BEIJING, Feb 27, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) — Revenue Growth Accelerates in the Fourth Quarter

Company Announces US$300 Million Revolving Credit Facility from Baidu

Qunar Cayman Islands Limited QUNR -1.53%  (“Qunar” or the “Company”), China’s leading search-based travel commerce platform, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2013. In addition, Qunar announced that it has obtained a three-year US$300 million revolving credit facility from Baidu, Inc. (“Baidu”), the Company’s controlling shareholder, effective as of February 27, 2014.

Highlights for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2013

— Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB251.0 million (US$41.5 million), an increase of 74.2% from the corresponding period in 2012.

— Total revenues for fiscal year 2013 were RMB850.9million (US$140.6 million), an increase of 69.6% from fiscal year 2012.

— Mobile revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB49.6 million (US$8.2 million), an increase of 390.6% year-on-year, representing 19.8% of total revenues, compared to 7.0% in the corresponding period of 2012.

— Mobile revenues for fiscal year 2013 were RMB127.1 million (US$21.0 million), an increase of 558.4% year-on-year, representing 14.9% of total revenues for fiscal year 2013, compared to 3.8% in fiscal year 2012.

— Total number of web and mobile users in the 12-month period ended December 31, 2013 was 234.2 million and 53.8 million, respectively, compared to 187.3 million and 21.9 million, respectively, in the 12-month period ended December 31, 2012.

— Total number of web and mobile queries for the fourth quarter of 2013 was 595.7 million and 261.0 million, respectively, an increase of 46.4% and 235.2% year-on-year.

— Total number of web and mobile queries for fiscal year 2013 was 2.2 billion and 782.2 million, respectively, an increase of 42.4% and 303.4% year-on-year.

“I am pleased to report that we saw accelerating revenue growth in the fourth quarter, which capped a strong 2013,” said Chenchao (CC) Zhuang, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qunar. “In 2013, we saw significant year-on-year flight and hotel volume growth, with Total Estimated Flight Ticket volume and Total Estimated Hotel Room nights growing 108% and 117%, respectively.”

“Our relentless commitment to creating value for our users has allowed us to consistently achieve industry-leading growth. Looking to the year ahead, we will keep this focus by maintaining our price leadership, expanding our product offerings, enhancing service quality and introducing innovative features in all our key segments, such as flights, hotels, vacation packages, and destination services, on any device at any time. We expect even stronger growth in the year to come.”

“In addition to encouraging top-line growth in the fourth quarter, we saw strong growth in mobile queries, which accounted for 76% and 36% of total hotel searches and flight searches respectively, on peak days in the fourth quarter of 2013,” said Sam Sun, chief financial officer of Qunar. “The new credit facility with Baidu announced today gives us further liquidity to support our long-term investments, and is a testament to Baidu’s firm commitment to Qunar. In 2014 we will further intensify our investments in product development and our product sourcing network to capture exciting growth opportunities and extend Qunar’s leadership in China’s online travel industry.”

Fourth Quarter 2013 Financial Results

Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB251.0 million (US$41.5 million), an increase of 74.2% year-on-year and 4.1% quarter-on-quarter. Mobile revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB49.6 million (US$8.2 million), an increase of 390.6% year-on-year, representing 19.8% of total revenues. Pay-for-performance (“P4P”) revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB222.7 million (US$36.8 million), an increase of 83.8% year-on-year and 5.6% quarter-on-quarter.

Among the P4P revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013, flight and flight related revenues were RMB159.4 million (US$26.3 million), an increase of 77.6% year-on-year and 4.3% quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year P4P flight revenue growth was primarily driven by a 94.3% increase in TEFT and an 8.6% decrease in revenue per ticket; quarter-on-quarter P4P flight revenue growth was primarily driven by a 5.1% increase in TEFT.

P4P hotel revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB53.4 million (US$8.8 million), an increase of 83.6% year-on-year and 6.6% quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year P4P hotel revenue growth was primarily due to a 99.0% increase in TEHR and a 7.8% decrease in revenue per room night due to the launch of the Company’s hotel coupon program in January 2013; quarter-on-quarter P4P hotel revenue growth was primarily driven by a 34.5% increase in revenue per room night due to tapering of our hotel coupon program and a 20.8% decrease in TEHR due to seasonality.

Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB200.2 million (US$33.1 million), an increase of 75.1% year-on-year and an increase of 4.6% quarter-on-quarter. The year-on-year increase was primarily due to the significant increase in overall revenues, and was partially offset by an increase in sales tax and surcharges, an increase in short-message-service fees and an increase in data acquisition cost as a result of an increase in flight search queries.

Product development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB107.9 million (US$17.8 million), an increase of 99.6% year-on-year and 19.0% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to an increase in salary, welfare and other headcount-related expenses associated with the growth of the product development team. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, product development expenses accounted for 39.8% of total revenues, compared to 34.9% for the corresponding period of 2012, and 35.5% for the third quarter of 2013.

Sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB133.8 million (US$22.1 million), an increase of 114.8% year-on-year and 23.8% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to increases in online marketing expenses and the number of sales and marketing personnel. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, sales and marketing expenses accounted for 51.7% of total revenues for the fourth quarter, compared to 42.3% for the corresponding period of 2012 and 44.2% for the third quarter of 2013.

General and administrative expenses for the fourth quarter of 2013 were RMB59.2 million (US$9.8 million), an increase of 379.9% year-on-year and 103.3% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to a substantial increase in share-based compensation expenses and an increase in salary and welfare as a result of increased headcount and average salary. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses accounted for 12.2% of total revenues for the fourth quarter, compared to 7.8% for the corresponding period of 2012 and 11.2% for the third quarter of 2013.

Operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB100.7 million (US$16.6 million), compared to RMB14.3 million for the corresponding period of 2012 and RMB36.4 million for the third quarter of 2013.

Net loss attributable to Qunar’s shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB121.6 million (US$20.1 million), compared to RMB18.6 million for the corresponding period of 2012 and RMB48.8 million for the third quarter of 2013. The increase in net loss attributable to Qunar’s shareholders was primarily due to continued investment in product development, marketing efforts to drive business growth and an increase in share-based compensation expenses. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS for the fourth quarter of 2013 was RMB1.11 (US$0.18).

Adjusted net loss (non-GAAP), defined as net loss excluding share-based compensation expenses and non-cash expenses relating to free user traffic contributed by Baidu, was RMB 79.4 million (US$13.1 million) for the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to RMB10.7 million for the corresponding period of 2012 and RMB 38.7million for the third quarter of 2013.

Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), defined as net loss before income taxes, interest expenses, depreciation and amortization, further adjusted to exclude share-based compensation expenses and non-cash expenses relating to free user traffic contributed by Baidu, for the fourth quarter of 2013 was negative RMB46.5 million (US$7.7 million), compared to negative RMB1.7 million for the corresponding period of 2012 and negative RMB18.8 million for the third quarter of 2013.

Fiscal Year 2013 Financial Results

Total revenues for 2013 were RMB850.9 million (US$140.6 million), representing a 69.6% increase from 2012. Total mobile revenues for 2013 were RMB127.1 million (US$21.0 million), an increase of 558.4% from 2012, representing 14.9% of total revenues compared to 3.8% of 2012 total revenues. Pay-for-performance (“P4P”) revenues for 2013 were RMB749.7 million (US$123.8 million), an increase of 77.6% from 2012.

Of the P4P revenues, flight and flight related revenues for 2013 were RMB550.8 million (US$91.0 million), an increase of 79.0% from 2012. Year-on-year P4P flight revenue growth was primarily driven by a 107.8% increase in TEFT and a 13.8% decrease in revenue per ticket.

P4P hotel revenues for 2013 were RMB172.3 million (US$28.5 million), an increase of 59.3% from 2012. Year-on-year P4P hotel revenue growth was primarily due to a 117.2% increase in TEHR and a 26.6% decrease in revenue per room night due to our hotel coupon program launched in January 2013.

Gross profit for 2013 was RMB677.5 million (US$111.9 million), a 66.9% increase from 2012. The increase was primarily due to a significant increase in revenues and partially offset by increases in sales tax and surcharges, short-message-service fees and data acquisition cost, as a result of an increase in flight search queries.

Product development expenses for 2013 were RMB319.0 million (US$52.7 million), an increase of 70.4% from 2012, primarily due to an increase in salary, welfare and other headcount-related expenses associated with the growth of the product development team. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, product development expenses accounted for 35.0% of total revenues, compared to 34.3% for 2012.

Sales and marketing expenses for 2013 were RMB382.8 million (US$63.2 million), an increase of 57.0% from 2012, primarily due to increases in online marketing expenses and the number of sales and marketing personnel. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, sales and marketing expenses accounted for 44.1% of total revenues, compared to 47.3% for 2012.

General and administrative expenses for 2013 were RMB129.2 million (US$21.3 million), an increase of 155.5% year-on-year, primarily due to a substantial increase in share-based compensation expenses and an increase in salary and welfare as a result of increases in headcount and average salaries. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses accounted for 11.0% of total revenues, compared to 9.0% for 2012.

Operating loss for 2013 was RMB153.5 million (US$25.4 million), compared to RMB75.7 million for 2012.

Net loss attributable to Qunar’s shareholders for 2013 was RMB187.3 million (US$30.9 million), compared to RMB91.1 million for 2012. The increase was primarily due to continued investment in product development, marketing efforts to drive business growth and an increase in share-based compensation expenses. Basic and diluted net loss per ADS for 2013 was RMB1.84 (US$0.30), compared to RMB0.97 (US$0.16) for 2012.

Adjusted net loss (non-GAAP), defined as net loss excluding share-based compensation expenses and non-cash expenses relating to free user traffic contributed by Baidu, was RMB117.7 million (US$19.4 million) for 2013, compared to RMB57.3 million for 2012.

Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), defined as net loss before income taxes, interest expenses, depreciation and amortization, further adjusted to exclude share-based compensation expenses and non-cash expenses relating to free user traffic contributed by Baidu, was negative RMB51.7 million (US$8.5 million) for 2013, compared to negative RMB24.0 million for 2012.

As of December 31, 2013, Qunar had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of RMB1.871 billion (US$309.0 million).

As of December 31, 2013, Qunar had 2,585 full-time employees, of which 47% were product development personnel.

Business Outlook

For the first quarter of 2014, the Company expects year-on-year revenue growth in the range of 65% to 70%. This forecast reflects Qunar’s current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

New Baidu Credit Facility

Effective as of February 27, 2014, Qunar has entered into a US$300 million revolving credit facility agreement with Baidu. The three-year credit facility bears no commitment fee. Any drawdown bears interest at a rate of 90% of the benchmark lending rate published by the People’s Bank of China and shall be repaid within three years from the drawdown date. Qunar is allowed to repay its outstanding debt obligation at maturity either by cash or by Qunar shares. The applicable share conversion price will be determined by the prevailing share price at the maturity date. This credit facility will be used for working capital requirements and general corporate purposes, and will further strengthen the Company’s liquidity and enable it to capitalize on the tremendous growth opportunities in China’s online travel market.

Conference Call

Qunar’s management team will host an earnings conference call at 8:00PM on February 27, 2014, U.S. Eastern Time (09:00AM on February 28)(09:2014)(09:Beijing Time).

The dial-in details for the live conference call are as follows: