| • | | Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 79.9% year over year to RMB624.5 million (US$90.5 million) for the year of 2022, compared with RMB3,104.8 million for the year of 2021. The decrease was primarily due to (i) a RMB2,112.5 million decrease in marketing expenses to third-party traffic channels, and (ii) a RMB358.2 million decrease in outsourced sales and marketing service fees to third parties. |
| • | | General and administrative expenses decreased by 26.7% year over year to RMB388.7 million (US$56.4 million) for the year of 2022, compared with RMB530.5 million for the year of 2021. The year-over-year variance was due to the combined impact of (i) a decrease of RMB109.8 million in share-based compensation expenses, (ii) a RMB21.2 million decrease in personnel cost, and (iii) a decrease of RMB39.0 million impairment loss over prepayment for the year of 2021, and partially offset by an increase of RMB 23.5 million allowance for doubtful accounts for the year of 2022,. |
| • | | Research and development expenses decreased by 23.1% year over year to RMB291.3 million (US$42.2 million) for year of 2022, compared with RMB379.0 million for the year of 2021. The decrease was primarily due to RMB66.0 million decreases in research and development personnel costs. |
Operating profit for the year of 2022 was RMB478.0 million (US$69.3 million), compared with an operating loss of RMB1,862.8 million for the year of 2021.
Interest income for the year of 2022 was RMB81.7 million (US$11.8 million), compared with RMB48.7 million for the year of 2021. The increase was primarily due to the increase in our bank balance and short-term investments as a result of the positive operating cash flow generated from the business.
Income tax expense for the year of 2022 was RMB23.0 million (US$3.3 million), compared with an income tax benefit of RMB221.0 million for the year of 2021.
Net profit attributable to Waterdrop for the year of 2022 was RMB607.7 million (US$88.1million), compared with a net loss of RMB1,574.1 million for the year of 2021.
Adjusted net profit attributable to Waterdrop for the year 2022 was RMB735.2 million (US$106.6 million), compared with an adjusted net loss of RMB1,220.9 million for the year of 2021.
Share Repurchase Plan
Pursuant to the share repurchase program launched in September 2021 and amended in September 2022, as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, we had cumulatively repurchased approximately 8.4 million ADSs from the open market with cash for a total consideration of approximately US$12.4 million.
Exchange Rate
This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars (“USD” or “US$”) at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to USD were made at the rate of RMB6.8972 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate in effect on December 30, 2022 in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or USD amounts referred could be converted into USD or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. For analytical presentation, all percentages are calculated using the numbers presented in the financial statements contained in this earnings release.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The Company uses non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted net operating revenue and adjusted net profit/loss, in evaluating the Company’s operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. Adjusted net operating revenue represents net operating revenue excluding management fee income from mutual aid business. Adjusted net profit/loss represents net profit/loss excluding share-based compensation expense, the impact of terminating the mutual aid plan and foreign currency exchange gain or losses. Such adjustments have no impact on income tax.
The non-GAAP financial measures are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may be different from non-GAAP methods of accounting and reporting used by other companies. The non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and when assessing the Company’s operating performance, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for net loss or other consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company encourages investors and others to review its financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure. Investors are encouraged to review the Company’s historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Adjusted net operating revenue and adjusted net profit/loss presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to our data. The Company encourages investors and others to review its financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.
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