Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the JD Health International Inc. 2023 Annual Results 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. Please note that this English simultaneous translation line will be in listen-only mode for the duration of the call, including the question-and-answer session. If you wish to listen to the management's original statement or ask a question during the Q&A session, you will need to be dialed into the Chinese language line. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Binglin Du, Head of Investor Relations at JD Health. Please go ahead, Binglin Du.
Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome you to our 2023 Annual Results Conference call joining us today, JD Health's Executive Director and CEO, Mr. Enlin Jin, the CFO, Ms. Hui Deng.
Hui Deng. Before we start, we'd like to remind you that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from those mentioned in today's announcement and in this discussion. The company does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by law. During today's call, management will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. For a definition of non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results, please refer to the Annual Results Announcement for the year ending December 31st, 2023, issued yesterday. For today's call, management will read the prepared remarks in Chinese, and we will only be accepting questions in Chinese during the question-and-answer session. A third-party interpreter will provide simultaneous interpretation in English. I will now connect the lines for the duration of the call.
Please note that English translation is for convenience purposes only in case of any discrepancy. Management statements in the original language will prevail. I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Enlin Jin, CEO of JD Health.
Hello, everyone.
I'm Enlin Jin, CEO of JD Health. It's a pleasure to share with you today's 2023 Annual Results. As an industry-leading healthcare service provider, JD Health continued to cultivate the integrated online and offline healthcare service system in line with national policies and regulatory guidelines, while proactively fulfilling our social responsibilities in 2023. As we consistently strengthen our value propositions as a first entry point for online health consumption, we achieved high-quality development with our focus on comprehensively safeguarding user health, thereby creating sustained value for both shareholders and society as a whole.
Now, I'd like to share our business updates for 2023, followed by a discussion of our business outlook for 2024. Let me first walk you through what we achieved in 2023 across three primary areas. There are three primary areas. Both through infrastructure and solidifying our position as the first entry point for online health consumption. In 2023, we continued to develop our pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chain infrastructure and leverage our high-quality service capacities to make quality-assured pharmaceutical and health products and services acceptable and affordable for a broader population. We consistently attracted a new merchant to our platform and optimized our warehousing and distribution networks. Notably, we continued to build out our national warehousing network and cold chain for premium service coverage.
As such, with over 24 pharmaceutical warehouses and over 100 medical device and health product warehouses across the nation, our same-day delivery has covered 225 cities, and our next-day delivery has covered 386 cities. Moreover, the number of products applicable to the 1P program increased by 10.2% year-over-year. We also launched a series of user-centric service assurances, including the elderly-inclusive customer service refund for late packages and lightning-fast refunds for the mall, our CNY 10 billion discount program, and the CNY 9.9 items with free shipping activities encompassed more than 40,000 product promotion activities, along with our 30-day price-covering policy for direct sales and free shipping on orders from third-party merchants benefited our customers with increased affordability. Meanwhile, catering to users' evolving personalized healthcare needs, we joined hands with extensive healthcare brands and business partners to enrich our platform's product offerings.
For instance, we teamed up with full-time licensed doctors and other health professionals practicing our platform to offer accurate and professional nutrition health advice. In this way, we helped users browse and choose the most suitable nutritional products to meet different cohort needs, including elderly children and pregnant and postpartum women. JD Health has emerged as partners of choice for global pharmaceutical healthcare brands seeking to explore growth opportunities through the omnichannel expansion. We comprehensively upgraded our faster delivery service options by establishing self-operated online pharmacies and expanding our partnered pharmacy network. We reached a broader user base with our on-demand retail services. For instance, we opened several self-operated pharmacies in Beijing and enabled medical insurance payments for online purchases in Shanghai, creating a convenient and efficient pharmacy purchase experience for customers. Second, building an integrated online and offline service system to improve medical and health service accessibility.
