360 Finance, a Beijing-based digital consumer finance platform, reported Monday that it made a total net revenue of RMB 2 billion (USD 299.3 million), an increase of 235% from RMB 599.4 million in the same period of 2018.
Its net income grew even more faster than its revenue, reaching RMB 719.9 million (USD 107.3 million) in the first quarter, up 340% year-on-year.
Across the whole year of 2018, the company booked a net income of RMB 1.2 billion (USD 173.5 million), increasing a whopping 624% from RMB 164.8 million in 2017.
Jun Xu, CEO of 360 Finance, said that that the platform attracted a record 3.5 million new users in the first quarter with approved credit lines. He added that the company is expanding its cooperation with financial institutions and has received approval to list a total of RMB 10 billion of asset-backed securities on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges soon, which should help reduce its funding cost over time.
360 Finance which started operation in July 2016, is far from being an early mover in China’s consumer finance sector. Since 2015, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi and JD.com have already allowed its uses to access microloans via their platforms.
But 360 Finance caught up quickly, partly because of its affiliation with 360 Security Technology Inc., the successor of Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. which delisted from the US capital market in 2016. 360 Security got listed in Shanghai in 2018. It is now one of the largest internet companies in China, connecting over 1 billion accumulated mobile devices.
When 360 Finance sought an initial public offering of 3.1 million American depositary shares on Nasdaq in December 2018, it emphasized its connection to 360 Security, which is historically its most important borrower acquisition channel.
360 Finance rose 1.95% to USD 16.75 in post-market trading on Monday.
Contact the writer at jingli@kr-asia.com
Editor: Nadine Freischlad
