Q4 2024 Autohome Inc Earnings Call
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Speaker Change: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for Auto Home's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call.
Speaker Change: At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow management's prepared remarks.
Speaker Change: As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. A live and archived webcast of this earnings conference call will also be available on AutoHome's IR website.
Speaker Change: It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Sterling Song, Autohome's IR director. Mr. Song, please go ahead.
Speaker Change: Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone. I'm Sterling, and welcome to Autohome's fourth quarter and two-year 2024 earnings conference call. Earlier today, Autohome distributed its earnings release, which can be found on the company's IR website, ir.com.
www.air.autofoam.com.dn
Speaker Change: Joining us on today's call are Chief Executive Officer Ms. Song Yang and Chief Financial Officer Ms. Craig Yan Zeng.
Speaker Change: Management will go through their prepared remarks, which will be followed by a Q&A session, where they will be available to answer all your questions.
Speaker Change: Before we continue, please note that the discussion today will contain further looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provision of the U.S. Private Security Mitigation Reform Act of 1995
Speaker Change: Forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainty that may cause actual results to deform materially from our current expectations.
Speaker Change: Potential risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those outlined in our public filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Speaker Change: Autohome doesn't undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law.
Speaker Change: Please also know that Autohome's earnings press release and this conference call
include discussions of certain unaudited non-gap financial matters.
Speaker Change: A reconciliation of the non-gap measures to the most directly comparable gap measures can be found in our earnings release. I'll now turn the call over to Autohome CEO, Ms. Yang, for opening remarks. Please go ahead, Ms. Yang.
Speaker Change: Thank you, Sterling. Hello, everyone. This is Song Yang, CEO of Autohome, and thank you for joining our early conference call today.
今天是我作为72家的CEO,第一次参加公司的业绩发布会。
Speaker Change: I believe everyone has seen the company's latest information. Carl Group is now a new shareholder of Riyadh.
Speaker Change: Today is my first time to join the earnings conference call as the CEO of the company. We suppose you have read the update filing by the company earlier today. Higher Group has become the new controlling shareholder of AutoHome.
汽车之家作为中国领先的汽车消费者在线服务平台,以数据加技术为核心支撑,拥有广泛的用户基础,深入的行业洞察与专业内容。
Speaker Change: as well as a strong host factory and financial network, and a stable financial system.
Speaker Change: Haier's strategic investment is a recognition of Tesla's business model and market potential and will contribute to Tesla's long-term development and new activities.
Autohome, as China's leading online automotive consumer platform
is supported by the core foundation of data plus technology.
Speaker Change: both a broad user base, deep industry insights, professional content, a strong network of OEMs and dealers, and a strong financial system.
Speaker Change: Higher strategic investments reflect recognition of Autohome's business model and market potential and will inject new vitality into Autohome's long-term development.
Speaker Change: In the future, the automobile industry will become a key source of income for children.
Speaker Change: to continue to consolidate the development of existing applications, and at the same time to help AIR to advance the management experience and Kataichi's operating system, in the field of user-in-depth experience, smart hardware connection, and automotive new sales, to jointly develop.
Speaker Change: We will continue to enhance Auto-O's intelligent interaction and comprehensive operating service capability to further promote the company's innovation and growth to better serve every user.
Speaker Change: In the future, Autohome will serve as a key hub in Haier's automotive industry ecosystem.
Speaker Change: continuing to solidify and develop the existing businesses while leveraging advanced management experience of higher and operational systems of CARTEC in deeper user experiences.
Speaker Change: Smart hardware connectivity and a new automotive retail to continue to strengthen Autohome's O2O intelligent exchange and a comprehensive service capability, further driving innovation and growth for the company and a better serving every user.
Speaker Change: At the same time, Ping An Group, as a major shareholder of the company, will continue to support the long-term development of Peter's business.
Speaker Change: At the same time, Ping An Group will remain as a key shareholder of the company and will continue to strongly support Autohome's long-term development.
Next, let us take an overview of the company's financials.
Speaker Change: In the year 2024, the breakthrough development of innovation business has come to an end. The total annual revenue is RMB7.4 billion.
Speaker Change: Among them, online marketing and other business income increased by 8.1%, while revenue increased by 33.8%. New business continues to grow strongly, and annual income increased by 55.2%.
Thank you all very much!
全年归属于汽车之家的经调整净利润为人民币20.5亿元
Speaker Change: by adjusting the net profit rate to 29.1%. In addition, the company has announced a total of RMB1.5 billion in Paxi this year.
Speaker Change: As of last week, we have bought back a total of about 8,850,000 U.S. dollars.
Speaker Change: In the future, we will continue to implement the One-Basket Reduction Purchase Plan implemented by the Board of Directors to continue to strengthen shareholder returns.
Speaker Change: We concluded 2024 strongly with significant breakthroughs across each of our innovative businesses. Total revenues for the year reached RMB 7.04 billion, with revenues from online marketplace and others increased by 8.1% year-over-year, and accounted for 33.8% of total revenue.
Speaker Change: Notably, our NEV business maintained strong growth momentum with revenues in 2074 increasing by 55.2% year-over-year.
Speaker Change: Adjusted net income attributable to older homes in 2024 reached RMB 2.05 billion, yielding an adjusted net margin of 29.1%.
Speaker Change: Additionally, we announced a combination of RMB 1.5 billion in dividends for the year, and as of last week, had repurchased approximately $88.5 million worth of shares.
Speaker Change: Moving forward, we remain committed to executing the board's approved dividend and share repurchase program, enhancing our shareholder return.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
二零二四年,我们的线上加线下。
the development strategy for ecology throughout the century.
Speaker Change: With the growth of users, content is strengthened, and the scale of Xinlingshou has been upgraded.
AI application promotion has achieved many important milestones.
Speaker Change: have made significant contributions to the success of innovation and business. Let's take a look at their achievements.