In last year, JD Health actively expanded the broad range of medical and health services through service innovation. For instance, we launched the JD Health Online Medical Care Center, specializing in dermatology, elderly care services under our JD Family Doctor products, and at-home testing services, among other things. This new option not only provided users with more comprehensive services but also strengthened our integrated online and offline service systems. Online Medical Care Center, specializing in dermatology, has served more than 12 million patients since the inception in April 2023, also since the flu season began in winter 2023. Our at-home testing service, covering 12 common respiratory viruses and pathogen infections, has served over 150 million people across 10 cities nationwide. We also further upgraded JD Family Doctor to bring proactive health management services and one-stop medical solutions to different user demographics.
Those advancements and our superior specialty service offerings make JD Health one of the industry's most comprehensive online health platforms. Furthermore, our JD Health Polyclinic Center and the City Community Hospital, a medical institution we joined the build with Suqian Government, officially commenced operations in 2023, making JD Health the only leading internet healthcare enterprise to provide both online and offline retail pharmacies and medical services. Third, innovating public health with their models to drive inclusivity in health through technology. JD Health is unwaveringly committed to empowering the health industry's digital mission and driving inclusivity in health with our sophisticated technology capacities. In 2023, we introduced the Jingyi Qianxun Large Language Model for Medical and Health Applications. This is the industry's first large language model that seamlessly integrated data from physical products and digital services, merging knowledge with data.
Supported by this large language model, the Dermatology Specialized Online Medical Care Center we just mentioned has achieved an AI diagnostic accuracy rate of more than 95%. We also introduced our smart doctor system for the doctors practicing on our platform currently. Jingyi Qianxun Large Language Model is serving as our foundation technology to advance and deploy AI-powered product solution upgrades, improving cost efficiency and enabling user experience across the industry. In 2023, JD Health steadfastly improved and innovated public health with our models, hosted and participated in a broad series of public health activities, including care and assistance for rare disease patients, rural women's healthcare activities, Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei flood relief, and medical support for Tibetan clinics. Through those endeavors, we firmly uphold our commitment to social responsibilities. Next, an overview of our strategic priorities for 2024.
First, we will continue solidifying our leading position in the health consumption sector. To this end, we will remain our focus on improving product offerings, optimizing user experience, and finding service scenarios. In partnership with global brands and merchants, we will accelerate our stride towards the first entry point for health consumption across the full spectrum of user cases and omnichannels regarding supply enhancement. We aim to nurture and cultivate more high-value merchants and follow up the products, each of which generates tens of thousands of GMV and even millions of GMV to further enhance user experience. We will provide faster, better, and more affordable products and services, unify and improve the user experience across direct operated and third-party stores to cultivate a unified user perception of shopping at JD Health.
Finally, for scenario expansion, we will further deepen the supply chain capacities for our on-demand retail business and comprehensively upgrade installation and at-home service experience. Second, in the health service aspect, we remain committed to delivering professional, convenient, and reliable health services to every user. Building on ongoing innovations in online specialty services, we will further expand our medical service offerings to extend traditional doctor scenarios and increase medical resources. Meanwhile, we will implement compliance, quality control, and standardization across the board to make online medical specialty more professional, compliant, and safer. Last but not least, we will maximize the value of technology. As an innovative healthcare service provider, JD Health has long upheld applying AI and other emerging technologies in the healthcare sector, bringing great value in 2024.
We will promote China's AI+ initiative, continue developing our industry-leading Jingyi Qianxun Healthcare Large Language Model, and accelerate the application of the AI+ medical and healthcare scenarios to improve healthcare quality, efficiency, and experience. In addition, as we have mentioned in the conference a couple of days ago, we will ensure the quality, efficiency, and diversity of the products to upgrade our brand. With respect to the public welfare, we will concentrate on the three primary aspects: elderly care, children's care, and care for the rare disease patients. Leveraging popular science, education, public welfare activities, online services, and digital screening, we will bring healthcare services to a wide range of people, including these vulnerable cohorts. Looking ahead to 2024, we believe that the Healthy China 2030 initiative and evolving health consumption trends will drive ongoing rapid growth in the online healthcare industry.
