Dada Nexus Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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March 25, 2024

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for Data's 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's call, Ms. Caroline Dong, Head of Investor Relations for Data.

Operator

Please proceed.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q4 and the fiscal year 2023 earnings conference call. On the call today from data, we have Mr. Bin Fu, Interim President and Mr. Henry Junmao, CFO.

Speaker 1

Mr. Fu will talk about our operations and company highlights, then Mr. Mao will discuss the financials. They will both be available to answer your questions during the Q and A session. Please kindly note that Mr.

Speaker 1

Fu will give his remarks and answer questions in Chinese and the consecutive translation will be provided. In case of any discrepancy between the original remarks and the translated version, statements in the original remarks should prevail. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this conference call contains forward looking statements. Please refer to our latest Safe Harbor statement in the earnings press release on our IR website, which applies to this call. Also, during this call, we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures.

Speaker 1

Please also refer to our earnings press release, which contains a reconciliation of non GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures. Finally, please note that, unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during this conference call are in RMB. It is now my pleasure to introduce our Interim President, Mr. Fu. Mr.

Speaker 1

Fu, please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Caroline, and thank you all for joining us. Before we get into the highlights from the quarter, I would like to address the recent independent review results released by the company on March 5, 2024. Back in January, we disclosed that during a routine internal audit, the company identified potential overstatement in revenues and costs related to online advertising and marketing services for the 1st 3 quarters of 2023. The company took this matter seriously and the Audit Committee of the Board immediately initiated an independent review with the assistance of a third party independent professional advisors consisting of a leading international law firm and forensic accounting experts from an international consulting firm that is not the company's auditor. Upon the substantial completion of the review, we announced the findings and remedial measures on March 5, including correction of certain information and the relevant past financial statements where necessary and appropriate.

Speaker 2

As you may have noticed, corrected line items of financial statements for the 1st 3 quarters of 2023 are presented in our earnings release, and it's important to note that neither net profit or loss nor cash balance was impacted by the correction in the corresponding periods. As part of our dedication to reinforcing corporate governance, we will enhance the company's internal policies, systems and controls and record keeping and implement rigorous internal audits with enhanced monitoring and oversight mechanisms going forward to strengthen transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels of the company. Now let's go through our financial and business performance. During the Q4 of 2023, we were faced with challenges. Tata Group made steady progress in improving both top line and operating efficiency.

Speaker 2

Our total net revenues increased by 3% and adjusted net margin improved by 1 percentage point year over year. Before I get into the operational highlights from our 2 platforms, a brief update on our cooperation with JD.com. With respect to JD DJ, we continued to reach more JD users and optimize their user experience. In the 4th quarter, the number of monthly average Xiaoxiao transacting users increased by 50% year on year. To break down by entry point, the standalone Xiaoxiao Datap saw its DAU more than double year on year, driven by increased click through rate on the JD homepage.

Speaker 2

Meanwhile, order conversion rate within the Shao Shao tab increased by more than 1 percentage point year on year. As a result, GMV generated by online traffic on the XiaoxiDai tab more than tripled year on year. For search results exposure, another major entry point on JD, we're glad to see that GMV generated by users who actively filter out non XiaoxiDA products among search results increased by 30% year on year in the 4th quarter, demonstrating growing on demand mind share among JD users. Meanwhile, addanao's cooperation with daily.com further strengthened. In the Q4, Adanao continued to provide dedicated support to JD's on demand delivery needs with orders fulfilled nearly doubling year on year.

Speaker 2

Now let's go through the detailed 4th quarter operational highlights for JDDJ, a leading local on demand retail platform in China. In the Q4, we continued to deepen cooperation with large chains and empower more SMEs. As of the end of 2023, JDDJ had on boarded over 500,000 retail stores, more than doubling from the end of 2022. In the supermarket category, we collaborated closely with over 90 as of the top 100 supermarket chains as well as regional champions to provide our users with industry leading high quality supplies. At the same time, we deepened the cooperation with major convenience store chains, such as JD Convenience Store, the offline store format empowered by JD dotcom Meijia, the largest convenience store operator in China in terms of store count and Lawson, the 5th largest by the same metric.

