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Financial Highlights
Highlights for the Fourth Quarter of 2009:
- Total revenues: $6.2 million, representing a decrease of $0.7 million quarter-over-quarter and a decrease of $8.2 million year-over-year.
- Wireless value-added services (“WVAS”) revenues: $2.3 million, representing a decrease of $2.2 million quarter-over-quarter and a decrease of $9.2 million year-over-year.
- Recorded music revenues, which are from our record label businesses: $3.9 million, representing an increase of $1.5 million quarter-over-quarter and an increase of $0.9 million year-over-year.
- Net loss attributable to Hurray! Holding: $4.6 million
- EBITDA[1]: a net loss of $4.5 million
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Loss per ADS-basic and diluted: $0.21
Highlights for the Fiscal Year 2009:
- Total revenues: $34.6 million, as compared with $54.0 million for 2008
- WVAS revenues: $20.1 million, as compared with $42.7 million for 2008.
- Recorded music revenues: $14.5 million, as compared with $11.3 million for 2008
- Net loss attributable to Hurray! Holding: $22.7 million, as compared with net loss of $12.0 million for 2008
- EBITDA[1]: $20.6 million, as compared with $ 9.7 million for 2008
- Loss per ADS-basic and diluted: $1.03
Commenting on the fourth quarter results, Mr. Haibin Qu, Acting CEO of Hurray! stated:
“As a result of Hurray!’s focused effort in restructuring our business resources in the past few months, we are pleased to have improved our non-WVAS business profitability despite ongoing WVAS industry headwinds which have impacted our WVAS business. Going forward, we will execute our new strategic initiatives according to our long-term strategies to further develop Hurray! into a leading digital media entertainment distribution platform.”
Business Results
Total revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009 were $6.2 million, representing a decrease of 10.2% from $6.9 million for the previous quarter and 57.2% from $14.4 million for the same quarter last year.
Total revenues for fiscal year 2009 were $34.6 million, representing a decrease of 35.8% from $54.0 million for fiscal year 2008.
Total WVAS revenues were $2.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, representing a decrease of 48.2% from $4.5 million in the previous quarter and 79.9% from $11.5 million in the same quarter of 2008 as a result of business operation environment changes and our internal integrations.
Total WVAS revenues for fiscal year 2009 were $20.1 million, a decline of 52.7% as compared with $42.7 million in fiscal year 2008.
Recorded music revenues, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009, which represent revenues of our controlled music companies Freeland Music, Huayi Brothers Music, Hurray! Secular Bird and Seed Music, which was acquired on January 1, 2009, were $3.9 million, increased from $2.4 million in the previous quarter and $3.0 million in the same period of 2008, mainly reflects the effects of our ongoing resource realignment and business integration.
Total recorded music revenues for fiscal year 2009 were $14.5 million, representing growth of 28.2% as compared with $11.3 million in 2008.
Gross margin was 20.1% for the fourth quarter of 2009 as compared with 20.7% for the previous quarter and 5.0% for the same period of 2008.
For fiscal year 2009, gross margin was 19.3% as compared with 26.7% for fiscal year 2008.
Gross margin for WVAS was 33.1% for the fourth quarter of 2009, as compared with 27.3% in the previous quarter, and 2.9% for the same period of 2008.
Gross margin for WVAS was 24.0% for fiscal year 2009 as compared with 23.0% for fiscal year 2008.
Recorded music gross margin was 12.3% for the fourth quarter of 2009 as compared with 8.6% in the previous quarter and 13.0% for the same period of 2008.
Recorded music gross margin was 12.8% for fiscal year 2009 as compared with 40.4% for fiscal year 2008.
Total gross profit was $1.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, as compared with $1.4 million for the previous quarter, and $0.7 million for the same period of 2008.
For fiscal year 2009, total gross profit was $6.7 million, a decline of 53.5% as compared with $14.4 million for fiscal 2008.
Total operating expenses were $6.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. This represents a decrease of 3.5% as compared with the total operating expenses of $6.5 million for the previous quarter, and an increase of 5.0% as compared with the total operating expenses of $6.0 million for the same period of 2008.
For fiscal year 2009, total operating expenses, which included provisions for account receivable and other current assets of $3.8 million, professional service fees relating to the Shanda tender offer of $2.5 million, impairment for goodwill of $3.6 million and a write-down for intangible assets of $ 3.5 million for our music business due to the continued challenging business conditions, were $33.4 million, representing an increase of 47.3% as compared with $22.7 million for fiscal 2008 which included impairment for intangible assets of $2.5 million and goodwill of $2.7 million.
