Tuniu Corporation announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015. Net revenues were RMB1,248.2 million ($201.4 million), a year-over-year increase of 115.9% from the corresponding period in 2014.
Article continues below
The increase was primarily due to the growth in revenues from both organized tours and self-guided tours. The number of trips sold increased by 134.6% to 659,032 in the first quarter of 2015 from 280,953 in the first quarter of 2014.
Revenues from organized tours, substantially all of which are recognized on a gross basis, were RMB1,201.4 million ($193.8 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 116.8% from the corresponding period in 2014.
The increase was primarily due to the rapid growth in demand for travel to certain international destinations, such as Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan, and for domestic tours. In the first quarter of 2015, the number of trips of organized tours (excluding local tours) increased by 154.8% to 259,801 from 101,964 in the same period last year, and the number of trips of local tours increased by 77.7% to 200,213 from 112,687 in the first quarter of 2014.
Revenues from self-guided tours, which are recognized on a net basis, were RMB40.4 million ($6.5 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 77.3% from the corresponding period in 2014. The increase in revenues was primarily due to the growth in travel to the Maldives, South Korea, certain islands and domestic destinations.
The number of trips of self-guided tours increased by 200.2% year-over-year to 199,018 in the first quarter of 2015 from 66,302 in the first quarter of 2014.
Other revenues, were RMB11.2 million ($1.8 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 105.2% from the corresponding period in 2014.
The increase was primarily due to an increase in revenues from tourist attraction tickets and service fees received from insurance companies, and revenues from visa application and certain new businesses such as services fees associated with train tickets and air tickets, which are recognized on a net basis.
Cost of revenues was RMB1,197.2 million ($193.1 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 123.4% from the corresponding period in 2014.
The increase was primarily due to an increase in cost to suppliers of organized tours and an increase in the headcounts of our tour advisor, call center and regional service centers during the period. As a percentage of net revenues, cost of revenues was 95.9% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to 92.7% in the corresponding period in 2014.
Gross margin was 4.1% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to 7.3% in the first quarter of 2014. The decline in gross margin was primarily due to Tuniu's strategic investment in pricing to build market share, and the higher costs associated with the newly-opened regional service centers, new product lines and newly-added second and third tier departure cities.
Operating expenses were RMB293.8 million ($47.4 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 170.0% from the corresponding period in 2014. Share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to the respective operating expense line items, were RMB12.7 million ($2.0 million) in the first quarter of 2015.
Non-GAAP operating expenses, which excluded share-based compensation expenses, were RMB281.1 million ($45.3 million) in the first quarter of 2015, representing a year-over-year increase of 158.3%. ■