Speaker 2

Total GMV generated by convenience stores in the 4th quarter increased about more than 4 times year on year. Moving on to consumer electronics. In the smartphone subcategory, the GMV of Oppo and Samsung mobile phones more than doubled year on year in Q4. In the computer and accessories subcategory, digital products maintained a rapid GMV growth of more than 50% year on year and we also made significant progress in essential accessories such as chargers. Turning to the home appliance and home furnishing category.

Speaker 2

During the quarter, we established new partnerships with major appliance brands such as Panasonic and Xiaobin, one of China's top kitchen appliance brands. Meanwhile, we worked more closely with leading smart locks manufacturers such as Kedas, Taidi Shi. Collectively, we newly onboarded over 10,000 home appliance and home furnishing stores onto our platform. As a result, in the Q4, GMV of home appliance merchants increased by more than 50% year on year, while GMV of home furnishing merchants nearly doubled year on year. In the liquor category, GMV in the 4th quarter increased by more than 3 times year on year, driven by regional store expansion.

Speaker 2

In the apparel category, GMV surged more than threefold, driven by our continued expansion in the sports and outdoor segment and differentiation of product offerings. Technological empowerment is an important focus in our partnerships with retailers. Haibo, our omni channel audio operating system has been deployed in more than 13,000 stores as of year end 2023, an increase of over 40% from the end of 2022. In 2023, Hibo's customer retention rate remained at around 90% despite a significantly enlarged customer base. This underscores the recognition among merchants of Hibo's ability to enhance their operational efficiency.

Speaker 2

We continue to add more features to Hibo and improve its existing functionality to help merchants address pain points and improve operations. For example, in the Q4, Hibo added a new feature to intelligently identify fraudulent orders and provides real time monitoring and alert thus enhancing merchants' risk control capabilities and operational security. Let's move on to data now, the leading local on demand delivery platform in China. As of the end of 2023, our intra city delivery and last mile businesses covered over 2,500 over 2,000 600 cities and counties respectively penetrating into more low tier cities. In 2023, we had more than 1,200,000 annual active riders on the data now platform, an increase of more than 20% year on year, further expanding flexible employment opportunities for a wide range of workers.

Speaker 2

For our KA or chain mentions business, in the 4th quarter, KA business delivered high quality growth with orders fulfilled increasing by more than 20% year on year. Average gross profit per order continuously improving year on year and fulfillment rate at above 95%. The quality and cost effectiveness of our fulfillment services remain well recognized by merchants. Notably, all of the top 50 revenue contributors among our KA clients in 2022 continued to rely on our services in 2023. In the beverage KA category, orders fulfilled increased by more than 60% year on year in the Q4.

Speaker 2

In October, we received the best strategic partner award from Looking Coffee, the largest coffee chain in China by Store Camp. In addition, we also received recognition from Caiji, a popular new style tea chain in China, having fulfilled a rapidly growing volume of orders with high quality service since the establishment of our strategic partnership in early 2023. In the restaurant KA category, orders fulfilled for newly partnered brands such as Tastyn, Chinese style burger chain also ramped up quickly. Moving on to our SME and C2C business. The number of SME and C2C orders fulfilled in the 4th quarter increased by more than 20% year on year from the high base in the prior year period, driven by pricing optimization, expansion into new verticals and increased penetration into lower tier cities.

Speaker 2

This concludes the overview of our business performance. To wrap up, it was a robust close to the year. And heading into 2024, we will continue to place healthy growth at the heart of our overall strategy for creating shareholder value. I will now pass the call over to Henry to go through our financials for the Q4 fiscal year 2023. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Mr. Fu. I'm pleased to be on my first earnings call as CFO of Tata Group to discuss our financial performance with our valued analysts and investors. Just a few housekeeping items before we go over the numbers. We believe year over year comparisons are the most useful way to evaluate our performance.