Speaker Change: Our strategic focus throughout 2024 was integrating our online-to-offline ecosystem highlighted by significant milestones in user growth, enhances our content matrix, expansion of our new retail business, and deployment of AI applications.
Speaker Change: which were particularly successful for our innovative businesses. I'd like to take a moment to review these achievements in great detail.
Speaker Change: First of all, Zhijia's online traffic has reached a new high. In December 2014, the number of daily active users exceeded 77 million.
体现了我们以优质内容为核心
Speaker Change: The strategy to stimulate the growth of users is always effective.
Speaker Change: We are also working with many Internet platforms to open up cooperation, through open cooperation, to achieve the purpose of breaking the circle of user groups.
Speaker Change: We will continue to expand our circle of friends. Secondly, we will launch our first aeronautical space station in 2022. In 2023, we will launch our first space station. In 2024, we will launch our first space station. Our channel layout is getting better and better.
Speaker Change: At present, the number of offline Zeng's stores has exceeded 150, achieving an effective brand gathering and a wide range of channels.
Speaker Change: At the same time, we focus on the Xiateng market, holding the Qianyu factory all-year-round, and the Baicheng innovation car show.
Speaker Change: They are covering more than 200 cities In an effort to promote a new and conservatism policy
Speaker Change: In terms of technological innovation, our AI seamlessly integrates all aspects of business.
Speaker Change: From producing content for C-tier consumers to providing operational management and decision-making analysis support for D-tier customers
significantly improve the productivity and operation efficiency of customers.
Speaker Change: First, our online traffic reached new highs again, with average mobile DAU exceeding 77 million in December 2024, reflecting the effectiveness of our high-quality content-driven strategy in driving user growth. We also expanded partners with multiple internet platforms, leveraging open collaboration to engage with a broader demographic and expand our reach.
Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker Change: Since the launch of our first autohome space source in 2022 and the subsequent large-scale rollout at the end of 2023 and the accelerated expansion of satellite stores into low-tier cities in 2024, we've made substantial progress in building out our offline channels.
Speaker Change: A total number of franchised offline stores now exceeds 150, generating strong brand aggregation and extensive channel coverage.
Speaker Change: At the same time, we helped more than 1,200 cities trickle in for new auto shows near over 200 cities during the year, effectively promoting trickle-in for new and EVs into rural areas policies.
Speaker Change: In terms of technological innovation, we've seamlessly integrated AI across all aspects of our business.
Speaker Change: From content creation for consumers to operational management and decision-making analysis for clients, significantly enhancing productivity and operational efficiency for our customers.
Thank you.
汽车是有效拉动内需扩大消费的重要消费品类
This industry is really meaningful to the Chinese economy.
Speaker Change: In the car media arena, we will continue to build differentiated advantages.
Speaker Change: In the online search engine, increasing traffic encounters by collaboration with ecology
Speaker Change: We believe in deep regional market and operational structure. We wish to provide durable and useful service for our customers.
并借助数字化工具将线上和线下连通起来
Speaker Change: to accurately observe the needs of consumers and seize the opportunity to make a change, to establish a positive learning environment from top to bottom.
Speaker Change: In the future, we will continue to target commercial opportunities in the downstream market to deepen the business layout in the target market and upgrade the business model.
Speaker Change: to improve the quality of business and push the company to the next stage of development.
Speaker Change: Automobiles play a crucial role in driving domestic demand and expanding consumption, making the industry vital to China's economic growth.
Speaker Change: In the automotive media sector, we will continue to build differentiated competitive advantages by diversifying and expanding online traffic through our professional content matrix and ecosystem of partnerships.
Speaker Change: We also deepen our presence in offline regional markets with improved services for users and leverage our digital tools.
to connect online and offline operations.
Speaker Change: By utilizing our deep understanding of consumer needs and capitalizing our opportunities to transform the industry.
Speaker Change: We are building a virtual cycle between our online and offline businesses.
Speaker Change: Looking forward, we will continue to target the substantial business opportunities we see in low-tier markets, deepen our presence in these regions, upgrade and refine our business models, and enhance operational quality to propel our development of new hype.
Speaker Change: Next, I would like to invite Mr. Zeng Nian, CFO, to give a detailed introduction on Zijia's business and financial situation in the 4th quarter of 2024 and throughout the year.
Speaker Change: With that, I will now turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Zeng, for a closer look at our fourth quarter and the full year 2024 operating and financial results.
Speaker Change: 谢谢杨总总,大家好,我是汽车之家的首席财务官曾言 Thank you, Ms. Yang. Hello, everyone. I'm Craig Zeng, the CEO of Autohome.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we will continue to achieve results in the field of content construction.
Speaker Change: Thanks to our professional evaluation ability and real-use scenario observation of users, we have focused on the two core technologies of new car intelligence and new energy, creating a series of professional IP proofs that are useful to users and meaningful to the industry.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we continue to make progress in content development, leveraging our professional evaluation capabilities and a deep understanding of our user needs.
Speaker Change: We focus on two core technological areas, smart vehicles and the NEV. With this in mind, we've developed a series of professional IT methods that are both useful for users and beneficial for the industry.
Speaker Change: In December last year, we launched the first book of the winter for the new energy vehicle, Shuang Wen Qu.
Speaker Change: The three main points of the industry, which are low-temperature endurance, slow charging, and high energy consumption, focus on the reliability and comfort of vehicles under low-temperature conditions and carry out all-round tests on new energy vehicles.
The test covered 51 car models from 30 brands
全网曝光量超过6亿次
Speaker Change: and others actively forwarded the content of the program. This shows that we have gained widespread recognition in the industry in terms of content professionalism.
Speaker Change: For example, in December last year, we launched the first winter dual-temperature test program focused on NEV. This initiative directly addressed three major industry pain points under low-temperature conditions, short-range, high-temperature, and high-temperature.
