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Huize Holding Ltd (HUIZ) reported robust financial performance in its Q2 2025 earnings call, with significant year-over-year revenue and profit growth. The company posted a 40% increase in total revenue, reaching RMB 400 million, and a net profit of RMB 11 million. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears undervalued at its current market cap of $37.55 million. The stock reacted positively, with a 24.73% surge in immediate trading post-announcement, although it later faced a 3.55% decline, closing at $3.72, contributing to its impressive 82% return over the past six months.
Key Takeaways
- Revenue rose by 40% year-over-year, reaching RMB 400 million.
- Net profit stood at RMB 11 million on a GAAP basis.
- The company added 400,000 new customers in Q2.
- Stock surged by 24.73% post-earnings announcement but later declined by 3.55%.
Company Performance
Huize Holding showcased strong growth in Q2 2025, driven by a 34% increase in gross written premiums and a 73% rise in first-year premiums. The company has successfully expanded its customer base, adding 400,000 new customers, and maintained a high persistency ratio of over 95%. This performance reflects the growing demand for insurance products in China and Huize’s strategic positioning in the market.
Financial Highlights
- Revenue: RMB 400 million, up 40% year-over-year.
- Net Profit: RMB 11 million (GAAP), RMB 8 million (Non-GAAP).
- Gross Written Premiums: RMB 1.8 billion, a 34% increase.
- First-Year Premiums: RMB 1.13 billion, up 73%.
- Cash and Cash Equivalents: RMB 239 million.
Market Reaction
Following the earnings announcement, Huize’s stock saw a significant 24.73% increase, reflecting investor optimism about the company’s strong financial performance. However, the stock later experienced a decline of 3.55%, closing at $3.72. This fluctuation might be attributed to broader market trends and investor profit-taking.
Outlook & Guidance
Huize Holding anticipates continued growth in the second half of 2025, with a focus on expanding its presence in Southeast Asia and enhancing its AI-driven ecosystem. The company expects sequential improvements in net profit and aims for profitability in the latter half of the year. Strategic initiatives include the development of AI-powered product recommendations and the expansion of its international footprint.
Executive Commentary
- Cunjun Ma, CEO, stated, "We will continue to embed AI across the entire value chain, reshaping industry dynamics and unlocking a new growth curve."
- Co-CFO Ron Tam emphasized, "We are just at the beginning of the AI journey. A lot more investment needs to be made."
- Tam also highlighted the company’s commitment to solidifying its position as Asia’s leading insurance tech platform through advanced data analytics and AI solutions.
Risks and Challenges
- Regulatory changes in Hong Kong could impact offshore product sales.
- Continued investment is required in AI and technology to maintain competitive advantage.
- Market saturation and macroeconomic pressures could affect growth in the domestic market.
- Expansion into Southeast Asia presents challenges related to digital adoption and local market dynamics.
Q&A
During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the potential impact of regulatory changes in Hong Kong and Huize’s investment strategy in health and protection product segments. The management addressed these concerns, highlighting their focus on AI deployment in customer acquisition and underwriting processes, and the expected stabilization of gross margins around 27%.
Full transcript - Huize Holding Ltd (HUIZ) Q2 2025:
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to Huize’s second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the management prepares remarks, we will have a question and answer session. Today’s conference call is being recorded, and a webcast replay will be available on Huize’s IR website at ir.huize.com under the events and webcast section. I’d like to hand the conference over to our speaker host today, Mr. Kenny Lo, Huize’s Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead, Kenny.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: Thank you, operator. Hello everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Our financial and operational results were released earlier today and are currently available on both our IR website and Globe Newswire services. Before we continue, I would like to refer you to the safe harbor statement in our earnings press release, which also applies to this call as we will be making forward-looking statements. Please also note that we will discuss non-GAAP measures today, which are more thoroughly explained in our earnings release and filings with the SEC. Joining us today are our Founder and CEO, Mr. Cunjun Ma, COO Mr. Li Jiang, Co-CFO Mr. Minh Hang Xiao, and Co-CFO Mr. Ron Tam. Mr. Ma will start the call by providing an overview of the company’s performance and operational highlights, followed by Mr.
