Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Q4 2024 Kingsoft Corporation's earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one on the telephone. You'll then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to your host today, Ms. Li Yinan, our IR Director. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to our 2024 fourth quarter and annual results earnings call. I'm Li Yinan, the IR Director of Kingsoft. I would like to start by reminding you that some information provided during the earnings call may include forward-looking statements, which may not be relied upon in the future for various reasons. These forward-looking statements are based on our information and information from other sources, which we believe to be reliable. Please refer to the other publicly disclosed documents for detailed discussion of risk factors which may affect our business and operations. Additionally, in today's earnings call, the management will deliver prepared remarks in both Chinese and English. A third-party interpreter will provide consecutive interpretation into English.
During the Q&A section, we will accept questions in both English and Chinese, with alternating interpretation provided by the third-party interpreter. On-site translation is solely to facilitate communication during the conference call. In case of any discrepancies between the original remarks and the translation, the statements made by the management will prevail. Having said that, please allow me to introduce our management team who joined us today: Mr. Zou Tao, our Executive Director and CEO, and Ms. Li Yi, our Acting CFO. Now, I'm turning the call to Mr. Zou Tao.
[Foreign language]
Hello everyone, and thank you all for joining Kingsoft's 2024 fourth quarter and annual results earnings call. Looking back at 2024, this was a year in which Kingsoft remained dedicated to a technology-driven strategy, drove high-quality business development, and achieved significant results. The group delivered strong overall performance, achieving record highs in revenue, profitability, and key operational metrics. Our annual revenue surpassed RMB 10.3 billion, making a 21% year-on-year increase. The group's overall operating profit reached RMB 3.646 billion, a significant 64% increase compared to the previous year, with the operating profit margin improved from 26% in 2023 to 35%. Over the past year, we remained committed to technological innovation, continuously optimizing our products and services to enhance market competitiveness and user value, giving a strong boost to business growth and laid a stronger foundation for long-term development.
[Foreign language]
Now, I will walk you through the business highlights of the fourth quarter 2024. In 2024, Kingsoft Office Group remained user-centric, continuously enhancing product features and services systems to create great value for users. This approach led to growth in both user base and commercialization capabilities. Total revenue for 2024 reached RMB 5.12 billion, reflecting a 12% year-on-year increase. In the fourth quarter, revenue reached RMB 1.5 billion, up 17% year-on-year.
[Foreign language]
By the end of 2024, WPS Office PC has exceeded 100 million daily active devices in the domestic market, officially opening a new chapter for domestically developed office software. Regarding AI, we released WPS AI version 2.0, providing comprehensive AI empowerment solutions that address the diverse needs of individual productivity and enterprise organizations. We are engaged in in-depth collaboration with domestic large language model manufacturers to continuously enhance the product matrix of WPS AI. Currently, we have launched the AI Office Assistant, WPS Lingxi, with core functionalities, including intelligent writing, AI PPT generation, data analysis, information retrieval, document reading and summarization, cloud synchronization, and team collaboration. The deep integration of WPS Lingxi with DeepSeek signifies a paradigm shift in intelligent office tools from assistive tools to cognitive partners.
[Foreign language]
We have adjusted our membership structure, leveraged the synergistic development of traditional features and AI-powered value-added services within the membership system to continuously drive paid conversion. The calculated number of annual paying individual users in domestic reached 41.7 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 17.5%.
[Foreign language]
WPS 365 underwent a brand-new upgrade for institutional and enterprise customers. It now includes WPS Office, WPS Collaboration, and WPS AI Enterprise Edition, integrating document management, collaboration, and AI capabilities to enable one-stop AI-powered office solutions. Additionally, we launched the Kingsoft Government Office Model, based on which the WPS AI Government Edition was released, offering intelligent solutions for government applications. For WPS software business, we advanced software legalization and document adoption, empowering government and enterprise in digital transformation. We strengthened our presence in key industries like government, finance, engineering, and telecommunications. Additionally, clients built secure, self-sufficient digital offices in the field of information technology application innovation.
