Bitauto Holdings Limited (NYSE: BITA) topped revenue estimates for the second quarter of 2019 but earnings fell short of forecasts. The consensus estimate was for earnings of $0.59 per share on revenue of $390 million. Shares were down by 0.94% in premarket hours on Thursday.
Total revenues increased 8.9% year-over-year to RMB2.79 billion ($406.6 million), mainly driven by growth in the transaction services business.
Net loss attributable to Bitauto was RMB145.5 million ($21.2 million), compared to net income of RMB2.7 million ($0.4 million) in the year-ago period.
Adjusted net income attributable to Bitauto was RMB155.3 million ($22.6 million), compared to RMB257.3 million ($37.5 million) last year.
Net loss per ADS amounted to RMB2.06 ($0.30). Adjusted net income per ADS totaled RMB2.12 ($0.31).
During the quarter, advertising and subscription business revenue fell 5% to RMB1.01 billion ($146.6 million) from the year-ago quarter, mainly due to a reduction in marketing spend by automakers and dealers, reflecting declines in new car sales.
In the transaction services business, revenues amounted to RMB1.49 billion ($217.1 million), reflecting a 17.2% increase from last year, driven mainly by growth in loan facilitation services. Revenues in the digital marketing solutions business jumped 31.2% to RMB294.7 million ($42.9 million) from the prior-year quarter.
For the third quarter of 2019, Bitauto expects revenue to range from RMB2.65 billion ($386 million) to RMB2.75 billion ($400.6 million), representing a 2.8% decrease to 0.9% increase from the prior-year period.
Bitauto’s controlled subsidiary Yixin reported total revenues of RMB1.50 billion ($218.5 million) during the quarter. At quarter-end, Yixin’s accumulated total financed automobile transactions reached approx. 1.4 million and its accumulated aggregate auto financing amount exceeded RMB100 billion.
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