Chinese beauty app reveals ugly tech reality

Meitu

22/08/2018 04:56

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Pete Sweeney
    HONG KONG, Aug 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Meitu’s dismal
results included a fall in revenue and monthly active users. A
planned social media makeover for the $2.5 bln photo-editing and
smartphone maker also failed to prevent a 17 pct decline in the
shares. Stiffer competition and Beijing crackdowns are taking
their toll.  

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    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Meitu on Aug. 22 reported a first-half net loss of about
127 million yuan ($19 million), 3.4 percent narrower than a year
earlier, while total revenue shrank 5.9 percent to 2 billion
yuan. Total monthly active users fell by 16 percent, which the
company attributed mostly to a regulatory crackdown that
suspended downloads of app Meipai in March and June 2018.
    - Shares in Meitu declined nearly 17 percent to a record low
of HK$4 a share in morning trading in Hong Kong. 
   - Hardware revenue decreased by 23.4 percent to 1.5 billion
yuan. The company said it would delay the launch of its V series
smartphone to the first half of 2019 due to intense competition.
    - Meitu said its priority will be "driving growth in active
users and gross profits rather than emphasizing on net profit
generation."
    -  For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  SWEENEY/ 
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Meitu results    http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/SEHK/2018/0821/LTN20180821321.pdf
BUZZ-China's Meitu falls to all-time low on H1 loss, weak
outlook     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VD1K7
BREAKINGVIEWS - Hong Kong’s IPO market is turning Chinese   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NE1MS
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin)
 ((pete.sweeney@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
pete.sweeney.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))