Speaker Change: slow charging, and high energy consumption. We conducted comprehensive tests on the reliability and comfort of vehicles in a low temperature environment.
Speaker Change: covering more than 50 models across 30 brands, generating over 600 million views across various platforms. Multiple OEMs shared our content, and scoring the industry's broad recognition of our expertise in professional content creation.
此外,我们内容专的本地化策略也在成都、西安等多个试点城市落地。
Speaker Change: In these cities, we use the open platform model to create localized content channels.
Speaker Change: to access information on services and promotion activities of local car manufacturers and related businesses, and to connect the needs of local users and local resources.
Speaker Change: Forms a complete issue of essential needs of users and service supply to business cooperation
Speaker Change: Pursuing wrongdoings not only helps us to ease the flow of the downstream market, but also lays the foundation for further expansion of our regional business.
Speaker Change: Quest Mobile data shows that the number of daily users of the Tesla Mobile Home has reached 77.48 million in December.
In 2023, the growth rate was 13.6%
Speaker Change: This proves the leading position we have in the automobile industry. Additionally, our content localization strategy was successfully implemented in several pilot cities such as Chengdu and Xi'an. In this location, we adopted an open-platform model to create localized content channels that integrate services and promotional activities from local automotive partners.
Speaker Change: This approach connects regional user needs with local resources, forming a complete closed loop from user demand to serving and merchant cooperation.
Speaker Change: This initiative not only helps us acquire traffic from low-tier markets, but also lays a foundation for the further expansion of our regional businesses.
Speaker Change: According to past mobile data, the number of our average mobile DAUs in December 2024 reached 77.48 million, an increase of 13.6 percent from the same period in 2023, reflecting our leading position in the automotive media vertical.
新能源领域,第四季度,我们的新零售业务重点加强了在线直播和线下活动方面的运营。
Speaker Change: Online, we are using the Space Station's Exhibition Hall and Spacesuit Warehouse
通过直播提升电端本地化或客能力。
Speaker Change: Now, we use multi-brand real-car resources to create a special sales meeting to let customers choose a car to save money and buy a car to save money.
我们看到 We see
Speaker Change: The number of new media accounts and QoS accounts related to the 4th quarter sale has increased rapidly, driving the number of clues and transactions to a significant increase. At present, we have established 28 space stations and more than 130 satellites in China.
Speaker Change: We are also happy to see that the total revenue of new energy brands, including new energy retailers, continues to climb. In 2024, the revenue increased by 55.2% and showed a huge potential for growth.
Speaker Change: Turning to NEVs during the fourth quarter, our new retail business focused on strengthening operations in online live streaming and offline activities.
Speaker Change: Online, we utilize exhibition halls and holographic cabins at Autohome Space.
stores.
to produce local user acquisition capabilities.
Speaker Change: through live streaming. Offline, we leveraged vehicles from several brands to create curated sales events that simplify the car selection process for users while making purchasing more cost-effective.
Speaker Change: We also observed rapid growth in new media metrics accounts and key influencer accounts related to new retail in the fourth quarter, driving significant growth in both leads and transaction volumes on a sequential basis.
Speaker Change: To date, we have established 28 franchised auto home space stores and more than 130 satellite stores nationwide.
Speaker Change: We are also pleased to report that total revenues from NEVs during the year, including those from the new retail business, increased by 55.2% from last year, reflecting its huge growth potential.
此外,作为中国最大的汽车互联网平台,我们积极响应国家的已旧换新政策。
Speaker Change: On the one hand, we use an online platform to implement a joint policy to subsidize and promote discounted information for manufacturers to provide users with one-stop discounted information searches and automatic matching of rights and interests.
Speaker Change: to boost the demand for car updates and upgrades, and speed up the release. On the other hand, we are also carrying out a series of 100-city upgrade activities offline, bringing product services to the 3rd and 4th-tier cities, and focusing on the lower-tier markets.
創造交易場景,助力已就換金和新能源下鄉政策落地
Speaker Change: 24 years in a row, we have held nearly 1,000 offline exhibitions covering nearly 250 cities across the country.
其中低限程式占比超過八成
Speaker Change: In addition, as China's largest automotive Internet platform, we actively support
National Trade-In Policies
Speaker Change: We aggregate subsidies, policies, and promotional offers from manufacturers in real-time through our online platform, providing users with a one-stop service for discounted information and automatic matching of benefits that accelerate demand for vehicle upgrades and trade-ins.
Speaker Change: Moreover, we organized the 100 Cities Trading for New series of offline auto shows to bring our products and services into third- and fourth-tier cities.
Speaker Change: By focusing on these low-tier markets, we create transaction scenarios and facilitate the implementation of pre-gain-for-new and NEV policies in rural areas.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we hosted nearly 1,000 offline auto shows covering almost 250 cities nationwide, with over 80% of them in low-tier cities.
在數字化領域。 In the digital field.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter, we focused on the AI upgrade of the product.
Specially for the members of car company
例如我們的AIGC視頻生成工具
have the ability to model and produce videos.
Speaker Change: has presented a vast array of contents, not to mention that they control the content creators' destinies.
Speaker Change: At the same time, we support the distribution of content to multiple mainstream news media platforms at the same time, which significantly improves the operating efficiency of retailers. We also integrate core products into the end-to-end operation process through AI smart bodies. For example, in the field of clue operation, AI smart tracking provides retailers with a complete chain of tracking plans and tools from invitation to transaction.
Speaker Change: to increase the efficiency of the problem-solving process by more than 20%.
Speaker Change: In the field of business management, AI takes over the business data of stores and standardizes the complex business analysis process.
Speaker Change: Managers can quickly obtain the desired results through AI conversation and guide management decisions. These upgrades not only show the content creation and distribution efficiency, but also significantly improve the operating and management efficiency of marketers.
are beacon of ground.
