X Financial (XYF)
NYSE: XYF · Real-Time Price · USD
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Apr 29, 2026, 12:26 PM EDT - Market open
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Earnings Call: Q3 2021

Nov 23, 2021

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the X Financial third quarter 2021 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Tanya Wen. Please go ahead.

Tanya Wen
Director of Investor Relations, X Financial

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The company's results were released earlier today and are available on the company's IR website at ir.xiaoyinggroup.com. On the call today from X Financial are Mr. Kan Li, President, and Mr. Frank Fuya Zheng, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Li will give a brief overview of the company's business operations and highlights, followed by Mr. Zheng, who will go through the financials. They are all available to answer your questions during the Q&A session. I remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Such statements are based on the company's current expectations and the current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the company's control, which may cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding this and other risks, uncertainties and factors is included in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not intend any other obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law. It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Kan Li. Mr. Li, please go ahead.

Kan Li
President, X Financial

Thank you. Hello, everyone. We are very pleased with our strategic execution in the third quarter. Both our loan facilitation amount and the net income were in line with our guidance. The total loan facilitation amount hit a new high for the second straight quarter. At the same time, the increase in our net income has demonstrated our ability to enhance profitability, both operating efficiency and reduced costs. During the third quarter, we further adjusted our pricing structure to comply with the 24% IRR regulatory cap. We believe this is the government's initiative to support the real economy and stimulate healthy growth for SMEs and private consumption.

The proportion of our loan facilitation amounts subject to the 24% IRR cap improved to approximately 30% of our total loan facilitation amount in September, and we expect it to grow to between 40% and 50% by the end of this year. Beyond the regulatory compliance requirement, we believe that this initiative can help us attract more quality borrowers as the demand for personal financing solutions increases. During the quarter, our total loan facilitation amount reached RMB 50.1 billion, an increase of 87.9% year-over-year and 17.5% quarter-over-quarter. This was mainly driven by the strong growth in the loan facilitation amount of Xiaoying Car Loan, which increased 124.3% year-over-year and 17.5% quarter-over-quarter.

As of September 30, 2021, the total outstanding loan balance of Xiaoying Car Loan reached CNY 24.4 billion, an increase of 19.9% compared with the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter, there will be a moderate decline in our loan volume due to our institutional funding partners' year-end outstanding loan balance requirements. We have continued our effort to improve our risk management capabilities. As of September 30, 2021, the delinquency rate for all outstanding loans that are past due for 30 days-60 days was 0.96%, compared with 0.77% as of June 30, 2021, and 1.06% as of September 30, 2020. Despite the quarter-over-quarter fluctuation, our asset quality is still within its best historical range in our operating history.

According to a new regulation, loan facilitation platforms are restricted from submitting credit assessment-related personal data directly to financial institutions, and such data transfer must be conducted through a licensed credit agency. In response, we have been working closely with Baihang Credit, the second-largest licensed individual credit bureau in China, in addition to the Credit Bureau of the People's Bank of China, PBOC, to execute a plan to comply with the new regulation. We have noticed that 14 large companies on the regulators' top list for the rectification are either working on a plan or waiting for approval. We are getting ready and will fully comply with the new regulation. We expect minimal changes to our daily operating activities and cost structure. During the quarter, we continued our efforts to diversify our service offerings. Our micro credit business officially commenced operation in the third quarter.

We also made a solid progress in our services to micro and small business and self-employed individuals. Which are important target groups for our future growth. We have certain favorable loan policies for this group and are adjusting and testing our systems to speed up the qualification and validation process. We believe we are on track towards our goals, and all these efforts are bearing fruit and helping us to drive long-term sustainable growth in a fiercely competitive and strongly regulatory industry. Now I will turn the call to Frank, who will go through our financials.

Frank Fuya Zheng
CFO, X Financial

Thank you, Kent, and hello, everyone. We delivered another set of robust financial results for the third quarter, in line with our expectation. Total net revenue increased 72.3% year-over-year to RMB 964.4 million. Our bottom line also saw strong growth with a non-GAAP adjusted net income of RMB 277 million, compared with a non-GAAP adjusted net loss of RMB 111.7 million in the same period of last year. Moving ahead, we will identify and acquire more high-quality borrowers to adapt to our strategy in response to the 24% IRR cap, improve asset quality by leveraging our evolving data-driven and technology-empowered credit analysis capabilities. We will also deepen cooperation with our institutional funding partners to better serve borrowers' needs.

Our proven track record demonstrates that we are capable of navigating through regulatory and macroeconomic challenges. We believe we are well-positioned to capture opportunities ahead, bring more valuable returns to our shareholders. Now I would like to brief some financial performance for the third quarter. Please note that all numbers stated are in RMB. Total net revenue in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 72.3% to RMB 964.4 million, from RMB 559.8 million in the same period of 2020. Primarily due to an increase in the total loan facilitation amount of Xiaoying Car Loan this quarter compared with the same period of 2020. Origination and servicing expenses in the third quarter of 2021 decreased by about 13.8% to RMB 483.8 million, to...

from CNY 561.2 million in the same period of 2020, primarily due to the decline in collection expenses resulting from the decrease in delinquency rates and a decrease in interest expenses related to the decline in the average loan balances held by the company. Partially offset by the increase in commission fees resulting from the increased total loan facilitation amount this quarter compared with the same period of 2020. Provision for the accounts receivable and the contract asset in the third quarter was CNY 15.2 million, compared with CNY 24.3 million in the same period of 2020.