JD Health will build on its distinct competitive position to continue to increase its business fundamental strengths while strategically developing new categories and innovative models to cultivate joint forces for long-term healthy business development. In conclusion, we will remain dedicated to promoting the industry's high-quality development, benefiting the people, and delivering value to shareholders, stakeholders, and society as a whole. Thank you.
I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Ms. Hui Deng , to discuss details on financial performance.
Thank you, Mr. Enlin. Thank you for joining the JD Health Earnings Conference Call. I'm pleased to provide an update on our performance in 2023. Driven by a confluence of supportive policies, heightening market demand, and technological innovation, our instant health service offerings penetrated a broad array of scenarios in 2023.
As such, we delivered great value to consumers through our online pharmacy, medical consultations, and health management services. The leading player in this new era of health services, JD Health, leverages technology-accelerated service model innovation and enhances our integrated online and offline service system. We are committed to providing quality, accessible, and affordable healthcare services to a broad range of users against this backdrop. JD Health maintained high-quality growth with revenue of CNY 53.3 billion in 2023, up 14.5% year-over-year. Through the year, we optimized our retail business model, encompassing direct sales, online marketplace, and on-demand retail, opening up our platform to achieve shared growth with upstream and downstream partners. Meanwhile, our commitment to compliant operations and comprehensive quality management brought better, safer products and services to our users. We also continued to strengthen our supply chain capacities, expanding our product offering while maintaining price competitiveness.
These initiatives greatly enhanced users' trust in our brand. As of December 31st, 2023, our annual active user accounts for the past 12 months reached 172 million, a significant increase of approximately 18 million compared to 2022. Our share of JD Group's annual active users also continued to increase. Additionally, we leveraged precise digital marketing to explore user demand and more effectively promote product matching that demand, increasing shopping frequency. As a result, our annual active users' shopping frequency and the GMV continued to grow year-over-year. Our enhanced brand awareness, enriched product and service portfolio, and optimized user experience clearly contributed to boosting our user market share across online medical products and healthcare services. In 2023, we consistently expanded cooperation with industry-leading pharmaceutical companies and healthcare product suppliers, while building out our national warehousing network and cold chain fulfillment service coverage.
These efforts strengthened our industry-leading fulfillment capacities for pharmaceutical and health products. Our direct sales revenue in 2023 grew by 13.1% year-over-year, reaching CNY 45.65 billion and accounting for 85.3% of total revenue. Prepared by our broad active user base, enhanced operation systems, and a healthier marketplace ecosystem, the number of third-party merchants on JD Health surged by over 100% year-over-year to over 50,000 as of December 31st, 2023. Furthermore, we provided more traffic support for the third-party merchants to boost their growth by optimizing the traffic distribution mechanism and providing additional marketing opportunities across shopping channels. We increased the exposure of high-quality merchants and products, driven by rapid growth in commission fees and advertising revenues. Our service revenue reached CNY 7.88 billion, marking a 23.7% year-over-year increase. Service revenue accounted for 14.7% of total revenue, up by 110 percentage points compared to 2022.
We've also made great progress developing our on-demand retail business. In 2023, as of the end of December, we have opened nearly 13 self-operated community pharmacies in Beijing to offer users efficient and convenient on-demand purchases. The delivery services of pharmacies feature a 24-hour prescription pickup window and have staffed with dedicated delivery workers. Meanwhile, we further optimized our third-party merchant policies and conducted multiple marketing campaigns during the Double 11 promotional period, creating sales growth opportunities for partner pharmacies while benefiting customers with faster delivery and better prices. We also enabled medical insurance payments for online purchases in nearly 700 pharmacies in Shanghai, providing local consumers with a more convenient and efficient pharmacy shopping experience. With respect to healthcare services in 2023, we continued to enhance our specialty care service capacities and enrich the platform's online healthcare service offerings.
