Q1 2024 Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd Earnings Call

Participants

Nicky Zheng; Director of Investor Relations; Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd

Changlin Liang; Chief Executive Officer, Founder, Director; Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd

Song Wang; Chief Financial Officer; Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd

Thomas Chong; Analyst; Jefferies

Robin Leung; Analyst; Daiwa

Jiajing Chen; Analyst; CICC

Presentation

Operator

Good morning and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Dingdong Limited First Quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded.
I will now turn the conference over to the first speaker today, Nicky Zheng, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Nicky Zheng

Thank you, everyone, and welcome to Dingdong's first quarter 2024 earnings call. With me today are Mr. Changlin Liang, our Founder and CEO; and Mr. Song Wang our CFO. You can refer to our first quarter 2024 financial results on our IR website at ir.100.mi. You can also access a replay of this call on our website when it becomes available a few hours after its conclusion.
For today's call, management will go through their prepared remarks, which will be followed by a question and answer session. Before we continue, I would like to refer you to our safe harbor statement in our earnings press release, which also applies to this call as we will be making forward-looking statements.
Please note that all numbers stated in the following management's prepared remarks are in RMB terms, and we will discuss non-GAAP measures today, which are most thoroughly explained and reconciled to the most comparable measures reported in our earnings release and filings with the SEC.
I will now turn the call to our first speaker today, the founder and the CEO of Dingdong, Ms. Liang.

Changlin Liang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
Good morning and good evening. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Dingdong's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. In the first quarter of 2024, we achieved non-GAAP profitability for the sixth consecutive quarter Notably, we recorded a substantial increase in our net profit margin and revenue growth in March 2024.
This success can be largely attributed is Dingdong's world's leading fresh grocery supply chain capabilities. These capabilities will not only contribute to Dingdong continue expansion and profitability within the domestic market, but also position the company to make a substantial impact on the overseas market generating greater and lasting value.
My remarks today will be divided into three sessions. First, I'll review our Q1 performance, then our introducing those capabilities and advantages in the fresh grocery supply chain. Finally, I'll provide a brief overlook on our future development and performance.
Let's begin with a quick rundown of our performance in Q1 2024 the company managed to achieve a GMV of RMB5.53 billion and a non-GAAP net profit of RMB41.482 million. Those increased year-over-year, though it's worthwhile to note that the performance of Q1 2023 was heavily impacted by the pandemic, which only ended in January and February of last year. Taking that into account, it wouldn't be meaningful to make a direct comparison of those months. So it will only compare the performance of March 2023 with March 2024.
In March 2024, GMV reached RMB1.97 billion, an increase of 6.5% year over year. Non-GAAP net profit was RMB41.45 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 76.8%. Non-gaap net profit margin reached 2.3%.
If we look at the figures coming out of Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu regions, we can see that in Shanghai, the order volume per station increased by 10.5% year over year. In Zhejiang it increased by 11.6% and in Jiangsu by 14.5% in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing area. The Company has been experiencing a rapid reduction in losses.
Our world-leading first grocery supply chain capabilities have proven to be instrumental in driving Dingdong's robust growth and profitability. I'll now provide a fellow introduction to our strengths in this area.
At Dingdong. We have been studying the fresh grocery industry and its unique features. Since day one. We've identified two intrinsic factors that set it apart from traditional retail. Firstly, the first principle of traditional retail is achieving scale by offering low prices, which then allows for further reductions in purchase prices. However, fresh groceries being primarily agricultural products are limited by supply and demand dynamics as well as seasonality. And so do not benefit significantly from economies of scale.
