On March 30th, 2022, Meitu (01357.HK) officially disclosed its 2021 annual results. During the reported period, Meitu’s revenue increased by 39.5% year-over-year to RMB1.666 billion and its gross profit increased by 41.7% year-over-year to RMB 1.1251 billion. The adjusted net profit attributable to the owners of the company grew by 39.7% year-over-year to RMB 85.1 million during the period, achieving the second consecutive full-year of profitability in terms of adjusted net profit.

Revenue of our VIP subscription and image SaaS businesses continued to have strong momentum with year-on-year increase of 146.9% to RMB519.5 million, becoming a new engine driving the company to open up more commercial space.

VIP subscription and image SaaS businesses grew 146.9% year-on-year

Meitu’s revenue of 2021 increased by 39.5% year-over-year to RMB1.666 billion. Revenue from online advertising increased by 12.5% year on year to RMB765.8 million. Proving it as the “Second Curve” that drives Meitu’s sustainable growth, VIP subscription and image SaaS businesses grew 146.9% year-on-year to RMB 519.5 million.

IMS and other revenue grew 20% year-on-year to RMB 299 million, among of which, IMS business accounted for 86.3%. In addition, revenue from IVAS largely increased by 51.9% year on year to RMB 81.7 million.

The number of VIP users more than doubled year-on-year thanks to continuous product iteration

As of December 2021, Meitu has about 4 million VIP users, more than double the number at the end of 2020.

According to the data released in its online conference "Beauty Without Limit" in March, the number of VIP customers worldwide reached 4.5 million and is showing strong growing momentum.

In 2020, Meitu brought VIP service to its popular products such as the Meitu App and BeautyCam. Supported by its leading AI imaging technology, Meitu is able to provide constant innovation and satisfy user in photo taking, image and video editing, driving a steady increase of VIP users.

Bring value to users in both daily life and work scenarios

Meitu is building an image SaaS service that covers life and work scenarios for users.

In the Meitu Image Festival held not long ago, Meitu launched 6 new products including Wink, Chic, Meitu Mac Version, Meitu Design Studio, Meitu AI Photo Editing and Meitu ID Photo.

Among them, Wink is a video app that features portrait retouching effects and Chic features magazine-style filters. They plan to provide personalized image services for life scenarios.

While the rest 4 products target enterprise users from marketing, e-commerce, commercial photography and other fields to provide image processing, poster design, AI retouching and ID photo taking services.

Enhance Beauty Industry SaaS services, helping small and medium-sized enterprises to increase their revenue

In December 2021, Meitu further acquired and hold Meidd. Meidd’s financial results will be consolidated into Meitu from January 2022 onwards. Meidd's ERP SaaS and supply chain management business focuses on cosmetics stores, helping small and medium-sized enterprises to increase revenue.

Meidd presently has provided over 11,500 cosmetic businesses with ERP SaaS solutions in more than 250 locations in China, helping cosmetics retailers increase revenue and promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.  Revenue of its supply chain business surged more than four times in 2021 compared to 2020, demonstrating a significant expansion trend.

Highlighting it AI technology foundation, Meitu MeituEve is providing software and hardware services for its clients. The MeituEve products is good at identifying skin details with high accuracy and provide personalized skin care solutions, improving the conversion rate for MeituEve clients.

As of December 2021, MeituEve's panoramic skin analyzer has been deployed in more than 2,680 stores in 248 cities around the world. Many well-known brands, including Dior, Shiseido, and Fawawa have reached strategic cooperation agreements with MeituEve. MeituEve is preparing its second-generation skin analyzer to provide better service.

R&D investment increased by 35% year-on-year, building a solid foundation for development

According to the 2021 China Mobile Internet Value List released by QuestMobile, BeautyCam and the Meitu App took the No. 1 ranking in the Camera app and Photo Beautification categories, respectively and were both listed in the category of Top 50 Apps by User Base.

It is Meitu's continuous investment and focus on image technology that results in the achievements.

According to the data, Meitu’s R&D investment in 2021 reached RMB 545.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 35%. Thanks to continuous investment in R&D, Meitu has built unique advantages in the innovation and iteration of imaging product functions, personalized services for imaging products, and imaging SaaS business, opening up a larger business space.

Meitu's technical core competitiveness has also continued to increase, its MT Lab and the Meitu AI Open Platform has led the innovation and development of the imaging industry.

Meitu’s Chief Financial Officer Gary Ngan said, “In 2021, Meitu's imaging-related business has achieved significant progress, mainly from the more native business model of VIP subscription and imaging SaaS businesses. Meanwhile, we are also actively expanding the imaging SaaS business focusing on work scenarios, and have successively released a number of new products. In addition, Meidd, which just completed the consolidation in January this year, also showed rapid revenue growth in the beauty SaaS business. We believed that in the future, the business based on the imaging SaaS and beauty SaaS strategies will provide Meitu with more revenue growth momentum in 2022 and continue to create value for shareholders. ”