[Foreign language]
Based on the work habits and payment performance of users in various overseas regions, we have adopted different localization strategies. We are maintaining our stronghold in the mobile sector. We have guided overseas WPS users to transition from mobile devices to large screens. By offering differentiated value-added features, we are attracting users to convert to paid subscriptions. Throughout the year, overseas WPS personal revision reached 180 million, laid the foundation for development of our international business.
[Foreign language]
In 2024, in line with our premium strategy, the online game business achieved outstanding growth, with new user acquisition reached record highs. Total revenue for 2024 reached RMB 5.2 billion, a significant increase of 31% year-on-year. In the fourth quarter, revenue reached RMB 1.3 billion, representing a 26% year-on-year increase.
[Foreign language]
JX Online 3 achieved seamlessly the cross-platform integration for the boosting player in Seasun since the launch of JX3 Ultimate. This class IP has been revitalized, surpassing 10 million monthly active users. As a long-standing masterpiece in the gaming industry with a 15-year history, JX Online 3 remains deeply rooted in cultural enrichment, striving to transform the product into a new virtual for the traditional culture and inspire the younger generation to connect with their cultural heritage.
[Foreign language]
World of Sword Origin , as a legacy of Wu xia's classic, continues to operate in stabling and maintain a dedicated player base. The Fate of Sword: Zero obtained its game approval in 2024 as the next generation masterpiece in the JX series. It promised to deliver a fresh and exciting experience for players.
[Foreign language]
In 2024, our long-term efforts in the anime game genre achieved a historical breakthrough, where the anime shooter game Snowbreak: Containment Zone faced initial challenges upon its release. However, by accurately understanding player needs, continuously refining product details, and engaging deeply with the community, we have inherently achieved our goal, pioneers with a new genre.
[Foreign language]
Our flagship sci-fi mecha game, Mecha Break, targeting the global market, is set to launch in the first half of 2025, further diversifying our game portfolio and opening up a new genre. The new mobile game from the classic Sword series, The Fate of Swords Zero, will also be released in the first half of the year, aiming to build up the legacy of Wu xia culture within established genres. Meanwhile, the flagship version of JX Online 3 will focus on optimizing core gameplay, enhancing environmental texture, and refining atmospheric elements, setting a new benchmark for PC game graphics and redefining the visual experience for players.
[Foreign language]
Looking ahead, we will continue to iterate on our core products and technologies to meet user needs and promote high-quality business development. Kingsoft Office Group will strengthen WPS 365 collaboration capabilities, deepen AI adoption in office productivity, and expand global market reach, targeting the entire platform and the global market. Online game business will continue focusing on premium games and into new genres, and strive to create high-quality games that are deeply loved by players. We will adhere to technology empowerment, focus on product and service innovation, and create long-term value for our customers, shareholders, and employees. Next, I would like to invite Ms. Yi to introduce the financial performance for the fourth quarter and annual. Thank you.
Thank you, Zou Tao and Yinan Li. Good evening and good morning, everyone. As for the financial results, I'm starting for Q4, use RMB as the currency. Revenue increased 21% year-on-year and decreased 4% quarter on quarter to RMB 2,792 million. The revenue split was 54% for office software and services and 46% for online games and others. Revenue from the office software and services business increased 17% year-on-year and 24% quarter on quarter to RMB 1,501 million. The year-on-year increase was mainly attributable to WPS 365 and WPS individual business of Kingsoft Office Group. The increase of WPS 365 business was primarily due to the increased number of paying enterprises supported by the enhanced AI and collaboration capabilities, as well as the replication of typical industry solutions.
As for the WPS individual business, the revenue increased as a consequence of enhanced user experience and improved commercial rates, driven by the enriched membership benefits and the wide adoption of the AI-powered features. The quarter-on-quarter increase mainly reflected a seasonal increase in WPS software business, along with the sustained growth of WPS individual and WPS 365 business. Revenue from the online games and others business increased 26% year-on-year and decreased 24% quarter-on-quarter to RMB 1,291 million. The notable year-on-year increase was mainly attributable to, first, the solid performance from JX3 Online . As the launch of the JX3 Ultimate in 2024 further boosted players' engagement. Second, the revenue contribution from the anime game Snowbreak: Containment Zone, driven by the continuous content upgrades. The quarter-on-quarter decrease was mainly due to the release of less commercial content in certain games.