Secondly, in traditional retail increasing scale can help reduce operating costs. However, our frontline fulfillment model requires a delivery fee that will not decrease substantially as our increases. We have realized that the first principle of traditional retailing that has been successful since the Walmart era is not complementary to the fresh grocery industry.
In our industry the first principle for success is to continuously enhance end-to-end efficiency to achieve growth at scale, seek profitability and bolster our competitiveness. It is crucial that we focus on consistently improving our supply chain capabilities. These capabilities will be able to serve a larger customer base and meet their evolving needs.
Over the past seven years, we have strived to improve the quality efficiency and stability of our procurement processes. To drive this. We have focused on direct sourcing and water-based farming from production areas. We've also invested in food R&D as well as production and processing capabilities to give our products a more competitive edge.
Our self-developed de GAAP standards, WMS TMS, intelligent forecasting and operation systems and warehousing automation systems have enabled us to improve the efficiency and flexibility of our agricultural product, procurement and central warehouse production and processing as a result of these efforts, we've successfully established well leading fresh grocery supply chain capabilities, evident in the following three areas.
We ensure a high caliber of product quality through our supply chain capabilities and those primary goal is to make high-quality food as accessible to everyone as tap water. We've taken this mission to heart and have invested in our own production and processing facilities as well as regional processing centers to ensure that our supply chain is efficiently organized to guarantee that the food we provide is of the highest quality.
We've implemented a seven plus one quality control system. Our investigations have shown that 29 types of ingredients are prone to quality issues like chemical residues and excessive heavy metals. We've addressed these very concerns by fine tuning our technological processes and implementing more method, the methodical and Sabra cultivation practices.
Since we're involved in every aspect of the food supply chain from production to delivery, we can guarantee that our first products are consistently of the highest quality. We're proud to say that upholding such proactive measures has paid off, given that we've substantially reduced customer complaints and boosted use loyalty at Dingdong.
Second through our supply chain capabilities we've improved end-to-end efficiency and increased gross profit margin. Our current turnover period for fresh groceries is around five days with an end-to-end loss of 1.5% by utilizing intelligent forecasting and scheduling systems, we've been able to maintain a steady balance between out-of-stock rates and loss rates while ensuring a quality price ratio. This has resulted in a higher gross profit margin. Additionally, our credit periods are very short, with a seven plus seven payment model utilized for fresh groceries.
We're actively focused on enhancing our supply chain capabilities to foster a stronger ecosystem together with our upstream partners.
Third our innovative supply chain capabilities, broaden the scope of our development potential. Our high-quality products are now available not only on our app but also through various other channels. Some of our competitors have also begun purchasing our products.
Moreover, our cutting-edge digital supply chain system can support traditional retail trade agriculture and a multitude of food industries. It is evident that the development of our supply chain capabilities has and will continue to contribute to our growth potential, creating substantial opportunities for scaling our operations and driving profit growth.
Looking ahead to the remaining months of 2024. And based on the growth we have already observed, we forecast a tangible, sustained improvement in our performance. We think that the strategic advantages of a supply chain capabilities will not will only become more apparent and will play a crucial role in boosting our profits and scale.
With this in mind, we've raised our expectations for both net profit and scale and are anticipating considerable year-over-year growth for Q2 and this year. We're looking to achieve both non-GAAP and GAAP profit in Q2 and for the entire year of 2024.
Thank you all for listening. And now I would like to invite our CFO, Wang Song to go over the company's financials.