Speaker Change: But during the fourth quarter, we prioritized AI-driven upgrades for our products.
particularly for lead substitution package services.
Speaker Change: For example, our AIGC Video Generation 2 now features modular graphics and video production capabilities that greatly enhance the format of content.
Speaker Change: while empowering dealers to create high-quality content efficiently. Additionally, it also supports one-click distribution of content across multiple mainstream media platforms, significantly improving operational efficiency for dealers.
Speaker Change: We also integrated AI into core products for dealership operations. For example, in lead management, AI-driven smart follow-ups provide dealers with comprehensive strategies and tools for managing two leads from initial content contacts into the transaction, improving store staff.
ECO resolution efficiency by over 20%.
Speaker Change: In business management, AI incorporates each store's operational data and standardizes complex operational data analysis processes so that managers can quickly obtain insights to guide their decision-making. These upgrades are not only enhanced.
Speaker Change: the efficiency of content creation and distribution but also significantly improved operational and management efficiency of dealerships.
Speaker Change: In the second-hand car business section, in 2024, we will enhance the digital application to provide users and customers with a series of digital search tools and other marketing tools, including the frame of the car and the frame of the car, to improve the user experience and customer efficiency.
Speaker Change: On the other hand, we will continue to strengthen the construction strength of the car park, especially the Chengxin car park, to promote the quality of the car park and to assist in the healthy development of the industry.
全年芝加平台日均诚信车数量同比增长接近翻三 未来我们将继续严格控制成本 优化运营效率 确保业务稳健发展
for YouthCard Business.
Speaker Change: In 2024, we enhanced digital applications, providing users and clients with a broad range of digital inquiry and other marketing tools.
Speaker Change: such as vehicle conditions and pricing to enhance the user experience and improve client operational efficiency.
Speaker Change: We also continue to strengthen vehicle sourcing, particularly for certified, high-quality vehicles.
Speaker Change: to ensure vehicle quality and promote the healthy development of the industry. Over the year, the number of average daily certified vehicles on our platform almost doubled compared to the previous year.
Speaker Change: Moving forward, we will continue to focus on strict cost control while optimizing operational efficiency to ensure the stable development of our business.
Speaker Change: Before discussing the details of the financial details, I think everyone has noticed that with the improvement of car sales, the net income of media services in the fourth quarter has also shrunk significantly.
Speaker Change: In the new year, we hope that traditional business will continue to grow steadily and will continue to invest carefully in innovative business areas to achieve the double goal of business expansion and financial stability.
Yeah.
before discussing the specifics of our financials.
Speaker Change: I believe everyone has already noted that the decrease in our media services revenues during the fourth quarter narrowed significantly on the back of an improving auto sales market.
Speaker Change: Looking ahead to the new year, we hope to see our traditional businesses continue to stabilize and recover as we continue to prudently invest in innovative growth initiatives in order to achieve our dual objectives of business expansion and financial stability.
Speaker Change: Next, I will explain to you the financial situation of the fourth quarter and the whole year of Cars Home 2024. Please note that I will only use RMB as a currency unit in today's discussion, unless there is another explanation.
Speaker Change: With that, let me briefly walk you through the key financials for the fourth quarter and the full year 2024. Please note that I will reference RMB only in my discussion today, unless otherwise stated.
Speaker Change: In the fourth quarter, the total income was 1.78 billion yuan.
具体来讲,媒体服务收入为4.37亿元。
The current service revenue is 7.58 billion yuan
Online marketing and other income is 5.88 billion yuan
3.3% increase in total
Speaker Change: SNAP's revenues for the fourth quarter were $1.78 billion. Breaking it down, media services revenues were $430 billion.
Speaker Change: 7 million, leased generation services revenue were 758 million and online marketplace and others revenue were 588 million up 3.3% year over year In terms of cost, in the fourth quarter, the operating cost was 4.29 billion yuan
23 years and 3.68 billion yuan
第四季度毛利率為76% 二三年同期為80.8%
and Krafft.
The cost of revenue in the fourth quarter was $420,000.
Speaker Change: compared to $368 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 76% compared to 80.8% during the same period of 2023. In terms of business expenses, the fourth quarter's sales and market expenses were $7.18 billion.
Speaker Change: The same period of 23 years is 7.3 billion yuan The cost of R&D is 3.28 billion yuan The same period of 23 years is 3.56 billion yuan The cost of general management is 1.31 billion yuan The same period of 23 years is 1.57 billion yuan
turning to operating expenses.
Speaker Change: Sales and marketing expenses in the fourth quarter were $718 million, compared to $730 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Product and development expenses were $328 million, compared to $356 million in the fourth quarter of last year. General and administrative expenses were $131 million, compared to $157 million during the same period of 2023.
Speaker Change: In total, the profit of the fourth quarter of Automotive Home is 2.32 billion yuan.
Speaker Change: $3.67 billion in the same period in 2023 $4.87 billion in the same period in 2023 $5.03 billion in the same period in 2023
Speaker Change: Overall, we delivered an operating profit of $232 million in the first quarter, compared to $367 million for the same period of last year. Adjusted net income attributable to auto home was $487 million in the first quarter, compared to $503 million in the corresponding period of 2023.
第四季度,經調整基本和攤薄,每股經營利潤均為億元。
Speaker Change: In 2023, the total amount was 1.04 yuan. In the fourth quarter, the net profit of US stocks, US deposit stocks, and net profits were adjusted to 4.02 yuan and 3.99 yuan respectively.
Speaker Change: The same period of 23 years is 4.15 yuan and 4.14 yuan respectively.
Speaker Change: Nangab's basic and diluted earnings per share in the fourth quarter were both 1 compared to 1.04 in the corresponding period of 2023.
