and the call will conclude with a Q and A session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

In addition, a webcast replay of this call will be available on FTA's Investor Relations website at ir.fultruckalliance.com. I will now turn the call over to our Founder, Chairman and CEO, Mr. Zhang. Please go ahead, sir. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our second quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call.

In the second quarter, FDA demonstrated remarkable resilience in navigating both opportunities and challenges in the external environment, By leveraging digitalization and intelligent technologies, we continue to help shippers reduce logistics costs and enhance operational efficiency across the road freight industry. Through improvements in fulfillment efficiency and optimization of the user experience, our platform reached a new milestone with fulfilled orders totaling RMB60.8 million, a 23.8% year over year increase, underscoring the ongoing shift from offline to online logistics operation. Our key operating metrics also reached record highs in this quarter, reflecting meaningful progress across shipper growth, trucker capacity and matching efficiency as well as technology enablement. On the user front, we continue to invest in long term brand building and online user acquisition among the 30,000,000 potential SME shippers nationwide. Simultaneously, our refined operations across cargo categories optimized the shipping experience for existing users throughout the order placement, freight matching and fulfillment process.

As a result, average shipper MAUs in the second quarter exceeded 3,160,000, 19.3% year over year increase, while our shipper members surpassed 1,200,000, demonstrating enhanced user engagement and stickiness. Notably, the order contribution from direct shoppers rose to 53%, reflecting continued optimization of our user base. To further boost our trucker capacity and enhance matching efficiency, we advanced our trucker credit rating and membership program encouraging service quality improvements under the guiding principle of excellent service, more orders, higher income for truckers. We also strengthened protections and support for truckers, enhancing their sense of value and recognition. By the end of the quarter, the number of active truckers fulfilling orders over the past twelve months rose to 4,340,000, up approximately 9% year over year, while trucker membership approached 1,000,000, reflecting rising engagement and loyalty.

Against this backdrop, our fulfillment rate reached a new high of 40.7%, an improvement of approximately seven percentage points year over year. On the technology front, we remain focused on addressing the core pain points in the freight matching process. Leveraging our vast and proprietary transaction data, we advanced AI driven enablement across multiple key process for prime matching to fulfillment externally and from sales and marketing to customer service and operations internally, enhancing both the overall user experience and our operational efficiency. Driven by our disciplined high quality operations, we delivered another quarter of exceptional financial results. Total net revenue reached RMB3.24 billion, an increase of 17.2% year over year with transaction service revenue surging 39.4% year over year to RMB1.33 billion.

Non GAAP adjusted operating income reached RMB1.23 billion, up 76% year over year, while non GAAP adjusted net income rose 39.3 year over year to RMB1.35 billion. Looking ahead, as a pioneer of new quality productive forces in the logistics sector, FDA will remain relentlessly user centric. We will continue to strengthen the healthy development of both our shipper and trucker ecosystems, expand into new markets and drive the industry's digital and intelligent transformation. Through these efforts, we aim to empower enterprises with greater logistics competitiveness. Thank you all once again.

Now, I'll pass the call over to Simon, who will provide an update on our second quarter's business progress and the financial results.

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Thank you all for joining today's earnings conference call. I will now provide an overview of our operational highlights and financial results for the 2025. Let's start with our operations.

We continue to deliver steady and robust growth, once again setting new records across our key operating metrics this quarter. Fulfilled orders rose to million, up 23.8% year over year, consistently outpacing broader freight industry trends. This performance was driven by the expansion of our user base of our shipper base and ongoing improvements in fulfillment efficiency. Our fulfillment rate reached a historical high of 40.7% in the second quarter, an increase of nearly seven percentage points from the prior year, marking yet another record for our platform. Notably, the average fulfillment rate among low and medium frequency direct shippers approached 60%, up almost 10 percentage points year over year.

Orders from these user groups now account for roughly 53% of total fulfilled orders, an increase from last quarter, reflecting ongoing optimization of our shipper user structure and our ecosystem's growing strengths. These breakthrough results underscore the effectiveness of our differentiated operational strategy and lay a strong foundation for further service quality enhancement. Moving to our user base, our average shipper MAUs reached 3,160,000 in the second quarter, up 19.3% year over year. Total shipper members surpassed 1,200,000 by quarter end, another all time high driven primarily by growth in low and medium frequency direct shippers. Since its launch early last year, our two eighty eight membership program has been well received with average monthly active members exceeding 300,000 in the second quarter.

