$MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$ The earnings report for the third quarter of 2024 will be released on November 29.

The financial report shows that during the reporting period, Meituan achieved revenue of 93.577 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.4% compared to 76.467 billion yuan in the same period last year; operating profit and net profit for the period were 13.7 billion yuan and 12.9 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 307.5% and 258%; adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net profit were 14.5 billion yuan and 12.8 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 134.8% and 124% respectively.

It is worth noting that the previously lagging Meituan new business saw its operating losses narrow from 1.314 billion yuan in the same period last year to 1.026 billion yuan, a decrease of 79.9%, while the operating loss rate improved by 1.9 percentage points to 4.2% quarter-on-quarter.

Furthermore, during the financial report call, Meituan also disclosed the development of rider income. In the third quarter of this year, the average monthly income of high-frequency riders nationwide ranged from 5720 yuan to 10865 yuan. Among them, the monthly income range of high-tier city riders is from 7629 yuan to 10865 yuan, and the monthly income range of low-tier city riders is from 5720 yuan to 7803 yuan.

Meituan's Flash Purchase daily order volume exceeded 10 million orders, and in-store hotel and travel orders increased by over 50% year-on-year.

Meituan's core local business sector mainly includes the original dining delivery and in-store, as well as hotels and tourism sections, along with Meituan Flash Purchase, homestays, and transportation ticketing.

During the period, Meituan's core local business segment revenue increased by 20.2% year-on-year to 69.373 billion yuan, operating profit increased by 44.4% year-on-year to 14.582 billion yuan, and the operating profit margin increased by 3.5 percentage points year-on-year to 21.0%.

Among them, the dine-in travel business has shown strong growth, with orders increasing by over 50% year-on-year. The annual trading users and the number of annual active merchants have both reached historical highs. In terms of dine-in business, Meituan supports merchants in operating under all scenarios and throughout the entire business cycle, while also providing live streaming, special group buying, customized marketing strategies, and online operational tools.

In the third quarter, delivery services contributed 27.784 billion yuan in revenue, commission income was 26.08 billion yuan, and online marketing services revenue was 13.424 billion yuan.

Meituan stated in its performance report that the growth in delivery service revenue was mainly due to an increase in on-demand delivery transactions and a decrease in subsidies deducted from revenue.

Data shows that in the third quarter, on-demand delivery transactions increased by 14.5% year-on-year to 7.078 billion orders. Meituan's flash purchase daily average orders exceeded 10 million, with both the number of flash purchase users and transaction frequency achieving double-digit year-on-year growth. The transaction frequency of fresh and food-related categories continues to rise.

Meituan stated in its financial report that it will cooperate with more retail brands and large retailers. Reporters noted that there has recently been a collaboration between Yonghui Superstores and Meituan, opening a pre-warehouse supermarket in Zhengzhou called Zebra Supermarket.

It is worth mentioning that at the 2024 Meituan Instant Retail Industry Conference held not long ago, Meituan plans to expand its Flash Store business. It is expected that by 2027, the number of Meituan Flash Stores will exceed 0.1 million. In addition, we have seized the opportunity of the transformation and upgrading of "county economy" and the younger consumer population, vigorously penetrating the low-tier city market with our business.

"The future development of Meituan Flash Purchase is extremely promising. We see tremendous growth opportunities for Meituan Flash Purchase in all cities, towns, and villages where we provide delivery services. We will launch a support plan, as part of this plan, we aim to further increase the penetration rate of instant retail" Meituan executives stated at tonight's earnings conference.

In the process of improving the operation of new businesses, Keeta will temporarily focus on the Saudi market.

The financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2024, Meituan's new business achieved revenue of 24.202 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.9% from the same period last year, compared to 18.775 billion yuan. Operating losses narrowed by 79.9% year-on-year from 1.314 billion yuan in the same period last year to 1.026 billion yuan, and the operating loss rate improved by 1.9 percentage points month-on-month to 4.2%.

Meituan's new businesses include Meituan Select, Meituan Maicai, dining supply chain Kualv, online car-hailing, bike sharing, electric bike sharing, power bank, restaurant management system, and other new businesses.

It is worth mentioning that, according to the financial report, except for Meituan Select, the rest of the new businesses as a whole were profitable in the third quarter.

Regarding external concerns about Meituan's overseas operations, especially Keeta's progress in Saudi Arabia, Meituan CEO Wang Xing stated at the earnings conference that currently its operations in Saudi Arabia are still in a very early stage, and it is too early to discuss specific data and financial results.

Wang Xing mentioned that Keeta has been operating in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for about two months, with positive feedback from consumers and merchants. It will temporarily focus on the Saudi market and intends to expand the business to more cities in the country.

Wang Xing emphasized that Keeta's business scale is still small and in the early stages of development. In the long run, Meituan aims to become a global company, and global expansion is clearly the company's long-term strategy.

He further mentioned that Saudi Arabia is not a blank market, there are already multiple food delivery platforms there, but believes that Meituan can bring value to local consumers and merchants, especially with a competitive advantage in delivery speed. The company's over a decade of operational experience in the Chinese market helps it understand how to organize a delivery network.

Editor / jayden