Earnings Labs

Tuniu Corporation (TOUR)

Q4 2020 Earnings Call· Tue, Mar 16, 2021

$6.92

-0.86%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello. And thank you for standing by for Tuniu’s 2020 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management’s prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today’s conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today’s conference call, Director of Investor Relations, Mary.

Mary Chen

Management

Thank you, Andrew. And welcome to our 2020 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are Donald Yu, Tuniu’s Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Anqiang Chen, Tuniu’s Financial Controller. For today’s agenda, management will discuss business updates, operation highlights and financial performance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020. Before we continue, I refer you to our Safe Harbor statement and earnings press release, which applies to this call, as we will make forward-looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Finally, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during this conference call are in RMB. I would now like to turn the call over to our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Donald Yu.

Donald Yu

Management

Thank you, Mary. Good day, everyone. Welcome to our 2020 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. First, I would like to provide a brief review of the China travel market in 2020. 2020 was a challenging year for the tourism industry both in China and globally due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the travel industry has began to gradually recover, and we are optimistic about the future, we did experience a period of stagnation last year. Fortunately, Tuniu’s years of experience in the industry have allowed us to accumulate a large number of high-quality business partners and loyal customers, along with diverse product portfolio, and strong customer service team. All of which help us to get through the most challenging times. Also, our flexible operating model allows us to efficiently - effectively respond to changes in customer demand during and after the COVID-19 outbreak to adjustment to our business focus, product strategy and staffing. Upon the outbreak of COVID-19 in January last year, our first priority was to guarantee the safety and the interest of our customers. We quickly assisted traveling customers with their return logistics, while responding or adjusting previously purchased packages for customers who hadn't started their trips yet. During the pandemic, our direct loss related to customer refunds totaled more than RMB100 million. Thanks to our timely response, however, we'll be rewarded with the long term support and trust of many loyal customers who have greatly contributed to the recovery of Tuniu’s business. I'm pleased to see that our GMV contribution from repeat customers reached a new high last year. In response to the changing external environment, we've also made various adjustments to our business operations and the corporate structure, including optimizing our teams and repositioning our key staff. We've also adopted…

Anqiang Chen

Management

Thank you, Donald. Hello, everyone. Now I will walk you through our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 financial results in greater detail. Please note that all the monetary amounts are in RMB unless otherwise stated. You can find the U.S. dollar equivalents of the numbers in our earnings release. Starting from the fourth quarter of 2020, net revenues were RMB118.7 million, representing a year-over-year decrease of 74% from the corresponding period in 2020. The decrease was primarily due to the negative impact brought by the outbreak and spread of COVID-19. Revenues from packaged tours were down 76% year-over-year to RMB83.1 million and accounted for 70% of our total net revenue for the quarter. The decrease was primarily due to the decline in travel to international destinations impact by the outbreak and spread of COVID-19. Other revenues were down 67% year-over-year to RMB35.6 million and accounted for 30% of our net revenues. The decrease was primarily due to the decline in service fees received from insurance companies and revenues generated from financial services. Gross margin was 40% in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a gross margin of 48% in the fourth quarter of 2019. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2020 were RMB960.1 million, up 48% year-over-year. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization of acquired intangible assets and impairment of acquired intangible assets, non-GAAP operating expenses were RMB924.3 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 60%. Research and product development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2020 were RMB12.8 million, 84% year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in research and product development personnel related expenses. Sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter of 2020 were RMB113.2 million, down 53% year-over -year. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in sales and marketing personnel related…

Operator

Operator

The question-and-answer session of this conference call will start in a moment. [Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Amy Jo, a private investor. Please go ahead.

Amy Jo

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Hi, management. I've got two questions. The first is regarding your 2020 financial result. What's the reason for the increased loss in the fourth quarter? How does it impact your cash flow? My second question is about your 2021 outlook. What is your view on recovery of the industry in 2021? And how do you plan to expand your business in the post-epidemic era? Thank you.

Donald Yu

Management

Thank you for the question. First, let me explain the increased losses. We revealed our accounts throughout - solely in the year and in the year end, and recorded approximately RMB800 million impairment charges in the G&A expenses, including refunds to customers that we paid on behalf of our travel suppliers, and the increased credit risk, as we – result of the COVID-19, as well as impairment on some financial products. Excluding these non-cash expenses, our G&A expenses for the fourth quarter and full year 2020 both declined a lot. And our net loss also narrowed down on a year-over-year basis. As of December 31, our cache balance was RMB1.6 billion, which is in line with the last quarter and will be sufficient to support our future business operations. Secondly, although there were industry headwinds such as small outbreaks in the winter, and tightened travel restrictions during the spring festival, we always see pent-up demand for traveling and expect a strong momentum or recovery for domestic tours. In fact, the bookings after the spring festival keeps increasing according to our data. Also, recently, it was announced that the Labor Day holiday for 2021 will be a five-day holiday, which may further stimulate the domestic travel market. For outbound travel, although it doesn't recover so far, we are optimistic about its long term growth. We won’t miss the opportunities of this recovery in the future. Currently, our focus is still on domestic tours. This year, we will continue to focus on product innovation, quality improvement and technology under our integrated business model. We continue to increase our investment in product - develop product upgrades to ensure we always have a compelling and differentiated product offers - offerings for customers. Recently, we did an in-depth research on our customer needs in order…

Amy Jo

Analyst

Thanks.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We are now approaching the end of the conference call. I will now turn the call over to Tuniu’s Director of Investor Relations, Mary for closing remarks.

Mary Chen

Management

Once again, thank you for joining us today. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you for your continued support. And we look forward to speaking with you in the coming months.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.