Niu Technologies

Good day ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the new technologies fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. Later we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder we are recording today's call. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. Now, I will turn the call over to Ms. Crystal Lee, Investor Relations Manager of New Technologies. Ms. Lee, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone. Welcome to today's conference call to discuss new technologies resolved for the fourth quarter of 2025. The earnings press release, corporate presentations, and financial spreadsheets have been posted on our Investor Relations website. This call is being webcast from company's IR set as well, and a replay of the call will be available soon. Please note, today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provision of the U.S. Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements invoke risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors. The company's actual results may be materially different from those expressed today. Further information regarding the risk factors is included in company's public feelings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement except as required by law. Our early press release and this call include discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. The press release contains the definition of non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial results. On the call with me today are our CEO, Dr. Yan Li, and CFO, Ms. Tian Zhou. Now, let me turn the call over to CEO Yan.

Thank you, Crystal, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter 2025 result call. 2025 was a year of continuous strategic transformation for new. We navigated a complex regulatory shift in China, executed a successful breakthrough in electric motorcycle segment, and overhauled our international distribution for micro-mobility, all while significantly expanding our growth margins. While our fourth quarter volume reflects the temporary friction inherent in those structural changes, the robust foundation we have built positions us perfectly for accelerated high quality and profitable growth in 2026. Now let's turn to the numbers. In the fourth quarter, we delivered 172,000 units, represent a 23.8% year-over-year decline. This comprised of 158,782 units in China, down 12% year-over-year, and close to 14,000 units overseas. down 68% year-over-year. I want to spend a minute to dive deep in both figures, as they are direct results of a proactive strategic transition we outlined earlier this year. First, regarding the China market, this decline was fully anticipated results of the transition to the new national standards for the electric bicycles. As we highlighted in our previous call, production of old standard models ceased on August 31st while the retail window closed on November 30th. This led to a significant inventory front-loading by our distributors and retailers in Q3 2025. Naturally, this pulls the sales forward, temporarily reducing our selling volume for Q4. However, we evaluate the second half of 2025 as a whole. Our China delivers actual growth 38% year-over-year, confirming that our continued growth momentum for the entire year. Now turning to our overseas performance, the volume decline was deliberately driven by a strategic realignment of our micro-mobility channels. In the key markets like the US and Germany, we have transitioned away from a traditional distributor-led model in favor of direct-to-retailer partnerships. While this structural shift meant our former distributors paused orders to clear legacy inventories, it is a necessary evolution. It allowed us to capture higher margins and establish a closer, more agile relationship with our customers. Now, zooming out to the full year of 2025, the success of our broader strategy is clear. The total sales volume reached 1.19 million units, a robust of 29% year-on-year increase. This was fueled by exceptional performance in China, where sales surged 46% to surpass 1.11 million units. While our international volume of 80,000 units, a 51% decline, reflect a year of deliberate channel restructuring, we successfully prioritized a long-term profitability over empty volume. The total revenue for the year reached RMB 4.31 billion, up 31% year-over-year. Most impressively, our full-year growth margin reached 19.6%, expanding by a massive 4.4 percentage point year-over-year, reflecting our premium product mix and operation efficiencies. Now, let me dive deeper into the specific operation dynamics of our China in the international markets. Let's first look at China operations. We conclude the physical year with the exceptional performance across the China market. Total domestic sales volume successfully surpassed 1 million milestone, reached 1.11 million units, representing a robust 46.5% year-on-year increase. This was the direct results of our highly integrated domestic strategy. Our momentum was propelled by four key pillars. One, the portfolio optimization expanding into high-growth category like electric motorcycles, while maintaining our high-end market positions in