We also accelerated our expansion of offline healthcare service scenarios to provide more consumers with integrated online and offline medical services locally. In 2023, we launched China's first online medical care center specializing in dermatology. It has served millions of patients since its inception through our closed-loop online service model, which we continually refine to ensure high-quality service. Additionally, our JD Health psychological service center focuses on users' daily consulting needs and providing personalized psychological support. By the end of 2023, the psychiatrists and counselors practicing on our platform have served hundreds of thousands of users. We also comprehensively upgraded our JD Family Doctor products featuring proactive health management services, including year-round online care and personalized nutrition plans. This enhancement successfully addressed the general healthcare needs of our users of all ages.
In 2023, JD Health Polyclinic Center officially commenced the operations in Yizhuang, Beijing, and Suqian, offering users in their cities a multifaceted, comprehensive range of premium health management services. Furthermore, to deepen our exploration of online and offline medical service integration and innovation, we jointly established the Suqian Community Hospital in cooperation with Suqian government authorities. We found that our healthcare service users' total GMV and shopping frequency on our platform far surpassed the average, indicating that high-quality healthcare services can boost users' stickiness and become the key growth driver for JD Health's ecosystem. In addition, we are convinced that as long as our products and services continue to create value for the industry and our users, our business models will generate revenues for the shareholders in the long run.
Due to the changes in our business model composition and product mix, our gross profit margin in 2023 increased 100 basis points year-over-year to 22.2%, including the impact of the high proportion of pandemic-related categories. Non-pandemic categories still maintained a much higher growth rate than the industry in 2023. Also, our direct sales business growth gross profit increase overall reflected our ongoing efforts to bring users a more cost-effective product experience through the supply chain refinement in the future. We will collaborate with more merchants on the platform to offer users higher-quality services at more competitive prices, enabling them to enjoy a better experience while saving more. This will also help continually nurture users' awareness of our brand, further expanding our market share in various categories.
On a non-GAAP basis, our fulfillment expense ratio in 2023 was 9.6%, a slight increase of 20 basis points from 2022, owing primarily to our broad promotion of simplified shopping with direct discount and the reduction of the free shipping threshold. This year, we proactively implemented a low-price strategy initiated by JD Group and applied the single-item at-hand price rule to all JD Health products. That is, users can directly view the discounted price of each item after searching for it, allowing them to better enjoy the everyday low-price shopping experience without having to perform any calculations themselves. This adjustment of the free shipping threshold also reflects the everyday low-price experience in 2023. We made significant strides with our JD Pharmacy brand's promotional strategy, leveraging influencers and targeted event marketing to widen our reach. This effort successfully strengthened our brand's recognition and influence among consumers.
We also fine-tuned our approach to management traffic, which led to a minor increase in our selling and marketing expense ratio in 2023, from 0.3% to 4.9%. We will continue to promote our brand and core products to enhance our reach and boost the conversion of the new users. This year, we are emphasizing scenario-based marketing, focusing on four major scenarios, including at-home medicine, healthcare, support, sports health products, emergency medicine, and investing in more diverse marketing channels. In 2023, our R&D spend ratio was 2.1%, flat with 2022. As of the end of December, we employed a total of 556 R&D personnel in 2023. JD Health launched the Jingyi Qianxun, a pioneering large language model tailored for the healthcare sector. This model incorporates an extensive range of clinical guidelines, medical research, review articles, and expert insights.
Notably, Jingyi Qianxun is the first healthcare large language model tailored for analyzing data from both physical products and digital services in July of 2023. JD Health self-deployed skin imaging, processing, and sleep monitoring tools to receive Class II medical device diagnostic designations, marking a major milestone in the medical use of the digital therapy products. Looking forward, we will continue to push the envelope in the healthcare-specific large language model applications to drive improvements in the quality and efficiency of our online consultation services. Our G&A expense ratio was 0.8% in 2023. Our back-end staff and operational management efficiency levels continue to lead the industry. Impacted by the high interest rate of the offshore deposits during the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, financial income increased to CNY 1.95 billion in 2023, from CNY 864 million, up 125.5% year-over-year.