Tam, who will go over our financial results for the second quarter 2025. We will then open the call for questions. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Ma.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 大家好, 欢迎大家参加惠泽2025年的第二季度业绩发布电话会。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: Hello everyone, and thank you for joining Huize’s second quarter 2025 earnings conference call.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: Among these, first-year premiums reached ¥1.13 billion, a 73% year-over-year increase.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: In the second quarter of 2025, we remained steadfast in our customer-centric approach, focusing on evolving customer needs and partnering with industry leaders to broaden our product portfolio. Our strong results were underpinned by a high-quality customer base, industry-leading persistency ratios, and a diverse suite of product offerings. During the quarter, Huize delivered a total revenue of RMB 400 million, a 3-year quarterly high, with net profit reaching RMB 10.9 million. Gross written premiums facilitated on our platform grew 34% year-over-year to RMB 1.8 billion, while first-year premiums increased by 73% year-over-year to RMB 1.13 billion.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: By continuously enriching the supply of products, we have precisely met the diversified needs of customers.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: We continue to strengthen our full life cycle service ecosystem while precisely targeting high-quality young customers. As of the end of the second quarter, Huize’s cumulative insurance users exceeded 11.4 million, with approximately 400,000 new clients added during the quarter. In the second quarter, our long-term insurance customers had an average age of 35.2, with more than 65% residing in first and second-tier cities in China. By focusing on these high-quality customer groups, we have further supported sustainable growth in business value. In the second quarter, the average first-year premium taken size for long-term products jumped by 87% year-over-year to RMB 7,600, while our retention metrics continued to lead the industry, with both the 13th and 25th month persistency ratios remaining above 95% as of the end of May. Beyond long-term products, we remained committed to delivering a diversified suite of insurance solutions.
Our short-term insurance business also recorded healthy growth in the quarter, with gross written premiums rising 19% year-over-year to approximately RMB 114 million.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 截至二季度末,惠泽进一步拓展了合作生态规模,与146家的保险公司保持稳定的合作关系,持续创新推进多元险种的定制产品。在市场对稳健财务规划偏好持续增强、人口老龄化的背景下,我们在分红险的前瞻布局获得了卓越进展。聚焦客户财富管理需求,我们精心定制快享福多金版的联金保险,为客户提供更优质、更持续的财富规划保障方案。此外,我们携手平安产险推出了小神童7号少儿意外险,联合人保财险打造了小学童2号Pro学贫险,为少儿及学生群体提供了多维度全方位的保护及保障。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: As of the end of the second quarter, we have further expanded our partner ecosystem, maintaining strong collaborations with 146 insurance companies and continuing to drive innovation in customized and diversified insurance products. Against a backdrop of preference for steady financial planning in an aging population, our early move in participating products has delivered strong progress. Centered on client wealth management needs, we introduced customized products: BLIS Golden Edition and NULTI, offering superior and sustainable wealth planning solutions. We have also jointly launched Xiaosheng Hong 7.0 Children’s Accident Insurance with Ping An Property & Casualty, and jointly launched Litu Scholar 2.0 Pro Student Accident and Medical Insurance with PICC Property & Casualty, delivering multi-dimensional and comprehensive protection for children and students.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 凭借在AI领域的长期研究及布局, 我们年内开启了全面的AI agents的话, 那么持续推进了内部提效, 进一步重塑了核心运营流程, 并以此为基础积极地探索商业模式生成词的变革, 持续打磨新的增长曲线, 为长期价值的增长奠定坚实的基础。随着AI相关布局的不断落地, 2025年二季度我们总费用与收入比比率同比下降了16.6个百分点, 降至23.9%。