China Finance Online Announces Extension for Reporting Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results

BEIJING, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — China Finance Online Co. Limited ( the “China Finance Online”, or the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) (NASDAQ GS: JRJC), a leading web-based financial services company that provides Chinese retail investors with fintech-powered online access to securities trading services, wealth management products, securities investment advisory services, as well as financial database and analytics services to institutional customers, announced today that it will report its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2019 no later than May 29, 2020.

Due to social distancing, travel bans and quarantines in China implemented in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (“Covid-19”) pandemic, access to JRJC office has been limited. These actions have substantially impeded the Company’s professional staffs and advisors from completing the preparation of the Company’s consolidated financial statements and to provide investors with timely information as well as to comply with filing obligations with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Company also announces that it will be relying on the order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (Release No. 34-88465) to delay the filing of its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019 (the “Annual Report”) due to circumstances related to COVID-19. The explanation for the delay in filing the Annual Report is outlined in a Report on Form 6-K furnished today by the Company. The Company expects to file the Annual Report no later than May 29, 2020.

About China Finance Online

China Finance Online Co. Limited is a leading web-based financial services company that provides Chinese retail investors with fintech-powered online access to securities trading services, wealth management products, securities investment advisory services, as well as financial database and analytics services to institutional customers. The Company’s prominent flagship portal site, www.jrj.com, is ranked among the top financial websites in China. In addition to the web-based securities trading platform, the Company offers basic financial software, information services and securities investment advisory services to retail investors in China. Through its subsidiary, Shenzhen Genius Information Technology Co. Ltd., the Company provides financial database and analytics to institutional customers including domestic financial, research, academic and regulatory institutions. China Finance Online also provides brokerage services in Hong Kong.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which constitute “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements contained herein reflect management’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the Company. 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, this release contains the following forward-looking statements regarding:

  • our prospect and our ability to attract new users;
  • our prospect on building a comprehensive wealth management ecosystem through providing a fully-integrated online communication and securities-trading platform;
  • our prospect on stabilization in cash attrition and improvement of our financial position;
  • our initiatives to address customers’ demand for intuitive online investment platforms and alternative investment opportunities; and
  • the market prospect of the business of securities-trading, securities investment advisory and wealth management.

Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, which risk factors and uncertainties include, amongst others, the outbreak of COVID-19 or other health epidemics in China or globally, changing customer needs, regulatory environment and market conditions; the uncertain condition of the world and Chinese economies that could lead to volatility in the equity markets and affect our operating results in the coming quarters; the impact of the changing conditions of the mainland Chinese stock market, Hong Kong stock market and global financial markets on our future performance; the unpredictability of our strategic transformation and growth of new businesses; the prospect of our margin-related business and the degree to which our implementation of margin account screening and ongoing monitoring will yield successful outcomes; the degree to which our strategic collaborations with partners will yield successful outcomes; the prospects for China’s high-net-worth and middle-class households; the prospects of equipping our customer specialists with new technology, tools and financial knowledge; wavering investor confidence that could impact our business; and possible non-cash goodwill, intangible assets and investment impairments may adversely affect our net income. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

China Finance Online
+86-10-8336-3100
ir@jrj.com

Kevin Theiss
Awaken Advisors
(212) 521-4050
kevin@awakenlab.com

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Source: China Finance Online Co., Ltd.

FORTINET: Protecting Remote Workforce and Distributed Network

SINGAPORE, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Organizations around the world are engaged in one of the most rapid network transformation exercises in history. In Singapore and across the region, thousands of workers are now working from home, small branch offices, or in modified shifts to ensure their health and safety while ensuring business continuity.

Fortinet’s Mr Peerapong Jongvibool, Regional Senior Director of South East Asia and Hong Kong
Fortinet’s Mr Peerapong Jongvibool, Regional Senior Director of South East Asia and Hong Kong

A teleworker program requires careful handling to safeguard  infrastructure and accommodate new network demands, whilst coping with the sudden surge of endpoints across multiple environments. Once an organization’s basic teleworker solution is in place, consider enhancing it with additional tools to provide extra security and simplification.

Security is critical now more than ever because cybercriminals are likely to target organizations that have made a sudden transition to a mobile worker framework. Fortinet’s threat intelligence unit has tracked an increase in malicious activity related to the novel coronavirus. Unfortunately, FortiGuard Labs researchers found that cybercriminals are using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to try and steal money and personal information by generating social engineering scams via email, text, and phone calls. 

Over the past few weeks, there has been an increase in attempts to lure unsuspecting victims into going to malicious sites, clicking on malicious links, or providing personal information over the phone under the auspices of COVID-19. Many of these scams attempt to impersonate legitimate organizations, such as the Ministry of Health (MOH) or the World Health Organization, by offering fake information updates and even promises of access to vaccines – all for a price, of course.

One way to strengthen security is educate employees to heighten security awareness as the workforce moves to a more autonomous and exposed remote environment. While businesses can compensate for many of the new risks that new technologies pose to the organization (such as updating or upgrading secure email gateway and web filtering solutions), it is also essential that leaders understand that these workers have become, in many ways, both the most vulnerable targets as well as the front line for defending the network.

Fortinet’s threat intelligence shows that anyone can be a target to obtain access to business networks and sensitive information. For employees now connecting to the office through home networks, even children are potential targets. Beware. Cybercriminals are experts in the art of masquerading, manipulating, influencing, and devising lures to trick targets into divulging sensitive data, and/or giving them access to home and business networks and/or facilities.

There is already a global shortage of 4 million cybersecurity professionals according to a study conducted by (ISC2). This problem is exacerbated with the recent mass migration to ‘work-from-home’ environments that put even more pressure on infrastructure teams to balance performance and security. Another way to strengthen security is to use artificial intelligence (AI) and automation as part of the threat protection strategy.

Over 440,000 organizations that deploy Fortinet solutions already enjoy advanced threat protection using AI. Fortinet devices are linked by the Fortinet Security Fabric platform that takes advantage of a common Fortinet operating system and an open application programming interface (API) environment to create a broad, integrated, and automated security architecture.

When managing a remote and distributed workforce, centralized security visibility and management are essential. It is important that support for telecommuting does not jeopardize an organization’s cybersecurity. This is where automated security comes in to alleviate the manpower crunch. With the Fortinet Security Fabric, all of an organization’s devices, including those deployed remotely to support telework, can be monitored and managed from a single pane of glass.

Fortinet solutions offer an integrated solution to support telework. For organizations using Fortinet, their existing technology deployment already contains this functionality. FortiGate next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) have integrated support for IPsec VPNs, enabling remote workers to connect securely to the company network.

Additional measures that companies should take as more work is done remotely:

  • Confirm the VPN capabilities/utilization and determine if they are adequate
  • Require the use of multi-factor authentication
  • Log and monitor everything and pay attention to anomalous behaviour
  • Monitor the final disposition of data accessed by privileged access users
  • Monitor the key applications and dependencies for anomalous behavior

Deploying large-scale VPN solutions for remote users is a thoughtful process. Beyond enabling simple access, things such as segmenting users based on role, security profile, and the content and resources they require are first-order tasks. Teams also need to identify users that require special access to resources.

Risk management and resiliency require careful planning, combined with an experienced team trained to deal with critical situations in flux. It is essential that teams keep their heads, understand their objectives, and execute strategies with a common goal in mind – maintaining operational consistency, including ensuring that the organization does not compromise on security for the sake of expediency.

People have all been practicing social distancing over the last few weeks to protect against viruses and illness. Likewise, companies should consider cyber distancing from the attackers. Maintain cyber distance by staying wary of suspicious requests, unknown attempts at contact, and unsolicited information and be the protector of information, networks, and health.