Song Wang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
Thank you, Mr. Liang, and hello, everyone. Before I review our financial performance, please note that all our figures are in RMB.
In the first quarter of 2024 Dingdong achieved a revenue of RMB5.02 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 0.5%. The company's non-GAAP net profit margin rose to 0.8% with a year-over-year increase of 0.7 percentage points, while its non-GAAP net profit surged 6.8 times year-over-year. You know also accomplished GAAP profitability in the same period, posting a net profit margin of 0.2%, up by 1.3 percentage points year over year, but the net profit growth of [RMB64.666 million].
Besides that the company's operating cash flow. Net inflow was RMB95 million, marking its third consecutive quarter of net operating cash inflow. After deducting short-term borrowings at the end of Q1, Dingdong's actual sales of fund balance reached RMB2.09 billion, a net increase for the third consecutive quarter. These results show that the company has entered a new stage of growth after consolidating its competitive advantages with simultaneous growth in revenue and profit and a continuous net inflow of operating cash flow.
We have been focusing on improving our product development capabilities, quality control and end-to-end supply chain capabilities for the cold chain of fresh groceries. Our aim is to provide consumers with fresh groceries at the highest quality. We've also been fine tuning our product structure, notably in categories like food, dairy drinks, our convenience goods and bakery parts.
In March, the total sales of these categories increased by approximately 8% year over year. We're also actively working on improving our private label product development capabilities. In doing so, we'll continue to provide users with better quality product with cost benefits. Our ultimate objective is to engage a wider consumer base and expand our user reach.
In Q1, our GMV reached RMB5.53 billion, marking a year-over-year increase of 1.4% after accounting for the impact of store closures in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, we saw a 4.4% year-over-year increase in existing stores. Our revenue also grew to RMB5.02 billion, a yearly increase of 0.5%.
This growth may be mainly attributed to the rise in the number of orders by 3.5% year over year emerging from the pandemic's aftermath, our Shanghai market rebounded and achieved a year-over-year growth of 2.7% in Q1, GMV of almost 10% year-over-year growth in March.
Furthermore, growth in Jiangsu and Zhejiang continue to lead with GMV, achieving year-over-year growth of 16.6% and 14.8%, respectively. This year, we plan to expand our coverage and increase the density of our frontline fulfillment stations in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu regions. As of the end of Q1, we've added 15 new Funline stations in Jiangsu and Zhejiang the average daily order volume of these new stations has quickly ramped up to more than [650]. Additionally, we've significantly reduced regional losses in the Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing areas and has been consistently achieving balanced development across multiple regions.
Gross profit margin was 30.6%, 0.1 percentage point lower than last year. Going deeper into each aspect of the supply chain, including procurement, production processing, warehousing, fulfillment and distribution increases our gross profit margin. We committed to maintaining price competitiveness while providing consumers with high value products.
Our fulfillment expense rate improved by 1.1% year over year to 22.8%, thanks to an increased order volume, which boosted operational efficiency. The average daily order volume at the frontline fulfillment station rose by 16% year over year. In addition, we optimized the layout of the regional processing centers in the second half of last year, a development, which will undoubtedly continue to improve operational efficiency this year.
Our marketing expense rate increased by 0.4 percentage points year over year and reached 2.2% because of our strong financial performance and sufficient cash reserve, we have decided to increase our marketing investment on the user side. We aim to expand our user base in key areas and drive growth at scale.
Our administrative expense and R&D expense rate remained at similar levels as the previous year. As always, we remain committed to research and development in the fields of food, agricultural technology and technical data algorithms.
Non-GAAP net profit margin was 0.8% with a profit of RMB41.48 million. This marks our sixth consecutive quarter of non-GAAP profit. We also had a GAAP net profit margin of 0.2% this quarter.
In the first quarter, our company achieved a net operating cash inflow of RMB95 million despite incurring costs and expenses by staying open during the Chinese New Year holiday. This is the third consecutive quarter during which we maintain a net operating cash inflow as of the end of Q1, we had RMB4.51 billion in cash and cash equivalents, short-term restricted cash and short-term investments. We've been working diligently to optimize our capital usage and financing structure and our actual cellphone fund balance after deducting the balance of our short-term borrowings is RMB2.09 billion.
Our financial performance is improving with simultaneous growth in revenue and profit. We have sufficient financial reserves. With all of this in mind, we are confident that we'll achieve this year's growth and profit targets.
Finally, I would like to share an update on our recent performance during the Labor Day holiday. Our GMV increased by 17% year over year when we exclude the impact of Sichuan and Chongqing the GMV increased by 20% by region, GMV in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu Regions increased by 24% year-over-year and GMV in Beijing also increased by 5% these results are remarkable considering that during the holiday Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai saw a year-over-year increase in outbound tourists.
In addition, as of yesterday, during the eight days of this year's May [5], shopping festival and Mother's Day, our GMV increased by 20% year over year and our order volume increased by 21% year over year when we exclude Sichuan and Chongqing GMV increased by 24% year over year, and our order volume increased by 26% year over year, among which the GMV of convenience goods increased by approximately 35% year over year, and the GMV of the [Quattor] products increased by nearly 30% year over year.
On Mother's Day GMV increased by 26% year over year. And auto volume increased by 24%. And again, when excluding Sichuan and Chongqing GMV increase increased by 30% and auto volume increased by 29% among them. The flowers that we mainly push on expectable have increased by about 45% in GMV and foods have increased by about 40% in GMV.
This concludes our session today. Operator, we can now start the Q&A session.