Non-IFRS other net income and gains in 2023 were approximately CNY 420 million, primarily consisting of returns from wealth management products and government grants. To reward our core management team members, we incurred CNY 1.85 billion of share incentive expenses in 2023, including the share incentive. Non-IFRS net profit in 2023 increased by 58.2% year-over-year to CNY 4.14 billion, and non-IFRS net profit margin was 7.7%, rising 210 basis points year-over-year. Our cash flow from operating activities reached CNY 4.60 billion in 2023 as of the end of December. The combined amount of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, long-term and short-term deposits, and wealth management products at the fair value through profit or loss, and at the amortized cost was CNY 53.71 billion. Overall, JD Health maintained high-quality growth across its entire business in 2023, and our platform ecosystem continued to strive for growth.
Our full-year non-IFRS net profit significantly exceeded market expectations. This, along with robust cash flows and an active high-quality user base, reflects the advantage of our dual-engine, closed-loop business model. Our strong financial performances are rooted in our core business philosophy of a trust-based value creation centered on our customers. JD Health, we firmly believe that value creation is the engine that drives enterprise long-term sustainable development. Looking ahead, we remain committed to opening and expanding our supply chain infrastructure and healthcare service capacities, fostering close cooperation with both upstream and downstream partners. This will empower us to nurture seamlessly integrated healthcare ecosystems that bridge online and offline services. Our goal is to grow alongside our customers, industries, partners, and society at large while contributing positively to the environment.
As a pioneer in the healthcare service sector, we will continue to strengthen our pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chains as well as our service capacities to make healthcare products and services more accessible, convenient, and affordable for everyone. That concludes our preliminary marks. Now we're open for questions.
Thank you, Ms. Hui. This concludes our prepared marks. We would like now to open the call to your questions. Now is the time for the question and answer. If you want to raise a question, please press the star, and one. Due to time constraints, please limit yourself to two questions. If you have any follow-on questions, please re-enter the queue. Thank you. The first question. We are going to welcome Miranda from the B of A to give us a question.
Good morning, dear management. I'm so happy to understand your performance in 2023.
My question is as follows: In the last year, the impact of COVID-19 is subsiding, and I want to check with you if there's any adjustment of the corporate strategies. And what is the goal for 2024? What is the starting point and plan? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mranda, for the question. I want to take up this question and give you certain insights. From my personal view, the business sector, especially the medical business, is something for long. I want to quote what I said in the last week's partner conference: "The medical care and healthcare sector and the business is not going to be completed overnight. We have to go with every step. We have to strengthen our efforts day by day." That is the business. That is the principle. Our strength is our determination, our commitment, and our consistency.
We want to be the first Chief Medical Officer for the people and for the nation. We want to spend the scale, the capacities, as well as the resources. That is something we will never give up. Over the last year, we are transitioning our principle from more and cheaper to more, better, faster, and cost-effectiveness. As we are getting more as we are managing our supply chain and capacities in a better way, we are winning the trust from our partners, and we are getting closer with our collaborators. Over the last couple of years, we have already proven our value to the market on a sustainable manner. Our strategy has been verified by the market as well as the partners. In 2024, this is the first complete year of COVID-19.
As I can presume, the impact has been subsidizing, and the business and performances could be well managed under our charge. We could do it in a better way, and we could go deeper, and we could be more detail-oriented. Here comes the two directions I'm going to share with you right now. First of all, we are going to continue with our main business. As I've already mentioned in my prepared remarks, I want to give you a summary. Along the main business, we have to boost up the demand as to grow the business. In 2024, we will maintain the growth momentum of the merchants by inputting more resources and new and innovative products. Also, we will also provide more resources to the merchants, helping them to grow and helping them to gain traffic. Secondly, we will continue to boost up the user experiences.
