BEST Inc. Announces Unaudited Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BEST Inc. (NYSE: BSTI) ("BEST" or the "Company"), a leading smart supply chain and logistics solutions and services provider in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2018.

"BEST's second quarter results reflect continued strong progress on our strategy of delivering strong growth with continuous service quality improvement, market share gains, increasing operational efficiency and margin expansion." said Johnny Chou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BEST. "Our revenue growth continues to outpace industry peers and we achieved positive EBITDA for the first time this quarter. We continue to benefit from healthy growth in the Chinese e-commerce industry and the growing sophistication of our customers. The deeper penetration of New Retail has made our integrated supply chain and logistics solutions more essential than ever."  

"We are pleased to report another quarter of strong top line growth and margin improvement, while holding to our pricing discipline in a highly competitive environment. Our revenue increased by 38.6 percent year-over-year, driven by strong growth across all segments. We achieved a significant increase in gross margin and a significant decrease in our net loss," said Alice Guo, BEST's Chief Accounting Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. "As our business grows, we expect to see continuous year-over-year improvement in profitability by reducing costs and winning more business with integrated solutions and better quality service."  

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

For the Quarter Ended June 30, 2018:

• Revenue was RMB6,732.3 million (US$1,017.4 million), an increase of 38.6% year-over-year ("YoY").
  - Express Service Revenue increased 35.8% YoY to RMB4,177.2 million (US$631.3 million).
  - Freight Service Revenue increased 31.6% YoY to RMB1,029.7 million (US$155.6 million). 
  - Supply Chain Management Service Revenue increased 32.7% YoY to RMB498.5 million (US$75.3 million). 
  - BEST Store⁺ Service Revenue increased 34.5% YoY to RMB798.5 million (US$120.7 million). 
  - Others ^[1] Service Revenues increased 708.8% YoY to RMB228.5 million (US$34.5 million).
• Gross Profit was RMB417.6 million (US$63.1 million) and Gross Profit Margin was 6.2%, compared to gross profit of RMB133.0 million and gross profit margin of 2.7% in the same period of 2017. This represents an increase of 214.0% YoY in gross profit and an improvement of 3.5 percentage points in gross profit margin.
• Net Loss was RMB93.7 million (US$14.2 million) and Non-GAAP Net Loss^[2][3] was RMB55.5 million (US$8.4 million).
• Diluted EPS^[4] was negative RMB0.25 (US$0.04) and Non-GAAP diluted EPS^[3][5] was negative RMB0.15 (US$0.02).
• Adjusted EBITDA^[3][6] was RMB41.6 million (US$6.3 million).
• Net Cash Generated From Operating Activities was RMB432.4 million (US$65.3 million).

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

BEST Express:

• Increased parcel volume by 39.6% YoY, significantly higher than the industry-wide growth rate of 25.0%^[8]; increased express market share to 10.5%, compared to 9.4% in the same period of 2017.
• Improved gross profit per parcel by 47.3% YoY to RMB0.18 (US$0.03), as the reduction in cost per parcel continued to outpace the decrease in revenue per parcel.
• Focused on improving service quality and enhancing customer experience. According to the State Post Bureau of the PRC, in the second quarter of 2018, BEST consistently led major industry players with low effective complaint ratios. In April, May and June, the effective number of customer complaints per one million parcels was 0.35, 0.32 and 0.30, respectively^[9].
• Improved operational efficiency by ongoing network optimization, investment in automation and digitization:
  - Reduced total number of hubs and sortation centers by 29.3% YoY to 128, compared to 181 as of June 30, 2017.
  - Continued to invest in and upgrade the automation system in major hubs and sortation centers, including investment in high-speed automated sorting lines and dimension & weight scanning systems. 
  - Increased digital waybill usage to 98.4% from 89.0% in the same quarter of 2017.

BEST Freight:

• Grew freight revenue by 31.6% and freight volume by 24.7% YoY, significantly higher than the industry-wide growth.
• Improved gross profit margin significantly by 13.0 percentage points YoY to 5.2%, compared to negative 7.8% in the same period of 2017. Focused on growing e-commerce related transactions, which resulted in an increase in revenue per tonne and a decrease in cost per tonne.
• Continued to optimize freight network to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs:
  - Reduced total number of hubs and sortation centers by 11.2% YoY to 127 from 143 as of June 30, 2017. This has resulted in lower transportation, labor, lease costs and shortened delivery time.
  - Expanded service coverage significantly by increasing the total number of franchisees-operated last-mile service stations by 85.0% YoY to over 11,000 from over 6,000 as of June 30, 2017.