About Fortinet

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organizations around the world. Fortinet empowers our customers with complete visibility and control across the expanding attack surface and the power to take on ever-increasing performance requirements today and into the future. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric platform can address the most critical security challenges and protect data across the entire digital infrastructure, whether in networked, application, multi-cloud or edge environments. Fortinet ranks in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 440,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Both a technology company and a learning company, the Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) Institute has one of the largest and broadest cybersecurity training programs in the industry. Learn more at http://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.    

FTNT-O

Copyright © 2020 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and common law trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiCare, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiOS, FortiADC, FortiAP, FortiAppMonitor, FortiASIC, FortiAuthenticator, FortiBridge, FortiCache, FortiCamera, FortiCASB, FortiClient, FortiCloud, FortiConnect, FortiController, FortiConverter, FortiDB, FortiDDoS, FortiExplorer, FortiExtender, FortiFone, FortiCarrier, FortiHypervisor, FortiInsight, FortiIsolator, FortiMail, FortiMonitor, FortiNAC, FortiPlanner, FortiPortal, FortiPresence , FortiProxy, FortiRecorder, FortiSandbox, FortiSIEM, FortiSwitch, FortiTester, FortiToken, FortiVoice, FortiWAN, FortiWeb, FortiWiFi, FortiWLC, FortiWLCOS and FortiWLM.

Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, contract, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet or any indication of intent related to a binding commitment, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments. This news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve uncertainties and assumptions, such as statements regarding technology releases among others. Changes of circumstances, product release delays, or other risks as stated in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, located at www.sec.gov, may cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this press release. If the uncertainties materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such.

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HUAWEI MatePad Pro Bundle Deal is Back From 29th April to 7th June 2020!

The HUAWEI MatePad Pro was launched alongside the very interesting, very elegant HUAWEI Mate XS. It was released in Malaysia at the same time the highly anticipated HUAWEI P40 series was released. At the time, you could get your hands on one, and more. If you pre-ordered the device, you should have your device already at this time and might have loved it. Still, it was a deal that was quite irresistible with so many freebies including the included M-Pencil and magnetic keyboard.

The deal was only for the pre-order period though. Or was it?

HUAWEI has just announced that from tomorrow (29th April 2020) onward, you can get your hands on the HUAWEI MatePad Pro with M-Pencil and Smart Magnetic Keyboard for just MYR 2,898. That is a difference of MYR 299 if you buy all of them separately.

The deal stands only until 7June, but that is more than one month away still, so you still have plenty of time. Of course, the tablet and its two other accessories are not the only thing that is on offer from HUAWEI.

If you already have a HUAWEI device, you can head over to HUAWEI’s AppGallery until midnight tonight to claim an MYR 100 voucher to be spent in HUAWEI’s official online store on the 29th April 2020. There is a minimum expense on the voucher though. You have to spend a minimum of MYR 1,100 in the store. The HUAWEI MatePad Pro easily fulfils that minimum purchase.

All this are in conjunction of HUAWEI’s official online store birthday. In Conjunction to the birthday sales also HUAWEI is putting up the HUAWEI P40 smartphone as a lucky draw price as long as you download or spend on selected games in the AppGallery from now until the 4th June 2020. If you spend on HUAWEI Video platform from tomorrow to 6th May 2020, you are entitled a one month’s free viewing of Qello Concerts, Stingray, and The Explorer Channels on HUAWEI Video.

For more information on HUAWEI’s promotions can be found on their website and online store.

realme 6 8GB + 128GB Variant Available in Malaysia for MYR 1,199

The realme 6 smartphone was launched in Malaysia a month ago as realme’s most powerful device yet. It packed a MediaTek Helio G90T octa-core System on a Chip (SoC) that could make it fly. Well, not really, the SoC is quite a powerful one though.

At the time of launch, with a price of MYR 999 you can get your hands on one with 4GB of storage with 128GB of storage. For that price, you are already getting a really good deal. You get a powerful SoC paired with enough RAM and plenty of storage. In all fairness too, 4GB of RAM is quite enough for smartphone these days. What if you need more performance though?

That is when more RAM comes into play too. That spawns the realme 6 with 8GB of RAM on tow. Yes, that is double of what you can get your hands on before this. All that for only MYR 200 more than before.

Source: Realme

The question now becomes; should you buy the realme 6 at MYR 1,199? Or should you just stick to the MYR 999 model. There are some reasons why you would want a big 8GB RAM though.

For one, you get to do even more multitasking with the device. Devices with 4GB of RAM sometimes can get choked when you try to open more than 10 tabs on the internet browser. That is just part of it, if you open too many apps at the same time, you might not get your device running too smoothly. You might want to keep all apps closed when you start gaming too.

In the case of smartphones, more and bigger is better. Of course, having 8GB is better than 4GB. Modern smartphones come with bigger RAMs these days too, and app developers will take advantage of that in the future. That means bigger RAMS is also more futureproof.

The realme 6 with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage is available 2nd May 2020 onward on Lazada and realme’s authorised retailers. It is available in two colour variants – Comet White and Comet Blue. As mentioned earlier, it will set you back MYR 1,199. For more information on realme 6 and other realme products, you can head down to their website.

DJI Mavic Air 2 Takes Flight

There is one thing that plenty of us miss during this quarantine period. That thing is travelling. Specifically, we all miss flying away to faraway lands and see the beauty of this ball of dirt floating through space from high up above.

There is, of course, another way to fly. There is another way to explore the vast outside world in this ‘stay home, stay safe’ period. After all, staying indoors for about 40 days without seeing what grass or trees look like is difficult and depressing. Buy a drone, any drone.

Thing is, just any drone does not cut it sometimes. There is so much potential with a drone. If you invest in one now, you can take it to your travel destinations after the whole COVID-19 situation blows over and create some stunning videos and photos to make your friends all jealous of you.

It is true, a simple aerial shot can be more stunning than it seems. Aerial photos and videos make the plainest places in your eyes look even more stunning than you can imagine. That is why plenty go for DJI drones. They are the best in the business, so it only makes sense.

Last year they introduced a near perfect drone package in the DJI Mavic Air. The compact, lightweight Mavic remote controlled drone was half the weight and size of the larger Mavic 2. That also means that it is more travel friendly than before with its foldable propeller arms introduced into the world with the DJI Mavic Pro.

It was no larger than a 500ml drinks bottle, which was quite fascinating. Considering you still can shoot videos at 4K 30fps with such a small package was wonderful. It even has longer battery life compared to the Mavic Pro all while costing less. Even the fly more combo was still cheaper that the basic DJI Mavic 2.

There is no way they could top that within 6 months, we thought. Then earlier today they released their new DJI Mavic Air 2 and all hell broke loose. It is the successor to the DJI Mavic Air and it comes with a whole list of upgrades that they conveniently put in a single video.

DJI - This Is Mavic Air 2
Source: DJI

Bigger, Better, Faster

Source: DJI

The first upgrade, which will yield the most thumbs up is its sensor itself. The DJI Mavic Air 2 now features a larger ½-inch sensor that give you the power of 48 million pixels. You get to shoot at 4K resolution still, but now you can do it at 60fps instead of 30fps. 1080p Full HD videos can be shot at 240fps for a nice, smooth slow-motion videos, if you really need one in the air.

48-Megapixel sensor also means that you get incredibly detailed and sharp photos. You can choose between that or a compressed 12-Megapixel photos for your Social Media needs. Then there are more clever stuffs like HDR photos, Hyperlight low-light mode, and even scene recognition.

Beefed Up, Souped Up

Source: DJI

It is a bigger drone than the original Mavic Air. It even looks like its bigger brother now. No more cheap white plastic you can draw on or customise on your own. It is now built with the same materials as the bigger Mavic Pro. It is built to the same quality standards too meaning. It is still lighter than the bigger Mavic Pro at 570g but put on quite a lot of weight compared to the older Mavic Air 480g body.

