Earnings Labs

Waterdrop Inc. (WDH)

Q1 2024 Earnings Call· Wed, Jun 5, 2024

$1.68

+0.00%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

+0.72%

1 Week

+0.00%

1 Month

-15.11%

vs S&P

-19.19%

Transcript

Unknown Executive

Operator

Good morning, everyone. This is [ Tracy Lee ] from Waterdrop Investor Relations. It's [indiscernible] to welcome everyone to Waterdrop's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. Please note that discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under safe harbor provisions of U.S. Private Securities and the Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are factor to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but not limited to, those outlined in our public filings with the SEC. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required any under applicable law. Also, this call includes discussion of certain [indiscernible]. Please refer to our earnings release for a reconciliation between non-GAAP and GAAP. Joining us today on the call are Mr. Yang Guang, Co-Founder, Director, [indiscernible] and GM of the International Business; Mr. [ Yang Wei ], Director and GM of Insurance Business; Mr. [indiscernible], Head of Finance; and Ms. [ Jasmine Lee ], [indiscernible] Secretary. We'll be happy to take some of the questions in the Mandarin line at the end of the conference call.

Unknown Executive

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us our first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Since the beginning of 2024, the domestic economy remains on track for recovery, leading to a steady growth in personal insurance industry. For Waterdrop, the company continues to pursue high-quality development while improving our quality and efficiency. In terms of our financial performance, total revenue of Q1 reached [ 705 million ], up 16.3% year-over-year. GAAP net profit attributed to the company reached [ 80.6 million ], a significant increase of [ 62.2% ] year-over-year. Since Q1 of 2022, we have continuously recorded profitability for 9 consecutive quarters. In Q1, all our business segments maintained robust. For our Insurance Business, we actively optimize the product offerings, explore new service models and continue to see [ IGC ] empowerment. Insurance premiums significantly increased sequentially, representing an operating margin of over 20%. For Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding, we are actively participating in multi-label medical assistance system to continue improving service quality. Segment loss was further reduced. For healthcare-related business, we continue to collaborate with domestic and international pharmaceuticals, expanding to a digital marketing solution [indiscernible]. During Q1, our revenue increased 7.3% Y-o-Y. In the first quarter, we continued to invest in R&D. By now, we have obtained 4 LLM-related patents and submitted over 10 more patent applications. We are committed to improve efficiency in the entire insurance service group. For our CSR and ESG efforts, Waterdrop is here to sustainable development in ESG management, implementation and as well as [indiscernible]. In the latest rating published by IGF, our rating increased to A-, requesting a great lift forwarding at ESG. As of the end of Q1, our charity platform has partnered with 112 [indiscernible] charity organization, [indiscernible] more than 15,000 projects. [indiscernible] one of multilevel medical assistance platform we joined…

Unknown Executive

Operator

Thanks, Jan. This quarter, our insurance business demonstrates steady growth. The total FYP risk at [ 1.75 billion ], increased by 3.7% year-over-year. Insurance-related income was [ 610 million ], up by 13.1% Y-o-Y. Operating profit for the insurance business reached [ 130 million ]. RRP for short-term insurance products was [ 1.15 billion ] in the first quarter, representing a sequential increase of [ 15.9% ]. [indiscernible] new policy FYP grew by 41.6% sequentially. We have continually incurred online traffic conversion and based on the user profile of each content distribution platform, we specifically optimized our product offering accordingly. Our policy renewal rate remains at a high level, consistently above 95%, which indicates strong user recognition. [indiscernible] for long-term insurance products amounted to [ 600 million ] in Q1, representing a [ Q3 ] growth of 13.4%. The contribution of FYP generated for long-term insurance products to overall FYP would further increase. The FYP of life insurance product to overall long-term products increased to 56.4%. [indiscernible] a sequential increase in productivity per capita by 6.4%, the overall quality of long-term policy further improved, with the first year retention rate increasing by 2 percentage points sequentially. We continue to develop our offline brokerage business. In Q1, we launched our new brand of off-line brokers for [indiscernible], aimed to provide more comprehending offline service and strengthening our brand awareness. On [indiscernible], we got sequential increase in FYP and Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace at [indiscernible] really enhanced synergies in sales resources, content marketing and product partnerships. Our capability in catering various products to meet user needs continue to improve. During this quarter, we launched [indiscernible], a long-term medical insurance product [indiscernible] for 20 years and aims to provide high-value coverage for senior, especially for seniors. Our [indiscernible] disability income insurance for the elderly…

