X Financial Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 22, 2024

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the X Financial Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Please note, today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Victoria Yu. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The company's results were released earlier today and are available on the company's IR website at ir.xiaoyingroup.com. On the call today from X Financial are Mr. Ken Li, President and Mr.

Speaker 1

Frank Huya Zheng, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Li will give a brief overview of the company's business operations and highlights, followed by Mr. Zheng, who will go through the financials. They are all available to answer your questions during the Q and A session.

Speaker 1

I remind you that this call may contain forward looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the company's control, which may cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties and factors is included in the company's filings with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 1

The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law. It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Kam Li. Mr. Li, please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Hello, everyone. We are very pleased to report another solid quarter as we made further progress in improving our profitability. Our proactive management of loan volumes based on asset quality dynamics continued to bear fruit in the Q2. As a result, while loan volume declined year over year, our net income for the quarter grew significantly and reached a record high. The total loan amount facilitated and originated decreased by 12% year over year, but increased 6% sequentially to RMB23 1,000,000,000.

Speaker 2

Our total outstanding loan balance was RMB42 1,000,000,000 at the end of June 2024. Delinquency rates for outstanding loans past due for 31 to 60 days and 91 to 180 days were 1.29% and 4.38%, respectively, at the end of the quarter, compared to 1.61% and 4.37% a quarter ago and 0.96% and 2.5% a year ago. As we have seen an improvement in our asset quality, we have decided to ease our strict controls on loan volumes, and we expect our loan volumes to gradually recover on a year over year basis in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, we will continue to strengthen and refine our risk management system to improve asset quality. Our focus remains on sustainable profitability, and we employ flexible tactics to adapt to evolving market conditions to achieve this and, as always, to increase shareholder value.

Speaker 2

Now I will turn the call to Frank, who will go through our financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Kent, and hello, everyone. We delivered strong financial results this quarter. The total net revenue was RMB1.4 billion, up 12.5% year on year and 14% sequentially. We continued to focus on cost control and improved asset quality. And as a result, our net income grew 13% year on year and 14% sequentially to RMB415 1,000,000, a record high in our history.

Speaker 3

In May 2024, we announced a new 20,000,000 share repurchase program in June 2024. We initiated a tender offer to purchase 2,000,000 ADS, which was completed in June July 2024.

Speaker 2

We are

Speaker 3

pleased to have executed this ADS buyback, which should provide liquidity to shareholders seeking an asset at a premium price and at the same time increase remaining shareholders' stake in the company. We are committed to profitable growth by exploring various avenues to further increase returns for our shareholders. Now I would like to brief some financial performance for Q2. Please note that all numbers stated here are in RMB and around the top. Total net revenue increased by 12% to RMB1373 1,000,000 from RMB1220 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023, primarily due to growth in various disaggregated revenue items compared with the same period of 2023.

Speaker 3

Please refer to the analysis of disaggregated equation of the revenue. Origination and service expenses increased by 19% to RMB415 1,000,000 from RMB349 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023, primarily due to the increase in collection expenses resulting from the accumulated effect of increased volume of loans facilitated and provided in the previous quarters compared with the same period of 2023. Oral acquisitions and the marketing expenses decreased by 3% to RMB324 1,000,000 from RMB332 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023. Provision for loans receivable was RMB96 1,000,000 compared with RMB55 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023, primarily due to an increase in loans receivable held by the company as a result of the cumulative effect of increased volume of the loans facilitated and provided in the previous quarters compared with the same period of 2023. Income from operations was RMB463 1,000,000 compared with RMB445 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023.

Speaker 3

Net income was RMB450 1,000,000 compared with RMB366 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023. Non GAAP adjusted net income was RMB3 RMB375 1,000,000 compared with RMB365 1,000,000 in the same period of 2023. For further financial information, please refer to the earnings release on our IR website. With respect to our dividend, we provided a semi annual dividend policy in March. Pursuing this policy, our Board has authorized the declaration and the payment of the semi annual dividend of US0.17 dollars per ADS for the first half of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3

For specific dividend payment dates and instructions, please refer to our earnings release. Now our business outlook. For Q3 this year, we expect the total loan amount facilitated and originated to be between RMB26 1,000,000,000 and RMB 27,500,000,000. This concludes our prepared remarks and we'd like to open the call to questions. Operator, please.