Speaker 3

Therefore, all percentage of changes I'm going to give will be on year over year basis and all figures are in RMB unless otherwise noted. In addition, figures for full year 2023 have reflected the correction of past financial statements, details of which are laid out in Annex to our earnings release. Total net revenues in the 4th quarter increased by 3% to RMB2.75 billion. Net revenues from JDDJ reached RMB1.55 billion mainly due to the decrease in online advertising and marketing services revenue. Net revenues from data now increased by 36% to RMB1.2 billion mainly driven by the increases in order volume of interested delivery services to chain merchants.

Speaker 3

Moving over to cost and expense side, operations and support costs were RMB1.9 billion. The increase was primarily due to an increase in rider cost as a result of increase in order volume for intra city delivery services provided to various chain merchants. Selling and marketing expenses decreased to RMB1 1,000,000,000, primarily due to a decrease in promotional activities conducted on JDDJ platform and a decrease in advertising and marketing expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased to RMB89 1,000,000 as a result of decreased amortization of intangibles related with the acquisition of JDDJ in 2016 and reduced share based compensation expenses. Research and development expenses decreased to RMB91 1,000,000 mainly due to lower R and D personnel costs.

Speaker 3

Impairment loss of goodwill was RMB958 1,000,000 for the Q4 of 2023. Non GAAP net loss was RMB159 1,000,000, the improvement compared with a loss of RMB179 1,000,000 in the Q4 of 2022. Non GAAP net loss margin was 5.8%, improving by 1 percentage point year over year. As of December 31, 2023, we had RMB4 1,000,000,000 in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short term investments. I will now quickly run through a few key full year 2023 financial results.

Speaker 3

Further details can be found in our earnings release. Total net revenues in 2023 increased by 12% to RMB10.5 billion, With revenue from JDDJ growing by 5% to RMB6.5 billion and revenue from data now growing by 27% to RMB4 1,000,000,000. Operations and support costs were RMB6.5 billion compared with RMB5.7 billion in 2022. Selling and marketing expenses were RMB4.5 billion compared with RMB4.7 billion last year. General and administrative expenses were RMB253 1,000,000 compared with RMB409 1,000,000 in 2022.

Speaker 3

Research and development expenses were RMB416 1,000,000 compared with RMB631 1,000,000 in 2022. Our non GAAP net loss was RMB342 1,000,000 compared with RMB1.3 billion in 2022. Non GAAP net loss margin was 3.3%, improving by 11 percentage points year over year. In addition, we have announced that the Board of Directors have authorized a share repurchase program of up to USD 40,000,000 of American depository shares funded by our existing cash balance for a 2 year period through March 2026. Our decision to repurchase shares is part of our broader strategy to create long term value for our shareholders.

Speaker 3

We will stay committed to prioritizing shareholder interest and enhancing shareholder returns. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we are now ready to begin the Q and A session. Thank

Speaker 2

you. Thank

Operator

Your first question comes from Li Zhang with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Two questions here. First, can you share more color with us in terms of the macro and the consumption downgrade, the impact to our business? Secondly, wondering your overall 2024 outlook, including the subsidy plan of JDDJ business?

Operator

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you for your question. I will answer your first one. In 2023, as the economy and society normalized, the consumption market gradually recovered. Nonetheless, there was still room for consumers' spending power and confidence to improve. Heading into 2024 with the economy poised to further rebound and improve as well as the introduction of a series of macro stimulus and pro consumption policies.

Speaker 2

The recovery and expansion of consumption will be further strengthened. Last year, service consumption such as catering, tourism and entertainment boomed, thanks to the return of offline consumption scenarios, as well as the unleashing of handset demand, which took off some steam from the recovery of physical goods consumption. Consumption data for the 1st 2 months of the year indicates continued strength in service consumption, such as catering and tourism and a stable recovery in physical goods consumption. Looking ahead, we expect a more balanced wallet share of services versus physical goods this year. The on demand retail sector is still in the early days of development.

