Today's Focus:

Ke Holdings (02423.HK) net income in the second quarter increased significantly by 46.2%. Repurchase authorization increased to 3 billion US dollars.

Ke Holdings (02423.HK) announced that in Q2 2024, the company's total transaction volume was RMB 839 billion ($115.5 billion), a YoY increase of 7.5%. The total transaction volume of existing home transactions was RMB 570.7 billion ($78.5 billion), a YoY increase of 25.0%. The total transaction volume of home decoration and furnishings was RMB 4.2 billion ($0.6 billion), a YoY increase of 22.3%. The total transaction volume of emerging businesses and others was RMB 28.8 billion ($4 billion), a YoY increase of 12.2%.

In Q2, the company's net income totaled RMB 23.4 billion, an increase of 19.9% year-on-year. The contribution profit margin of existing house business has significantly increased year-on-year and month-on-month, and the monetization ability of new house business has further improved. Non-real estate transaction services have grown rapidly, and the revenue scale of home improvement and furnishings business and property rental and leasing services has reached historical highs. Due to the continuous improvement in the company's operational efficiency, the gross profit margin has risen to 27.9%, up from 27.4% in the same period last year. Net profit in Q2 increased by 46.2% year-on-year to RMB 190 million, and adjusted net profit growth was 13.9% to RMB 269.3 million, demonstrating an improvement in profitability.

As of June 30, 2024, the number of stores was 45,948, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. As of June 30, 2024, the number of active stores was 44,423, an increase of 8.1% year-on-year.

As of June 30, 2024, the number of brokers was 458,690, up 5.2% year-on-year. As of June 30, 2024, the number of active brokers was 411,478, basically unchanged from the same period last year.

The average number of monthly active mobile users in Q2 2024 was 49.7 million, compared to 48 million in the same period in 2023.

Mr. Peng Yongdong, Chairman and CEO of Ke Holdings, said, "In the second quarter of this year, our series of measures to deepen operations and scientific management supported us in achieving high-quality operational results that significantly outperformed the market. We further expanded our connection with supply-side service providers and new house sources in the real estate transaction service business, and improved the operational efficiency of the supply side through a series of training and refined operational measures to improve the platform ecology. Our home improvement and furnishings and property rental and leasing services focused on capacity building this year and continued to maintain significant growth, and our operations continued to improve. We are also trying to improve service density by deepening our community engagement and innovating community store and service provider operating models to better understand and meet consumer needs."

"Our real estate transaction service business still has a lot of room for growth, and the business model and capabilities of home improvement and furnishings and property rental and leasing services have also been verified. Looking ahead, our core goal is to establish an organization that can continue to move up and achieve victory after victory. Next, we will promote continuous growth of the organization through a positive cycle of scale, quality, and efficiency," summarized Mr. Peng.

Mr. Xu Tao, Executive Director and CFO of Ke, further stated, "In Q2 2024, loose policies were intensively implemented, and the transaction volume of existing house market improved, while the same period last year still put pressure on new house market. Against the backdrop of gradually recovering market sentiment, we continue to deepen our operations and achieved excellent performance in the second quarter. Under the stable cash reserves, we continued to conduct shareholder returns through active share buybacks. As of the date of this announcement, we have repurchased approximately $0.48 billion of shares, accounting for approximately 2.75% of the total issued share capital at the end of 2023. At the same time, we expanded and extended the existing share repurchase plan, increasing the repurchase authorization from $2 billion to $3 billion, and extending the repurchase plan period to August 31, 2025. In the future, we will continue to return to shareholders who have grown with the company and share the value we create."

Important event

Luye Pharma (02186.HK): A third party has preliminarily completed the investment in Shenzhen Luye.

Ocumension Therapeutics-B (01477.HK) has entered into a trade agreement with alcon to establish a long-term strategic relationship between the two parties in the commercialization, manufacturing and research and development of ophthalmic drugs in China.

Performance of Financial Report:

China Lit (00772.HK) released its first-half financial report, with copyright operation revenue surging 75.7% year-on-year while online reading business remains stable.

Wah Yuet Group's B (02256.HK) turned a profit of 0.207 billion yuan in the midterm after being in the red before.

China Youzan (08083.HK) had a total trade amount of 49.9 billion yuan for the first half of the year, with an additional 9116 paid merchants.

Yue Yuen Ind (00551.HK) interim attributable profit was $0.184 billion, a YoY increase of 120.6%.

Pou Sheng Int'l (03813.HK) mid-term net profit attributable to owners increased by 9.9% to 0.336 billion yuan.

FIT HON TENG (06088.HK) turned a loss into a profit in the first half of the year, reaching 33 million US dollars.

Dekang Agriculture (02419.HK) announced expected mid-year net profit of approximately RMB 1.713 billion to RMB 1.813 billion.

Dit Group (00726.HK) issued a profit warning, expected mid-year net loss of approximately HKD 0.18 billion.

Sim Tech (02000.HK) issued a profit warning, expected mid-year net loss of HKD 75 million to HKD 0.105 billion.

Sun Hung Kai Co (00086.HK) announced its interim results, expecting the comprehensive surplus attributable to shareholders to be no more than HKD 80 million.

Operating Data:

China Res Land (01109.HK) had a regular business income of approximately 3.9 billion yuan in July, a year-on-year increase of 13.7%.

Pou Sheng Int'l (03813.HK) reported a comprehensive operating profit net of 1.263 billion yuan in July, a YoY decrease of 10.6%.

Yue Yuen Ind (00551.HK) had a comprehensive net operating income of 0.68 billion USD in July.

Medical Innovation:

United Lab (03933.HK): Class 1 innovative drug UBT251 injection has completed phase Ia clinical trials in healthy Chinese subjects.

Baiyunshan (00874.HK) subsidiary's pharmaceuticals have passed the generic drug consistency evaluation.

Junshi Bio (01877.HK): The new indication of Toripalimab for first-line treatment of melanoma has been accepted for review.

Acquisitions and Disposals:

Grand Baoxin (01293.HK) plans to sell all the equity of Hangzhou Baoxin Realty for 133 million yuan.

Yoho Group (02347.HK) has entered into an asset acquisition agreement with the J SELECT brand.

Stock-Based Incentive:

fe horizon (03360.HK) granted 34.52 million options.

Repurchase cancellation.

On August 9th, hsbc holdings (00005.HK) spent HKD 0.3 billion to repurchase 4.6896 million shares.

AIA (01299.HK) repurchased 2.8142 million shares for HKD 0.146 billion on August 12th.

Stanchart (02888.HK) spent 10.5876 million British pounds to repurchase 1.4887 million shares on August 9th.

Hang Seng Bank (00011.HK) spent HKD 18.36 million to repurchase 0.2 million shares on August 12th.

On August 9th, Pru (02378.HK) spent 1.619 million British pounds to repurchase 0.255 million shares.

Tiange Interactive (01980.HK) cancelled 36.5 million shares on August 12th.

Euroeyes (01846.HK) cancelled 1.417 million shares of repurchased stock on August 12th.