YTO Express's adjusted net profit increased by more than 80% in the first half of the year, and it is expected that unit prices will remain stable this year
2024-08-17
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
YTO Express, the leader in LTL express delivery, saw its net profit increase by more than 80% year-on-year in the first half of the year, with a number of indicators such as revenue and gross profit hitting historical highs for the same period.
On the evening of August 15, YTO Express (9956.HK) announced its results for the first half of 2024. In the first half of the year, YTO Express achieved revenue of 5.289 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%, and adjusted pre-tax profit of 578 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 84.1%; adjusted pre-tax profit margin was 10.9%, an increase of 4.0 percentage points year-on-year; adjusted net profit was 430 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 82.4%; adjusted net profit margin was 8.1%, an increase of 2.9 percentage points year-on-year.
According to Wind data, YTO Express's revenue and net profit in the first half of this year both hit record highs for the same period in history.
YTO Express's past financial data, from Wind
In the first half of the year, YTO achieved a gross profit of 878 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59%; the gross profit margin was 16.6%, an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared with the same period last year. In addition, YTO's debt repayment ability continued to improve in the first half of the year, with the current ratio increasing from 115% to 160%, a year-on-year increase of 39.1%; the debt-to-asset ratio decreased from 52% to 45%, a year-on-year decrease of 13.5 percentage points.
The financial report pointed out that the revenue growth of YTO Express in the first half of the year was mainly due to the increase in freight volume offsetting the decrease in the unit price of LTL services. The increase in gross profit and gross profit margin is mainly due to the increase in total freight volume and revenue in the first half of 2024, the significant increase in the volume of medium and high gross profit products, namely mini and small-ticket LTL, and the optimization of unit gross profit due to continuous lean operations. Xu Hao, chief financial officer of YTO Express, said in a conference call that since the beginning of 2023, the gross profit margin has shown a clear upward trend driven by the reshaping of the price system and continuous cost reduction. The gross profit margin in the second quarter of this year was the best level in history. Entering the third quarter, due to the regular seasonal impact of declining demand, the gross profit margin in July and August is expected to decline slightly from the second quarter, but it is still at a controllable and relatively high level in history.
YTO Express, a comprehensive service-oriented logistics company, was established in Shanghai on June 1, 2010. It was the first in the industry to pioneer the freight partner platform model and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2021.
"Based on the current operating conditions and future prospects, the board of directors and management are very confident in the long-term performance growth of Aneng, so we expect to continue to implement stock repurchases and other matters in the second half of the year based on the situation." In the conference call, Xu Hao said that the company is actively promoting and evaluating relevant shareholder return actions. In terms of repurchase, the company announced in June this year that it plans to use no more than HK$150 million to carry out repurchases this year. As of August 15, the cumulative amount of stocks purchased through the trustee is approximately HK$27 million.
Regarding dividends, Xu Hao said that as Aneng continues to deliver on its performance, the company's board of directors is very willing to share the results of its operations with shareholders. At present, Aneng has already established a project and is actively discussing and promoting a dividend plan, including combining relevant provisions of the new company law, comprehensively evaluating the path of dividends under different circumstances, and striving to formulate and implement a stable and sustainable dividend plan; the company will communicate relevant progress with the market in a timely manner.
As of the close of August 16, YTO Express was trading at HK$7.38 per share, up 1.1%.
According to the financial report, in the first half of this year, YTO Express's freight volume increased to 6.421 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%; while the unit price of LTL transportation dropped from 854 yuan/ton in the same period last year to 824 yuan/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%. YTO Express pointed out that the decline in the unit price of LTL transportation was mainly due to the company's implementation of an active cost-oriented pricing strategy, which reduced the unit price of transportation services.
Data on cargo volume, transport unit price and cost in the first half of the year
In terms of cargo volume growth, YTO Express Chief Financial Officer Xu Hao pointed out in a conference call that it mainly came from channel expansion. YTO expanded more than 1,000 first-level outlets in the first half of the year. At the same time, the new outlets were quickly integrated into the YTO system, driving high-quality growth in overall scale.
In the first half of this year, YTO Express continued to focus on the effective scale growth of the high-gross-profit kilogram segment. Specifically, the total number of tickets for YTO Express in the first half of the year was 72.365 million, a year-on-year increase of 28%; the average weight of each ticket was 89 kilograms, a year-on-year decrease of 5 kilograms, a decrease of 5.3%. In terms of cargo weight structure, the more profitable mini tickets (0-70kg) and small ticket LTL (70-300kg) have become the main driving force for cargo volume growth, with year-on-year growth rates of 25.6% and 19.6% respectively. Among them, the growth of mini tickets and small ticket LTL freight volume led to a 28% increase in the total number of tickets.
In terms of cost, YTO Express's operating cost in the first half of the year was 4.41 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.3%. In terms of timeliness and service, the average shipping time in the first half of the year was shortened by 5.8% year-on-year to less than 68 hours; the number of damaged items per 100,000 pieces in the first half of the year decreased by 77.1% year-on-year, and the number of lost items per 100,000 pieces decreased by 95.3% year-on-year.
In terms of the outlook for subsequent performance, Xu Hao said in the conference call that the structural impact of business changes in 2023 is expected to continue until the end of the year. At the same time, the effective implementation of lean management actions and the economies of scale brought about by double-digit growth, as well as the new technologies and tools that are currently being implemented, will help Aneng continue to reduce costs and control expenses, and achieve stable profit delivery.
Combined with the prediction of the peak season starting in September, YTO Express raised its full-year performance guidance. Xu Hao introduced in the conference call that YTO expects the annual cargo volume in 2024 to increase by about 15% year-on-year, and the growth rate of revenue is basically the same as the growth rate of cargo volume. The gross profit margin is expected to remain at around 16% for the whole year, and the adjusted pre-tax profit is expected to increase by 10% to 1.05 billion yuan; the adjusted net profit is expected to be about 800 million yuan.
In terms of profit outlook, Qin Xinghua, co-chairman of Aneng, said that in the next five years, Aneng will take into account the balance of all stakeholders in its overall profitability. Aneng will use its existing scale cost and service advantages to gradually expand its market share.
Regarding the competition brought by Xinqi.com's peers, Jin Yun, executive director and chief operating officer of YTO Express, pointed out that Xinqi.com's business direction is mainly medium-term and large-ticket LTL of more than 300 kilograms. Although there is some overlap with YTO's business, YTO's current average ticket weight is significantly lower than this range, so there is no very direct competitive relationship in the short term.
"Since Aneng started the transformation in the fourth quarter of 2022, the company's cost capabilities, services and quality are currently in the forefront. The company's overall unit price this year is expected to remain stable. Judging from the current market situation, the industry's price level may fluctuate with region and season." Qin Xinghua, co-chairman of Aneng, said in a conference call that he did not think there would be a price war in the future. The express delivery market is relatively mature, and the core still lies in the five dimensions of cost control, quality and service quality improvement, stable timeliness and network coverage. The requirements for enterprises in different periods are different, and each company's focus is also different. The price war has gradually turned into a value war. Most companies in the express delivery industry will pay more attention to profits and quality development to improve operating efficiency and capital returns.
The Paper reporter Shao Bingyan and intern Guo Yichen
(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the "The Paper" APP)