Speaker 2

Given the edge of on demand retail in both convenience and product selection, we remain confident that its penetration among retail sales can further trend up in the long run.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Lei. And I will take your second question. So regarding the overall strategy, I think it's handy for with respect to JDDJ, I think it definitely will continue to enrich its supply to meet the rising consumer demand for the online demand shopping, enhancing our user experience and mind share. Meanwhile, I think we will focus on the health of JDDJ's business and improve the operating efficiency. In terms of the promotion activities and consumer incentives, I think we will continuously invest in a targeted manner to drive the growth, while ensuring the health of the business by evaluating the ROI across different channels, user demographics and categories to optimize our subsidy efficiency.

Speaker 3

And also with respect to DataNow, I think we all know that DataNow has its own adventures nationwide rider network. So I don't know we're continuously focused on its KA business with sustained efforts to enhance its services and technologies. Going forward, I think that and I will work more closely with existing customers while proactively acquiring new clients to ride on the boom of on demand delivery to seek business growth along with the efficiency gains. And I hope that answers your question.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thanks management for taking my question. I have two questions. First, for data now, how do you see the key order and the revenue momentum this year? And my second question is about JDDJ. Could you please provide any color about JDDJ's outlook in 2024?

Speaker 2

Thank you. Thank you. I will take the first question. In the Q4 of 2023, our KA business delivered high quality growth with the number of orders fulfilled increasing by more than 20% year on year as well as rapid revenue growth year on year. The healthy momentum primarily resulted from robust growth of our beverage chain customers as well as our deepened cooperation with them.

Speaker 2

And we're pleased to see that these trends remain ongoing and we expect that to continue into 2024. We think these trends are likely to sustain, thanks to Dagenau's nationwide wider network, stable and efficient fulfillment, ability to cater to top brands' need for customized services, as well as our competitive edge in cost efficiency. We're confident in attracting more merchant partners in all verticals and deepening partnership with our existing customers. In the long run, we expect to further gain market share in the 3rd party on demand delivery industry and maintain above industry growth.

Speaker 3

Okay. I will take the second question. Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I think regarding JDDJ, so in 2024, we will be laser focused on the high quality growth of the business and tapping into the market opportunities of on demand retail together with jd.com to further improve the shopping experience for the customers and to unleash more synergies with jj.com. And in the long run, we are very confident in delivering sustainable healthy growth given our commitment to the implementation of our on demand retail strategy along with our efforts to enrich the product offerings and to enhance the user experience.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from Zhong Wang with UBS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Thanks management for taking my question. Could management share your strategic focus on JDDJ development? Are we more focusing on user growth and frequency improvement? Or are we continuing to do more cost efficiency improvement and improve unit economics in 2024? Could you give us more color around balancing the top line growth and profitability improvement?

Speaker 4

Thanks.

Speaker 3

Thank you for your question. I think, yes, we have discussed this a lot. I think on one hand, we've always been focused on high quality user growth and high quality improvement in repeat purchase rate and shopping frequency. With users at the heart of our strategy, we will continuously optimize our merchandise offerings, interface design and business operations. Also, we will continue to unleash more synergies with jd.com to efficiently serve consumers diversified on demand shopping needs.

Speaker 3

I think in doing so, we aim to improve the overall user experience and to enhance user mind share. I think for this year, JDDJ will focus on the health of its business growth and adapt a more ROI driven approach to achieve high quality growth and operating efficiency improvement. Our overall goal is to achieve high quality, healthy and sustainable business growth along with the steady improvements in profitability. I mean in the long run, we are very confident in delivering the sustainable high quality growth.

Operator

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Ms. Caroline Do for closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. In closing, on behalf of Tata's management team, we'd like to thank you for your participation in today's call. If you require any further information, please feel free to reach out to us directly. Thank you for joining us today. This concludes

Speaker 4

the call.

Operator

That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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