electric bicycles. Second, technological leadership sustained investment in cutting-edge smart riding innovation. Third, breadth elevations targeted campaigns that solidified our premium positions, particularly among the Gen Z demographics. And the last, the channel expansion, aggressive scaling of retail network into the lower tier cities. Together, those initiatives allowed us to capture a significant market share and drive high volume growth in our home market. Now first, in 2025, we further fortified our product foundation late in 2024, our core NMUF matrix has become the backbone of our business, representing nearly all of our total volume. The N series continue to be our standout performers, delivering a 43% of our total sales and successfully capturing every tier of the market. Throughout 2025, our focus remained on hero SKU development and rapid innovations. This disciplined approach, where nine major products now account for more than 70% of sales, allowed us to iterate faster and deploy our technology platform more effectively, resulting in a leaner and highly responsive product structure. Perhaps the most defining structural evolution for new in 2025 was our breakthrough into the electric motorcycle segment, led by a phenomenal success of SX Windstorm, The e-motorcycle now represents more than 23% of our total annual sales. This achievement validates our diversification strategy and proves our unique capability to accelerate the new market calibers. The FX Windstorm has democratized high-end performance by integrating high-torque powertrains, strong durable frames supporting a top speed of 80 km per hour, and flagship technologies like dual-channel ABS and millimeter wave radar into an accessible RMB 4,000 to 5,000 RMB range, we created a matched competitive mode. As the first high-speed e-motorcycle for the Gen Z segment, its momentum surged to a remarkable 42% of our total sales in the fourth quarter. Beyond its appeal to a young enthusiast, the Windstorm spec defined by a high torque powertrain and durability served as our primary engine to break through the high-growth delivery segment Recognizing that professional riders were underserved, we responded with a targeted multimodal ladder strategy. The FX Windstorm with its robust frame and the high-performance motor, the FX was our first model to successfully penetrate the delivery market, proving our consumer tech could meet the intensive commercial demands. The NX Windstorm. In Q4, we launched the NX specifically for the delivery professional who requires a higher capacity storage built on our newly developed high durability frames with a class leading 40 liters compartment. The NX contribute 10.5% to our Q4 volume in its debut quarter. And lastly, the NS and FS windstorm, the entry level anchors. To complete our coverage, Those entry-level anchors serve as our high-value entry-level performance offerings, allowing us to capture the budget-conscious professionals and daily commuters while maintaining a core Windstorm DNA. This expansion, alongside with our premium daily commute specs, has built a highly resilient and diversified revenue base for electric motorcycle segments. Now looking ahead to 2026, we'll continue to scale this leadership developing a tailored e-motorcycle offerings for female riders and technology enthusiasts, accelerating our growth in the segments. Now moving to our electric bicycle segments. The 2025 was a pivotal transition year as the industry prepared for the China's new national standard. Our strategy was twofold, maintaining our dominance in the premium tier while aggressively populating our pipeline with the next generation compliant products. Now to capture the high-end demand, we launched the NXT Ultra 2025 and FXT Ultra 2025. The NXT Ultra features the 10 major upgrades with 77% core components redesign to solidify its position as the premium market leaders. Meanwhile, FX Ultra also added safety benchmarks such as millimeter wave radars and dual-channel ABS. The market response was exceptional. We achieved over 20,000 units sold within the first five hours, generating more than RMB 220 million in sales, and ranking as the top-selling item across major e-commerce platforms. We also continue to iterate our key models. The MT, our best-selling urban commuter, now accounts for more than 20% of our total annual sales. With its compact design, a vibrant style, and the OK Go Assist system, It has become particularly popular with our female demographics, proving our ability to design a specific lifestyle segment. The U3 Pro will upgrade the Gen Z favorites with a fine-tone dual-channel ABS, offering the perfect blend of a trend-driven design and high-performance safety. Now, to lead the transition to our new national standard, we strategically launched two key compliance series. The first one, the U1-1, as our first new standard compliant bicycle. The U1 redefined the urban style. Priced between RMB $41.99 to $46.99, it features the lightweight design and the smart integration like TCS and keyless entry. The K-Series, launched in late 2025, the K-Series is the lifestyle first platform. Starting at RMB $37.99, it features an innovative flat-type