Revenue from third-party overseas customers increased by 23.4% YoY in first three quarters of 2024

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. ("OneConnect" or the "Company") (NYSE: OCFT and HKEX: 6638), a leading technology-as-a-service provider for the financial services industry in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2024.

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights

• Revenue from continuing operations^[1] was RMB417 million, compared to RMB807 million during the same period last year.
  
  
• Gross margin of continuing operations was 32.7%, compared to 36.6% during the same period last year; non-IFRS gross margin of continuing operations was 35.6%, compared to 40.7% during the same period last year.
  
  
• Net loss from continuing operations attributable to shareholders was RMB30 million, compared to RMB51 million during the same period last year. Net margin of continuing operations to shareholders was -7.1%, compared to -6.3% during the same period last year. 
  
  
• Net loss from continuing operations per basic and diluted ADS was RMB-0.81, compared to RMB-1.40 during the same period last year.

Chairman, CEO and CFO Comments

Mr. Chongfeng Shen, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "In a challenging macroeconomic environment, our topline experienced a year-over-year decline during the third quarter, largely due to a decrease in revenue from cloud services platform as we strategically phase out that segment. Nonetheless, we are encouraged by the sustained growth momentum in overseas markets reflected in the 23.4% year-over-year increase in revenue from third-party overseas customers during the first three quarters of the year. This achievement demonstrates the growing recognition our products and services are receiving from international customers. This is the result of our efforts to upgrade and integrate products, deepen customer engagement, develop innovative and collaborative business models, and expand overseas. Additionally, we achieved further year-over-year loss reduction through effective expense control measures. Looking forward, we remain steadfast in our commitment to strengthening our product competence leveraging AI technologies, capitalizing on overseas market opportunities, and enhancing operational efficiency as we pursue our mid-term profitability goal."

Mr. Rubo Lin, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "In the third quarter of 2024, our net loss from continuing operations attributable to shareholders narrowed by 41.9% year-over-year. This improvement benefited from our continued financial discipline, which drove a 47.8% year-over-year decrease in operating expenses from continuing operations. Our IFRS gross margin and non-IFRS gross margin of continuing operations stood at 32.7% and 35.6% for the quarter, respectively. Going forward, we will focus on delivering more high-value products and enhancing our product standardization rate to expand our gross margin. Meanwhile, we will continue to optimize our cost structure while strategically investing in overseas expansion, and deepening partnerships with strategic and premium-plus customers. We are confident that these strategic initiatives will drive our future growth, creating additional value for our customers and shareholders."

Revenue from Continuing Operations Breakdown 

Revenue from continuing operations was RMB417 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 48.3% from RMB807 million during the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease of RMB292 million in revenue from cloud services platform. Implementation revenue was RMB167 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 4.7% from RMB175 million during the same period last year, mainly due to a decrease in demand for implementation of financial services systems in China. Revenue from business origination services was RMB6 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 78.0% from RMB27 million during the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in transaction volumes from loan origination systems under digital credit management solutions. Revenue from risk management services was RMB60 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 21.8% from RMB77 million during the same period last year, mainly due to a decrease in transaction volumes from banking related risk analytic solutions. Revenue from operation support services was RMB139 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 28.8% from RMB195 million during the same period last year, primarily due to a shift in business model for a number of auto ecosystem service providers where the Company transitioned from acting as a contractor to a distributor, which impacted revenue recognition. Revenue from cloud services platform was RMB6 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 98.1% from RMB297 million during the same period last year, primarily due to the strategic phasing out of the cloud services since July 2024, details of which were previously disclosed in our announcement dated July 11, 2024 regarding an update on our business operations. Revenue from post-implementation support services was RMB20 million in the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 49.0% from RMB14 million during the same period last year, primarily due to increased demand for our post-implementation support services from our overseas customers.

Revenue from Gamma Platform segment was RMB169 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 63.0% from RMB457 million during the same period last year, primarily due to the strategic phasing out of cloud services. Revenue from Digital Banking segment was RMB106 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 47.6% from RMB201 million during the same period last year, mainly due to a decrease in transaction volumes from business origination and risk management services. Revenue from Digital Insurance segment was RMB143 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 4.1% from RMB149 million during the same period last year, primarily due to a shift in business model for a number of auto ecosystem service providers where the Company transitioned from acting as a contractor to a distributor, which impacted revenue recognition.

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Revenue from Continuing Operations

Revenue from continuing operations was RMB417 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 48.3% from RMB807 million during the same period last year, primarily due to a decrease in revenue from cloud services platform.  

Cost of Revenue from Continuing Operations

Cost of revenue from continuing operations was RMB281 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 45.1% from RMB511 million during the same period last year, which is in line with the decrease in revenue.

Gross Profit from Continuing Operations

Gross profit from continuing operations was RMB137 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB295 million during the same period last year. Gross margin of continuing operations was 32.7%, compared to 36.6% in the prior year. The decrease in gross margin of continuing operations was mainly due to reduction in economies of scale caused by the decrease in revenue. Non-IFRS gross margin of continuing operations was 35.6%, compared to 40.7% in the prior year. For a reconciliation of the Company's IFRS and non-IFRS gross margin, please refer to "Reconciliation of IFRS and Non-IFRS Results for continuing operations (Unaudited)."

Operating Loss and Expenses from Continuing Operations

Total operating expenses from continuing operations were RMB190 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB364 million during the same period last year. As a percentage of revenue, total operating expenses from continuing operations slightly increased by 0.5ppt to 45.6% from 45.1% during the same period last year.