Question and Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Thomas Chong, Jefferies.

Thomas Chong

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
Let me translate myself a few days ago on May 8, Dingdong celabrated seventh anniversary. So congratulations to the Dingdong on the successful developments over the past eight years, achieving growth in both scale and the profits.
Mr. Liang, I'm curious to know, as you look back over the past seven years, we have gained some of the biggest lessons and accomplishments for you and your team. Thanks.

Changlin Liang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
Thank you for acknowledging Dingdong's seventh anniversary. As we look back on the past seven years, we humbly admit that we have not achieved any significant accomplishment. However, we would like to share with you some principles that we have always adhered to.
It's important to stick to doing what's right, even though, even when it's challenging. For instance, it's easy to grow our business by offering low prices, but it's tough to build and strengthen your supply chain. It's also easy to attract new users through marketing campaigns, but it's difficult to keep them engaged and loyal. Simply copying industry practices is easy, but it's hard to analyze and then adapt to changes in a market over the past seven years. We've learned that the right things are always harder to do. And subsequently, we've made it a point to always do what's right. Even when it's hard.
Over the past seven years, we have given Swift responses to various challenges, including the three years comprising the pandemic. During the pandemic, we fulfilled our responsibilities and maintain us a reliable supply while also achieving our own growth. Despite headwinds, we have adapted to changes in the capital markets shifting from a focus on expansion to prioritizing efficiency while still keeping scale top of the mind.
As a result, we have attained substantial profits after it for six consecutive quarters and have ample cash flow was off was also successfully navigated challenging situations like Chinese New Year or severe weather conditions such as typhoons, heavy rains and snowstorms, our ability to deliver rapid responses has ultimately strengthen our supply chain capabilities and is a testament to our adaptability.
As mentioned earlier, our primary goal is to make quality food as assessable as top water to achieve this we focus on creating value for consumers instead of engaging a zero-sum game or price wars with our peers, we continuously strive to improve the end-to-end efficiency of our supply chain and develop better, more cost effective food products for the public. Our commitment to creating value for our customers remains steadfast.
It's important to have a long-term perspective. The company, the business of fresh groceries are challenging and time-consuming, and we're only at the beginning of our journey. So no matter what hospitals come our way. We're committed to seeing this journey through. Thank you.

Operator

Robin Leung, Daiwa.

Robin Leung

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
I recall that this Dingdong has this call grocery outlets last year. Can you provide it based on the progress since Q1 additional rate? Do you have any insights to share. Thank you.

Changlin Liang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
We have launched a new service model with these physical fresh grocery outlets to cater to the evolving times and also to meet the shopping needs of the elderly in China, we've observed that China is becoming an aging society and the elderly tend to prefer offline shopping and the value cost-effectiveness more.
Therefore, we've opened fresh grocery outlets to provide them with healthy and delicious fresh groceries right in their neighborhoods. Currently, we have four stores each covering an area of about 350 square meters. Daily sales per store are up more than RMB40,000 and the sales are still increasing these orders. I mean, these stores serve to expand our consumer groups to meet the needs of a broader range of consumers and reflect our supply chain capabilities with a robust supply chain, we can expand our reach to serve more customers and fuel growth.
Thank you.

Operator

Jiajing Chen, CICC.

Jiajing Chen

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
Hi, Mr. Liang, and congratulations for the outperforming results this quarter. Could you please tell us why the company's cash balance decreased compared to the last quarter. Thnak you.

Changlin Liang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
Thank you for your question. Our CFO, Wang Song is better suited to answer your question, I'll defer to him.

Song Wang

(Spoken in Foreign Language)
(Interpreted)
Thank you, Mr. Liang. We wanted to update you on our financial status as of the end of Q1 we had a balance of cash and cash equivalents, short-term restricted cash and short-term investments amounting to RMB4.51 billion. That is approximately RMB800 million lower than our balance at the end of the previous quarter.
First and foremost, the decrease in our balance sheet is not due to our operational activities instead we took proactive measures to adjust our balance sheet structure despite costs and expenses incurred in the first quarter to stay open during the Chinese New Year, we still achieved a positive operating cash flow and a net inflow of around RMB100 million.
It's worth noting that this is our third consecutive quarter with a net inflow. Moreover, what Doyle to reel at report that our scale and profits are growing, and we've now become a continuously profit-making and self generating enterprise.
During the quarter we took the initiative to optimize our financing structure, improve capital efficiency and use our own funds to repay some of our short term borrowings. We worked with banks to repay the notes payable and reverse factoring arrangements, which is supply chain finance loans, resulting in a decrease of [RMB880 million] and our net short-term borrowings. After deducting these short-term borrowings, our actual cellphone fund balances increased by approximately RMB80 million from the end of the previous quarter to a total of RMB2.09 billion.
We've been actively working towards building a very strong relationship with our suppliers by providing them with more support and empowering them as the original suppliers' credit period is relatively short and the industry will further optimize the credit periods since the start of 2024.
This has yielded positive results as seen in Q1, where our accounts payable turnover days accelerated by 2.6 days compared to the previous quarter and by 7.9 days compared to Q1 in 2023. Additionally, after deducting short-term borrowings and accounts payable, our own funds have increased by [RMB109 million] compared to the end of the previous quarter.
In summary, with a series of financial resource integrations. Our operating cash recorded a net inflow of approximately RMB100 million. This, combined with our scale and profit growth is a clear indication that our financial and capital structures are becoming more stable as we continue to become financially healthier, we'll have access to more funds to support our growth throughout the year and the necessary capital expenditure to build new stations in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu regions.
Thank you.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) As there are no further questions, I'd like to return the call to the management for closing remarks.

Nicky Zheng

Thank you, again for joining our call today. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us or request through our IR website. We look forward to speaking with everyone in our next earnings call. Have a good day.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Portions of this transcript that are marked (interpreted) were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the company sponsoring this event.