ring-arm skeleton frame for unmatched stability. With a 4.3-inch TFT display and matchable smart features, it is a personalized mobility statement that drives the trend towards intelligent commuting. Our full matrix of new standard products is progressing steadily, with a complete portfolio on track for a full rollout by Q2 2026. And in fact, we'll be showcasing a selection of those upcoming products at our launch event tomorrow. Now, beyond our product expansion, 2025 was also a year of rapid advancement in our core technology stack. Our R&D strategy focused on the two primary objectives, democratizing the intelligent technology and pioneering the next generation of assistive mobility. In 2025, we successfully migrated high-end intelligent safety features previously exclusive to our flagship models down into our mid-range and entry-level product. This includes a broader implementation of ABS braking system and the radar technology, significantly raising the safety floor for the entire industry. Furthermore, we have introduced a suite of advanced smart functions across more product tiers, including full-screen navigation and our signature magic wheel interface, the dual-direction smart throttles, and adaptive hill descent system. Those features ensure a broader demographic of new riders can enjoy a premium flagship-level experience regardless of their price point. At a high-end R&D, we continue to push the boundary of what is possible in the two-wheel industry. Looking ahead to 2026, our focus shifts towards a collaborative and experienced intelligence. We are integrating scenario-based interactions and AI agent capabilities across our entire product ecosystem to create a more intuitive interaction between the rider and the machine. In fact, we're incredibly excited to announce that we'll be unveiling the industry's first AI-enabled smart scooter at our product launch event tomorrow on March 17. We look forward to sharing more details during this event. And finally, our platform-based R&D strategy continues to deliver a significant operational benefit throughout 2025. By really standardizing the core components and the chassis architecture, we have not only accelerated our product development cycles, but also improved the manufacturing consistency and the cost efficiency. Now, throughout 2025, we proactively leveraged event-driven initiatives to expand our core user community while making a targeted effort to solidify our position among the critical Gen Z demographics. Over the past year, we host more than 50 integrated brand activities directly engaging over half a million offline participants and generate 346 million total impressions. Those initiatives were strategically synchronized with our product launches to maximize impact. Key highlights included a high profile crossovers such as partnering with popular titles like Game for Peace, online gaming to resonate with the younger gamers. A performance validation setting up lap record for electric two wheelers at the Shanghai F1 event showing case our engineering power. A community milestones, our 10th anniversary playful festivals and dedicated outdoor scenario based campaigns ranging from hiking, to competitive cycling, which embedded the new brand deeply within the outdoor enthusiast community. As we enter 2026, we're strategically pivoting back to the brand-driven growth. We initiated this shift with the high-profile announcement of our two global brand ambassadors, Wu Lei and Song Yuqi. Niu is the first in our industry to launch two global ambassadors simultaneously perfectly embody our core value of performance, trend, and use. This appointment ignites a media blitz that generated over 3.4 billion online impressions. We leveraged this momentum through a saturated offline presence, activating landmark digital displays, and dominating a high-speed real hub across 35 cities, reaching an estimate of 500 million travelers. Now, this integrated brand campaign served a clear purpose to really reinforce New's position as the leading premium electric mobility brand. By combining a massive digital reach with a physical presence, we are building the brand equity necessary to support our next phase of expansion. Now, in 2025, we continue to aggressively strengthen both our retail footprint and our digital ecosystem. Our nationwide store network has now surpassed 4,500 locations. Throughout this year, we added over 800 new stores with a strategic focus on lower tier cities. This delivery expansion is driving a deeper market coverage. Our digital channels maintain exceptional momentum in 2025. The total online sales reached approximately half a million units, supported by remarkable high online conversion rate of near 50%. This metric is a testament to the health of our consumer demand and seamless efficiency of online to offline model, which successfully bridged the online purchase with a physical rate of fulfillment. Now with the social e-commerce, Douyin has solidified its position as our primary social e-commerce engine. Our ecosystem there is powered by a non-official flagship account and close to 1,000 dealer-operated accounts, generated over 95,000 live streams and 2.51 billion annual