Cost of revenue increased 9% year-on-year and decreased 2% quarter on quarter to RMB 449 million. The year-on-year increase was primarily driven by higher channel costs, the greater server and bandwidth costs, all of which were associated with the business growth of Kingsoft Office Group. Gross profit increased 24% year-on-year and decreased 5% quarter on quarter to RMB 2,343 million. Gross profit margin increased by 2 percentage points to 84% year-on-year and kept flat quarter on quarter. Research and development costs increased 7% year-on-year and decreased 50% quarter on quarter to RMB 730 million. The year-on-year increase was primarily driven by increased headcount and rising AI-related expenses to support the development of AI and collaboration capabilities of Kingsoft Office Group. The quarter on quarter decrease was mainly due to reduced accrued performance-based bonus. Selling and distribution expenses decreased 10% year-on-year and 7% quarter on quarter to RMB 340 million.
The decreases were mainly due to decreased marketing expenditures related to online games business, partially offset by increased promotion efforts on products and services in Intelligent Office of Kingsoft Office Group. Administrative expenses decreased 11% year-on-year and 8% quarter on quarter to RMB 153 million. The year-on-year decrease was mainly due to the high base in the same period last year caused by one-off expenses. The quarter on quarter decrease largely reflected decreased personnel-related expenses. Share-based compensation costs decreased 23% year-on-year and increased 2% quarter on quarter to RMB 59 million. Operating profit before share-based compensation costs increased 47% year-on-year and decreased 3% quarter on quarter to RMB 1,166 million. Net other losses from the fourth quarter of 2024 were RMB 74 million, compared with gains of RMB 8 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 and losses of RMB 63 million for the third quarter of 2024, respectively.
Share of losses of associates were RMB 148 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with losses of RMB 286 million and RMB 428 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, respectively. Income tax expense was RMB 212 million, compared with RMB 126 million and RMB 31 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, respectively. As a result of the reasons discussed above, profit attributable to owners of the parent was RMB 460 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with profit of RMB 205 million and RMB 430 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, respectively. Profit attributable to owners of the parent, excluding share-based compensation costs, was RMB 496 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with profit of RMB 257 million and RMB 453 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, respectively.
The net profit margin, excluding share-based compensation costs, was 18%, 11%, and 16% for this quarter, the Fourth Quarter of 2023, and the Third Quarter of 2024, respectively. Now, I'm on the yearly figures. Revenue increased 21% year-on-year to RMB 10.38 billion. Office software and services made up 50%, increased 12% year-on-year to RMB 5,121 million. Online games and others made up 50% and increased 31% year-on-year to RMB 5,197 million. Gross profit margin increased by 1 percentage point year-on-year to 83%. Operating profit before share-based compensation costs increased 54% year-on-year to RMB 3,922 million. Profit to owners of the parent was RMB 1,552 million for the Fourth Quarter for the year of 2024, compared with the profit of RMB 483 million for the last year. The group had a strong cash position towards the end of 2024. As at 31st December 2024, the group had cash resources of RMB 27 billion.
Net cash generated from operating activities was RMB 4,587 million and RMB 3,489 million for the years ended 31st December 2024 and 31st December 2023, respectively. Capital expenditure was RMB 426 million and RMB 474 million for the years ended 31st December 2024 and 31st December 2023, respectively. That's all for the introduction of our financial results. Thank you all. Now, we are ready for the Q&A section. Thank you.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for a name to be announced. Our first question comes from the line of Xiaod an Zhang from CICC. Please go ahead.
