On March 19th, Caixin News Agency (Reporter Guo Zishuo) reported that the latest financial report data shows that after the consecutive sales of Pratt&Whitney Lixin and Ping An One Account Bank, One Account Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Financial One Account") has entered the right track. Overall, the operating loss of Financial One Account narrowed from 982 million yuan to 368 million yuan.
Last year, Financial One Account initiated two subsidiary equity transfers within six months.
Firstly, on June 12 of the previous year, Financial One Account completed the sale of 40% equity of the group in Puhui Lixin to Ping An Puhui Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. for a consideration of RMB 199 million; In November of the same year, Financial One Connect signed a share purchase agreement with Lufax Holdings Limited and Ping An One Connect Bank. Lufax Holdings Limited conditionally agreed to acquire Ping An One Connect Bank by transferring all the issued share capital of Jinyi Tong Limited for a consideration of HKD 933 million. However, the relevant transactions have not been completed as of the date of the announcement.
At that time, the directors believed that the sale would significantly improve the financial condition of the group, given the capital commitments required for virtual banking business. The latest financial report of the company shows that from the perspective of the business revenue and cost of Ping An One Account Bank, due to the rapid growth of the virtual banking branch business, this part of the revenue and cost skyrocketed from 56.7 million yuan in 2022 to 134 million yuan in the same period of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 136.7%.
Shen Chongfeng, Chairman and CEO of Financial One Account, stated that benefiting from the progress made in products, customers, and cost control, the company's net loss attributable to shareholders in 2023 narrowed to 360 million yuan, a significant decrease of 510 million yuan from the same period last year's 870 million yuan.
Looking back at 2023, although Financial One Account was affected by a decrease in revenue from technology solutions, it achieved a total revenue of 3.668 billion yuan, a decrease of 17.8% compared to the same period last year. However, the company's gross profit margin increased by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 36.8%, adjusted Non IFRS gross profit margin increased by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 40.3%, and the attributable net profit margin increased from -19.5% to -9.9%.
Regarding this, Luo Yongtao, Chief Financial Officer of Financial One Account, also stated, "Although the investment in IT solutions in the financial industry decreased last year, we benefited from a stable customer base and diverse business types. Our performance throughout the year was stable, and several key operating indicators showed a good upward trend - gross profit margin and adjusted Non IFRS gross profit margin levels both increased year-on-year, with a significant increase in net profit margin attributable to shareholders."
The Caixin News Agency reporter reviewed the financial report and noticed that "cost management" runs through the entire year of 2023 of Financial One Account. Overall, Financial One Account has tightened its operating expenses comprehensively, with R&D expenses alone reduced by 463 million yuan.
According to the annual report data, Financial One Account has further focused on three major business sectors, namely digital banking, digital insurance, and Gama platform. The management of Financial One Account pointed out that the next goal after reducing losses will be to achieve profitability by the middle of this year.