Tongcheng-Elong Holdings, a Chinese online travel firm co-invested by Trip.com Group and Tencent, announced its third-quarter financial results with 22.3% revenue growth and 27.7% adjusted EBITDA rise.
Q3 Highlights
* Revenue increased by 22.3% to RMB2,062.1 million from RMB1,686.4 million last year
* Adjusted EBITDA increased by 27.7% to RMB547.3 million from RMB428.5 million last year
* Adjusted EBITDA margin increased from 25.4% in Q3 2018 to 26.5% this quarter
* Adjusted profit increased by 33.2% to RMB419.2 million from RMB314.7 million in 2018
* Average monthly active users increased by 13.4% from 206.3 million in Q3 2018 to 234.0 million
* Average monthly paying users increased by 31.9% from 22.6 million in Q3 2018 to 29.8 million
GMV for the three months ended September 30, 2019 achieved a year-to-year growth of 21.7%, and reached RMB47.6 billion. For the three months ended September 30, 2019, average MAUs increased by 13.4% to 234.0 million. Average MPUs continued to grow rapidly by 31.9% to 29.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019. Paying ratio for the three months ended September 30, 2019 increased to 12.7%. As of September 30, 2019, the number of annual paying users reached 135 million.
Revenue from accommodation reservations increased by 34.5% from RMB515.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 to RMB693.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019. The increase was mainly because of the increased room nights.
Revenue from transportation ticketing increased by 1.6% from RMB1,122.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2018 to RMB1,139.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019, primarily due to increase in the GMV, which was in turn driven by increase in the number of flight segments sold and train tickets sold.
The company expanded its user base with low user acquisition cost attributable to the mutually beneficial partnership with Tencent. It has also established diversified traffic sources on Tencent-based platforms by leveraging on Weixin-based mini program.
Weixin users can access Tongcheng-Elong's Weixin-based mini program through:
(1) Weixin Payment portal and a drop-down list of users’ favorite or most frequently used mini programs, which generated an average MAUs of 124.9 million in the third quarter of 2019, accounting for 65.0% of the total average MAUs of the company's Tencent-based platforms;
(2) interactive advertisements placed on the Tencent-based platforms, which generated an average MAUs of 48.5 million in the third quarter of 2019, accounting for 25.2% of the total average MAUs of its Tencent-based platforms;
and (3) the sharing and search functions in Weixin, which generated an average MAUs of 18.8 million in the third quarter of 2019, accounting for 9.8% of the total average MAUs of its Tencent-based platforms.
The company also announced the resignation of non-executive director Mr. Lin Haifeng, and the appointment of Mr. Yu Haiyang, as the new non-executive director representing Tencent Holdings on the board.