Shortly, we could summarize it into better and faster. The POP products and services will be in line with our self-operated products and shops. We will build up better flagship merchants to help the ecosystem to grow and to prosper. We believe that friends make the journey easier. Thirdly, we have to innovate on different scenarios and business models. We will strengthen and consolidate our practices on the retail business. We will optimize the front-end experiences, systematic products, as well as relevant capacities. Generally speaking, we want to do it more faster, efficient, and cost-effective or cheaper. The online channel capacities will be spending and prioritized for the users and for the merchants, as well as different brands. That is something very good for them. Those are something we will do for the current business and main business.
Followed by that, I want to say a few words about the innovative business. We know that innovation is something we have to grasp. We are an innovative healthcare and product supplier. What we are good at is excelling at creating innovative products and services. That is also something we are good at for the last few years. We are also collecting new demands. During that process, we keep innovating. We are keep doing new things, keep making the breakthroughs. Innovation is something we are looking into the future. It is a long journey. The online medical and online consultation is something we are good at. In 2023, we did a lot of good achievements, such as the new business, new technologies, and new services. In 2024, we will never stop. That is something we will continue for sure.
Among all the creativities and innovative products and services, we want to be the fast one, the better one, and we have to grasp the opportunities at a more efficient pace. And we will be more focused on the application of the innovative technologies. As in this year's two sessions, the National Congress, the AI Plus initiative was proposed. That is something we are prioritizing our resources on. We want to practice it as well. Yes, the AI Plus initiative strategies will be implemented within our corporation.
Thank you very much for your kind remarks and your answer. Next question. We are going to welcome Lincoln Kong, Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Thank you for having me. I want to ask a question about competition and the market landscape. For you, now you are facing an even increasingly fierce competition market.
How are you going to maintain your core strengths to ensure the industry-leading position? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Over the last few years, we have achieved remarkable achievements. It can be attributed to our leading position in managing the retail business. On the other side, we have inherited a good team spirit from the group. That is something we are excelling at. We could think good, then do good. Looking to the future in face of the competitors and the market landscape, we have to maximize and leverage our existing strengths, and we will rely upon the strengths, the resources, and capacities of our teams. Of course, innovation, diversified products, and solidified product portfolio experiences are something we are going to work on. Generally speaking, we want to offer cheaper, better, more goods to the consumers in a faster manner.
That is something we will never forget. JD Health is good at offering better and faster products and services to the consumers. In light of the management of supply chains, we have maximized the strengths of the B2C e-commerce. That is why we could be the top choice of the partners. We are the first and sought-after partner in the global market. We are running the online and offline business in a smooth manner. We have self-operated plus O2O POP, the B2C plus O2O, all-scenario, omnichannel supply chain capacities. I also want to say a few words about the medical services and medical care. This is not something that we can do overnight. We have spent the time, resources, and efforts to complete the construction of an online specialty clinic. We are now working with professional healthcare givers, pharmacists, and nutritional therapists.
When we are meeting the consumers, we are going to provide them professional services and products. We are also saying the management of the full life cycle of the customers. That is something we are going to rely upon our top technologies. Last year, Jingyi Qianxun's language model was released, which has been applied in multiple scenarios. Among the forward-looking technologies, we might not invest hugely to lead the industry. We must find the tipping point to balance the commercialization and the input. We want to ensure the faster, better, and maximum output. What we are good at is combining the scenarios' business capacities as well as the innovation of the new technologies. To wrap it up, JD Health relies upon the supply chain plus medical service to create a unique existence, to consolidate our online plus offline first entry point to ensure medical consumption for customers.
We are offering them better choices with lower price, with better services, with more professionalism, making us a more reliable brand for them to make easy decisions and enhancing their sickness. That is why we could attract more merchants to come up with more brands, more products, to create a good circle. I believe that this is how we could make it a benign ecosystem, and we could diversify our strengths along with all the partners and users.
Thank you.
The next question. We are going to welcome Jerry Liu from UBS. Please go ahead with your question.
Thank you very much for having me. I'm Jerry Liu. I want to ask you a question about the pharmacies. I know that currently, they are feeling the pressure. They are competing against each other.
So I want to ask your predictions on the pricing trend as well as the management of pharmacies.