Speaker Change: Non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings per ADS in the first quarter were 4.02 and 3.99 respectively compared to 4.15 and 4.14 respectively in the corresponding period of 2023.
下面我来简要总结一下我们24年全年业绩情况,总收入为70.4亿元。
In total, the media service revenue is 1.5 billion yuan.
The current service income is 3.14 billion yuan.
Online marketing and other income is 23.8 billion yuan
同比增长8.1%
全年归属于汽车支家的调整纪律润为20.5 亿元
The annual Gold Adjustment Profit is 29.1%
Now, I'll briefly summarize our 2024 full-year results.
Speaker Change: Total revenues were $7.04 billion, of which media services revenues were $1.52 billion.
Speaker Change: These generation services revenues were $3.14 billion and the online marketplace and others revenues were $2.38 billion.
an increase of 8.1%
Speaker Change: year-over-year. In addition, we delivered an adjusted net income attributable to Aldo's home of $2.05 billion with adjusted net margin of 29.1%.
截止2024年12月31日, 我们的资产负债表持续表现强劲, 现金、现金等价物及短期投资合计为233.2亿元。
Speaker Change: In 2024, the cash flow from business activities amounted to 13.7 billion yuan.
Speaker Change: As of December 31st, 2024, our balance sheet remains robust with cash, cash equivalent and short-term investment of $23.32 billion. We generated net operating cash flow of $1.37 billion in 2024.
Speaker Change: On September 4, 2024, the Board of Directors approved a new stock acquisition and repurchase plan with a total of less than $200 million in 12 months.
截止2025年2月14日,我们已经回购了约330万美国存托股份,总金额约为8850万美元。
Speaker Change: On September 4th, 2024, our board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program under which we were committed to repurchase up to $200 million of Autohome's ADS.
Speaker Change: for a period not to exceed 12 months thereafter. As of February 14th, 2025, we've repurchased approximately 3.3 million ADFs for a total cost of approximately $80 billion.
$88.5 million US dollar
Speaker Change: That's all for the financial data summary of the company. Now let's move on to the Q&A session.
Speaker Change: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star 1 1 and wait for a name to be announced.
Speaker Change: If you would like to cancel your request, please press Star 11 again.
Speaker Change: First question comes from the line of Thomas Chong of Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you, Mr. Zeng, for your question. I have two questions. The first question is about our acquisition with Haier Group. What is the purpose of this transaction? What impact will it have on our future business operations? In which aspects will we cooperate? The second question is about the restoration of the four-seasons car.
Speaker Change: Let's take a look at how the recent car policy has affected our industry and our car industry. And how should we look at the car market in 2025?
Speaker Change: So thanks manager for taking my question. I will transfer my questions. So I have two questions. First is for the transaction with CARTAG. So what's the background and the purpose of this transaction and how it will impact our business in the future and in what areas plan to cooperate?
Speaker Change: And my second question is, we saw the recovery in the fourth quarter in 2024, so how's the reason the positive policies will impact auto market and auto home? And what's the management outlook for the auto market in 2025? Thanks.
Thank you. Bye.
好,谢谢您的提问,我是杨树
Speaker Change: First of all, we cannot comment on Haier's investment decision, but we believe that Haier's strategy to invest in a car company is based on a multi-faceted decision.
Speaker Change: Thank you for the question. My name is Yang Zeng. Firstly, we cannot comment on hires investment decision-making.
Speaker Change: But we believe that highest contract strategic shareholding in auto homes is a decision based on multi-phase consideration.
如孩儿所发布的新闻稿所述
作为中国领先的汽车消费者在线服务平台
Speaker Change: 7-11 Plus is based on data and technology and has a broad user base, in-depth industry observation and professional content.
Speaker Change: as well as a strong host factory, supply chain network, and stable financial system.
Speaker Change: Haier's strategic investment is a recognition of Chitra's business model and market potential and will contribute to the long-term development of Chitra.
Speaker Change: As you know, data in the news released far higher as China's leading online service platform for automotive consumers.
Speaker Change: Vodafone takes data plus technology as its core support, and it has a wide user base.
Speaker Change: In-depth industry insights, professional content, as well as a strong network of vehicle manufacturers, OEMs, and dealers.
Speaker Change: and a stable financial system. Higher strategic shareholding reflects its co-recognition of other homes' business model and market potential, and we also inject vitality into the long-term development of other homes.
Speaker Change: In the future, it will be a key source of income for the car industry in Hai'an and will continue to strengthen the development of existing business.
Speaker Change: At the same time, we will use Haier's advanced management experience and Kataichi's operating system to further promote the company's innovation and growth and better serve every user.
Speaker Change: In the future, as a key hub in Haier's automotive industry ecosystem, Autohome will continue to consolidate and develop its existing business, and at the same time draw on Haier's advanced management experiences on the CarTex operating system to further promote the company's innovation and growth.
Speaker Change: with the aim to better serve every user and the customers.
Speaker Change: At the same time, Haier will take advantage of its technological innovation, use interactive tea, consumer service system, single-person integrated management model, etc.
Speaker Change: to integrate Catalytic's online and offline integrated operations, especially the advanced door-to-door management experience, a comprehensive hybrid car home, and in the field of user-in-depth experience, smart hardware connection, and new car sales, to jointly develop.
Speaker Change: to continue to enhance the O2B, smart interaction, and comprehensive operating service capabilities of the 7-Point Home.
Speaker Change: At the same time, Hiowa utilizes its leading advantages in technological innovation, user insights, consumer services systems, and the human and order combination management model
Speaker Change: integrates the online-offline integrated operating of CARTEX, especially its advanced store management, inventory management experiences, and comprehensive Empower Autohome. It will also develop in synergy in the field of in-depth user experience, intelligent hardware connection, and automotive new retail, and continuously strengthen Autohome's O2O intelligent integration and interaction and the comprehensive operating
and a service capability.
