"Based on the outstanding performance in the first quarter, especially in the retail business, we hope to increase this year's revenue from the 30% year-on-year growth announced in the previous quarter to 40%." On the evening of May 23, Beijing time, as a leader in the domestic mid to high end hotel market, Yaduo Group announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Wang Haijun, the founder and CEO of Yaduo Group, said in a subsequent performance conference call.
According to the financial report disclosure, due to the synergistic growth of accommodation and retail businesses, Yaduo Group achieved a revenue of 1.468 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 89.7%; The adjusted net profit was 261 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.4%; The adjusted EBITDA was RMB 354 million, a year-on-year increase of 53.1%, and all three indicators maintained high double-digit growth.
Therefore, Wang Haijun stated that in 2024, Yaduo's revenue will maintain high-quality growth. However, in terms of profit, the overall fluctuation of RevPAR and changes in the company's revenue structure this year will bring certain pressure to our profit margin level. "We will continue to optimize the cost structure, improve management and operational efficiency, and are expected to maintain a relatively stable profit margin level."
ADR decreased by 13 yuan in the first quarter, RevPAR under pressure
The revenue of Yaduo Group consists of managing hotels, leasing hotels, retail, and others. In terms of hotel business, in the first quarter, the managed hotel revenue increased by 87.1% year-on-year to 836 million yuan, mainly due to the continuous expansion of the hotel network and the rapid growth of the supply chain business.
The revenue from renting hotels decreased by 10.3% year-on-year to 168 million yuan, mainly due to the decrease in RevPAR (actual operating revenue per saleable room) and the impact of a renovation of a rented hotel. Affected by the above factors, the gross profit margin of Yaduo Hotel's business during the reporting period was 34.1%, a year-on-year decrease of 5.7 percentage points.
Wang Haijun introduced during the performance conference that "Yaduo RevPAR reached 328 yuan in the first quarter, a decrease of 9 yuan from the same period last year, equivalent to 97.4% of the same period in 2023.". The occupancy rate of OCC was 73.3%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from the same period last year. However, due to the explosive demand for business and leisure travel during the same period in 2023, resulting in a high comparative base, our ADR (average room per night revenue) faced some pressure in the first quarter, at 430 yuan, a decrease of 13 yuan from the same period last year
"If we look at 843 mature hotels that have been operating for over 18 months, the RevPAR performance of the same hotel in the first quarter was 99.7%, which is basically the same as last year."
Previously, Southern Metropolitan Daily reporters reviewed the performance of other hotel groups during the same period and found that, benefiting from the recovery of the cultural and tourism industry, each group continued its growth trend. However, this year's growth rate (total revenue, housing prices) has generally slowed down, mainly due to the concentrated release of demand last year and the lack of supply recovery in the short term, resulting in a situation where "one room is difficult to find" and "both quantity and price rise", which has led to a higher hotel performance base last year.
"The concentrated outbreak of business and leisure travel last year has to some extent pushed up the price base and put relatively greater pressure on prices this year. Since April, including the Labor Day holiday, we have also seen such a situation. The RevPAR in the second quarter may be under greater pressure than the first quarter." Wang Haijun admitted that due to various factors affecting performance, it is difficult to provide a relatively accurate forecast for the full year of 2024 RevPAR. "From now on, this year's uncertainty has exceeded our previous expectations. In the current environment, our strategy is to prioritize stabilizing the OCC foundation while seizing core opportunities in revenue."
According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, Yaduo Group opened a total of 97 new hotels. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, the number of hotels operated by Yaduo Group reached 1302, with 148149 hotel rooms, a year-on-year increase of 34.5% and 31.6%, respectively. It is worth mentioning that in April of this year, the single brand of "Yaduo Hotel" reached a milestone of 1000 hotels in operation. 30 companies have signed contracts for Qingju 3.0, accounting for over 15% of the total. As of March 31st, there are 36 light residence 3.0 hotels that have opened.
Wang Haijun said, "This year, we will focus on our strategic goal of having 2000 high-end hotels by 2025, propose higher quality requirements, and make quality a prerequisite for quantity growth. Based on this, we hope to maintain the goal of opening 360 new hotels throughout the year."
Retail business contributes nearly 30% of revenue, and "Deep Sleep Summer Cool Quilt" has become a hot selling item
In the first quarter of 2024, the retail business revenue of Yaduo Group increased by 268.9% to 417 million yuan, accounting for 28.4% of the total revenue, up from 15% last year. The GMV reached 495 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 277.4%. The proportion of GMV in online channels has increased to 90%, mainly due to the market awareness effect of retail brands and the improvement of product supply and distribution capabilities.
In the first quarter, the gross profit margin of Yaduo's retail business was 50.5%, compared to 45.5% in the same period of 2023. The growth in retail business gross profit margin is attributed to the increasing contribution of high-end online sales.
The reporter from Nandu learned from Yaduo that in March this year, Yaduo launched a new product, "Deep Sleep Summer Cool Quilt", which quickly exceeded 10 million GMV in 21 days after its launch. In April, it ranked first in the sales of quilts on the JD and Tiktok platforms, and ranked among the top ten in the sales of Tmall platform, becoming another popular product after the deep sleep pillow PRO and the deep sleep temperature control quilt.
Based on promoting the integration of accommodation and retail membership systems, as of March 31, the number of registered members of Yaduo Group has exceeded 71 million, a year-on-year increase of 86%. Driven by the rapidly growing membership business, Yaduo's "other" business revenue increased by 76.8% to 48 million yuan in the first quarter.
The growth of retail business has also driven up marketing expenses. According to the financial report, Yaduo's sales and marketing expenses in the first quarter were 175 million yuan, compared to 56 million yuan in the same period of 2023, which is equivalent to a three fold year-on-year increase, accounting for 11.9% of the net revenue in the first quarter. Wu Jianfeng, CFO of Yaduo Group, explained in a performance conference call that this growth is mainly due to Yaduo's increased investment in brand awareness and online channel development as its retail business grows.
"We expect our retail business to achieve double-digit growth throughout the year," Wu Jianfeng said. "In the coming quarters, Yaduo's sales expenses will fluctuate slightly, which is in line with the pace of our new product launches and brand promotion plans. However, we expect to maintain a relatively stable level throughout the year. We believe that the retail business will bring more incremental revenue to the group and more value to our ecosystem."
Regarding the sales plan for retail products, Wang Haijun revealed during a performance conference that in the coming quarters, Yaduo will continue to focus on deep sleep products and launch the next generation of deep sleep pillows or deep sleep temperature controlled blankets. While continuously expanding the sleep category, we will also deepen and consolidate our advantageous categories, achieving a two-way coordinated development of accommodation and retail business.