HIGHLIGHTS:
HONG KONG, March 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AsiaInfo Technologies Holdings Limited ("AsiaInfo" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", Stock Code: 01675 HK) is pleased to announce the audited consolidated results of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Revenue Growth Accelerated and Profitability Remained Healthy
The "14th Five-Year" Plan of the PRC put forward the notion of embracing digital era, accelerating the construction of a digital economy, a digital society and a digital government, thus the software industry will gain more opportunities for development. Facing the new stage and new characteristics of the PRC's social and economic development, the Group actively strove to become a leading provider with full-stack digital and intelligent capabilities. In 2021, adhering to the strategy of "One consolidation, Three developments" and its five-year plan, the Group's revenue growth accelerated and it registered double-digit growth in both operating revenue and net profit.
In 2021, the Group's revenue amounted to approximately RMB 6,895 million, increased by 14.5% year-on-year. Among which, Three New business's revenue amounted to approximately RMB 1,568 million, up by 101.0% year-on-year, while the proportion of Three New business to operating revenue further increased to 22.7%. Gross profit margin amounted to 38.4% and net profit amounted to RMB 783 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.2%, with net profit margin expanded to 11.3%, representing an increase of 0.3 percentage point as compared with last year, maintaining healthy profitability.
The Board, after taking into full consideration of various factors including Shareholders' returns, profitability, cash flow level and capital needs for future development of the Group, decided to propose the distribution of the 2021 final dividend of HK$0.416 per Share at the AGM with the annual dividend payout ratio of approximately 40%.
Fast Promotion of Three New Business & Doubling Revenue in DSaaS Again
In 2021, the Group seized the development opportunities brought by digital economy and continued its efforts in expanding DSaaS business, explored the value of data and information. It promoted various innovative business models such as results-based charging, sharing settlement and subscription, and successfully achieved multiple replication of such model adoption in customer groups, so as to provide several types of businesses, including user and content operation services, integrated big data construction and operation services for government affairs, and operational solutions for enterprise private domain traffic. Leveraging on the legal and compliant data sources, as well as its powerful AI and middle office technology sharing system, the Company unleashes the digital value and helps customers achieve value-based operations. In 2021, revenue from the DSaaS business achieved approximately RMB730 million, up by 107.5% year-on-year, accounted for 10.6% of operating revenue, becoming the strongest contributor among the Three New business driving the revenue growth of the Group.
In vertical industries and enterprise cloudification, the Group continued its strategic focus on the five key vertical industries, namely government affairs, finance, postal services, transportation and energy. Significant progress was made in the areas of government affairs and energy sectors. In the government affairs segment, the Group developed replicable solutions on digital government and acquired benchmark projects such as Shanghai Big Data Platform, Jieshou Digital City Brain and Zibo Big Data Platform. In the energy sector, the Group actively participated in China National Nuclear Power's 5G private network-based production project and promoted the implementation of several typical 5G private network-based application scenarios in nuclear power, wind power, thermal power and other sub-sectors, accelerating the digital transformation of the energy sector. In addition, the Group had established strategic partnerships with mainstream cloud vendors such as Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Tencent Cloud, e-Surfing Cloud, Mobile Cloud, Wo Cloud and CECLOUD and deepened the cooperation with strategic partners to expand customers bases. It achieved sizable growth in delivery with Alibaba Cloud and for the first time, entered into RMB10 million-level project with Tencent Cloud. In 2021, the revenue from vertical industries and enterprise cloudification business of the Group amounted to approximately RMB 425 million, up by 135.6% year-on-year.
For OSS business, the Group takes full advantage of a technology middle-office software vendor and actively participates in the construction of operator network intelligentisation and network management systems, providing customers with products featuring "global domain virtualization, global domain intelligentisation and global domain cognition" and assisting operators to achieve business and network support capability integration. Moreover, the Group's 5G network intelligentisation products commanded leading standard internationally and were enlisted in Gartner's 2022 Global Network Intelligentisation Mainstream Vendor Matrix, and garnered the highest award for AI in China - Wu Wen Jun AI Science & Technology Progress Award. In 2021, the Group's OSS business grew rapidly, achieving a revenue of approximately RMB 413 million, up by 66.7% year-on-year.
For BSS traditional business, the Group continues to capture a high market share and maintain a strong market leadership position. Facing changes in the external environment, the Group strived to explore business potential and continued to improve efficiency. It actively met the needs of customers for business support transformation and innovation, assisted customers in digital and intelligent upgrade. In 2021, the Group's traditional business revenue amounted to approximately RMB 5,327 million, up by 1.7% year-on-year.
In research and development (R&D), the Group stepped up innovation and R&D initiatives in emerging business, including multi-party secure computing, federated learning, edge AI, digital twins, 5G private networks, 5G network intelligentisation, databases and other new technologies and new products. Many of these premium products were successfully commercialised in telecommunications and other vertical industries, supporting the rapid development of Three New business. Moreover, the Group continued to intensively participate in 20 international/ national standards organizations, including 3GPP, ITU, ETSI, IEEE, TMF and O-RAN with leading contributions to 40 international communication standards. In 2021, the Group's R&D expenses amounted to approximately RMB1,006 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.7% and accounting for 14.6% of revenue.
Committed to "One consolidation, Three developments" Strategy to Fully Activate Growth Momentum
Facing the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the digital economy has become a new engine for high-quality development of the PRC economy. In the market with both opportunities and challenges, the Group will continue to promote "One consolidation, Three developments" strategy, strive to unleash the value and efficiency of traditional business and endeavour to activate the growth momentum of Three New business, and dedicate to achieving the goal of "a business scale of over RMB10 billion, half of which comprises of the new business" in 2025.
For traditional market, the Group will strive to promote the development of new markets for BSS business. In 2022, the Group won the bidding for the construction of 5G business support system for China Broadcasting Network Group Corporation Ltd. Operational demands focusing on value-based operation, privilege operation and integrated operation will continue to prompt the needs of the customers in telecommunication industry for DSaaS. The demand for computing network as well as automatic and intelligent network will drive the needs in upgrading the OSS capability systems of customers. In terms of the enterprise cloudification business, the Group is actively facilitating cooperation with the state-owned cloud system, so as to increase its presence for actively developing the government affair and state-owned enterprise-based markets.
Note1: Three New business represents Data-driven Operation (DSaaS), vertical industries and enterprise cloudification, Operation Support Systems (OSS) business |
About AsiaInfo Technologies Limited
AsiaInfo Technologies Limited (stock code: 01675 HK) was founded in 1993 and successfully listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2018. It is a leading provider of software products, solutions and services, and a leading provider of integrated cloud and network management services, and is committed to becoming an enabler of digital transformation for large enterprises in the 5G era.
The Group actively embraces advanced technology such as 5G, cloud computing, big data, AI and Internet of Things, and adheres to the strategic decision of "One consolidation, Three developments", relying on its products, services, operations and integration capabilities. AsiaInfo takes 5G as an opportunity to fully deploy and enhance its value and efficiency in the traditional business and consolidate its leadership position in the BSS market. In terms of emerging business, the Group will strive for rapid scale development in 5G OSS network intelligence, DSaaS digital operation services, enterprise cloudification and vertical industry. At the same time, the Group will work with industry partners to build an ecological system, continue to promote business model transformation, and contribute to the digital transformation of enterprises and sustainable development of the industry.
AsiaInfo Technologies Limited offers industry-leading R&D capabilities and a wealth of telecom-grade software products, including customer relationship management, billing and accounting, big data, Internet of Things and 5G network intelligence products, serving large corporate clients in telecommunications, finance, energy, postal services, government affairs, transportation and other industries.
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