The added weight also means that the DJI Mavic Air 2 packs a longer battery life at 34-minutes of flight time. There is a whole slew of new sensors packed with Mavic Air 2 as well to keep it flying and not hitting anything in front of it. That might make for some remarkably interesting review video though, obstacle avoidance. They call the new system Advanced Pilot Assistance System (APAS) 3.0. Even if you are a rubbish drone operator, you can still fly it. I did not say you cannot crash it, you can if you try hard enough.

Source: DJI

Still, the added weight also helps with in-air stability if anything. You really want that stability in windy conditions especially when you can keep it about 10km away from you with the new remote system and OcuSync 2.0. Oh yes, the remote is also now beefier and a little cleverer.

Clever Flying, Clever Shooting

The new DJI Fly app has been improving with each iteration and that is no doubt the case with the app. It should be more intuitive than ever and even better to use than ever. But shooting aerial photographs or videos is much more than that.

Source: DJI

There are new sets of ND filters you can equip the camera with, because you really want to block out some harsh sunlight in super sunny conditions. You are shooting outdoors anyway, and ND filters are important in outdoor shoots just to compensate for the harsh lighting.

The drone itself can now shoot timelapses in 8K resolution if you really want to. With timelapse mode you have Free movement, Circle, CourseLock, and WayPoints mode to get that stunning moving timelapse. Of course there are other shooting modes that you might be used to with the DJI Mavic Air.

There is a new cleverer ActiveTrack 3.0 that should be a large improvement over the ActiveTrack 2.0 from the older Mavic Air though. With the new Point of Interest 3.0 also, tracking subjects on a shoot is much more accurate and natural. That is also true for the new Spotlight 2.0 mode that is usually only found on DJI’s professional drones. All this makes for an independent aerial photography and videography a breeze for single operators.

Pricing and Availability

The DJI Mavic Air 2 will be available 10th May 2020 onward. You can pre-order your’s today onward though via authorised DJI retailers in Malaysia. Of course, with a beefier spec, comes a beefier price tag too. A standard package will set you back MYR 3,299. The Fly More Combo that comes with an extra piece (two pieces of battery) of everything you get from a standard package (except for the drone itself, of course) a shoulder bag, ND filters, and a charging hub for MYR 4,299. For more information on DJI’s latest portable and foldable flyer, check out their website.

CyCraft Technology Wins Multiple Gold 2020 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards

TAIPEI, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — CyCraft Technology, the fastest growing Cybersecurity firm in Asia, is excited to announce that the 2020 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards has recognized CyCraft as a gold winner, the highest award given, in multiple categories including Managed, Detection and Response for the CyCarrier platform and service, Cyber Threat Intelligence for the CyberTotal platform, Artificial Intelligence Security, Incident Response, APT Protection, and Forensics.

Best Cybersecurity Company
Best Cybersecurity Company

The 2020 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards recognizes companies, products, and professionals that demonstrate excellence, innovation, and leadership in information security. Winners are selected based on the strength of their nomination as well as the international popular vote by professionals in the cybersecurity industry.

Holger Schulze, Cybersecurity Insiders CEO and founder of the InfoSec Community on LinkedIn that co-produces the awards program said, “With over 500 entries in more than 90 award categories, the 2020 awards are highly competitive and all winners truly reflect the very best in today’s cybersecurity industry.”

CyCraft, while only in its third year, has been rapidly expanding across Asia. It’s no surprise that CyCraft outperformed all other cybersecurity vendors in Asia in the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. CyCraft was one of only two cybersecurity vendors from Asia selected to join the second round of the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations against their APT29 emulation. 

“CyCraft strives for human-AI collaboration in cybersecurity,” said Benson Wu, CyCraft Founder and CEO. “In two years, we developed and put into operation an innovative AI-powered SecOps platform–effectively orchestrating endpoint telemetry, MITRE ATT&CK context, global threat intelligence for optimized situation awareness, and efficiently managing millions of endpoints from government and enterprise customers in the Asia-Pacific region.”

CyCraft’s Founders: PK Tsung (CSO), Jeremy “Birdman” Chiu (CTO), Benson Wu (CEO)
CyCraft’s Founders: PK Tsung (CSO), Jeremy “Birdman” Chiu (CTO), Benson Wu (CEO)

As of 2020, CyCraft secures government agencies, Fortune Global 500 companies, top banks and financial institutions in Asia, critical infrastructure, airlines, telecommunications, hi-tech firms, and SMEs in several APAC countries, including Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand. CyCraft powers SOCs with its proprietary and award-winning AI-driven MDR (managed detection and response), SOC (security operations center) operations software, TI (threat intelligence), Health Check, automated forensics, and IR (incident response) services.

For more information on our platform, how we defeat APTs in the wild, or the latest in CyCraft security news, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, and our website at CyCraft.com.

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CouponBirds Seedling Project Made Great Progress

BEIJING, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — CouponBirds Seedling Project achieved impressive progress in April, 2020. Over twenty non-profit organizations joined the platform and raised more than $1,000 funds. During this time of uncertainty, The Seedling Project made the fundraising work more manageable for non-profit organizations.

CouponBirds Seedling Project

The mission of CouponBirds Seedling Project is to build a peer-to-peer fundraising platform, encouraging online shoppers to earn cash, donate to nonprofit organizations and support charity work in this difficult time. There are over 3 million shoppers visiting and using CouponBirds to shop and save every month and almost all the brands that shoppers are looking for could be found on CouponBirds. Shoppers earn cash by making purchases and donate part of their earnings to charity organizations.

CouponBirds provided scholarships to fund college students every year in the past. Growing to be a leading savings platform, CouponBirds always does the best to take social responsibilities. The Seedling Project initiation is an effective way to aggregate and amplify the power of a million-user community and give back the best.

How’s The Project Going

The team outreached hundreds of non-profit organizations in the first month, notified them of the event and guided those who were interested to get verified and join in the platform. The team set up the whole application, verification and management process online. Non-profit partners could use CouponBirds charity portal to finish all the preparations and watch the donations they receive from CouponBirds shoppers.

Although the whole economy is slowing down and most charities are working from time to time due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, The Seedling Project has welcomed more than twenty certified non-profit organizations joining in and started to raise funds from the platform. Organizations like Arise Children’s Fund, Louisiana Alliance of Children’s Advocacy Centers and Kids Saving the Rainforest have received more than $100 donations in this month.

The Prospects

CouponBirds supports a limited number of non-profit organizations, creating and leading active community engagements for the charity cause. With a small amount of funds raised every month for every non-profit organization, It hopes that every CouponBirds shopper could realize that each of them could do something, even give $1 to the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and that $1 means much to them, that CouponBirds is doing what they can to help more people and give back to the society.

The project is still open to apply, qualified charity organisations can apply and join to raise funds from CouponBirds Seedling Project.

About CouponBirds

CouponBirds is a leading coupon and deals platform for millions of online shoppers. Customers can easily find their favorite brands such as Amazon, eBay, Best Buy on CouponBirds. To learn more, visit https://www.couponbirds.com/us/about-us or follow @couponbirdscom on social media.

https://www.couponbirds.com/

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Nintex Process Automation Event – ProcessFest 2020 – Goes Online 13 May

90-minute free virtual process management and automation event to accelerate digital transformation

MELBOURNE, Australia, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, announced it has taken Nintex ProcessFest 2020, the company’s signature event, online to virtually accelerate digital transformation across every commercial and government organisation.

