Meitu logs best paid subscriber growth in four years

Meitu Inc. (1357.HK), a provider of services to the beauty industry, on Friday said it logged its best quarterly increase in paid subscribers in the last four years during the three months to September, as its international business gained notable traction.

The company said it had 19.83 million paying subscribers at the end of September, up 7.5% from 18.44 million paid subscribers three months earlier. Its addition of 1.39 million paid subscribers during the latest three-month period marked its strongest quarterly net gain in four years. It noted that subscriptions for leisure applications were particularly strong, and that paying subscriber growth from international markets continued to outpace China.

Revenue from the company’s core business offering photo, video and design-related services rose 28.2% year-on-year in the third quarter to 1 billion yuan ($150 million). Within that figure, revenue from applications for productivity rose 42.3% year-on-year to account for 20% of photo, video and design-related product revenue. Revenue from applications for leisure rose 27.9% to account for the remaining 80%.

Meitu’s stock was up 6.7% at HK$3.90 in Tuesday afternoon trading in Hong Kong. The stock is still down about 44% this year.

By Doug Young

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