Our twelve month rolling retention rate for shipper members remained above 80, demonstrating our shippers' communities' strong loyalty and engagement. Turning to the trucker side, the number of active truckers who feeding orders through our platform over the past twelve months increased to 4,340,000, hitting a record high. Meanwhile, the next month retention rate for truckers who responded to orders consistently exceeded 85%. During the quarter, we further strengthened our trucker infrastructure, significantly enhancing order tracking completeness, paving the way for high operational efficiency and a better fulfillment experience for truckers. By offering high quality freight orders along with improved guarantees and benefits, we grew our mini member trucker base to over 1,000,000.

These members order acceptance frequency increased substantially, driving parallel growth in business scale and trucker engagement, while further enhancing truckers' stickiness. Shifting now to monetization, supported by the dual engine of order growth and improved monetization efficiency, revenues from our transaction service achieved another quarter of high quality growth, rising 39.4% year over year to RMB1.33 billion. Monetized order penetration reached 86.7%, up more than five percentage points from the prior year, while average monetization per order increased to RMB25.2 from RMB23.9. Highly targeted operations within our service ecosystems are consistently strengthening our monetization capabilities. Leveraging a more sophisticated credit rating system and tiered incentive programs for truckers, we effectively addressed the diversified needs of both high volume and long tail shippers.

These efforts safeguarded trucker income and retention while also enhancing both order volumes and monetization efficiency. Looking ahead, we will continue to leverage our intelligent freight matching system and flexible subsidy strategies to further tap into high value users monetization potentials. In parallel, our refined tiered approach to trucker operations will help accelerate the buildup of strategic core transportation capacity, fostering a virtuous cycle of healthy user growth and sustained improvements in monetization efficiency. We believe these initiatives will further strengthen our momentum in 2025, delivering long term value for our platform and stakeholders. Now I'd like to provide a brief overview of our twenty twenty five second quarter financial results.

Our total net revenues in the second quarter were million, representing a 17.2% increase year over year, primarily attributable to an increase in revenues from freight matching services. Net revenues from freight matching services, including service fees from freight brokerage models, membership fees from listing models and commissions from transaction services were million in the second quarter, representing an increase of 18% year over year, primarily due to the record increase in transaction service revenue. Revenues from the freight brokerage service in the second quarter were RMB 1,177,900,000.0, representing an increase of 1.1% year over year, primarily attributed to an increase in service fee rate, partially offset by a decrease in transaction volume. Revenues from the freight listing service in the second quarter were RMB242.9 million, up 14.5% year over year, primarily due to the growing number of total paying members. Revenues from the transaction service in the second quarter were 27,100,000.0, up 39.4% year over year, primarily driven by increased order volume penetration rate and per order transaction service fee.

Revenues from value added services in the second quarter were RMB491.2 million, up 12.8% year over year. The increase was primarily due to growing demand for our credit solutions. Second quarter cost of revenues was RMB 1,238,400,000.0, a decrease of 5.6% from RMB 1,312,100,000.0 in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to decreases in VAT related tax surcharges and other tax costs net of grants from government authorities. And these tax related costs net of government grants totaled RMB 1,000,000,087,100,000.0, representing a decrease of 7.6% from RMB 1,000,000,176,300,000.0 in the same period of 2024, primarily due to a decrease in tax costs net of government refunds related to our freight brokerage service.

Our sales and marketing expenses in the second quarter were RMB433.8 million compared with RMB372.3 million in the same period of 2024. The increase was primarily due to an increase in advertising and marketing expenses for user acquisitions. General and administrative expenses in the second quarter were RMB170.3 million compared with RMB219.2 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to lower share based compensation expenses. R and D expenses in the second quarter were RMB189.6 million compared with RMB232.1 million in the same period of 2024.

The decrease was primarily due to lower salary and benefits expenses. Income from operations in the second quarter was RMB1139.6 million, an increase of 101.6% from RMB 5 and 65,400,000.0 in the same period of 2024. Net income in the second quarter was 1,264,800,000.0, an increase of 50.5% from RMB 8 and 40,500,000.0 in the same period of 2024. Under non GAAP measures, our adjusted operating income in the second quarter was RMB 1,230,100,000.0, an increase of 76% from RMB $699,000,000 in the same period of 2024. Our adjusted net income in the second quarter was RMB1.352.1 million, an increase of 39.3% from RMB97.9 million in the same period of 2024.

Basic income per ADS was RMB1.2 in the second quarter compared with RMB0.79 in the same period of 2024. Non GAAP adjusted basic net income per ADS was RMB1.28 in the 2025 compared with RMB0.92 in the same period of 2024. Non GAAP adjusted diluted net income per ADS was RMB1.27 in the second quarter compared with RMB0.91 in the same period of 2024. As of 06/30/2025, the company had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short term investments, long term time deposit and wealth management products, maturities over one year of RMB29.5 billion in total compared with RMB29.2 billion as of 12/31/2024. As stated in our announcement on August 1, to ensure the sustainable development of our freight brokerage business, the company has decided to increase the freight brokerage service fee starting in August, aiming to reduce reliance on government subsidies and mitigate associated uncertainties.

This adjustment may lead to higher cost for shippers and we anticipate a significant decline in freight brokerage transaction volume beginning in the quarter ending 09/30/2025. Consequently, revenues from freight brokerage business are expected to decrease while costs are likely to rise, which may exert some pressure on profitability. That said, we expect the shift in the freight brokerage business will have limited impact on our transaction service business. Based on this outlook, we expect our total net revenues to be between billion and RMB3.17 billion for the 2025, representing a year over year growth rate of approximately 1.3% to 4.6. Excluding freight brokerage service, net revenues are expected to range from RMB2.16 billion to RMB2.26 billion, reflecting an estimated year over year growth rate of 23.4% to 29.1%.

These forecasts are based on our current and preliminary view of the market and operational conditions, which are subject to change and cannot be predicted with reasonable accuracy as of the date hereof. That concludes our prepared remarks. We would now like to open the call to Q and A. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank Your first question comes from Eddie Huang with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Eddy Wang (Executive Director)

Thank you management for taking my question. My question is regarding the fulfilled orders. We have seen that the fulfilled orders increased by 24% year over year in the second quarter and the fulfillment rate increased to around 41%, whilst maintaining very strong growth momentum. What are the key factors driving this growth? How do you view the fulfilled order volume growth in the second half of this year as well as for the full year? Thank you.

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you, Eddie. In the past second quarter, our fulfilled orders continued to increase steadily, significantly outperforming the broader freight market. We attribute this strong growth to three key elements, our ongoing user base expansion, the optimization of shipper user structure and our product and service upgrades. First, the consistently rapid expansion of both shippers and trucker user base has laid a solid foundation for order growth. Shipper side, rising demand among the SME owners to reduce costs and improve efficiency along with increased appetite for digital and intelligent transformation has accelerated the shift of shippers from offline to online.

Our average monthly active shippers exceeded 3,160,000 in the second quarter, hitting an all time high. On the trucker side, more truckers who traditionally operated offline took orders through online platforms, effectively boosting transportation capacity. The continued expansion on both the supply and demand sides has further supported order growth. And second, the continued optimization of our shipper user base has driven stronger order stickiness. Our high quality shipper segments, who are mostly low and medium frequency direct shippers, have delivered consistent growth in average fulfilled orders per user, thanks to ongoing platform service refinement, reflecting stronger retention and stickiness.

The other contribution of direct shipper further increased to 53% in the second quarter, that is up four percentage points year over year. In the meantime, our average fulfillment rate for these direct shippers surpassed 60% threshold for the first time. This user mix progress was a key structural driver of the overall increasing order volume and fulfillment rates. Thirdly, our further upgraded products and operational strategies have strengthened certainty level of order fulfillment. For example, in the second quarter, we rolled out an intelligent matching system that prioritized dispatching orders to truckers closest to the shipping location before gradually expanding outwards.

This close to far strategy effectively cut down matching time and improved the truckers order response efficiency and fulfillment reliability. Meanwhile, on the shipper side, we have fine tuned our shipper information intake process, helping truckers get a clearer and more complete picture of the cargo before accepting orders, which has reduced cancellation caused by information gaps. For the full year, we remain optimistic about the continued growth in our fulfilled orders. While the macro uncertainties are likely to persist in the second half, we feel our relatively positive outlook is justified given our leading edge and strong market position in the freight matching service and the online penetration is still low. We will continue optimizing user structure and enhancing service standards to keep driving higher quality order conversions, while also refining our product and service operations to boost user engagement and retention among small and medium sized shippers and core trucker groups.

We're confident these efforts will further solidify our platform's industry leadership and bring us closer to our full year order growth target. Thank you.