Nintex is committed to improving the way people work and is helping more than 8,000 organisations today deploy process apps faster to improve customer experiences and remote worker productivity – all with powerful and easy-to-use Nintex Process Platform solutions. These software solutions include areas like: digital workflows and forms to streamline and improve the quality of repetitive work, robotic process automation (RPA bots) to automate repetitive analytical tasks, DocGen® and e-signatures to digitally accelerate approvals, and easily generated process maps to drive understanding, standardising, and to identify areas that would benefit from automation and much more.

The 90-minute virtual event will be hosted in the Asia Pacific region on Wednesday, 13 May 2020 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. AEST. To register, visit https://www.nintex.com/processfest2020/. All virtual Nintex ProcessFest attendees will gain access to more than 25 hours of valuable on-demand keynotes and breakout sessions from the top scoring sessions at Nintex’s most recent customer and partner ProcessFest event.

Attendees will hear directly from Nintex CEO Eric Johnson about the importance of understanding and continually improving business processes and driving organisational-wide efficiencies with automation. Nintex Chief Product Officer Neal Gottsacker will share the latest technology innovations, while Nintex Chief Customer Officer Josh Waldo will cover customer success programs available to every member of the Nintex community.

Recent Innovations in the Nintex Process Platform

Workflow, RPA & Process Map Templates – Nintex now offers more than 100 downloadable, free online templates specific to COVID-19, remote work, business continuity and more, available in the Nintex Process Gallery. Every week new templates are added to help organisations expedite business process management and all types of automation.

Process Checklists – Nintex Promapp® includes new checklist capabilities that empower process experts to automate processes without technical barriers, while improving the overall management of their organisation’s business processes with better communication, collaboration and compliance across teams.

Enterprise Grade RPA – Nintex RPA Central, the company’s new enterprise-class RPA offering introduced in January 2020 provides end-users with a sophisticated, centralised location to orchestrate, administer and secure RPA bots. RPA Central delivers advanced role-based security and control features, giving users access to the power of Nintex RPA while ensuring that IT and operations professionals have full control.

Cloud Workflows – Nintex Workflow Cloud includes valuable new features like easy testing of workflows as they are built to help workflow designers ensure their workflows are correctly configured before publishing. Workflow designers can also activate “task authentication” features to require the person assigned to execute a task to first log into Nintex Workflow Cloud, ensuring that only authorised users may take that action.

Integrated Workflows & Botflows™ – Nintex Gateway, a super valuable new set of capabilities within Nintex Workflow Cloud, provides two-way, drag-and-drop interaction between workflows and RPA software bots. Nintex subscription-based workflow customers now have access to RPA bots as part of their updated service entitlements.

Media Contact
Laetitia Smith
Nintex
laetitia.smith@nintex.com
mobile: +64 21 154 7114

About Nintex

Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 8,000 public and private sector clients across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimising business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA).

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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X Financial Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2019 Unaudited Financial Results

SHENZHEN, China, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — X Financial (NYSE: XYF) (the “Company” or “we”), a leading technology-driven personal finance company in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Highlights

  • Net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 22.9% to RMB665.1 million (US$95.5 million) from RMB862.9 million in the same period of 2018.
  • Income from operation in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 64.5% to RMB102.2 million (US$14.7 million) from RMB287.8 million in the same period of 2018.
  • Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 67.1% to RMB79.7 million (US$11.4 million) from RMB241.9 million in the same period of 2018.
  • Non-GAAP[1] adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 58.2% to RMB117.2 million (US$16.8 million) from RMB280.4 million in the same period of 2018.
  • Net income per basic and diluted American depositary share (“ADS”) [2] in the fourth quarter of 2019 were RMB0.50 (US$0.07) and RMB0.48 (US$0.07) respectively, compared with RMB1.60 and RMB1.50, respectively, in the same period of 2018.
  • Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic and adjusted diluted ADS in the fourth quarter of 2019 were RMB0.74 (US$0.11) and RMB0.72 (US$0.10), respectively, compared with RMB1.84 and RMB1.74, respectively, in the same period of 2018.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Operational Highlights

  • The total loan facilitation amount[3] in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB8,890 million, representing a decrease of 6.2% from RMB9,474 million in the same period of 2018 and a decrease of 17.3% from RMB10,750 million in the third quarter of 2019.
  • The loan facilitation amount of Xiaoying Credit Loan[4] in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB6,185 million, representing a decrease of 18.8% from RMB7,620 million in the same period of 2018 and a decrease of 23.5% from RMB8,086 million in the third quarter of 2019. Xiaoying Credit Loan accounted for 69.6% of the Company’s total loan facilitation amount, compared with 80.4% in the same period of 2018.
  • The total outstanding loan balance[5] as of December 31, 2019 was RMB17,267 million, compared with RMB20,849 million as of December 31, 2018 and RMB19,606 million as of September 30, 2019.
  • The total number of loans facilitated[6] of Xiaoying Term Loan[7] in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 457,576, representing a decrease of 56.5% from 1,052,166 in the same period of 2018 and a decrease of 37.1% from 727,360 for the third quarter of 2019.
  • The average loan amount per transaction[8] of Xiaoying Term Loan in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB14,611, representing an increase of 63.6% from RMB8,931 in the same period of 2018 and an increase of 13.7% from RMB12,848 for the third quarter of 2019.
  • The average consumption amount per user[9] of Xiaoying Revolving Loan[10] in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB8,268, representing an increase of 45.9% from RMB5,668 for the third quarter of 2019.
  • The delinquency rates for all outstanding loans that are past due for 31-90 days and 91–180 days as of December 31, 2019 were 4.05% and 5.11%, respectively, compared with 2.95% and 4.50%, respectively, as of September 30, 2019, and 3.54% and 5.28%, respectively, as of December 31, 2018.
  • The number of active borrowers in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 609,368, representing a decrease of 29.4% from 863,067 in the same period of 2018 and a decrease of 27.5% from 840,137 in the third quarter of 2019.
  • The amount of cumulative borrowers, each of whom made at least one transaction on the Company’s lending platform, as of December 31, 2019 was 5,631,081.
  • Total cumulative registered users reached 38.8 million as of December 31, 2019.
  • The number of active individual investors[11] in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 38,275, representing a decrease of 65.5% from 110,973 in the same period of 2018 and a decrease of 39.6% from 63,320 in the third quarter of 2019.
  • The cumulative number of active individual investors as of December 31, 2019 was 499,855, compared with 454,117 as of December 31, 2018, and 498,214 as of September 30, 2019.
  • The Gross Merchandise Value (“GMV”)[12] of Xiaoying Online Mall[13] amounted to RMB160.9 million, representing an increase of 107.9% from RMB77.4 million in the third quarter of 2019.

[1]

The Company uses in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (i) adjusted net income, (ii) adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders, (iii) adjusted net income per basic ADS, and (iv) adjusted net income per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense. For more information on non-GAAP financial measure, please see the section of “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement” and the table captioned “Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results” set forth at the end of this press release.

[2]

Each American depositary share (“ADS”) represents two Class A ordinary shares.

[3]

Represents the total amount of loans that X Financial facilitated during the relevant period.

[4]

X Financial integrated Xiaoying Card Loan and Xiaoying Preferred Loan into one general product category, Xiaoying Credit Loan, in 2018.

[5]

Represents the total amount of loans outstanding for loans X Financial facilitated at the end of the relevant period. Loans that are delinquent for more than 180 days are charged-off and are excluded in the calculation of delinquency rate by balance, except for Xiaoying Housing Loan. Xiaoying Housing Loan is a secured loan product and the Company is entitled to payment by exercising its rights to the collateral. X Financial does not charge off the loans delinquent for more 180 days and such loans are included in the calculation of delinquency rate by balance.