[Foreign language]
Thanks, management, for taking my questions. First of all, the company has delivered notable growth in terms of earnings per share. Does management expect this improvement to be sustainable in 2025? Secondly, could management share your views on the use of cash and especially the strategic investment plans on the group level, as well as the shareholder return plans? Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Firstly, let me just answer the first question. In 2024, the EPS has very good growth. We can see it from this financial report. The main, it has two reasons. We can see that it is 2.5 reasons. The first reason is that for the office itself, the overall planning is quite good. Also, for the games, this exceeds all of our expectations, especially for the JX3 and also for the [Chenbai Jinqu]. This is out of expectation. The third point is about the loss has narrowed. It is furthermore narrowed. Regarding the question of 2025, whether we could continue this growth, we are also going to answer this question from three perspectives. Currently, based on these three points, firstly, the office also has very strong growth. For the old games, generally speaking, it is quite stable.
For the new games, currently, we're doing this test after and external. Currently, their test result is quite good, but we don't know how after it's launched, what about the final data. We were not going to make that much comment for it. Once the whole general commercial operation has been finalized and also the result comes out, we can have a more detailed evaluation for it. Currently, based on this trend, we're going to get a pretty good result. Furthermore, for the union company, it's have a furthermore net loss. This is going to be continuing in 2025. How to say that? In 2025, we're going to have a pretty big confidence that the general situation will be better, but for the details, we're going to base on actual business operation.
[Foreign language]
Also, for the most, I have mentioned that we're going to have a constant investment from the, as mentioned previously, is that we're going to constantly do the investment according to our schedule, and we definitely will do it. Based on this AI, we definitely will do it. The general planning is going to be more and more clear, but currently for the details, it's not clear yet. From the group perspective, we're going to furthermore do the research and planning, and for the details, it's not that convenient to release it, but it's for sure that based on AI, the other software groups will also do it, and we're going to do it as well. For the shareholders' returns, we will always pay their dividends and repurchase from the market.
Hello, operator.
Thank you. We will now move on to the next questions. One moment, please. Our next question comes from the line of Linlin Yang from Guangfa Securities. Please go ahead.
[Foreign language]
My first question is about [Foreign language]. We saw the latest test. The concurrent users exceeded 300,000, demonstrating high popularity. Meanwhile, its user feedbacks are polarized. Key issues include server crash and debates about its PvPvE gameplay. How do you think about these tests and user feedback? How should we expect its performance? Could you give us some guidance about the game business? My second question is about AI as DeepSeek is driving advancements in general purpose model capabilities while reducing inference costs. If the management elaborates on [WPS] and game business change in AI investment strategies and applications. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Okay. Based on the answer about the questions one by one, firstly is regarding the edition service game for this task, I would like to talk in several points. The first point is that compared with the previous time, the whole scale is much bigger, and no matter for the people joined, it's happening. Compared with the previous time, it has 100 times bigger than the previous time. Generally speaking, it has reached our expectation. Because we're going to have such a big task from a wider perspective, we can say is that how the customers, how the players could accept it. Based on their answer to the task, all their feedback, all the comments from the users, I would like to say is that this is actually what our team soft needs.
We have been doing the game business for so many years, and we always would like to cooperate together with our players, with our users, to create very good content. The task itself is going to out of our expectation. All the feedback we have collected from the users is not, it doesn't mean that it's not good. It's actually what we want. At some time, the other friends may think that some have negative feedback. We need that negative feedback. We need to realize the issues. Otherwise, why would we like to do the task? We are afraid that the task is not enough. This is the key point. Especially that we have a very high expectation for this game. That is why we need to do much more tests to test this market feedback. This is the key things we need to work on.
Based on our history, when the first time, the first game, compared with the first time we do the game, this time we can see that the biggest fear of the testing almost completely relieved. This is our thinking for the users. Their comments and their suggestions really improve ourselves. It really can help us. We really have this confidence that we need to have friends, make friends with our players, make friends with our users. We need to work together with the players to create an excellent game. Of course, I would like to say that for this task, it not only collected a very good result, but also for the ranking, we have reached several top rankings, like for example, the new games trend ranking and the launching income ranking and several top ones, top ranking.