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: We drew on years of AI research and investment to launch company-wide adoption of AI agents. This has driven meaningful efficiency improvement, reshaped core operating processes, and laid the groundwork for deeper business model transformation. These efforts have helped us unlock new growth curves and reinforce the foundation for long-term value creation. With the continued rollout of AI initiatives, our expense-to-revenue ratio improved by 16.6% points year-over-year to 23.9%.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 我们从内部着手全面推动AI工具的落地与应用,并进行AI原生文化的培养,实现研发产能的量化提升。例如,在研发体系率先推出了VB Coding的模式,每月由AI生成并被采纳的代码量已经突破了200,000行,相当于58名中级工程师的阅读产能,提升了产品迭代速度与技术革新。同时,公司构建了覆盖从入门到实践的全链条培训体系,目标是打造一支反应更快速、决策更高效的AI原生组织。目前内部员工AI使用完全覆盖,并且已有超过300名员工能够利用低代码平台创建和部署AI智能体,累计发布的各类提效的Agent超过了700个,实现了全面的效能提升、流程优化和风控控制。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: We accelerated the deployment of AI tools and fostered an AI-native culture within our company, delivering measurable productivity improvements. In R&D, we introduced the wide coding model, where AI now generates and contributes more than 200,000 accepted lines of code each month, significantly accelerating product iteration and technological innovation. To support this transformation, we built a comprehensive training system that deploys employees from entry level to advanced AI practice. AI adoption is now company-wide, with more than 300 employees able to create and deploy AI agents on our low-code platform. Collectively, we have released over 700 productivity-enhancing AI agents, driving improvements in operational efficiency, workflow improvement, and risk control.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: precise reach and efficient conversion to intelligent service.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: Drawing on nearly two decades of industry experience, we have built one of the most extensive proprietary data access in the insurance sector, encompassing hundreds of millions of customer interaction records and a knowledge base of more than 10,000 insurance products. This foundation enables us to deliver highly personalized services tailored to individual customer profiles. We rolled out 24/7 AI customer support, driving the self-service purchase rate among new users up by 50%. The AI customer support also covers product recommendations, claims assistance, and policy delivery, serving over 20,000 customers each month. These results validated AI’s core value in boosting sales and efficiency. We are accelerating deployment across more touch points to build a high-quality closed-loop growth engine from customer-rich conversion to automated service.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 在国际业务方面,惠泽旗下的国际品牌Pony Insurtech透过本地的业务主体成功取得了新加坡金管局的颁发金融顾问及保险经纪牌照,标志着公司在东南亚的业务布局取得了重要的突破。另一方面,二季度越南的子公司Global Care的保费与总收入同比实现增长了32%,延续了强劲的增长势头。此外,我们推出了当地首个保险行业的KOL平台,通过数字化手段赋能保险分销,依托越南的社交媒体高渗透率的优势,提升了保险产品的市场触达和转化效率。同时,我们积极地与本地头部的商户展开合作,包括新兴的线上物流平台GXE以及越南最大的零售集团Mobile World Group,凭借Global Care的技术能力共同推动嵌入式和微保险的应用场景落地。结合集团国际化资源优势,我们成功为在越的中资企业提供了商用保险服务,促成了保额高达人民币10亿元的企业财产险,充分彰显了我们在当地市场的丰富产品供给和国际化布局成果。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: In the issue tack, Huize’s international arm has secured a financial advisor and exam insurance broker license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore through its local operating entity, marking a significant milestone in our Southeast Asia expansion. In addition, our Vietnam subsidiary Global Care recorded a 32% year-over-year increase in both GWP and revenue. We launched Vietnam’s first insurance KOL platform for the insurance industry, digitally empowering distribution and leveraging the country’s high social media penetration, enhancing product reach and conversion efficiency. In parallel, we strengthened partnerships with leading local players, including GXE, an emerging online logistics platform, and Mobile World Group, Vietnam’s largest retail group. Supported by Global Care’s technology capabilities, these collaborations are advancing embedded and micro-insurance across multiple use cases.