[6]

Represents the total number of transactions of loan facilitation during the relevant period.

[7]

Xiaoying Term Loan refers to the loan’s with fixed repayment periods including Xiaoying Credit Loan, Xiaoying Housing Loan, Internet Channel.

[8]

Calculated by dividing the total loan facilitation amount by the number of loans facilitated during the relevant period.

[9]

Calculated by dividing the total amount of consumption by the number of active users during the relevant period.

[10]

Xiaoying Revolving Loan refers to the loans with revolving credit, including Yaoqianhua which was previously named as Xiaoying Wallet.

[11]

Refers to individual investors who made at least one transaction during that period on our platform.

[12]

Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”) refers a total sales value for merchandise sold through Xiaoying Online Mall.

[13]

Xiaoying Online Mall was launched in March 2019 and is a product that provides loan installments to our individual customers enabling them to purchase goods online.

Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Highlights

  • Net revenue decreased by 12.8% to RMB3,088.1 million (US$443.6 million) from RMB3,540.6 million in 2018.
  • Income from operations decreased by 36.3% to RMB812.6 million (US$116.7 million) from RMB1,275.2 million in 2018.
  • Net income attributable to the Company decreased by 12.3% to RMB774.3 million (US$111.2 million) from RMB883.1 million in 2018.
  • Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders decreased by 11.7% to RMB931.4 million (US$133.8 million) from RMB1,054.9 million in 2018.
  • Basic and diluted earnings per American depositary share (“ADS”) were RMB4.94 (US$0.71) and RMB4.84 (US$0.70), respectively, compared with RMB6.16 and RMB5.82, respectively, in 2018.
  • Non-GAAP adjusted basic and diluted earnings per ADS were RMB5.94 (US$0.86) and RMB5.82 (US$0.84), respectively, compared with RMB7.36 and RMB6.94, respectively, in 2018.

Fiscal Year 2019 Operational Highlights

  • The total loan facilitation amount was RMB39,441 million, representing an increase of 6.8% from RMB36,913 million in 2018.
  • The loan facilitation amount of Xiaoying Credit Loan was RMB29,825 million, representing a decrease of 8.7% from RMB32,663 million in 2018. Xiaoying Credit Loan accounted for 75.6% of the Company’s total loan facilitation amount, compared with 88.5% in 2018.
  • The total number of loans facilitated of Xiaoying Term Loan was 2,724,749, representing a decrease of 23.5% from 3,561,798 in 2018.
  • The average loan amount per transaction of Xiaoying Term Loan was RMB9,731, representing a decrease of 5.8% from RMB10,334 in 2018.
  • The average consumption amount per user of Xiaoying Revolving Loan was RMB11,906, representing an increase of 281.5% from RMB3,121 in 2018.
  • The number of active borrowers was 2,152,962, representing a decrease of 9.2% from 2,370,510 in 2018.
  • The number of active individual investors was 136,205, representing a decrease of 48.9% from 266,581 in 2018.
  • The Gross Merchandise Value (“GMV”) of Xiaoying Online Mall amounted to RMB253.6 million.

Mr. Justin Tang, the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company, commented, “We closed out the year with a solid quarter of financial and operational results. We remain committed to providing the most user-friendly and convenient financial and business services to borrowers and made significant progress in doing so during the quarter while ensuring we remain fully compliant with the rapidly changing regulatory environment.”

“We rapidly made necessary adjustments to our operations and loan product portfolio during the quarter to comply with recent regulations governing the maximum interest rate lenders can charge. As a result of the new regulations and adjustments made to our loan product portfolio, total loans facilitated declined on a sequential basis during the quarter.”

“Yaoqianhua and Xiaoying Online Mall however maintained rapid growth momentum as consumers increasingly turn to online platforms for consumption. This trend has accelerated significantly since the Coronavirus Disease (the “COVID-19”) outbreak at the beginning of 2020 and we are well-positioned to capitalize on it. The GMV of Xiaoying Online Mall rose to RMB160.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, representing an increase of 107.9% from RMB77.4 million in the third quarter of 2019.”

“Transaction volumes for Yaoqianhua, our revolving loan product previously known as Xiaoying Wallet, jumped significantly to RMB2,204 million this quarter from RMB1,405 million in the last quarter while its outstanding loan balance increased to RMB1,503 million as of December 31, 2019 from RMB949 million as of September 30, 2019. Yaoqianhua now has an approved cumulative credit line of RMB6 billion and currently has a credit utilization rate of around 25.6% as of December 31, 2019.”

“Institutional funding accounted for 50.2% of the loans facilitated through our platform in the fourth quarter, an increase from 35.7% in the previous quarter. This trend is continuing with the proportion of funding from institutions increasing to 82.9% in January 2020. We expect that all the funding for new loans will come from institutional partners or our own capital this year. As of December 31, 2019, the credit line provided by our institutional partners expanded to RMB46.7 billion from RMB38.4 billion as of September 30, 2019, which I believe reflects their trust in the quality of the underlying assets and the strength of our risk management systems.”

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have been tightening our risk management policies by adopting stricter requirements to evaluate borrowers and have reduced credit lines in addition to reinforcing our risk models. Over the course of last year, we have focused on strengthening our risk control capabilities and adopted even stricter control and evaluation of borrowers at the beginning of the loan process which is critical to reducing loan defaults at a later state. The measures we enacted in response to the COVID-19 outbreak have been already firmly rooted into our processes for a while now and have been strengthened during these trying times.”

“Yaoqianhua and Xiaoying Online Mall have maintained a solid growth since the COVID-19 outbreak as consumers were forced to consume online under government mandated quarantine. The number of new borrowers and repeat borrowers of Xiaoying Credit Loans declined in both January and February.”

“With the macroeconomic environment remaining highly uncertain as the outbreak of COVID-19 spreads overseas, our business will be adversely impacted during the first quarter of 2020. We expect total loan facilitation amount to decline on a sequential basis. With a clouded outlook for next quarter, we are turning our focus to acquiring more high-quality borrowers with better credit profile during this time.”

“In conclusion, we are confident that our growth strategy has laid a solid foundation to adapt to changing times, while we transition from a pure financial service provider to a more comprehensive business service provider. We are ideally positioned to continue benefiting from the enormous growth opportunities in China’s personal finance industry. We are committed to providing the most user-friendly, convenient and comprehensive financial and business services and the best loan services to our customers.”

Mr. Simon Cheng, President of the Company, added, “We continued to ramp up investment in our technology-driven risk infrastructure and customer acquisition as we believe this is the foundation of our business growth and a major factor to attract institutional investor interest in the underlying assets on our platform. Based on our robust risk management capability, we will weather the storm of the COVID-19 and emerge stronger than before.”

“Yaoqianhua continues to generate strong growth momentum. The number of transactions on Yaoqianhua continues to grow rapidly, increasing significantly to 4.9 million during this quarter from 0.2 million during the same period last year. As of December 31, 2019, the number of active users of Yaoqianhua was around 408,000, representing an increase from around 330,000 as of September 30, 2019. This business is rapidly contributing to a larger percentage of revenue given its longer customer life time and the multiple opportunities it offers to cross sell.”

“We continue to actively negotiating with our funding partners including, among others, CITIC Trust, Kunlun Bank, Blue Ocean Bank, Huishang Bank, and Yantai Bank, to further lower our funding costs. We are making solid progress in driving institutional funding for all new loan products on our platform in 2020. There is sufficient institutional credit line. We are confident to achieve 100% institutional funding in 2020.”

Mr. Kevin Zhang, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, added, “We delivered solid results in the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2019. Total loan facilitation amount was RMB39,441 million in 2019, an increase of 6.8% year-over-year. The total loan facilitation amount in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB8,890 million, at the higher end of our previously announced guidance range.”