BEST Supply Chain Management:

• Added 46 new customers in the second quarter of 2018, including major global brands, and increased the total number of corporate customer to 561.
• Increased the number of orders fulfilled by Cloud OFCs by 37.7% YoY to 61.2 million, of which 20.5 million orders were fulfilled by franchised OFCs, representing an increase of 73.4% YoY.
• Increased the total number of Cloud OFCs to 348 from 305, of which franchised Cloud OFCs increased to 238 from 215 as of June 30, 2017; increased gross floor area ("GFA") of Cloud OFCs to approximately 2.4 million square meters from 2.1 million square meter as of June 30, 2017, of which 1.0 million square meters are owned and operated by franchised OFCs.

BEST Store⁺:

• Continued to invest in and expand Store⁺ network. As of June 30, 2018, the number of membership stores reached 397,289 and the number of branded stores reached 748.
• Increased the total number of store orders fulfilled by 39.3% YoY to 870,591, representing over 20,000 SKUs.

Others:

• BEST UCargo
  - Increased the number of registered agents to approximately 4,000 as of June 30, 2018 from approximately 1,700 as of June 30, 2017, and the number of registered trucks to over 222,000 as of June 30, 2018 from approximately 100,000 as of June 30, 2017. 
  - Increased the total number of transactions to approximately 96,000 as of June 30, 2018 from approximately 28,000 as of June 30, 2017, with revenue generated from external customers increased significantly to RMB150.6 million (US$22.8 million) in the quarter ended June 30, 2018.
• BEST Global - continued to develop cross border solutions and broaden service offerings in international markets. As of June 30, 2018, BEST Global reached 13 countries and regions outside of Mainland China, including new coverages in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Italy through partners.
  - In May 2018, launched international parcel service from China to the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
  - In June 2018, opened a new fulfillment center in the third U.S. location to serve its South Central region. The Dallas facility brings total warehousing space in the U.S. to approximately 800,000 square feet.
• BEST Capital - continued to expand its financial services to support BEST ecosystem. As of June 30, 2018, it had provided financing solutions to over 5,000 trucks, an increase of over 60.0% compared to the end of second quarter 2017.

FINANCIAL RESULTS

Revenue

The following table sets forth a breakdown of revenue by business segment for the periods indicated.

• Express Service Revenue increased by 35.8% to RMB4,177.2 million (US$631.3 million) from RMB3,076.2 million, primarily due to 39.6% YoY increase in parcel volume.
• Freight Service Revenue increased by 31.6% to RMB1,029.7 million (US$155.6 million) from RMB782.2 million, primarily due to 24.7% YoY increase in freight volume and 5.5% YoY increase in average revenue per tonne.
• Supply Chain Management Service Revenue increased by 32.7% to RMB498.5 million (US$75.3 million) from RMB375.6 million, primarily due to an increase in fulfillment and transportation revenue from both existing and new customers.
• BEST Store⁺ Service Revenue increased by 34.5% to RMB798.5 million (US$120.7 million) from RMB593.7 million, primarily due to an increase in merchandise sales to membership and branded stores.
• Others Service Revenues increased by 708.8% to RMB228.5 million (US$34.5 million) from RMB28.2 million, primarily due to increased revenue generated from BEST UCargo's external customers, BEST Global's expanded operations and BEST Capital's financing solutions to ecosystem participants.

Costs and Expenses

The following table sets forth a breakdown of cost of revenue by business segment for the periods indicated.

Cost of Revenue was RMB6,314.7 million (US$954.3 million) or 93.8% of revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to RMB4,722.9 million or 97.3% of revenue in the same quarter of 2017. The reduction of 3.5 percentage points in cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue was primarily attributable to significant operating leverage.

The following table sets forth a breakdown of operating expenses and adjusted operating expenses by category for the periods indicated.

Selling Expenses was RMB205.7 million (US$31.1 million) or 3.1% of revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to RMB160.5 million or 3.3% of revenue in the same quarter of 2017. The reduction in selling expenses as a percentage of revenue was primarily attributable to improved operating efficiencies.

General and Administrative Expenses was RMB271.1 million (US$41.0 million) or 4.0% of revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to RMB160.5 million or 3.3% of revenue in the same quarter of 2017. The increase in general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue was primarily attributable to investment in the growth of the Company's operations and the inclusion of share-based compensation ("SBC") expense.

Research and Development Expenses was RMB51.5 million (US$7.8 million) or 0.8% of revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to RMB27.0 million, or 0.6% of revenue in the same quarter of 2017. The increase in research and development expenses as a percentage of revenue was primarily attributable to the hiring of additional R&D professionals.

SBC Expense included in the cost and expense items above in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was RMB35.3 million (US$5.3 million), compared to nil in the same quarter of 2017. Approximately RMB0.4 million (US$0.06 million) was allocated to cost of revenue, RMB1.1 million (US$0.2 million) was allocated to selling expenses, RMB31.5 million (US$4.8 million) was allocated to general and administrative expenses, and RMB2.2 million (US$0.3 million) was allocated to research and development expenses.