Operator

Thank And today's first question comes from Mason Born with AWH Capital. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi, thanks for taking the question. I guess to start, you provided pretty substantial guidance about increase in loan volumes for Q3. I wondered what you're seeing because you confidence for that growth?

Speaker 2

Well, this is mostly due to the I think because of the environment. The reason that you see a fairly low volume for the 1st 2 quarters is really because we have a very restrictive risk management system in place. That is why that our overall approval rate has been tipped fairly low. But with the current environment, especially the much better delinquency performance that we have optimized our approval policy. So as a result, we will see a significant increase in our approval rate.

Speaker 2

That being said, there's also some other channels where we are able to successfully connect in the 1st two quarters, and they will contribute to some other new customers. So both combined, we are fairly confident with our volume forecast.

Speaker 4

Could you talk about customer acquisition cost and what you're seeing there, maybe how that's changed?

Speaker 2

I think overall, our acquisition costs in terms of the rate has been kept fairly constant. That is why when the approval rate so when you think about it, when the approval is low, our overall spending is also kept low. And that is translated into the lower loan volume. Now, because our approval rate is a little bit higher and our so our overall spending will be higher in the Q3 and which will translate into the higher volume that we forecasted.

Speaker 4

So are you seeing improving consumer health or what is it that's really allowing your approval rates to go higher and delinquencies to improve? I just wondered if maybe you're seeing a turn in the overall economy.

Speaker 2

Yes, I don't think I really see the overall economy has been turning into the much better situation than before. But what happened usually in this time of dynamics is some of the customers that they used to be okay customers and now they have exited the market because they cannot be the okay customer anymore. And our model will be able to pick those we'll be able to separate those marginal customers with much better customers. I think that's the number one situation as our overall learning machine learning system is in place, it will automatically analyze all the data. So as time goes by, even with the bad economic situation that our overall risk management efficiency will be higher.

Speaker 2

That is the reason number 1. The second one is, as I mentioned, that we are able to get some good customer from some specific channels. Those channels before weren't open to us, but now they are able to accept us and we are able to get some good customer from them, which will also increase our overall customer quality. So combining the two forces, we are able to see that our overall performance will be better than before.

Speaker 4

Okay. Last one for me. It seems like your number of active borrowers is up substantially, while loan volumes were down year over year. What's driving I assume that means the average loan size is significantly smaller. Is that correct?

Speaker 4

And what's driving that? Is that something that you're doing? Or is that just a function of the market?

Speaker 2

Well, your observation is absolutely correct. And our overall loan size has been decreased significantly. And this is also another risk management control that we have in place, which besides the approval rate that I mentioned before, the average loan size is another very important tool that we implement in our risk management. So when the environment is not good, that we will intentionally lower the average loan size. So as you can infer from this, as the economy or as the overall environment is improving, that our average loan size will also grow, which will contribute to which will be another contributor to our overall loan volume.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, David. And this concludes our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Victoria Yu for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. If you haven't got a chance to raise your questions, we will be pleased to answer them through follow-up contacts. We look forward to speaking with you again in the near future. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

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Key Takeaways

  • Record net income: Net income grew 13% year-on-year and 14% sequentially to a record RMB450 million, reflecting strong profitability improvements.
  • Revenue growth and cost control: Total net revenue rose 12.5% year-on-year to RMB1.4 billion, while origination and service expenses were managed tightly and marketing costs declined.
  • Improved asset quality: Delinquency rates for loans 31–60 days past due fell to 1.29% (from 1.61%), driven by refined risk management and enhanced credit modeling.
  • Loan origination dynamics: Total loan volume declined 12% year-on-year but rose 6% sequentially to RMB23.1 billion, and Q3 guidance targets RMB26–27.5 billion as risk controls ease and new channels contribute.
  • Capital returns: Initiated a tender offer for 2 million ADS under a new 20 million share repurchase program and declared a semi-annual dividend of US$0.17 per ADS.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
X Financial Q2 2024
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