“We are steadily executing our strategies to capitalize on the enormous potential of China’s consumption upgrade with highly-customized personal finance solutions that will likely be in demand once the recovery from the pandemic begins. Our revenue and non-GAAP adjusted net income in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. Even though the total number of loans facilitated of Xiaoying Term Loan in the fourth quarter decreased year-over-year, the average loan amount per transaction was RMB14,611, an increase of 63.6% from the same period of 2018 and an increase of 13.7% sequentially. The average consumption amount per user of Xiaoying Revolving Loan also increased 45.9% in the fourth quarter to RMB8,268 compared to RMB5,668 in the third quarter of 2019.”

“We are also glad to see total cumulative registered users on the platform reach 38.8 million as of December 31, 2019, demonstrating the continued value we are able to offer borrowers. The number of active borrowers during the quarter decreased 29% because certain existing borrowers are not qualified to borrow money on our platform anymore after we implemented a more stringent standard to evaluate borrowers in October 2019. The delinquency rates for all outstanding loans that are past due for 31-90 days and 91–180 days as of December 31, 2019 were 4.05% and 5.11% respectively, compared with 2.95% and 4.50%, respectively as of September 30, 2019. The cumulative number of active individual investors increased to 499,855 as of December 31, 2019.”

“The percentage of loan products we facilitated that were covered by ZhongAn Insurance decreased further to 73.0% during the quarter as we continue to reduce our insurance coverage rate to lower our customers’ borrowing costs.”

“It is our mission to create more value for our customers and shareholders as we recover from the highs and lows of 2019 and navigate the challenging market in 2020. We remain in full compliance with current regulations, are confident in our ability to stand out amongst our peers and take advantage of market consolidation, and will reduce costs further by improving operational efficiency.”

Fourth Quarter 2019 Financial Results

Net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 22.9% to RMB665.1 million (US$95.5 million) from RMB862.9 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a decrease in transaction volumes which was partially offset by an increase in the proportion of net revenue generated by the loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts which was recorded over the life of the underlying financing using the effective interest method.

Loan facilitation service fees under the direct model in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 57.5% to RMB323.4 million (US$46.5 million) from RMB760.9 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a continuing strategy in 2019 to attract more institutional investors through the intermediary model.

Loan facilitation service fees under the intermediary model in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 199.2% to RMB17.7 million (US$2.5 million) from RMB5.9 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to an increase in the total volume of products offered through the intermediary model as the Company continuing the main strategy to attract more institutional investors throughout 2019.

Post-origination service fees in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 79.1% to RMB82.4 million (US$11.8 million) from RMB46.0 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a shift in strategy to focus on collection service to enhance effectiveness. Revenues from post-origination services are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the underlying loans as the services are being provided.

Financing income in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 1,034.5% to RMB194.1 million (US$27.9 million) from RMB17.1 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to the newly established trusts this year.

Other revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 44.4% to RMB47.5 million (US$6.8 million) from RMB32.9 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to an increase in membership fees.

Origination and servicing expenses in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 26.2% to RMB413.3 million (US$59.4 million) from RMB327.5 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to the following factors: (i) an increase in collection expenses which were in-line with the growth of the Company’s business, (ii) an increase in customer acquisition costs for the recently launched revolving credit product, Yaoqianhua, and (iii) an increase in interest expense related to loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts.

General and administrative expenses in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 23.7% to RMB53.1 million (US$7.6 million) from RMB69.6 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a decrease in consulting service fees compared to the same period of 2018.

Sales and marketing expenses in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 62.1% to RMB19.9 million (US$2.9 million) from RMB52.4 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a reduction in promotional and advertising expenses.

Provision for accounts receivable and contract assets in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 53.1% to RMB52.3 million (US$7.5 million) from RMB111.6 million in the same period of 2018, primarily due to a decrease in accounts receivable and contract assets which was in line with an increase in the proportion of net revenue generated by the loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts.

Income from operation in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased by 64.5% to RMB102.2 million (US$14.7 million) from RMB287.8 million in the same period of 2018.

Income before income taxes and gain from equity in affiliates in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB11.5 million (US$1.7 million), compared with RMB235.5 million in the same period of 2018.

Income tax benefit in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB65.7 million (US$9.4 million) compared with an income tax benefit of RMB3.7 million in the same period of 2018.

Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB79.7 million (US$11.4 million), compared with RMB241.9 million in the same period of 2018.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2019 was RMB117.2 million (US$16.8 million), compared with RMB280.4 million in the same period of 2018.

Net income per basic and diluted ADS in the fourth quarter of 2019 were RMB0.50 (US$0.07) and RMB0.48 (US$0.07), respectively, compared with RMB1.60 and RMB1.50, respectively, in the same period of 2018.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic and diluted ADS in the fourth quarter of 2019 were RMB0.74 (US$0.11) and RMB0.72 (US$0.10), respectively, compared with RMB1.84 and RMB1.74, respectively, in the same period of 2018.

Cash and cash equivalents was RMB1,006.0 million (US$144.5 million) as of December 31, 2019, compared with RMB931.0 million as of September 30, 2019.

Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Results

Net revenues in 2019 increased by 12.8% to RMB3,088.1 million (US$443.6 million) from RMB3,540.6 million in 2018, primarily due to (i) a change in product mix with Yaoqianhua, which now accounts for a larger proportion of transaction volumes, and (ii) an increase in the proportion of the revenue generated by the loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts which was recorded over the life of the underlying financing using the effective interest method.

Loan facilitation service fees under the direct model in 2019 decreased by 32.9% to RMB1,986.0 million (US$285.3 million) from RMB2,957.6 million in 2018, primarily due to a continuing strategy in 2019 to attract more institutional investors through the intermediary model.

Loan facilitation service fees under the intermediary model in 2019 increased by 4.6% to RMB238.9 million (US$34.3 million) from RMB228.3 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in the total volume of products offered under the intermediary model as the Company continuing the main strategy to attract more institutional investors throughout 2019.

Post-origination service fees in 2019 increased by 152.0% to RMB330.7 million (US$47.5 million) from RMB131.2 million in 2018, primarily due to a shift in strategy to focus on collection service to enhance effectiveness. Revenues from post-origination services are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the underlying loans as the services are being provided.

Financing income in 2019 increased by 436.6% to RMB408.4 million (US$58.7 million) from RMB76.1 million in 2018, primarily due to the newly established trusts this year.

Other revenue in 2019 decreased by 15.8% to RMB124.1 million (US$17.8 million) from RMB147.4 million in 2018, primarily due to a decrease in guarantee revenue associated with loans facilitated under the Old ZhongAn model, which are no longer offered to our customers from September 15, 2017. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in membership fees and penalty fees for late or early repayment.

Origination and servicing expenses in 2019 increased by 37.9% to RMB 1,634.8 million (US$234.8 million) from RMB1,186.0 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in collection expenses and customer acquisition costs for the growing business during 2019, and an increase in interest expense related to loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts.

General and administrative expenses in 2019 increased by 3.4% to RMB227.5 million (US$32.7 million) from RMB220.0 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in share-based compensation expenses which was partially offset by a decrease in consulting service fees.

Sales and marketing expenses in 2019 decreased by 49.9% to RMB103.2 million (US$14.8 million) from RMB205.7 million in 2018, primarily due to a reduction in promotional and advertising expenses.

Provision for contingent guarantee liabilities in 2019 was RMB7.7 million (US$1.1 million) compared with RMB216.4 million in 2018, as because there was no deterioration in the estimated default rates of the loans subject to guarantee liabilities facilitated in prior periods.