Leveraging the group’s international platform, we provided commercial insurance services to Chinese investor enterprises in Vietnam and facilitated the placement of corporate property policies with some insured of RMB 1 billion. This fully demonstrates the depth of our product offering in the local market and the results of our internationalization strategy.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: 展望下半年,中国保险行业正迎来需求端与供给端双重的势头。一方面,伴随健康养老及财富管理需求的不断上升,客户对保险服务的精准化与智能化提出了更高的要求。另一方面,监管政策持续地引导高质量发展,将促进行业更加的规范与科技驱动。AI有望成为提升服务体验、降低运营成本、强化风控能力的重要引擎。放眼东南亚市场,随着数字化普及、普及率的快速提升与中产群体的持续壮大,区域保险渗透率正在进入加速提升的关键期。这里孕育着结构性的机会,也是中国保险科技出海的重要舞台。未来,Huize Holding Limited将以AI为核心引擎,建设一个连接用户、保险公司与代理人的智能生态平台,运用AI深度参与并驱动全价值链,重塑行业生态与运营流程,开辟新一轮增长曲线。同时,我们也会持续关注东南亚不同国家的市场潜力,积极探索市场数字化解决方案的输出,与本地合作伙伴共同构建更广阔的数字保险生态。
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: Looking ahead to the second half of the year, China’s insurance industry is experiencing strong momentum on both demand and supply sides, with rising needs in health, retirement, and wealth management driving customers to seek more intelligent services, while regulatory policies guide the market toward high-quality growth, greater standardization, and technology adoption. In this environment, AI is emerging as a core growth engine, enhancing customer experience, reducing operating costs, and strengthening risk management. At the same time, Southeast Asia’s rapid digital adoption and expanding middle class are pushing insurance penetration into a critical stage of expansion, creating significant structural opportunities and positioning the region as a key platform for the globalization of China’s initial tech capabilities. Against this backdrop, Huize Holding Limited will continue to embed AI across the entire value chain, reshaping industry dynamics and unlocking a new growth curve.
Meanwhile, we will further expand our ecosystem across Southeast Asia to capture long-term opportunities from demographic tailwinds and rising insurance penetration, and working with local partners to build a broader, smarter digital insurance ecosystem.
Cunjun Ma, Founder and CEO, Huize Holding Limited: and financial data.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: This concludes my prepared remarks for today. I will now turn the call to our CFO, Mr. Ron Tam, who will provide an overview of our key financial highlights for the second quarter.
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Thank you, Mr. Ma and Kenny, and good evening, everyone in Asia, and good morning for everyone in the U.S. I think that the opening remarks have been quite detailed on the operational highlights. For my section, I’ll just give some highlights on the overall financial metrics. Amid the evolving macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, the second quarter is quite remarkable in terms of total gross written premiums and FIP facilitated, which has increased by 34% and 73% year-over-year, respectively, reaching RMB 1.8 billion and approximately RMB 1.1 billion. Total revenue hit a 3-year high for a quarter of approximately RMB 400 million, which is up 40% year-over-year. We also returned to GAAP and non-GAAP net profit for the quarter of approximately RMB 11 million and RMB 8 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, our financial position has continued to remain very robust, with a combined balance of cash and cash equivalents of RMB 239 million as of the end of the second quarter. The remarkable operational performance was driven by our efficient omnichannel distribution network, our relentless efforts to acquire high-quality customers, and the deployment of advanced proprietary AI solutions throughout. Crucially, we are on track to execute and deliver on our international expansion strategy, which is a core new growth driver of our long-term sustainable development and shareholder value creation. Our strategic focus has remained firmly on long-term insurance products, which continue to account for over 90% of our total GWP facilitated. FIP from a long-term savings product more than doubled year-over-year to RMB 864 million in the second quarter.
Leveraging on our robust omnichannel distribution network and advanced AI solutions, we have significantly strengthened our customer acquisition and engagement capabilities, adding approximately 400,000 new customers during the second quarter. This brings our total customer count to over 11.4 million as of the end of the second quarter. The repurchase ratio for our long-term insurance products also stood at a very decent level of 37%, underscoring our ability to continue to unlock the lifetime value of a high-quality customer base through effective upselling and cross-selling strategies. I would also like to highlight a few other key achievements over the quarter. Number one, the FYP for our IFA business increased by 13% year-over-year to FYP of ¥84 million, reflecting our continued efforts to empower both our internal and external international financial advisors.
