Earnings Labs

So-Young International Inc. (SY)

Q4 2025 Earnings Call· Wed, Mar 25, 2026

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for So-Young's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's call, Ms. Mona Qiao. Please proceed, Mona.

Mona Qiao

Analyst

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining So-Young's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today on the call is Mr. Xing Jin, our Founder, Chairman and CEO, and Ms. Hui Zhao, VP of Finance. Before we begin, please refer to the safe harbor statements in our earnings release, which applies today's call as we will be making forward-looking statements. Please also note that we will discuss non-GAAP measures today, which are more thoroughly explained and reconciled to the most comparable measures reported under GAAP in our earnings release on our Investor Relations website and filings with SEC. Please also note all figures mentioned in this call are in renminbi or otherwise stated. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Xing Jin.

Xing Jin

Analyst

[Interpreted] China's medical aesthetic industry structural adjustments as upstream capacity expanded and consumers become more value driven. Return to value has become the common theme. For institutions pursuing scaled and repeatable models, this offers a critical window to build long-term edge. In Q4, we continued to improve our investment and make progress in 3 directions. First, delivering scale breakthrough stand and operational improvements in our aesthetic center business; second, reinforcing medical service delivery capabilities to build a long-term trust-driven mode; and third, building our supply chain barriers to enhance brand and seize opportunities. We are pleased to see these choices are reflected in our financial results. The total revenue was RMB 451 million in Q4, up around 25% year-over-year, hitting a record high for quarterly revenue. Revenue from our aesthetic center business reached RMB 248 million, up over 205% year-over-year and about 10% above the high end of guidance. Our aesthetic center business has become our largest revenue contributing segment and growth engine with So-Young Clinic becoming the largest medical aesthetic chain in China by a number of centers. Now let me walk you through our progress in Q4 and our 2026 deployment, focusing on our aesthetic center business. -- our aesthetic center business has recently achieved 2 milestones. The first is our center footprint. By year-end 2025, we have opened 49 medical aesthetic centers, ranking first nationwide among all tiers by center count. The second is the treatment volume. In Q4, verified treatment visits exceeded 125,000, up 178% year-over-year. Verified aesthetic treatment performed exceeded 289,400, up 168% year-over-year. As of December end, our total active users surpassed 170,000. The growth in both treatment volume and user base validates the market demand and ongoing recognition from consumers. As we scale, center level operational efficiency continues to improve. In Q4, 25…

Hui Zhao

Analyst

Thank you, [indiscernible], and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I'm [indiscernible], Vice President of Finance. On behalf of our CFO, I will walk you through our fourth quarter 2025 operating and financial results. For additional details on our fourth quarter and full year performance, please refer to the earnings release we issued earlier today. Unless otherwise noted, all amounts are in RMB. 2025 marked a transformational year for So-Young. The rapid scaling of our branded extent extended network fundamentally reshaped our business profile, and we are pleased with where we are today. Total fourth quarter revenues reached RMB 46.7 million, up 24.8% year-over-year. This was driven by continued expansion of our branded aesthetic center business. As of year-end, our cash position stood at RMB 936.4 million, providing solid runway to fund our expansion plans while preserving financial flexibility. Let me now walk you through performance by business segment. Our branded aesthetic center business sits at the core of our growth with our platform and upstream supply chain businesses serving as complementary dealers. Together, they form an integrated value chain across the medical aesthetics industry. Revenues from aesthetic treatment services reached RMB 248.1 million, up 205.3% year-over-year. This has been our largest revenue segment since Q2 and this quarter, it crossed the 50% revenue contribution threshold for the first time. Also, this marks our third consecutive quarter of exceeding the high end of our segment guidance. This strong performance was driven by both continued network expansion and improving cost center economic. As of December 31, we operated 49 So-Young clinics across 15 major cities, reflecting a net addition of 10 centers during the quarter. Now breaking down revenue by central development phase. Our 17 mature phase centers generated RMB 102.5 million in revenue or roughly RMB 8.4 million per…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [indiscernible] with Citi Securities.

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

[Interpreted] Let me briefly translate. I'm [indiscernible] from Citi Securities. So firstly, congratulations on the accelerating growth in Q4. And we are glad to see that there is improving gross margins in the aesthetic centers business and service business. So I have a question regarding the gross margin prospects. So could you share more about the gross margin plan and source further margin expansion.

Xing Jin

Analyst

[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. We believe that 3 core factors shape margin performance. The pace of center openings, consumable costs and seasonal promotions. Based on these factors, we have planned to enhance gross margin. First, we will continue optimizing the pace of center openings and the ramp-up efficiency of new centers. Upfront investments to new centers can create short-term margin pressure and license approval timing in our industry is often predictable. Going forward, we aim to adopt a more even cadence throughout the year combined with our integrated operating system. This accelerates each center's path to efficient operations and short-term ramp-up cycle. For 2026, new openings will represent a smaller share of total centers compared to last year. This will reduce margin dilution of concentrated new center investments. Meanwhile, the proportion and profit contribution from mature centers will rise, driving the overall gross margin levels. Second, we will optimize consumable costs. Currently, we have built deep collaborations with upstream partners, including [indiscernible] Biopharma, China Medical System [indiscernible] Farm and [indiscernible] Medical. This guarantees reliable supply and ongoing cost optimization. Looking ahead, we will strengthen empower with our partners and convert more high-quality upstream manufacturers in 2 long-term partners. At the same time, we will continue advancing our broad faster strategy. In the fourth quarter, our 4 major products accounted for over 37% of revenue as our core offering through the procurement cost panties will become more pronounced. Third, we will refine our seasonal promotions. Digital accounting remains a critical channel for user base expansion, customer conversion and building long-term user assets. Going forward, we will optimize our product mix and integrate campaigns more deeply with the membership system, targeting repeat transit among core members. We aim to transform short-term traffic into customers' LTV. This will drive gross margin.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from John Wong with GF Securities.