Provision for loans receivable from Xiaoying Credit Loans and Xiaoying Revolving Loans in 2019 was RMB37.6 million (US$5.4 million) compared with nil in 2018, primarily due to a significant increase in transaction volumes for revolving loan product during 2019.

Provision for accounts receivable and contract assets in 2019 decreased by 39.2% to RMB241.2 million (US$34.6 million) from RMB397.0 million in 2018, primarily due to a decrease in accounts receivable and contract assets which was in line with an increase in the proportion of net revenue generated by the loans facilitated through the Consolidated Trusts.

Income from operations in 2019 decreased by 36.3% to RMB812.6 million (US$116.7 million) from RMB1,275.2 million in 2018.

Income before income taxes and gain from equity in affiliates was RMB663.9 million (US$95.4 million) in 2019, compared with RMB1,084.9 million in 2018.

Income tax benefit was RMB93.1 million (US$13.4 million) in 2019, compared with an income tax expenses of RMB209.9 million in 2018. The decrease was primarily due to (i) one major subsidiary of the Company qualifying as a new and hi-tech enterprise in the fourth quarter of 2018 which allows it to enjoy a preferential income tax rate of 15% from 2018 to 2020, and (ii) one major subsidiary of the Company qualifying as software enterprise in early May 2019 that allows it to enjoy a preferential income tax rate of 12.5% from 2019 to 2021.

Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders was RMB774.3 million (US$111.2 million) in 2019, compared with RMB883.1 million in 2018.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders was RMB931.4 million (US$133.8 million) in 2019, compared with RMB1,054.9 million in 2018.

Net income per basic and diluted ADS were RMB4.94 (US$0.71) and RMB4.84 (US$0.70), respectively, in 2019, compared with RMB6.16 and RMB5.82 respectively, in 2018.

Non-GAAP adjusted net income per basic and diluted ADS were RMB5.94 (US$0.86) and RMB5.82 (US$0.84), respectively, in 2019, compared with RMB7.36 and RMB6.94, respectively, in 2018.

Cash and cash equivalents was RMB1,006.0 million (US$144.5 million) as of December 31, 2019, compared with RMB1,069.4 million as of December 31, 2018.

Business Outlook

Considering the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, the Company’s total loan facilitation amount for the first quarter of 2020 has been negatively impacted. Although the decline has been partially offset by the relative growth in Yaoqianhua and Xiaoying Online Mall, X Financial expects a first-quarter loss with drop in revenue. The Company plan to provide a business update in the first quarter 2020 Earnings Release. This forecast reflects the Company’s current and preliminary views, which are subject to changes.

Conference Call

X Financial’s management team will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 28, 2020 (8:00 PM Beijing / Hong Kong Time on the same day).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States:

1-888-346-8982

Hong Kong:

852-301-84992

China:

4001-201203

International:

1-412-902-4272

Passcode:

X Financial

Please dial in ten minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the passcode to join the call.

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following numbers until May 5, 2020:

United States:

1-877-344-7529

International:

1-412-317-0088

Passcode:

10141728

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://ir.xiaoyinggroup.com.

About X Financial

X Financial (NYSE: XYF) (the “Company”) is a leading technology-driven personal finance company in China focused on meeting the huge demand for credit from individuals and small-to-medium-sized enterprise owners. The Company’s proprietary big data-driven risk control system, WinSAFE, builds risk profiles of prospective borrowers using a variety data-driven credit assessment methodology to accurately evaluate a borrower’s value, payment capability, payment attitude and overall creditworthiness. X Financial has established a strategic partnership with ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co., Ltd. in multiple areas of its business operations to directly complement its cutting-edge risk management and credit assessment capabilities. ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co., Ltd. provides credit insurance on X Financial’s investment products which significantly enhances investor confidence and allows the Company to attract a diversified and low-cost funding base from individuals, enterprises and financial institutions to support its growth. X Financial leverages financial technology to provide convenient, efficient, and secure investment services to a wide range of high-quality borrowers and mass affluent investors which complements traditional financial institutions and helps to promote the development of inclusive finance in China.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.xiaoyinggroup.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement

In evaluating our business, we consider and use non-GAAP measures as supplemental measures to review and assess our operating performance. We present the non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by our management to evaluate our operating performance and formulate business plans. We also believe that the use of the non-GAAP financial measures facilitates investors’ assessment of our operating performance.

We use in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (i) adjusted net income, (ii) adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders, (iii) adjusted net income per basic ADS, and (iv) adjusted net income per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense. These non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and when assessing our operating performance, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We mitigate these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures, which should be considered when evaluating our performance. We encourage you to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned “Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP results” set forth at the end of this press release.

New Accounting Pronouncements

On February 25, 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update (“ASU”) No. 2016-02, Leases, which requires lessees to record lease liabilities and right-of-use assets as of the date of adoption and was incorporated into GAAP as Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 842. The Company adopted the new standard prospectively effective January 1, 2019, using a modified retrospective basis method under which prior comparative periods are not restated. As of January 1, 2019, the Company had some operating leases for its offices with the remaining contractual terms of 16~46 months. Under the terms of the lease, the Company will pay base annual rent (subject to an annual fixed percentage increase), plus fixed property management fees. The ROU assets were recorded as “Other non-current assets”, and the current and non-current portions of the lease liabilities were recorded as “Accrued expenses and other current liabilities” and “Other non-current liabilities” in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. There was no cumulative adjustment to our retained earnings.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to U.S. dollars are made at a rate of RMB6.9618 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as of December 31, 2019.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” “targets,” “guidance” and similar statements. The Company 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. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: the Company’s goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the credit industry, and marketplace lending in particular, in China; the demand for and market acceptance of its marketplace’s products and services; its ability to attract and retain borrowers and investors on its marketplace; its relationships with its strategic cooperation partners; competition in its industry; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this announcement is current as of the date of this announcement, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:

X Financial
Mr. Kevin Zhang
E-mail: ir@xiaoying.com

Christensen

In China
Mr. Christian Arnell
Phone: +86-10-5900-1548
E-mail: carnell@christensenir.com  

In US
Ms. Linda Bergkamp
Phone: +1-480-614-3004
Email: lbergkamp@christensenir.com

X Financial

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except for share and per share data)

As of
December 31, 2018

As of
December 31, 2019

 RMB 

RMB

USD

 ASSETS 

 Cash and cash equivalents 

1,069,361

1,005,980

144,500

 Restricted cash 

208,346

514,323

73,878

 Accounts receivable and contract assets, net of allowance for doubtful accounts 

1,379,293

771,154

110,769

 Loans receivable from Xiaoying Credit Loans and Revolving Loans, net 

289,553

41,592

 Loans held for sale 

632,717

 Loans at fair value 

33,417

2,782,333

399,657

 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 

115,193

1,226,171

176,129

 Financial guarantee derivative 

358,250

719,962

103,416

 Amounts due from related party 

20,000

 Deferred tax assets, net 

346,648

484,395

69,579

 Long term investments 

287,223

292,142

41,964

 Property and equipment, net 

23,215

20,139

2,893

 Intangible assets, net 

28,400

35,127

5,046

 Loan receivable from Xiaoying Housing Loans, net 

128,101

89,536

12,861

 Other non-current assets 

6,806

68,772

9,878

 TOTAL ASSETS 

4,636,970

8,299,587

1,192,162

 LIABILITIES 

 Payable to investors at fair value of the Consolidated Trusts 

3,006,349

431,835

 Guarantee liabilities 

20,898

17,475

2,510

 Short-term borrowings 

198,000

 Accrued payroll and welfare 

93,464

63,649

9,143

 Other tax payable 

134,129

58,086

8,344

 Income tax payable 

312,238

340,996

48,981

 Deposit payable to channel cooperators 

134,042

108,923

15,646

 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 

178,701

274,440

39,421

 Other non-current liabilities 

42,300

6,076

 Deferred tax liabilities 

47,428

20,263

2,911

 TOTAL LIABILITIES 

1,118,900

3,932,481

564,867

 Commitments and Contingencies 

 Equity: 