Number two, as of the end of the May second quarter, our 13th and 25th month persistency ratios for long-term life and health insurance remained at industry-leading levels of over 95%. Number three, the average ticket size of long-term insurance products distributed has increased 41% sequentially to ¥7,615, partly reflecting the premium product sales in our international market segment. We have established a private AI large language model and low-code application development platform to promote employees’ in-house AI agent developers. Over 200 employees in-house have created and deployed AI agents, publishing more than 500 productivity-enhancing tools. Our broad deployment of AI-driven automation has delivered cost savings and productivity gains. As such, our total operating expenses decreased 17% year-over-year to ¥95 million, and our expense-to-revenue ratio improved significantly by 16.6% points year-over-year to 23.9% in the second quarter.
Pony Insurtech, our expanding international arm, delivered another strong quarter and remains central to our long-term strategy. For example, in Vietnam, our majority-owned subsidiary Global Care achieved impressive business growth, with GWP and total revenue both rising 32% year-over-year in the second quarter. Active platform users increased by 52%, while the average ticket size on the B2A to C business line tripled sequentially. Global Care also onboarded new merchant partners, including names like GXE and Mobile World Group, offering embedded and micro-insurance products powered by its advanced technological capabilities. In July, Global Care also launched Vietnam’s first insurance KOL platform, which is a replica of our China model, a proven distribution model pioneered by Huize in China. Additionally, we obtained approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in Singapore for a financial advisory license, further extending our presence in Southeast Asia.
These strategic initiatives will diversify our revenue streams and create new growth drivers to enhance long-term shareholder value creation. In conclusion, we are confident in our ability to capitalize on the opportunities arising from China’s evolving industry landscape in the broader Asian market. Domestically, continued strong demand for long-term protection should drive healthy and sustainable growth across the entire value chain. Internationally, through Pony Insurtech, we are extending a China-proven model and proprietary AI capabilities to high-growth Southeast Asian markets, particularly in the young and fast-growing middle-class demographics. By leveraging our advanced data analytics, fully integrated AI solutions, and disciplined market penetration, we are committed to solidifying our position as Asia’s leading insurance tech platform for distribution and building an AI-driven intelligent ecosystem connecting consumers, insurance carriers, and distribution partners while delivering enduring value to all stakeholders. With that comment, we will now open up the call to questions.
Thank you very much, and over to you, operator.
Speaker 3: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, please press 11 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. We’ll now take our first question from the line of Xingtao Chen from CICC. Please go ahead, Xingtao.
Xingtao Chen, Analyst, CICC Research: Hi. Thank you. This is Xingtao from CICC Research. First of all, congratulations on the remarkable business performance in the second quarter this year. I have two questions for the management. First, Huize Holding Limited has successfully executed its strategic shift towards participating insurance in recent years. Could you please add some color on the approaches the company has taken to enhance the team’s professional capabilities in selling participating insurance? What plans are in place for deeper collaboration with insurers on the development of participating products? What’s the company guidance for sales performance in the second half of the year? This is the first question. The second question is that Huize Holding Limited is recognized as the first insurance service and platform to integrate deep stake in the industry. The company’s Xiaoma Claims has significantly improved claims handling efficiency.
Could you please add some color on how Huize Holding Limited intends to further leverage AI technology to enhance product sales, long-term customer relationship management, and achieve greater efficiency in cost control? Thank you.
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Thank you, Xingtao, for your two questions. Your first question was regarding our successes in the participating insurance product distribution front. Over the last two years, we have already been foreseeing the industry transformation or transition to selling participating insurance products as the mainstream product, with the expectation of a continued declining interest rate environment in China. We have been vindicated with this foresight. Starting from 2023, the company as a whole internally has been actively promoting the training of our agents and also encouraging our channel partners and the IFAs that are connected to our platform to get up to speed on the product. The foresight and the training have reaped the benefits from that early anticipation. Secondly, with respect to our product supply, we have also been quite in anticipation of the participating insurance product being a mainstream product for this year.
