Be Friends Holding Limited announces FY2023 financial results: annual GMV exceeded RMB12 billion, revenue increased by approximately 152% YoY, and adjusted net profit surged by approximately 601% YoY

HONG KONG, March 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Be Friends Holding Limited (together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") (stock code: 1450.HK) today announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2023. The Group achieved a revenue of approximately RMB1,074.3 million for FY2023, representing an increase of approximately 152.4% year-on-year; whereas adjusted net profit also surged by approximately 601.3% year-on-year to approximately RMB180.4 million. Such positive results were mainly driven by the rapid growth of its live-streaming e-commerce business, achieving a total Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") of over RMB12 billion during FY2023.

Leveraging its deep technology expertise and rich experience in the live-streaming field, along with its technological innovation, diversified development, organizational optimization, and strategic cooperation, the Group was able to deliver notable improvement across various operational matrices. The strong growth exhibited also highlights its competitiveness and profitability.

Chairman of the Group, Mr. Li Jun, said: "Our target has been focusing on using the latest technologies to establish a new retail company. We have always placed great importance on the synergy between core businesses to ensure the Group's long-term and healthy growth. We continued to increase investment in software, systems, and data value, establishing comprehensive data-driven operational capabilities. This not only improves daily operational efficiency, but also enable the Group to rapidly deploy standardized and replicable matrix broadcasting rooms, achieving economies of scale."

During FY2023, the Group has completed "multi-platform deployment" on platforms such as Douyin, Taobao and JD, and successfully developed a standardized and replicable "matrix broadcasting room operation" model. As of now, the Group has established over 30 broadcasting rooms. Through more professional and vertical matrix broadcasting rooms, the Group caters to diverse consumer needs. Meanwhile, the Group gradually built up "Friend Cloud" platform, achieving automation of the entire process in live-streaming e-commerce.

Reflecting on its success, the Group also places a strong emphasis on passing on its experience and driving industry growth. In 2023, the Group was honoured with over 20 awards from government and media. These awards include recognition at the Douyin E-commerce Ecology Conference (抖音電商生態大會), as "The Annual Influential Author" (年度影響力作者) and "The Annual Influential MCN" (年度影響力MCN機構). The Group was also selected as "The 2023 Commercially Valuable MCN" (2023年度商業價值機構) at the 30th China International Advertising Festival (第30屆中國國際廣告節). In addition, the joint short video that the Group co-produced was honored with the highest honor, the 2023 Effie Award (2023艾菲獎), at the International Advertising Festival (國際廣告節).

As a leading company in live-streaming e-commerce, the Group has always adhered to compliant operations and actively fulfilled corporate social responsibilities to support the development of the real economy. During FY2023, the Group donated RMB1 million towards flood relief efforts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and another RMB2 million to earthquake relief efforts in Gansu and Qinghai. Additionally, the Group also created special live-streaming content to support relief efforts in Zhuozhou, selling "encourage packages" and other items to aid affected companies.

Looking forward, the Group seeks to offer businesses more efficient and stable sales and promotion channels. To achieve these goals, the Group will continue to intensify the investment in its supply chain depth, full data-driven operations, "Friend Cloud" and talent development. The Group will utilize "Technology + Talent" to empower its broadcast rooms in order to improve decision-making accuracy, operational efficiency, customer stickiness, etc. in various aspects. The Group will continue to expand its cross-platform, standardized and replicable matrix broadcasting rooms, advancing the construction scale of these rooms.

Contact:
DLK Advisory
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