The income tax expense for the fourth quarter of 2009 was approximately $6,000, as compared with $0.7 million in the previous quarter and an income tax benefit of approximately $93,000 for the same period of 2008.
For fiscal 2009, interest income was $0.5 million as compared with $1.6 million in 2008, and income tax expense was $0.2 million compared with $0.5 million in 2008.
Net loss attributable to Hurray! Holding was $4.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2009.
For the fiscal year 2009, net loss attributable to Hurray! was $22.7 million, compared with net loss of $12.0 million for the fiscal 2008.
EBITDA was negative $4.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, as compared with an EBITDA of negative $4.0 million in the previous quarter. A reconciliation of net loss attributable to Hurray! Holding Company under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and adjusted EBITDA is included at the end of this release.
EBITDA was negative $20.6 million for fiscal year 2009, as compared with negative $9.7 million in the previous year.
Fully diluted loss per ADS was $0.21 based on a weighted average of 22.0 million diluted ADSs for the fourth quarter of 2009, as compared with the diluted loss per ADSs of $0.23 based on a weighted average of 22.0 million diluted ADSs for the previous quarter, and a fully diluted loss per ADS of $0.42 based on a weighted average of 21.9 million diluted ADSs for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Fully diluted loss per ADS was $1.03 based on a weighted average of 22.0 million diluted ADSs for fiscal year 2009 as compared with $0.55 based on a weighted average of 21.9 million diluted ADSs for fiscal 2008.
As of December 31, 2009, the Company had $48.5 million in cash and cash equivalents, and short term time deposit of $10.0 million.
Business Highlights
Hurray! continued executing its strategy of developing proprietary content and diversifying distribution channels, with the following highlights:
- Hurray! launched 11 new mobile games and mobile themes on China Mobile’s portal in the fourth quarter of 2009, including “Heavy Metal World 2”, and “X-Snake”. In the first quarter of 2010, we are launching another 12 new mobile games, mobile themes and mobile software on China Mobile’s portal, and 3 new mobile games on each China Unicom’s and China Telecom’s portal respectively.
- In November, “The World of Legend – Magical Land” was selected as one of the high-rated mobile games in China Mobile’s G-plus game package, and was the number one downloaded mobile games for the month.
- Hurray! affiliated music companies, including Huayi Brothers Music, Freeland Music, New Run Entertainment, Secular Bird and Seed Music, released a series of new songs, including 28 albums, and launched successful marketing programs to promote the new releases simultaneously over Internet and wireless platforms. Subsequently, “Love Embrace” by Kuo Shu Yao (better known as “Yao Yao”), topped the Taiwan best-seller list as album sales soared for 2 consecutive weesks. Another Seed Music’s popular singer, Landy Wen (“Wen Lan”), held a press conference in Beijing to promote her latest album "Dancing Queen" on October 27. Huayi Brothers Music artist, Laure Shang (“Shang Wen Jie”) also released her most impressive album so far, “Time Lady” during this quarter.
- Hurray! artists, including Landy Wen received awards for their outstanding performances at various prestigious music award ceremonies in Asia, including “Best EP” for Landy Wen.
Business Outlook
Completion of Merger with Ku6 Holding Limited (“Ku6”)
On January 21, 2010, the Company announced the completion, effective January 18, 2010, of the previously announced merger with Ku6, a leading online video portal in China, pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement by and among Hurray!, Ku6 and the shareholders of Ku6 dated as of November 26, 2009. Following the completion of this merger, the Company announced the appointment of Mr. Danian Chen and Mr. Shanyou Li to the Hurray! Board of Directors, effective January 19, 2010.
Note to the Financial Information
The unaudited financial information disclosed above is preliminary. The audit of the financial statements and related notes to be included in the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2009 is still in progress. Adjustments to the financial statements may be identified when audit work is completed, which could result in significant differences from the audited financial statements to this preliminary unaudited financial information relating to. In addition, because management’s evaluation of the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting in connection with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has not yet been completed, the Company makes no representation as to the effectiveness of those internal controls as of the end of the Company’s fiscal year 2009.
[1] A non-GAAP measure, which is defined as net loss attributable to Hurray! Holding company except for income (loss) before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization. |