We have been actively seeking out cooperation with upstream insurance carriers and providers to co-develop customized savings products that would be very suitable for the clientele. What we have demonstrated to the market is that we have already been rolling out customized participating insurance products with leading brands such as Aviva-COFCO, which we have repeated for the last two quarters. For Fu Man Jia, that product is a top-selling savings product in the participating insurance product category for the last two quarters. We have also been working with the Chinese joint venture between the Chinese SOE and Generali, which again has proven to be a top-selling product on the online and offline channels. We have also been quite innovative in terms of customizing participating insurance products in the annuity and in the retirement areas. For example, a recent product that we have launched with Primerica is an example.
Not only do we do endowments, we also do annuities and retirement plans with a participating insurance product feature. This is something that we have been quite successful also on the product supply front, which also delivers a competitive moat for Huize compared to the competition. We are very proud to say that according to various sources, we are probably ranked in the top three in terms of distribution channels in the broker and agency segment in China for participating insurance products currently. In terms of guidance for the product, I think that we are continuing to see increased interest in participating insurance products from the market, mainly as a result of the continued education of consumers of the product by online and offline channels such as ourselves and also the traditional insurers and the traditional agencies.
Consumers are increasingly aware of the relative attractiveness of the participating insurance product, especially in the declining interest rate environment, whereby the product in terms of overall return profile is much superior to other forms of fixed income products, including traditional bank deposits and so forth. We do expect that there’s continued sequential growth in distribution in the participating insurance product in Q3 and also in Q4. Your last question was on the AI front in terms of how we are going to be driving increased productivity gains in addition to just the claims processing area that you have mentioned. I think that we have already been deploying our AI strategy also in the customer acquisition perspective.
Our mobile app has integrated DeepSeek, and the DeepSeek-powered mobile app facing consumers can provide very relevant and customized product recommendations based on customers’ feedback and drawing upon our very robust internal knowledge base and knowledge pool. We are able to provide very much customized product recommendation experience for our customers. In another area that we think is very relevant for AI technology to be deployed and which we are now actively investing into is the underwriting part of the value chain, whereby with AI, we are able to be much more nimble and be much more adept at managing risk for our customers in terms of finding the most suitable product according to the individual risk assessment and risk circumstances. Therefore, that will also likely lead to much improved conversion ratios downstream.
That will also be relevant to the long-term customer relationship management, which we just mentioned, because the AI tool will be able to memorize all the customer interactions. Therefore, whenever the customer returns to our mobile app, it will be able to recall the relevant data points on the customer’s profile and be able to continue the dialogue in the most appropriate manner. I think those three things are rapid examples that we are able to cite in terms of the AI deployment to date. I think we’re just still only in the very much beginning of the AI journey. A lot more investment needs to be made. We do believe that the fruits of the investment will be harvested over the years to come.
Speaker 3: Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Amy Chen from Citi. Please ask your question, Amy.
Amy Chen, Analyst, Citi Research: Hi, this is Amy from CITI Research. Thank you for giving me this opportunity and congratulations on a profitable quarter. I have two questions. The first one is on your overseas business. You mentioned earlier that average ticket size was higher sequentially, partially due to participating sales in international markets, which I assume would be mainly Hong Kong. I’m not sure if this was partially driven by the change in the regulatory cap on illustrated par product return, and how has the sales momentum been in the third quarter so far? Also, on the regulatory front, from October 1, there would be a cap on broker channel referral fee. From the beginning of next year, there would be this requirement to spread out commissions in the broker channel. How do you think this would impact your business, particularly in Hong Kong? The second one would be about net profit outlook.
We see that after the second quarter, in the first half, Huize has already delivered net profits. What is your earnings guidance for the full year of 2025? Thank you.