Primarily due to a decrease in the average ethnic default rate compared with the same period of 2020, and partially offset by an increase in accounts receivable from facilitation services as a result of increase in total loan facilitation amount in the third quarter of 2021. Provision for the loans receivable in the third quarter of 2021 was RMB 10.2 million, compared with RMB 58.1 million in the same period of 2020, primarily due to a decrease in the average estimated default rate compared with the same period of 2020. Income from operations in the third quarter of 2021 was RMB 410.6 million, compared with the loss from operations of RMB 101.4 million in the same period of 2020.

Net income attributable to the X Financial shareholders in the third quarter of 2021 was RMB 279.9 million, compared with net loss attributable to X Financial shareholders of RMB 113 million in the same period of 2020. non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to the X Financial shareholders in the third quarter of 2021 was RMB 277 million, compared with non-GAAP adjusted net loss attributable to X Financial shareholders of RMB 111.7 million in the same period of 2020. Cash and cash equivalents was RMB 971.8 million as of September 30, 2021, compared with RMB 1,183.9 million as of June 30, 2021. Now for our business outlook.

We expect total loan facilitation amount for the fourth quarter of 2021 to be between RMB 12 billion and RMB 13.2 billion, which makes total loan facilitation amount for 2021 to be between RMB 50.8 billion and RMB 52 billion. We expect non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2021 to be no less than RMB 240 million, which makes non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders for 2021 to be no less than RMB 971 million. This forecast reflects our current and preliminary views, which are subject to changes. Now, this concludes our prepared remarks, and we would like to open the call to questions. Operator, please.

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. The first question is from Bo Hinds of Equinox Capital. Please go ahead.

Bo Hinds
Analyst, Equinox Capital

Hi. Thank you. Good evening. I have three questions I'd like to start out with. Could you just discuss and give us a little bit more color about why your institutional funding partners are reducing their loan balance requirements at the year-end? Then talk about your cost of capital in the quarter. Then lastly, please address capital allocation and how you're thinking about share buybacks and perhaps any management purchases of company stock. Thanks.

Frank Fuya Zheng
CFO, X Financial

Okay. I think it's usually, you know, for the volume for the first quarter is compared with the Q3. It's about flat or a little bit down. That's the normal pattern for the past, you know, always for the past few year, except for the last year. Last year is one exception and of course the still aggro. I think we are in general is, you know, just back to the normal pattern regarding to this, you know, Q3 and Q4 volume. For those, you know, funding partners working for us, they have some requirements. Most of them they are all doing fine.

You know, they have finished their KPI quarters or whatever. They have a you know just to have some balance requirement to have that. I you know frankly I don't know that. If you compare with our peers, they even though they still you know in general probably give the same pattern. The pattern is which is first the Q4 volume will be equal or less than Q3. That's what I see. Okay. I think the cost of capital I believe what you mean is the funding cost for our you know the fund we get from our funding partner.

We are around about you know somewhere between 8%-9%, which is a little bit higher than our peers. About you know 1.5 percentage points higher than that. As we you know as we move on you know we are you know starting from like this you know basically start from third quarter of this year, we're starting doing 24% you know that you know the loan. Over time as we accumulate you know about at least six months down the road we can you know talk to our funding partner you know regarding our customer risk profile so far, so on.

We believe we will have a lower funding cost sometime starting from middle of next year. We will, you know, have maybe around 1% going down from here, you know, some next year. Regarding the, you know, shareholder stock buyback or, you know, dividend policy, you know, we have some loss last year. This year, we earn some money, we accumulated some capital.

I know, you know, I know, you know, almost all our peers, they have, you know, have some buyback plan and the share buyback plan or dividend policy in place. We definitely will consider do that maybe sometime next year. But I must be very frank with you know, this kind of, you know, buyback plan and dividend, it at least for now is not, you know, helped their valuation much. But you know, for our stock as a total, it's quite different story.

We are basically priced at almost a, you know, will be bankrupt in a few years time, you know, this kind of valuation. The market maybe knows something we don't know, you know, so, you know, it's quite frustrating for us. We not necessarily believe so-called dividend policy or buyback plan will change that, you know, very quickly or in dramatic fashion. As I say, we will still definitely, you know, consider to do that sometime next year.

Bo Hinds
Analyst, Equinox Capital

Okay, thank you. Can you address or just discuss any kind of high level outlook for fiscal year 2022? You know, it sounds like you're expecting continued growth in your loan originations. Anything you could sort of say to talk about what you think about next fiscal year, that would be helpful.

Frank Fuya Zheng
CFO, X Financial

2021 is a great year for our industry. It's quite tumultuous, you know, for the last few years, a lot of regulation coming down. We think next year from the regulatory front it will be relatively calm, but then we still have things to do, like still seeing like a 24% IRR cap and so on. Also, you need to have a new relationship with your funding partner and so on.

We think next year, you know, very high level, we think next year will be okay and will be okay. Still we have a growth, but maybe not as fantastic as this year, you know. That's quite a few. I think all the players, you know, when they reach Q4, they have more clarity and more color regarding next year. Thank you.

Bo Hinds
Analyst, Equinox Capital

Thank you.

Operator

Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. There are no more questions at this time. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Tanya Wen for closing remarks.

Tanya Wen
Director of Investor Relations, X Financial

Thank you everyone for joining us on the call today. If you haven't got a chance to raise your questions, we will be pleased to answer them through follow-up contact. We look forward to speaking with you again in the near future. Thank you.

Operator

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

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