Speaker Change: In conclusion, we firmly believe that by combining the resources and professional knowledge of both sides,
Speaker Change: to create more synergistic effects and provide users with better and innovative solutions.
Speaker Change: So, overall speaking, we firmly believe that by combining the resources and professional knowledge of the two parties, more synergy can be created, providing users with more high-quality and innovative solutions.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: After the transaction is completed, Ping'an Group will continue to be the main shareholder of Car-Zhizia, and will deepen cooperation with Car-Zhizia in various aspects such as car service and offline marketing, and support Car-Zhizia's future long-term development with Haier Yigao.
Speaker Change: In addition, I have a supplementary notice. After the transaction is completed, Ping An Group will continue to be the major shareholder of Autohome and deepen collaboration with Autohome in multiple aspects such as after-sales vehicle services, online marketing, and support the long-term development of Autohome Together with Hire.
to learn more about international business.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you.
OK, now I will answer the second question.
Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Now it would be my great pleasure to answer your second question.
您这个提问特别好,根据官方数据显示,去年四季度车试表现强劲,销量同比增长13.2%
Speaker Change: We think that this is mainly because at the end of the year, the car industry has a strong impulse to complete the annual goal. In addition, at the end of December, some two-star policies will expire, which will bring an effective boost to the sales of the car industry, which will help the industry recover in the near future.
Speaker Change: December, it effectively boosted the auto market itself and helped the recent recovery of the industry confidence.
Zhijia: Zhijia is a professional media platform in the automotive industry. In order to meet the needs of users for two new policies, create a localized content channel, integrate and update locally, to revive new policy benefits.
精准连接用户需求与本地资源
Craig Zeng: Craig's mobile data shows that in December 2024, the number of daily users of the mobile app has increased by 13.6%.
to further consolidate industry influence.
同时 At the same time
Craig Zeng: As the tests continue to improve, the media industry continues to warm up, with 34% growth in the quarter. We hope that this trend will continue in 2025.
Speaker Change: As you know, as a professional vehicle media platform in the automotive industry, you are to meet users' needs for the two new policies, which is a large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trading incentive.
Speaker Change: And we do see that Vodafone has created a localized content channel, integrated and updated local trading for new policies, and accurately connected user needs with local resources.
Speaker Change: According to the Quest Mobile data, shows that in December of 2024, the average daily number of mobile users of automotive increased by 13.6% year over year.
Speaker Change: further consolidating in its industry influences. At the same time, with the recovery of the auto market, auto homes media business has also picked up, growing by 34 percent quarter over quarter. We expect this trend to be continued in 2025.
下面我在2025年做一个简洁的展望
Speaker Change: Next, I would like to share with you my outlook for 2025.
Speaker Change: It is estimated that domestic retail sales will grow by 2% in 2025.
Speaker Change: In 2024, the total annual sales per ton increased by 5.5% Among them, the sales per ton of new energy vehicles increased by 20% The penetration rate reached 57% We believe that the overall test pattern in 2025 is still stable and good
Speaker Change: According to the market detail sales in 2025, it will increase by 2% year-on-year.
Speaker Change: And also, we can see that the cumulative retail sales in 2024 increased by 5.5%.
Speaker Change: year-over-year, among which the retail sales of new renewable energy passenger vehicles will increase by 20% year-over-year, and the penetration rate will reach to 57%.
Speaker Change: We believe that this overall pattern of auto market in 2025 will be stable and positive, and that the following trends may be shown. 具体来看,未来的趋势可以总结为以下三点
I would like to provide you with three detailed analysis.
Speaker Change: So firstly, we do see continued favorable policies and steady growth of the auto market.
Speaker Change: Secondly, we do see the continuous growth of the renewable energy vehicle, and also the emergence of the intelligent trend.
Speaker Change: 第三,行业的价格竞争仍将延续 And thirdly, we do see that industry price competition will continue
Thank you.
Speaker Change: As a whole, in the long run, with the continuous development of the new car industry, the government has launched a new policy to support the consumption of cars.
Speaker Change: We believe that the car industry still has a long-term room for growth. We will continue to develop healthily in the new business sector and the Chinese automotive industry.
Speaker Change: In summary, in the long run, with the continuous development of the renewable energy vehicle industry under the government,
Speaker Change: introduction of the new favorable policies to support the auto market consumption, we believe that the auto market will have strong long-term growth and we will also continue to deepen our efforts in the new renewable energy business and develop healthy together with the Chinese automotive industry.
That's all for my answer. Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Thank you for the questions. Next question comes from Brian Gong from Citi. Please go ahead.
Brian Gong: Thank you for accepting my questions. I have two questions. First, I want to ask about the business in Lijiang. What is the current situation of the business in Lijiang?
Brian Gong: What other potentials do you think can be explored in this sector? The second question is about the second-hand car industry. How do you see the second-hand car market in 2025?
Brian Gong: When do you expect the whole industry and the company's second-hand car business to recover? Thank you, Managing Director.
Brian Gong: and any areas to further explore potentials for this segment. And the second question is about the outlook, 2025 outlook for used car market.
Brian Gong: and how management expects the industry and our business to recover for used car business. Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you. Let me answer your question. For the importance of the business congress
Brian Gong: As usual, we started at the end of the year and signed most of the contracts in the first quarter. The number of contracts is still very good, more than 85%, which is very smooth. The coverage has improved compared to previous years.
Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Thank you very much. I would like to take your question. Talk to me about the renewal of the Bilikanet.
Speaker Change: Actually, it started at the end of 2024, as usual, and was basically completed after the Spring Festival in 2025. The renewal situation is very good. Actually, it exceeds 85%, which is better than previous years.
Speaker Change: In the current situation, it depends on two things. One is the upgrade of the product, and the other is the optimization of the AI tool.
and the overall platform, including information, data, and workflow.