Unknown Executive

Operator

Thank you, [indiscernible]. As of the end of Q1 2024, around 456 million people [indiscernible] donated 63.8 billion to over 3.17 million patients through our Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding. We sustained focus on transparency and keep strengthening our risk management mechanism. For intent, before manual verification, we integrated algorithm [indiscernible] to identify false or fake medical documents and mitigate related risks risk effectively. In addition, for patients with a high risk of [indiscernible] away with all of the donations are made in batches according to the stage of treatment, reducing the risk of fund misappropriation. We see in that the higher eccentricity we have, the greater the donor enthusiasm will be. In the meantime, we constantly [indiscernible] user experience and constantly improve service quality. For urgent cases, we opened up an advanced payment application portal for patients. We have the risk control review. When patients need to withdraw the fund but 24 hours public notice period has ended, we will use our own funds as advanced payments. This ensures that the patients can promptly get the fund for their treatment. During Q1, we actively participate in multilevel medical assistance programs initiated by local governments in China. In February, on International Rare Disease Day, Waterdrop launched the special rare disease care program on top of our existing support initiatives. By the end of Q1, more than 67,000 patients with rare disease have -- as will help through our Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding [indiscernible] fund and received donation of more than [ CNY 1.5 billion ] from 48.9 million donors. We contribute through our platform, the Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding charitable bonds and collaboration with pharmaceuticals. We provide a fast track for rare disease patients to respond as well as dedicated consultants and [indiscernible] support. Waterdrop charity works with charity fund to help these patients…

Unknown Executive

Operator

Thank you, [ Jasmine ]. Hello, everyone. I will now walk you through our financial highlights for Q1. Before I go into details, please be reminded that all numbers quoted here will be in RMB. And please refer to our earnings release for detailed information on our financial performance on both the year-on-year and quarter-over-quarter basis, respectively. We are thrilled to kick off 2024 with solid financial results. The company revenue in Q1 amounted to RMB 705 million, representing a Q-o-Q growth of [ 16.3% ]. The revenue structure is more diversified upwards, which the insurance-related income amounted to RMB 607 million. The crowdfunding business contributed revenue of RMB 67.4 million and the health care related income of about RMB 25.3 million, with all 3 business segments growing steadily. At the same time, the company also continue to focus on operational efficiency, with overall operating costs and expenses of RMB 658 million, up 10.5% year-over-year and [ 4% ] quarter-over-quarter. Among them, Q1 operating costs were approximately RMB 331 million. Operating costs showed a year-over-year increase of 33.6% because of the consolidated [indiscernible], representing a sequential increase by 9.6%, mainly due to an increase in the referral and the receipts. In terms of expenses, S&M expenses amounted to RMB 182 million, representing an increase of 5% and 4.2% on a Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q basis, respectively, which maintain a healthy and steadily trend, and benefiting our firm our effective cost control. G&A expense amounts to RMB [ 89 million ], representing a decrease of 7.1% and 7.3% on a Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q basis. R&D expenses amounted to RMB 56 million. The decrease [indiscernible] due to the impact of team restructuring. In Q1, our profitability improved significantly. Net profit attributable to the company's ordinary shares amounted to RMB 80.6 million, 62.2% year-over-year and [ 30.5% ] quarter-over-quarter. Since Q1 of 2022, we've continuously recorded profitability for 2 consecutive years. We generated a net cash inflow from our operating activities of RMB 179 million. Looking ahead, we will continue to create value for our users and shareholders, with great profitability and growth. And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for joining. Have a good time.

Operator

Operator

Conference has now concluded. We thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.