Meituan has released its results for the first quarter of 2021.
Company Financial Highlights
Total revenues increased by 120.9% in the first quarter of 2021 to RMB37.0 billion from RMB16.8 billion for the same period of 2020. Food delivery and in-store, hotel & travel segments posted stellar growth, realizing an aggregate operating profit by segment of RMB3.9 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase from RMB0.6 billion for the same period of 2020. Operating loss for the new initiatives and others segment expanded from an accelerated investment effort to provide services with more breadth. Both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net loss for the first quarter of 2021 decreased year-over-year to negative RMB2.4 billion and RMB3.9 billion, respectively. Net cash flows used in operating activities decreased to RMB4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021 from RMB5.0 billion for the same period of 2020. Meituan had cash and cash equivalents of RMB17.8 billion and short-term treasury investments of RMB35.3 billion as of March 31, 2021, compared to the balances of RMB17.1 billion and RMB44.0 billion as of December 31, 2020, respectively.
Highlights for In-store, Hotel & Travel Business
In-store, hotel & travel segment fully recovered in the first quarter of 2021. Revenue of the segment increased by 112.7% year over year to RMB6.6 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Operating profit increased 304.0% to RMB2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2021 from RMB680.2 million in the same period of 2020, and operating margin increased to 41.7% from 22.0%.
For in-store dining, since Meituan introduced the Open for Business initiative for Spring Festival, both GTV and transaction volume growths accelerated to historical highs during the Spring Festival this year, and Meituan achieved nearly 30% two-year GTV CAGR in the first quarter of 2021. Gathering dining events fully recovered, and light-meal consumption scenario maintained high growth. Meituan further increased quality supply on the platform and continued to penetrate more high-quality chain restaurants. Tailored services and innovative transaction-based products continued to support the unique advertising needs from chain restaurants.
For other in-store services, two-year revenue CAGR exceeded 30% in the first quarter of 2021 from the same period of 2019. Categories such as medical aesthetics maintained strong growth momentum, while categories such as leisure and entertainment, which were severely impacted during the pandemic, resumed normal growth. Meituan continued to identify the evolving consumption trends, and managed multiple service categories to better satisfy the changing demand from consumers. Meituan also launched various marketing and promotional festivals, such as the Wedding Festival and Back to School Festivals to help lift merchants advertising budgets. As a result, Meituan strengthened its “competitive advantages” in serving high-quality merchants and fast expanding coverage of small- to mid-sized merchants this quarter.
With respect to hotel booking business, Meituan achieved over 100 million domestic room nights in the first quarter of 2021, representing a stellar 135.8% year-over-year growth, and a two-year CAGR of 13.3% from the same period of 2019. Despite recommendations for people to stay put during the Spring Festival led to less travelling during the seven-day holiday season this year compared to normal years, consumer demand for hotels continued to rise during the quarter. Notably, Meituan expanded rapidly in high-star hotels, with room night contribution from high-star hotels surpassing 16.7% in the first quarter of 2021, thanks to its continuous investment in supply expansion, customer service, and product experience. With regard to low-star hotels and low-tier cities, Meituan further solidified its existing advantage, enhanced brand awareness, and improved offline traffic conversion.
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