John Wang

Analyst · GF Securities.

This is John Wang from Guangfa Securities. Congratulations to the company on this outstanding performance. My question is about the development of So-Young Clinic in second-tier cities. And I would like to know whether the current operating performance of these centers has met management's expectations. Could management also share some operational updates on the several representative centers?

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been disconnected. Please stay connected while we reconnect the line for the management. Thank you for patiently holding, ladies and gentlemen. The line for the management has been reconnected. Yes, please go ahead.

Xing Jin

Analyst

[Interpreted] From an industry perspective, while China's medical aesthetic market in second-tier cities have reached relative maturity, they like to have first-tier cities in medical service delivery capabilities and operational standards. We ensure that our centers in second-tier cities deliver the same level of medical service quality as is in first tier cities. Based on our operational track record, centers in second-tier cities are also growing well, both the traffic and per customer treatment are rising, and the revenue per center is close to first tier levels. As of December, mature centers in secondary cities such as Wuhan Tiandi Center and Changshu Center generated an average sales per square meter of RMB 7,000 per month. Among the opening in second-tier cities, [indiscernible] stood out. These centers have maintained robust revenue growth with industry-leading CAGR. For example, goudaSuzhou Su Plaza broke 1 million in monthly revenue with 3 months since opening, proving that our model works in second-tier cities. In terms of profitability, mature centers in second-tier cities enjoyed slightly higher margins due to lower staff payroll and rental expenses compared to the first tier cities. [Interpreted] We believe that the fundamental advantage of a chain model line in reduced transaction costs and enhanced brand trust, scale and accessibility. At present, most players in secondary cities are single center operators without meaningful density. Based on how we involved in both tier cities and So-Young's live trust grows, customers will tend to to push out multiple treatments per visit. Looking ahead, we believe the process improvement, resource synergy and traffic management will drive continued gains in our second-tier centers and economics of scale will take effect across our network. We are confident that this will lead to stronger profitability and market competitiveness in second-tier cities.

Maggie Huang

Analyst

And let me translate my question. This is Maggie Huang from CICC. Congratulations for our excellent performance. And we would like to know whether the competitive advantages in customer acquisition costs has been maintained amid its continued scaled expansion. And could management also share the customer acquisition strategy for 2026?

Xing Jin

Analyst

[Interpreted] Our edge in customer acquisition cost has been preserved and further strengthened. During the quarter, we opened a significant number of new centers and seize the opportunities brought by major shopping campaigns, including Double 11 and Double 12, bringing a new quarterly record for new customers. For the full year, our average CAC remained below 10% of revenue, a highly competitive benchmark in this industry. We sustained this advantage primarily through our customer referral model. Through our membership system and differentiated benefits, we will incentivize existing high-value users to refer new customers. This will not only lower CAC, but also improve the quality and retention rate of new users. Second, we will continue to optimize the mix of our public and private domain customer acquisition channels and enhance their LTV through refined operations. Meanwhile, we will continue to roll out co-branding initiatives with the world's top IP. Recently, we launched co-branding programs with 2 renowned IP, Little Print and Disney. Through brand storytelling, we reached a broader customer base and resonated with users emotionally, further amplifying our brand equity. As our footprint expands and user base grows, we anticipate further reductions in tax.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of David Chang with Haipeng International.

David Chang

Analyst · Haipeng International.

[Interpreted] I'll translate my question. Thank you management for taking my question. My question is about the user growth and the membership operations, especially for core members. Could management share the specific measures you will take to improve the LTV of core members going forward?

Xing Jin

Analyst · Haipeng International.

[Interpreted] For our core members, Level 3 and higher members continue to show solid growth momentum. Our user service show that core members still have significant room for growth in their annual medical aesthetic budgets, laying a foundation for us to boost user LTV. This quarter, revenue contribution from core members and their quarterly return rate both exceeded 80% with new core members surpassing 14,000. Consumer performances are shifting towards efficiency and clinical capabilities. Against this background, we will focus on, first, expanding our product portfolio. We will introduce more comprehensive product offerings, including standardized side treatments and mid- to high-end services. We expect this to elevate user value. Second, we will further optimize our membership system by offering differentiated benefits and service touch points so as to realize tiered user segmentation and provide corresponding services. This will strengthen co- members' perception of our brand value, building a positive feedback loop, which will drive their loyalty. These measures will lead to improved presenter profitability and provide strong momentum for our long-term growth.

Operator

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session, and this concludes our conference for today. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.