Net Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss

Net Loss in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was RMB93.7 million (US$14.2 million), a decrease of 53.6% compared to RMB 201.8 million in the same quarter of 2017. Excluding SBC expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, non-GAAP Net Loss in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was RMB55.5 million (US$8.4 million), a decrease of 72.3% compared to RMB200.4 million in the same quarter of 2017.

Diluted EPS and non-GAAP diluted EPS

Diluted EPS in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was negative RMB0.25 (US$0.04) based on a weighted average of 381.6 million diluted shares outstanding during the quarter. Excluding SBC expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, non-GAAP diluted EPS in the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was negative RMB0.15 (US$0.02). A reconciliation of diluted EPS to non-GAAP diluted EPS is included at the end of this results announcement.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB41.6 million (US$6.3 million), improved from negative RMB 134.7 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2017. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 0.6%, improved from negative 2.8% in the quarter ended June 30, 2017. The improvement of RMB176.3 million (US$26.6 million) or 3.4 percentage points was primarily attributable to strong revenue growth and improved operating efficiency.

Cash and Cash Equivalents, Restricted Cash and Short-term Investments

As of June 30, 2018, cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments were RMB4,349.6 million (US$657.3 million), compared to RMB4,745.8 million as of March 31, 2018. The decrease in cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments was primarily due to debt repayment, CAPEX, investment activities, and partially offset by net cash generated from operating activities.

Cash Flow from Operating Activities

Cash Generated from Operating Activities was RMB432.4 million (US$65.3 million) in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, an increase of 42.9% compared to RMB302.7 million in the same quarter of 2017.

Capital Expenditures ("CAPEX")

CAPEX was RMB230.3 million (US$34.8 million), or 3.4% of total revenue in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to CAPEX of RMB220.1 million, or 4.5% of total revenue, in the same period of 2017.

Shares Outstanding

As of the date of this press release, the Company had approximately 387.1 million ordinary shares outstanding ^[10]. Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share.

FINANCIAL GUIDANCE

Based on current market conditions and current operations, revenue for the third quarter of 2018 is expected to be in the range of RMB7.0 billion to RMB7.2 billion; and revenue for full fiscal year 2018 is expected to be in the range of RMB26.6 billion to RMB27.0 billion. This represents management's current and preliminary expectation, which is subject to change.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

The Company will hold a conference call at 7:30 am U.S. Eastern Time on August 8, 2018 (7:30 pm Beijing Time, the same day), to discuss its financial results and operating performance for the second quarter of 2018.

Participants may access the call by dialing the following numbers:

A replay of the conference call will be accessible through August 15, 2018 by dialing the following numbers:

Please visit the Company's investor relations website http://ir.best-inc.com/ on August 8, 2018 to view the earnings release prior to the conference call. A live and archived webcast of the conference call and an accompanying slide presentation will be available at the same site.

ABOUT BEST INC.

BEST Inc. is a leading smart supply chain and logistics solutions and services provider. BEST's mission is to empower businesses and enrich the lives of consumers by leveraging technology and business model innovation to create a smarter, more efficient supply chain. For more information, please visit: http://www.best-inc.com/en/.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as BEST's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. BEST may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about BEST's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: BEST's goals and strategies; BEST's future business development, results of operations and financial condition; BEST 's ability to maintain and enhance its ecosystem; BEST 's ability to continue to innovate, meet evolving market trends, adapt to changing customer demands and maintain its culture of innovation; and fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in BEST's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and BEST does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

In evaluating its business, BEST considers and uses non-GAAP measures, such as non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss margin, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, EBITDA, adjusted selling expenses, adjusted general and administrative expenses, adjusted research and development expenses, and non-GAAP diluted EPS, as supplemental measures in the evaluation of the Company's operating results and in the Company's financial and operational decision-making. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures that help identify underlying trends in the Company's business that could otherwise be distorted by the effect of the expenses and gains that the Company includes in loss from operations and net loss. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information about its operating results, enhance the overall understanding of its past performance and future prospects and allow for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by the Company's management in its financial and operational decision-making. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to the Nearest Comparable GAAP Measures" in the results announcement.

The non-GAAP financial measures are provided as additional information to help investors compare business trends among different reporting periods on a consistent basis and to enhance investors' overall understanding of the Company's current financial performance and prospects for the future. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, U.S. GAAP results. In addition, the Company's calculation of the non-GAAP financial measures may be different from the calculation used by other companies, and therefore comparability may be limited.

RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE NEAREST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES

The table below sets forth a reconciliation of the Company's net loss to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin for the periods indicated:

The table below sets forth a reconciliation of the Company's net loss to non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss margin for the periods indicated:

The table below sets forth a reconciliation of the Company's diluted EPS to non-GAAP diluted EPS for the periods indicated:

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