Speaker Change: to improve the efficiency of our products. Second, we want to maintain our brand's advantages and influence. We want to attract more customers with our users' traffic and purchasing resources.
Speaker Change: Why we can achieve such success is because of the two factors. One is the product upgrade.
Speaker Change: Full-scale AI implementation is creating on-platform information data and workflow through AI operation reduction, AI follow-up, efficiently improvement, and AI decision-making assistance.
Speaker Change: It will reduce the cost and increase the revenue for dealers.
Speaker Change: And secondly, the brand advantage. We have very strong brand influence, high user traffic, and also we have the optimized operating experience and a comprehensive service guarantee continuously attract a large number of customers to renew.
Speaker Change: As for the business potential, I think there are three points. The first point is that although there are different predictions, the trend of the growth of the Chinese car market is still there.
Speaker Change: And also I want to talk about the business potential in the following three aspects. The firstly is the Chinese auto market. Although maybe different sources may have different projections, but we believe the overall trend would be upgraded.
Speaker Change: As long as there is an increase in sales, there will be an increase in the number of clues, which is a trend of growth. From our side, we think that in terms of digitalization and smart upgrading, there are still a lot of opportunities.
Speaker Change: After the emergence of new AI technology, it can help us to achieve a more precise customer direction, make the chain more efficient, and better help retailers to have a more targeted market strategy and a more precise customer direction.
Fu
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker Change: If the total sales go up, the leads would also go up. That is for sure the trend.
Speaker Change: And also we can do more on digitization and intelligent renovation.
Speaker Change: For example, we can further optimize AI technology to achieve more accurate customer portraits and personalized recommendations, helping the dealers to reach targeted customers in a more effective way. We can also analyze the user's car and using big data and AI to better achieve a more efficient targeted market strategy suggested for dealers.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: In addition, there is still a lot of space on the cover.
Speaker Change: On the one hand, it covers the market. In the past, it was more focused on online cities.
Speaker Change: In the future, we will have more space to work on the growth of these new cars in the lower-end and lower-end market. Secondly, in the past, the clue business was mainly...
Speaker Change: Focusing on the sales of new cars, in the future, in the business of cars, including accident repair and maintenance, there will be more opportunities.
Speaker Change: And also we do see more opportunities in more coverage. In the past our market is more focused on the big cities and in the future we can get into the down market which is more at the lower tier cities and help us to achieve more customers. And especially in terms of the lead business we focus a lot on new customers. In the future we can do more post-sales services including the
way we can further expand the business school.
The second question is about the second-hand car.
Speaker Change: Not ideal. Although the volume of second-hand cars in China has increased by 6.5%, there are only 4% to 6% of single-seaters in the second-hand car market. There are even less than 4% of second-hand cars.
Speaker Change: Now, talking about your second question, which is about the used car business, I should say in 2024, the used car sales increased while the profits declined.
Speaker Change: 49 had a single-vehicle gross profit margin, which is only between 4% to 6%, and 29 had a GP margin of less than 4%.
Speaker Change: The reason for the increase in sales from our point of view is, of course, the increase in the number of users is a very important reason. From the policy point of view, the country has continued to promote the needs of the second-hand car on the policy of replacement cars and new cars.
Speaker Change: In addition, there are some positive policy directions, such as cross-provincial co-operation, cancellation of state-owned enterprises' tariff restrictions, and so on, which all improve the efficiency of trade.
Now, talking about why the reason of sales growth
Speaker Change: For example, they are from the policy support. For example, the trading for new policies in the new car market has driven the replacement demand for used cars to a certain extent. And also, cross-provincial business handling under the lifting of the National 5 emission limit has simplified the trading process, reduced the trading cost, and improved the trading efficiency.
Speaker Change: Another interesting point is the second-hand car of new energy. In the past, the second-hand car of new energy was a market that people could not see clearly, and the volume was relatively low. In 2014, the number of transactions exceeded 1 million, and the volume increased.
Speaker Change: about 48%. This is a new market trend that is worth paying attention to.
Speaker Change: What's interesting part is about the renewable market used car. In the past, there's a lot of not so transparency in this market and the volume is not big.
Speaker Change: However, the transaction volume in 2024 exceeds 1 million vehicles, an increase of 48% year-over-year, which is an important driving force for the market growth.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: But from another perspective, there are also some disadvantages, such as the decline in profits.
Speaker Change: 而且呢,因为价格比较难判断,二手车的经销企业的毛利率也普遍会下跌。 And because the price is difficult to judge, the毛利率 of the second-hand car marketing company will generally fall.
were the pros and cons.
Speaker Change: For example, the reason for the profit declining is majorly due to the price warms in the renewable new car market, which has led to large fluctuations in the purchase and the sales price of the used car, an extended inventory cycle, and a difficult capital recovery.
Speaker Change: So this single-vehicle gross profit margin of used-car dealerships and enterprises had a generally decline.
Speaker Change: Looking at the past 25 years, we can see that the two biggest incentives are the market retention and the policy of renewable energy.
Speaker Change: New Energy's second-hand car industry will continue to grow, as its capacity increases. So we believe that the second-hand car industry in 2025 will continue to grow.
Speaker Change: Now I would like to share with you my outlook for 2025.
Firstly, the market.
Speaker Change: With the continuous implementation of the trading for new policy, the market demand will continue to be released. Coupled with the promotion of the renewable energy used car, the sales volume of the used car industry in 2025 is expected to continue to grow.
Speaker Change: As we can see, the price of this year's car will still be high, but we don't think the overall price of this year's car will be that high.
Speaker Change: will be better than in previous years. Car manufacturers will have a better prediction of the market.
Speaker Change: In addition, we also hope to change some of the pain points in the market through our efforts. The main thing is the transparency of the market price and the car market.