• Research and Development expenses from continuing operations were RMB70 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB230 million during the same period last year. The decline was mainly due to the Company's proactive adjustment of its business structure and its return on investment driven approach to manage research and development projects. As a percentage of revenue, research and development expenses from continuing operations decreased to 16.7% from 28.5% in the prior year.
  
  
• Sales and Marketing expenses from continuing operations were RMB46 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB66 million during the same period last year. The decline was mainly due to a decrease in personnel costs associated with the enhancement of sales efficiency and capabilities. As a percentage of revenue, sales and marketing expenses from continuing operations slightly increased to 10.9% from 8.2% in the prior year.
  
  
• General and Administrative expenses from continuing operations were RMB75 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB68 million during the same period last year. As a percentage of revenue, general and administrative expenses from continuing operations increased to 17.9% from 8.4% during the same period last year.

Operating loss from continuing operations was RMB50 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB56 million during the same period last year. Operating margin of continuing operations was -12.1%, compared to -6.9% in the prior year.

Net Loss from Continuing Operations Attributable to Shareholders

Net loss from continuing operations attributable to OneConnect's shareholders was RMB30 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of 41.9% from RMB51 million during the same period last year. Net loss from continuing operations attributable to OneConnect's shareholders per basic and diluted ADS was RMB-0.81, compared to RMB-1.40 during the same period last year. Weighted average number of ordinary shares in the third quarter of 2024 was 1,089,589,125.

Cash Flow

For the third quarter of 2024, net cash used in operating activities was RMB34 million, net cash generated from investing activities was RMB365 million, and net cash used in financing activities was RMB106 million.

Conference Call Information

The financial results and an archived transcript will be available at OneConnect's investor relations website at ir.ocft.com.

About OneConnect

OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. is a technology-as-a-service provider for financial services industry. The Company integrates extensive financial services industry expertise with market-leading technology to provide technology applications and technology-enabled business services to financial institutions. The integrated solutions and platform the Company provides include digital banking solution, digital insurance solution and Gamma Platform, which is a technology infrastructural platform for financial institutions. The Company's solutions enable its customers' digital transformations, which help them improve efficiency, enhance service quality, and reduce costs and risks.

The Company has established long-term cooperation relationships with financial institutions to address their needs of digital transformation. The Company has also expanded its services to other participants in the value chain to support the digital transformation of financial services eco-system. In addition, the Company has successfully exported its technology solutions to overseas financial institutions.

For more information, please visit ir.ocft.com. 

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Such statements are based upon 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. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the Company's limited operating history in the technology-as-a-service for financial institutions industry; its ability to achieve or sustain profitability; the tightening of laws, regulations or standards in the financial services industry; the Company's ability to comply with the evolving regulatory requirements in the PRC and other jurisdictions where it operates; its ability to comply with existing or future laws and regulations related to data protection or data security; its ability to maintain and enlarge the customer base or strengthen customer engagement; its ability to maintain its relationship and engagement with Ping An Group and its related parties, which are its strategic partner, most important customer and largest supplier; its ability to compete effectively to serve China's financial institutions; the effectiveness of its technologies, its ability to maintain and improve technology infrastructure and security measures; its ability to protect its intellectual property and proprietary rights; its ability to maintain or expand relationship with its business partners and the failure of its partners to perform in accordance with expectations; its ability to protect or promote its brand and reputation; its ability to timely implement and deploy its solutions; its ability to obtain additional capital when desired; litigation and negative publicity surrounding China-based companies listed in the U.S.; disruptions in the financial markets and business and economic conditions; the Company's ability to pursue and achieve optimal results from acquisition or expansion opportunities; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Use of Unaudited Non-IFRS Financial Measures

The unaudited consolidated financial information is prepared in accordance with IFRS Accounting Standards ("IFRS") issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB") . Non-IFRS measures are used in gross profit and gross margin, adjusted to exclude non-cash items, which consist of amortization of intangible assets recognized in cost of revenue, depreciation of property and equipment recognized in cost of revenue, and share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenue. OneConnect's management regularly review non-IFRS gross profit and non-IFRS gross margin to assess the performance of our business. By excluding non-cash items, these financial metrics allow OneConnect's management to evaluate the cash conversion of one dollar revenue on gross profit. OneConnect uses these non-IFRS financial measures to evaluate its ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. OneConnect believes that non-IFRS financial information, when taken collectively, is helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of results of operations, and assists in comparisons with other companies, many of which use similar financial information. OneConnect also believes that presentation of the non-IFRS financial measures provides useful information to its investors regarding its results of operations because it allows investors greater transparency to the information used by OneConnect's management in its financial and operational decision making so that investors can see through the eyes of the OneConnect's management regarding important financial metrics that the management uses to run the business as well as allowing investors to better understand OneConnect's performance. However, non-IFRS financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, and should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with IFRS, and may be different from similarly-titled non-IFRS measures used by other companies. In light of the foregoing limitations, you should not consider non-IFRS financial measure in isolation from or as an alternative to the financial measure prepared in accordance with IFRS. Whenever OneConnect uses a non-IFRS financial measure, a reconciliation is provided to the most closely applicable financial measure stated in accordance with IFRS. You are encouraged to review the related IFRS financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-IFRS financial measures to their most directly comparable IFRS financial measures. For more information on non-IFRS financial measures, please see the table captioned "Reconciliation of IFRS and non-IFRS results (Unaudited)" set forth at the end of this press release.

Contacts

Investor Relations:
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OCFT_IR@ocft.com 

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