Shell (NYSE: BEKE; HKEX: 2423) released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023 on March 14th. In 2023, the total trading volume (GTV) of shells was 3.14 trillion yuan, with a net income of 77.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.2%; The net profit reached 5.89 billion yuan, with an adjusted net profit of 9.798 billion yuan. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Beike achieved a GTV of 735.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.7%; Net income was 20.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%; The net profit was 670 million yuan, with an adjusted net profit of 1.714 billion yuan.
Peng Yongdong, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Beike, said, "In the face of external changes, we have made a series of strategic and operational adjustments to actively embrace the promising residential market and become a technology driven one-stop new residential service platform."
Xu Tao, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Beike, said, "In 2023, we achieved excellent business performance, with steady growth in our real estate transaction services business and breakthroughs in new businesses such as home decoration and rental. The company's profitability and profitability have significantly improved, with a net operating cash inflow of 11.16 billion yuan for the year, which is 1.14 times the adjusted net profit."
In 2023, the GTV of Beike's existing housing business reached 2028 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.6%, and net income increased by 15.9% to 28 billion yuan, contributing a profit margin increase of 7.3 percentage points to 47.2% year-on-year.
In 2023, the GTV of Shell's new housing business reached 1003 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, with a net income of 30.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. The profit margin contributed by the new housing business increased by 2.9 percentage points year-on-year, reaching 26.6%. Together with the existing housing business, it forms a stable foundation for the Beike real estate transaction service business.
Beike also attaches great importance to the sustainable development of the ecosystem of service providers. As of the end of 2023, there were 42000 active stores in Beike, a year-on-year increase of 12.2%. There were 397100 active brokers, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. Platform service providers have also achieved improvements in efficiency and revenue. In 2023, the average GTV of shell stores increased by 29% year-on-year, and the average GTV per person increased by 25%.
Surrounding the "One Body, Three Wings" strategy, Beike has also achieved breakthroughs in scale in home decoration and rental business. In 2023, the contract value of Beike Home Decoration Home Furnishing Business was 13.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 93% compared to the same period last year.
In terms of shareholder returns, for the entire year of 2023, Beike invested approximately $719 million in a large-scale stock repurchase and all of them were cancelled. The total number of repurchased shares for the year accounted for 3.7% of the company's total issued share capital before the repurchase project was launched. Beike will also distribute a special cash dividend of approximately $200 million in 2023. On this basis, Beike announced the distribution of final cash dividends, with an expected total dividend payment of approximately $400 million.
Beike stated that in 2024, it will continue to maintain an optimistic attitude, firmly increase investment in quality, grasp the two important variables of "quality" and "efficiency", and enhance the happiness of consumers and the sense of achievement of service providers.