 Common shares (US$0.0001 par value; 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 shares authorized, 303,614,298 and 320,667,943 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively) 

190

201

29

 Additional paid-in capital 

2,824,223

2,987,363

429,108

 Retained earnings 

640,115

1,311,194

188,341

 Other comprehensive income 

52,495

67,101

9,638

 Total X Financial shareholders’ equity 

3,517,023

4,365,859

627,116

 Non-controlling interests 

1,047

1,247

179

 TOTAL EQUITY 

3,518,070

4,367,106

627,295

 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 

4,636,970

8,299,587

1,192,162

X Financial

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

Three Months Ended December 31,

Twelve Months Ended December 31,

(In thousands, except for share and per share data)

2018

2019

2019

2018

2019

2019

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

 Net revenues 

 Loan facilitation service-Direct Model 

760,926

323,435

46,459

2,957,572

1,986,003

285,272

 Loan facilitation service-Intermediary Model 

5,925

17,730

2,547

228,272

238,867

34,311

 Post-origination service 

45,996

82,369

11,832

131,243

330,695

47,501

 Financing income 

17,105

194,056

27,874

76,104

408,401

58,663

 Other revenue 

32,902

47,513

6,825

147,409

124,084

17,824

 Total net revenue 

862,854

665,103

95,537

3,540,600

3,088,050

443,571

 Operating costs and expenses: 

 Origination and servicing 

327,482

413,275

59,363

1,185,937

1,634,822

234,827

 General and administrative 

69,635

53,102

7,628

220,024

227,482

32,676

 Sales and marketing 

52,445

19,858

2,852

205,726

103,158

14,818

 Provision for contingent guarantee liabilities

7,748

1,113

216,364

7,748

1,113

 Provision for accounts receivable and contract assets 

111,559

52,272

7,508

396,996

241,187

34,644

 Provision for loan receivable from Xiaoying Housing Loans 

13,899

13,283

1,908

40,348

23,431

3,366

Provision for loans receivable from Xiaoying Credit Loans and Xiaoying Revolving Loans

3,402

489

37,643

5,407

 Total operating costs and expenses 

575,020

562,940

80,861

2,265,395

2,275,471

326,851

 Income from operation  

287,834

102,163

14,676

1,275,205

812,579

116,720

 Interest income, net 

221

6,694

962

4,225

19,386

2,785

 Foreign exchange gain (loss) 

(19)

775

111

10

616

88

 Investment loss 

(12,538)

(1,801)

 Change in fair value of financial guarantee derivative 

(51,391)

(47,420)

(6,811)

(200,971)

(246,372)

(35,389)

 Fair value adjustments related to Consolidated Trusts 

1,475

(66,767)

(9,590)

12,359

64,163

9,216

 Other income (loss), net 

(2,588)

16,053

2,306

(5,905)

26,081

3,746

 Income before income taxes and gain from equity in affiliates 

235,532

11,498

1,654

1,084,923

663,915

95,365

 Income tax benefit (expense)  

3,719

65,745

9,444

(209,921)

93,103

13,374

 Gain from equity in affiliates 

2,665

2,429

349

8,055

17,458

2,508

 Net income 

241,916

79,672

11,447

883,057

774,476

111,247

 Less: net income (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests 

(55)

200

29

 Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders 

241,916

79,672

11,447

883,112

774,276

111,218

Net income 

241,916

79,672

11,447

883,057

774,476

111,247

Other comprehensive income, net of tax of nil:

Foreign currency translation adjustments

(3,616)

7,231

1,039

19,045

14,606

2,098

Comprehensive income

238,300

86,903

12,486

902,102

789,082

113,345

Less: comprehensive income (loss) attributable to non controlling interests

(55)

200

29

Comprehensive income attributable to X Financial shareholders

238,300

86,903

12,486

902,157

788,882

113,316

 Net income per share—basic 

0.80

0.25

0.04

3.08

2.47

0.35

 Net income per share—diluted  

0.75

0.24

0.03

2.91

2.42

0.35

 Net income per ADS—basic 

1.60

0.50

0.07

6.16

4.94

0.71

 Net income per ADS—diluted  

1.50

0.48

0.07

5.82

4.84

0.70

 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding—basic 

303,249,156

319,584,790

316,387,394

286,588,402

313,757,887

313,757,887

 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding—diluted 

320,645,039

325,574,294

323,103,017

303,984,284

319,747,392

319,747,392

X Financial

Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results

Three Months Ended December 31,

Twelve Months Ended December 31,

(In thousands, except for share and per share data)

2018

2019

2019

2018

2019

2019

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

GAAP net income

241,916

79,672

11,447

883,057

774,476

111,247

Add: Share-based compensation expenses (net of tax of nil)

38,529

37,542

5,393

171,836

157,116

22,568

Non-GAAP adjusted net income 

280,445

117,214

16,840

1,054,893

931,592

133,815

Net income attributable to X Financial shareholders

241,916

79,672

11,447

883,112

774,276

111,218

Add: Share-based compensation expenses (net of tax of nil)

38,529

37,542

5,393

171,836

157,116

22,568

Non-GAAP adjusted net income attributable to X Financial shareholders

280,445

117,214

16,840

1,054,948

931,392

133,786

 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per share—basic 

0.92

0.37

0.05

3.68

2.97

0.43

 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per share—diluted  

0.87

0.36

0.05

3.47

2.91

0.42

 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per ADS—basic 

1.84

0.74

0.11

7.36

5.94

0.86

 Non-GAAP adjusted net income per ADS—diluted  

1.74

0.72

0.10

6.94

5.82

0.84

 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding—basic 

303,249,156

319,584,790

316,387,394

286,588,402

313,757,887

313,757,887

 Weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding—diluted 

320,645,039

325,574,294

323,103,017

303,984,284

319,747,392

319,747,392

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Cango Inc. Filed Its Annual Report on Form 20-F

SHANGHAI, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Cango, Inc. (NYSE: CANG) (“Cango” or the “Company”), a leading automotive transaction service platform in China, today announced that it filed its annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 27, 2020, U.S. Eastern Time.

The annual report can be accessed on the Company’s investor relations website at ir.cangoonline.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. The Company will also provide a hard copy of its annual report containing its audited consolidated financial statements, free of charge, to its shareholders and American Depositary Share holders upon request.

About Cango, Inc.

Cango Inc. (NYSE: CANG) is a leading automotive transaction service platform in China connecting dealers, financial institutions, car buyers, and other industry participants. Founded in 2010 by a group of pioneers in China’s automotive finance industry, the Company is headquartered in Shanghai and engages car buyers through a nationwide dealer network. The Company’s services primarily consist of automotive financing facilitation, automotive transaction facilitation, and after-market services facilitation. By utilizing its competitive advantages in technology, data insights, and cloud-based infrastructure, Cango is able to connect its platform participants while bringing them a premium user experience. Cango’s platform model puts it in a unique position to add value for its platform participants and business partners as the automotive and mobility markets in China continue to grow and evolve. For more information, please visit: www.cangoonline.com.

Investor Relations Contact

Caesar Cao
Cango Inc.
Tel: +86 21 3183 5088 ext.5521
Email: ir@cangoonline.com

Jack Wang
ICR Inc.
Tel: +1 (646) 405-5056
Email: ir@cangoonline.com

Cision View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cango-inc-filed-its-annual-report-on-form-20-f-301047826.html

Source: Cango Inc.