Bitauto Hldg Ltd (ADR)(NYSE: BITA) stock lost over 9.9% on March 16th, 2018 (As of 2:06PM EDT; Source: Google finance) leading to the total fall of over 19.3% in the last five days. For the fourth quarter of 2017, the net loss was RMB803.4 million (US$123.5 million), from a net loss of RMB151.7 million (US$23.3 million) in pcp. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS, each represented one ordinary share, in the fourth quarter of 2017 leading to RMB10.05 (US$1.54) and RMB10.05 (US$1.54), respectively, taking into consideration the accretion to redeemable noncontrolling interests amounting to RMB54.2 million (US$8.3 million). For 2017, the Net loss fell to RMB1.43 billion (US$219.3 million), from a net loss of RMB338.0 million (US$51.9 million) in 2016.
On the other hand, for the first quarter of 2018, the group forecasts to generate revenue in the range of RMB1.96 billion to RMB2.01 billion, which is a rise of 37.8% to 41.3% from pcp.
For full year of 2017, the revenue surged 51.6% yoy to RMB8.75 billion, against pcp. The revenues from their transaction services business delivered a solid year-over-year growth of 149.6%, boosted by rapid expansion of Yixin’s transaction platform and a self-operated financing business. Yixin facilitated over 490,000 automobile retail transactions and auto-related transactions in 2017, which is a rise of 88% from the year before. The media business continued its upturn throughout 2017, as the group’s efforts paid off across the auto’s three core strategic areas, traffic, conversion and monetization. The group boosted the content and the user stickiness through our focused input on both professionally generated content and the user-generated content. Collaborations are with online KoLs in the auto industry and the more in-depth engagement with our users.
The group enhanced their penetration into lower-tier cities as well as broadened their dealership base in these markets. The total number of dealer customers reached 27,000 in 2017. The advertising and subscription revenue gradually increased during the year and achieved a strong close with a year-over-year growth of 18.2% in the fourth quarter. In 2018, the group intends to expand Bitauto’s leadership as China’s top online auto media and transaction services ecosystem. Their strategic focus in 2018 is on three key areas, Synergies within the Bitauto family, integration of content and the user communities, technology and big data-enabled enhancements.