I saw that on the first day's watching time, it's more than 27 hours. The period is more than 27 hours. All of these data are quite good. This actually has a very strong confidence for us to promote this game into this market. From our perspective, we make these comments. The second question is that for this year, for the game, whether we can give the guidance or the expectation is we have two steps to answer this question. The first question is that for the old games, we have several products , it's like the JX3 and the Sword, the Fate of Sword, the World of Swords, etc. All of these series, these old series, we have confidence that we're going to have quite stable performances.
Whether it would be the same as last year, like JX3, compared with the year before last year, it's not only stable, but also has a very big growth. Competitively speaking, the growth rate, the growth rate of game is extremely good. Every year we also have to base on the actual situation to make a judgment. Especially for the game market, it's hard to make a judgment at this moment because we have confidence that we can have very stable performances and then we're going to move forward to have an extra positive result. We can use our words used in the political situation that we're going to make ourselves stable enough and then move forward. To make a conclusion, for the old game, we have confidence.
For the new game, everybody may think that no matter during the period of the testing, how good the data we're going to realize, we still hope that when the game has been launched, we still have to base on the commercial operations data in the first month to make a more accurate forecast. Based on my experience, it's quite hard. Only based on the several sampled results to make an accurate judgment is really very hard. To make a conclusion is that this year for the game, we have positive attitude.
[Foreign language]
Okay. Based on this first question for the DeepSeek, and actually we can see is that for the AI we have the investment strategy. For the DeepSeek, it's there from the market perspective, it's kind of newly power and more efficient arrangement, and the cost is much lower, is a common module.
The promotion for it is we are seen as the other companies that we have very quickly get connected with it. Previously we also get connected with the other modules as well as the Qingyan or the Wenxin or the other and Mixtral, is that a different type of the modules. For the users themselves, they're going to have another option. My perspective is that we're not going to base on because the change of DeepSeek, to have any change yet, because DeepSeek is just a common big module. For their application to get into the enterprise-specific region, we have to base on the application itself to furthermore adjust this module to do the practice for it. In that case, it could be better, it could have better performances. This is a big trend. It will not going to be changed.
Based on this, we think that how to make it, how to make this application in the typical customer's private scenario to furthermore invest it and make it as practice and to train it as possible to make it have different abilities for the common use. Also, in the different customer's private situation, we can have some power value and power value added based on the different applications. Previously, for the development of big modules, we have this thing called. That is why the abilities for the big module have increased quite a lot. We believe that to be used in the typical scenario, how to make it as professional as possible to really have high value for the customers, we still have to constantly do the investment.
In this part, we think that for the office, for the game, we need to keep the big investment. For the game, from the global perspective, using AI to do the game creation, we're going to talk about it with two aspects. The first is that for the whole development process, of course, using AI is going to reduce the cost. This is a common sense. Actually, in the past two years, we did that way. It's definitely increased our efficiency of working. In another perspective, to really make this game have a better experience, you have a good experience connection. This is the things we look at for it. Actually, the whole world is also using different perspective to actively try to do the research on how to make better performances by the game creating.
For us, we're going to all of the many games we make, like the Remark [JX3], and also in the future we're going to have more wider space. When AI comes out, it's like JX3, we're going to make it has a soul. It means that we're going to make the experience of this game is constantly improved and it's going to have different change and make the content richer. It's kind of a soul existing in a metaverse. We are actually very active to explore this path. In the future, we're going to promote it to our customers and also to make it a better experience. To make a conclusion is that for DeepSeek, it's just an international advanced module and the cost for it is much lower. This is just a common module.
When the acceleration development of AI is going to get into different industries like officing for the game, we're going to have some benefits for it for sure. No matter for their internal performances or external experience, to definitely use in different industries, we still have to keep a very big investment to promote the AI application constantly.
[Foreign language]
Hello, operator. Thank you for all joining us today, and this will conclude our presentation for the 2024 fourth quarter and annual results earnings call. Thank you.
That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You can now disconnect your lines.