I want to take up this question. For the upper trend, I believe that we are still having a big room to improve in the short run. I don't think we are going to go lower than 2023 because we want to analyze three elements in the first place: the supply potentials, the demand strengths, as well as the ability to match the two. First of all, I'm going to start my explanation with the essence on the potentials. Medical healthcare business is expanding itself. When we are dealing with pharmaceuticals, medical devices, nutrients, products, we are going to see something new, the new products coming out year after year, such as the GLP-1, the NMN anti-aging reagents, or the autonomous rehab medical devices. Those new products are good for transaction.
That's something for sure. JD Health continues to attract new merchants and to diversify our product portfolio as we are seeing some new drugs. JD is the first pharmacy online to sell the NMN. The next element is about the demand towards health. That is something we see from the ancient time to the current stage. It is time-resistant. Everybody should be the first person to be responsible for his or her welfare and health. Despite there being quite a few uncertainties on the market, health is still the core value we are striving for. Currently, we are giving more disposable income to maintain health. That is a general trend for China as well as for the industry. Statistically speaking, after retirement, an individual's disposable income for insuring health will be doubled.
We are seeing the trend of aging population that is going to create more revenue in this regard. The last element is about the ability to match the supply and demand. I believe that is something very easy for me to explain. Over the years, our performance has never been going negative. Even in the COVID-19 period with quite a few inventories, the ARPA was still growing positively, which signified that the shopping frequencies helped us to set off the reduction on the ARPA. That is why we are confident to say that we could manage the users very successfully. We offer good products with perfect services or with cost-effective prices. Of course, we are having a big room to improve, such as different portfolio as well as cross-boundary categories.
Generally speaking, I believe that the ARPA could boost up even more, and that is something we will focus our resources to help achieve that.
Thank you.
Now, let's welcome Xipeng Feng from CICC. Good to see you. Please go ahead. Good to see you.
Thank you for having me to raise a question. I've read quite a few reports in this season. There are kind of activities, initiatives to pay back the investors and stakeholders, such as enhancement of the buyback or the dividend. So I want to check with you. Do you have such plans, or do you have any more programs on the cash utilization?
Thank you for the question. Yes, some of the investors are watching over on this issue. I want to check with you how we're going to move forward. And we are going to factor in three elements as well.
The first is about the willingness. The second is about the ability. The third is about the timing. About willingness, I believe that everyone could see this matter very clearly. Our group has been making the positioning to ensure sustainable and stable dividend distribution. And I believe that as a subsidiary, we are good at paying to our investors. The next is about the ability. We are very confident in managing our profits and cash flow. Despite the fact that a large proportion of the cash flow is from the IPO process, according to the market rule, we're not going to use that. Over the last two years, we maintained positive revenues and profits, and cash flow is doing a very good job. But it still takes time for us to build up a structure to ensure stable dividends. Right now, we are not fully capable of doing that.
The next element is about the timing. Right now, the market value of JD Health is severely underestimated. The market value is HKD 100 billion, while our assets, including the cash deposits, are approaching HKD 16 billion. If we are going to use the EV divided by S formula, we could understand the discrepancies. So I want to find out a good timing to buy in. In the past experiences, we are seeing the good outcome, but it is quite limited. In the short term, it could stabilize the market sentiments as well as boost up the market confidence. It will also help the short-term investors to ensure their pocket. But for the long term, when we are going deeper into the fundamentals, we want to be more stable. We want to take the long-term view.
Generally speaking, we want to be a good investor as well, and we also want to be a good market accelerator. At the present, JD Health is a company with general strengths. We have already been doing lots of market research to understand the market chances, opportunities. We are staying open and active. We are also taking different measures to boost our know-how to ensure our success rate. At the right time, at the proper direction, we will go and invest. I hope that my answer could help you to relieve the pressure. Thank you for staying with me. I wish that I have answered your question.
Thank you. I have no more questions.
Due to time constraints, we conclude today's question and answer session. At this time, we'll turn the conference back to Binglin Du for any additional or closing remarks.
Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please contact our IR team directly. Thank you.