Eddy Wang (Executive Director)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Charlie Chen with China Renaissance. Please go ahead.

Charlie Chen (Head of Research)

Thanks management to take my questions. In the second quarter, the number of monthly active shippers reached 3,160,000, representing a year over year growth of 19.3%. What are the main drivers behind this growth? And could you brief us on the progress of the shipper member business in the second quarter? Thank you.

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you, Charlie. In the second quarter, the number of monthly active shippers maintained a solid growth trajectory we have observed in the past few quarters. This momentum was primarily driven by improved user acquisition efficiency and consistent enhancement to product experience. First, we continue to optimize our user acquisition strategy. We cut back on low conversion marketing placement channels and shifted resources to high conversion channels, such as online app store advertising and achieving better ROI within a controlled budget.

New shippers' willingness to engage and the conversion rate of their first postings to fulfillment both improved significantly, driving ongoing improvements in the quality of new users. Second, our efforts to increase engagement and retention among existing users contributed to the sustained MAU growth. We refined key features such as trucker trajectory completeness and real time trucker locations, enhancing shippers' confidence in our fulfillment capabilities. And this posted both overall shipment frequency and fulfillment rates, elevating user stickiness. Sequentially, our shipper MAU growth eased slightly quarter over quarter, mainly due to reduced activity among intermediary sixteen eighty eight member shippers as we stayed more focused on serving direct shippers and strengthen our platform service capabilities, fulfillment experience and matching efficiency, more direct shippers opt to post orders directly onto our platform, reducing the role of intermediary brokers.

This shift was essentially an improvement in our platform's ecosystem quality, marking progress towards a more sustained shipper user cluster. Regarding membership program, the number of shipper members continued to steadily increase in the second quarter with existing shipper members hitting 1,210,000 by quarter end. And this growth was primarily driven by our ongoing enhancements to our membership programs, effective execution of our tiered pricing strategies and stable retention among existing members. The rapid growth of many member shippers remained the primary driver of shipper member growth. Promotion for our two eighty eight membership program effectively lowered the initial payment threshold, driving first time conversions among low and medium frequency direct shippers.

Data shows that our tiered approach to member operations has started to pay off, notably in the second quarter, among two A8 members who used up their shipments used up their shipment allowance and choose to renew nearly 30% upgraded to the six eighty eight membership demonstrating users increasing trust and reliance on our platform services. In the meantime, retention among existing shipper members remained stable. As of the end of the second quarter, our twelve month rolling retention rate for shipper members remained above 80%. This sustained high level over multiple quarters reflects our continuous efforts to improve member experience. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on high quality direct shipper operations, expanding the share of core users while naturally phasing out intermediary shippers.

In terms of the membership program, we will further enhance renewal rates for many member shippers and encourage upgrades to higher tier members, leveraging our tiered approach to members' operations and targeted benefits. This will enable us to boost overall payment rates and user lifecycle value, fueling our platforms, order growth and enhancing transaction quality. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Your next question comes from Wenjie Chan with CICC. Please go ahead.

Wenjie Zhang (Equity Research Senior Associate)

I'll do the translation for myself. Thank you management for taking my question.

We know that in early July, several major domestic online freight platforms have jointly signed the industry self regulation convention. Under the context, what measures have you put in place?

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you, Wanjie. That's a good question. The industry self regulation convention aimed to protect truckers' legitimate rights and foster healthier, more sustainable industry ecosystems. Our platform responded swiftly with supplementary guidance and various measures aimed at helping truckers take orders confidently and receive payment promptly and operate with the peace of mind. In terms of freight rate protection, we strengthened our oversight of shippers and provided truckers with robust support in resolving payment issues through both customer service and legal channels.

We have also expanded our freight rate protection program for eligible trucker members. For orders that are not settled on time, the platform will advance or partially cover payments per established rules, ensuring that truckers' cash flow is more stable and predictable. To improve transaction fairness, we have taken steps to curb market disrupting behaviors such as malicious order flipping, fake order taking and frequent cancellations. Leveraging algorithm monitoring and optimization, we're able to block ultra low priced or otherwise unreasonable freight resources, helping safeguard truckers' earnings. Shippers or truckers who violate platform rules may face account suspension or blacklisting.