Speaker Change: So from Zhijia's point of view, we need to increase the number of purebred vehicles. These numbers, tools, such as vehicle frame, vehicle price, inspection, etc. can help our car manufacturers to provide efficiency.
Speaker Change: So we think that the second-hand car industry is still a long-term one.
Speaker Change: We need to make a comeback, because it has been growing, but it may not be in a short period of time. Maybe you won't let everyone expect it. It may have a very big explosive power, but it will be such a trend that continues to grow.
Speaker Change: Talking about the price war, I should say in 2025, the price war will continue but the volatility will be less.
Speaker Change: We do believe that that would help to improve the market.
Speaker Change: digital tools such as the vehicle condition and price query can effectively improve the business operation efficiency. So in this way we believe that
Speaker Change: The overall momentum is that it will be a long-term growth of the market, but do not expect to see short-term outbursts of the rapid growth of the market.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Operator.
Speaker Change: Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Speaker Change: Our next question comes from the line of Xiaodan Zhang from CICC. Please go ahead.
Thank you for watching!
Xiaodan Zhang: Good evening, Management. Thank you for accepting my question. This question is about our new energy business. We can see that our new energy business model has a certain scale of foundation. I would like to ask Management to share with us the outlook for the new energy business in 2025, and the plan for the future expansion speed. Let me quickly translate my question. So, thanks management for taking my questions.
Speaker Change: And could you please share your outlook on 2025 revenue and margin outlook for the NEV's new retail model and how should we think of its expansion pace going onwards? Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you for the question. The new retail business is a key development for Zhijia.
Speaker Change: The core logic of this business is the combination of online and offline.
We believe that in the future...
Speaker Change: Any business must have an online and offline O2O combination to have a relatively large development, especially in the field of cars.
Speaker Change: Well, thank you very much for the question. As you know, the renewable energy vehicle is one of the key development strategies for Otoho. And we believe that the new retail business, we would focus more on O2O, the online and offline collaboration. We believe that this would be the major driver for the future growth of the business.
Speaker Change: In the past two years, we have shown the vitality of this model. In 2022, we only had one space station in Shanghai. In 2023, we have 28 space stations.
Speaker Change: In May of 2014, we started to test the satellite store. Now, the total number of joint stores in the satellite store has exceeded 150. As you said, we are now in the first-order scale.
Speaker Change: Thank you for watching. Please like, share and subscribe. See you next time.
Speaker Change: Since we started testing the satellite source in May, and also the total number of the space station and satellite franchise station has now exceeded 150. So it can be seen that the construction of our offline channels have taken initial shape, achieving the wide coverage of the high and low-tier cities.
Speaker Change: This year, we will continue to develop the business of XINLINSHOU according to our planned plan.
Speaker Change: We will go to more places to try out the satellite shop model in the Xiacheng market.
Speaker Change: According to our investigation, Xinlingshou is not a burning business in general. Our partners basically want to achieve a balance in sales in a relatively short time. So our expectation is that in the entire 25 years of sales, the proportion of our Xinlingshou will gradually increase.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: And this year we will continue to explore, especially in the lower tier cities. We want to have a wider coverage in the smaller and the lower tier cities. In terms of the profit, we believe the profit will be reasonable, and it is not a cash-burning business for the renewable and the new retail business. And we want to see that our franchisee can achieve the balance
Speaker Change: So in this way, our 2,205th business will continue to grow.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. I'll see you in the next video.
Thank you. One moment for the next questions.
Thank you for watching!
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Speaker Change: Our next question comes from the line of Richie Sun from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Richie Sun: Good evening, thank you Craig Zeng for accepting my question. I would like to ask what is your opinion on improving the ratio of dividends?
Speaker Change: Thank you. In the past five years, we have been constantly increasing the proportion of dividends. In 2022, the annual dividend was RMB 500 million. In 2023, the annual dividend was RMB 100 million. In 2024, we reached RMB 1.5 billion. At that time, the Board of Directors also proposed that in the next three years, it would not be less than RMB 1.5 billion. We will also carry out this policy firmly.
Speaker Change: Well, thank you very much for the great question. Actually, if you look at the past three years, in 2022, we had already paid 500 million yuan stipend payout. In 2023, this number reached to 1 billion RMB. And in 2024, it further reached to 1.5 billion RMB. And also, our board of directors also made a promise that in the future, in the next three years,
to pay out no less than 1.5 billion RMB.
Speaker Change: In addition to Fengfeng, we will also try other ways, such as repurchase. In September, the Board of Directors approved a $200 million repurchase plan. We think it is also a good way to...
So the company's share price fluctuation has some good help.
Speaker Change: to reduce the risk of investors. We have already purchased 8,850 million US dollars. So I think we will continue to invest in Fenghong in the future. But we may add other investments, such as repurchase, and other measures.
to provide the best response for our shareholders and investors.
Speaker Change: In addition to the deeper than the payout, we also find that other ways
Speaker Change: to, for example, for the share buyback policies to better boost our, you know, share price. It helps the investors to reduce its risk.
Actually, out of these 200 million shared...
Speaker Change: By that time, as for now, we had executed approximately 88.5 million U.S. dollars. So in the future, in addition to the dividend payout, we will continue to do more share-by-back policies and other effective ways to help to better give back to our shareholders.
http://TheBusinessProfessor.com
Operator.
Thank you.
Speaker Change: There are no further questions at this time. I will turn the conference back to management for closing.
Tao Wu, the leader.
大家好,我是杨松,感谢大家参加今天的会议,期待下次的业绩电话会上能再与大家交流公司的最新发展。
Speaker Change: 如果您有任何的问题或建议,欢迎随时与我们联系,谢谢。 If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us. Thank you.
Speaker Change: Thank you everyone. Thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate your support to the company and we look forward to updating you on our next quarter's conference call in a few months' time.
Speaker Change: In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us and thank you for joining us today. Thank you, everyone. Bye-bye. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.
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