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Thanks, Amy. On your two questions, the first question relating to the Hong Kong business, I think you’re right in citing the regulatory changes on the illustrated returns having an impact on rush sales in the second quarter. We do see that a lot of the industry participants have witnessed and saw significant demand for Hong Kong products in the last month of Q2, which, due to the revenue recognition, will likely be reflected in the Q3 results. We do see that has an impact on the sales of the entire industry as a whole. On your comment on the other regulatory developments, we think that the underlying demand for offshore products still has to do with the interest rate differential between the onshore and offshore markets. We do believe that the underlying situation has not changed, albeit I think the U.S.
likely will be reducing interest rates in the next few meetings. We’re likely seeing another 50 bps by the end of this year. Still, the attractiveness of the offshore products should provide a meaningful pickup in terms of overall yield potential versus onshore. That has not changed. We do continue to expect that the sequential momentum to continue in this area of the business. I think that will be my response to your first question. On your second question regarding net profit outlook, we are very glad that we have delivered profit in Q2. We do see sequential improvement in terms of our net profit outlook by the next quarter, although we also continue to invest in business growth. Right now, we are expecting a second half profit for the year. Especially in Q3, we do expect a meaningful sequential growth in the earnings profile.
Amy Chen, Analyst, Citi Research: Thank you. That’s very clear. May I have a quick follow-up? How much of your revenue is contributed by international business in the second quarter?
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Right. I think we would like to say that we are on track in delivering our previously given outlook for the year. I think that will be the answer.
Amy Chen, Analyst, Citi Research: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you. As a reminder, before we take our next question, please press 11 if you wish to ask a question. Our next question comes from the line of Kenny Lo from UOB Kay Hian. Please go ahead, Kenny.
Xingtao Chen, Analyst, CICC Research: Hi, Ron. First of all, congratulations on your solid results. I have two questions from here. My first question is regarding your margin performance. Apart from improvement in expense-to-revenue ratio, I noticed that your gross margin also improved significantly. Could you give us more color on this and how considerable it is, like how you balance between your channel cost growth as well as your premium growth? My second question is regarding your product mix. Since you quoted that the demand for the participating insurance products is quite strong, I would like to ask, how is the performance of your demand for the health and protection products? That’s all from my end.
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Thank you for your questions, Kenny. I’m very glad to hear from you. Two questions on your side. One is the gross margin outlook. Yes, we do see a stabilization of gross margin in the second quarter. I think there’s a slight pickup from Q1. Q1 was around 26%. This quarter is around 27%. We do see that the stabilization of gross margin should remain at this current level for the next few quarters. I think that the overall negative impact that has been felt by the industry on the China side with respect to the Bao Xing Hui regulatory implementation has been fully felt already. It is being reflected in the results here in the second quarter. The overall business has transitioned to the new regime. Most of the products that we are distributing and channel costs and so forth have now been mostly stabilized at the current level.
We do believe that gross margin should remain relatively stable for the next few quarters in the foreseeable future. Your second question was regarding the HMP product segments. We do see a modest improvement in demand in the second quarter over the first quarter. In terms of actual numbers, I can cite for the HMP segments, we are looking at a 24% sequential growth in terms of first-year premiums from the first quarter to second quarter. Overall, I think that the environment, in terms of the China macroeconomic environment, we do see that there’s a stabilization trend. With improving customer confidence and improving consumer confidence outlook, we do see that the HMP segment should continue to grow steadily. We also be investing in this product category, albeit the savings product definitely is now the major driver of performance.
The health and protection product, as we all know, is typically higher margin. Therefore, with a reviving macroeconomic and consumer confidence kind of picture, we do see that we should be investing more in this area. That will be my answer to your questions.
Xingtao Chen, Analyst, CICC Research: Ron, just a follow-up question. I saw that your commission rate improved year on year. May I know what is the main driver?
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Sorry, can you repeat that question?
Xingtao Chen, Analyst, CICC Research: I noted that your blended commission rate improved significantly. May I know what is the main driver?
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Right. I think mainly due to the improved contribution from our customized products, which typically carries a higher commission rate.
Xingtao Chen, Analyst, CICC Research: All right. Thanks.
Ron Tam, Co-CFO, Huize Holding Limited: Yeah.
Speaker 3: All right. Thank you. I am showing no further questions. With that, I’ll turn the conference back to Mr. Kenny Lo for his closing comments.
Kenny Lo, Investor Relations Manager, Huize Holding Limited: Thank you, operator. In closing, on behalf of Huize’s management team, we would like to thank you for your participation in today’s call. If you require any further information, feel free to reach out to us. Thank you for joining us today. This concludes the call.
Speaker 3: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect.
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