At the same time, we have made reporting channels more accessible, encouraging truckers to share tips and help maintain a transparent fair trading environment. Finally, we are enhancing communication and feedback mechanism by regularly hosting trucker discussion panels in person where truckers can share their thoughts on what matters most to them, including rights protection and rule optimization. We also gradually open channels for truckers to submit reports, publicly share feedback and track resolution, so we can ensure closure of reported issues. These initiatives are designed to reinforce truckers' sense of security, satisfaction and trust when operating on our platform, while fostering a stable long lasting partnership between the platform and the trucker community.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Yuan Liao with Citi. Please go ahead.

Yuan Liao (Internet Media Research Assistant)

Thanks management for taking my questions. Congrats for the strong results in the second quarter. And we see that the company adjusted its freight brokerage service on August 1. So what operational changes has been made in sales? And do you observe any user behavior shift?

And how should we view the future prospects in the financial contribution of the Nai Lingbao business? Thank you.

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you. In early August, in response to the upcoming cancellation of government grants, we promptly increased the fee rate for freight brokerage service to between 10% to 11% to cover the increased tax costs and other operating costs related to the business. At the operational level, we have been focused on strengthening existing customer communication and retention with emphasis on ensuring a seamless experience for shippers placing invoicing and also freight matching orders. At the same time, we have continued to enhance our freight matching services to maintain stable fulfillment performance. Early observations suggest that the retention of these users remain broadly in line with our expectation following the fee rate adjustment, confirming the core value of our platform's freight matching service in driving user engagement and loyalty.

On group level, we believe the adjustments to our freight brokerage business will have limited impact on other freight management service. We expect that as other platforms will provide a similar freight brokerage service services complete fee rate adjustments sooner or later, those smaller players with limited value add other than low priced invoicing service will exit the market eventually. This is likely to bring some users back to the FTA and support a new wave of consolidation in the freight sector, further highlighting the core value of our platform delivers to both shippers and truckers. From a financial standpoint, we believe the reduced profit contribution of freight brokerage will, over the long run, help us optimize our revenue structure and key operating metrics, including profitability. It will also reduce cash flow uncertainty arising from receivables receivable local government grants, allowing our earnings to more accurately reflect the true value of our core operations and providing a stronger foundation for sustainable revenue and profit growth in the future. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Richie Sun with HSBC. Please go ahead.

Ritchie Sun (Director - Internet research)

Thank you management for taking my question. I want to ask about the interest of shipment business. So how did this segment perform in the second quarter? And on the operation side, what were the key initiatives involved? Thank you.

Simon Chong Cai (Chief Financing & Investment Officer)

Thank you, Reggie. Since the beginning of the second quarter, we have reshuffled our entrusted shipment service as part of our broader business strategy optimization. Starting in April, we streamlined product offerings by discontinuing the instructed entrusted shipment carpooling service and focusing exclusively on the full truckload transactions under the entrusted shipment segment. This shift was driven by two considerations. First, from a product positioning perspective, the entrusted shipment business is built around providing a high quality, highly reliable transportation experience for shippers with stringent requirements for timeliness and stability.

In contrast, less than truckload carpooling services are primarily cost driven, characterized by lower freight rates and less certainty in fulfillment. This inherent mismatch with our brand positioning prompted us to reshuffle the carpooling service and concentrate on our resources on full truckload offering and further enhancing the premium image of the entrusted shipment segment. Second, from an operational efficiency standpoint, full truckload orders in the entrusted shipment generally achieve higher freight rates and stronger fulfillment performance, making them more attractive to truckers. This advantage was amplified in May when we fully implement the price consistency mechanism under which freight rates for entrusted shipment orders are notably higher than standard freight orders. The resulting income potential has increased trucker engagement and expanded the availability of high quality transportation capacity on our platform.

While the restructuring of services offering under entrusted shipment program led to a short term slowdown in order volume growth, We believe this strategic adjustment will over the medium to long term strengthen user mindsets with premium brand positioning creating differentiated competitive advantages and help cultivate a higher quality ecosystem of both shippers and truckers. On the monetization front, the premium pricing strategy has created a more favorable revenue environment and improved the stability in revenues from transaction service. Looking ahead, we will continue refining the shipment business model focusing on the dual engines of efficient matching and premium service to further enhance user experience, deepen platform engagement and solidify its role as a core pillar of our product portfolio. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

And that concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any additional or closing comments.

Mao Mao (Head - Investor Relations)

Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at Food Truck Alliance directly or TPG Investor Relations. Have a good day.