impressions. Having a perfected social e-commerce playbook, we plan to rapidly replicate the success model on Kuaishou in 2026. We have also expanded our online coverage to Meituan, with 73 of our retail stores with Meituan account, another mass online channel for Brotherage. Now, moving to our international operation. While 2025 was a transition year for our overseas market, the underlying data reveals a significant structural improvement and a much healthier foundation for the year ahead. For the full year, overseas sales totaled 80,000 units, with close to 14,000 units delivered in the fourth quarter. First, our performance in international electric motorcycle segment was a major highlight. In Q4, we have delivered more than 2,000 units, 187% year-over-year increase. For the full year, the sales unit surged to 9,600 units, up to a 227% increase compared with 2024. This success was directly driven by our direct-to-retailer model. By bypassing the traditional dishwares, we significantly expand our dealer networks from 120 to close to 300 by Q4, surpassing our initial expansion target and giving us the direct control over the brand experience and pricing. We also used 2025 to see our future growth, and ECMA 2025 will unveil a strong global pipeline, including a FQi X Urban series, an NQi 1000 high-performance motorcycle, and XQi 500 off-road series. Those models will enter global markets through our DTR channels in 2026. Furthermore, we'll pioneer a new territory such as North Africa, marked by our successful commercial launch in Algeria, with our first 900 units CKD shipment in June. With this operation foundation in place, we expect a continued rapid growth in the electric motorcycle segment throughout 2026. Now, in the micromobility segment, we executed a planned transition to prioritize a long-term health over short-term volume. A full year sales total of 70,000 units with a year-over-year decline reflecting our strategic decision to restructure channels in the US and Germany. We have successfully moved away from distributor-heavy models in favor of direct retail partnership. This transition allows us to capture a higher margin exert greater control over our brands, and respond with much more agility to shifting retail trends. Now, the most critical indicator of brand health is on the retail end. We saw over 100,000 scooters activated by consumers this year. The fact that activations are significantly higher ourselves in volume is definitely a sign of a robust consumer demand. With this new channel model, our priority to finalize the inventory normalization and position this business for sustainable and profitable growth. Now looking ahead, we see 2026 as a year defined by strategic acceleration across our entire diversified portfolio. Our groundwork in 2025 has set the stage for significant scaling in both our domestic and international operations. In the China market, in the electric bicycle segment, we expect the market to continue navigating a transitional phase through the Q1 of 2026 this year as the new standards are fully implemented. We anticipate the consumer demand to remain measured through Q1, followed by a pronounced recovery as the regulatory framework stabilizes and the supply chain adapts. To lead this recovery, we'll execute a phase rollout of our new standard product matrix with a full compliant lineup on track for completion by Q2, 2026. Conversely, our electric motorcycle segment is poised for a major breakout, supported by an increasing favorable regulatory environment and a powerful market validation of our windstorm platform. We are strategically positioned to capture the accelerated growth in this category. With the expanded product portfolio to cover more consumer segments, we believe we have built the most resilient and comprehensive e-motorcycle line up, capable of capturing market shares across both professional and the lifestyle segments. Now turning into our international operations, we are transitioning from a period of restructuring to one for profitable scaling. In the electric motorcycle segments, we project a continued and disciplined expansion fueled by our measured direct retail network. By owning those dealer relationships directly, we're seeing a significant improvement in brand consistency and the service quality, which we expect to translate into higher volume growth. In the micro mobility segment, our primary objective for 2026 remains the finalization of the inventory normalization by prioritizing healthy sell-through over our artificial selling volume and maintaining a lean agile channel structure while establishing a sustainable baseline for the near future. Now, in summary, based on our current market visibility and momentum for our new product launches, we expect a total sales volume for the full year of 2026 to reach between 1.67 million to 1.91 million units. Now with that, let me turn the call to Fiyang.

Thank you, Yan. And hello, everyone. Please note that our press release contains all the figures and comparisons you need. And we have also uploaded the Excel format figures to our IR website for your easy reference. As I review our financial results, I'm referring to the fourth quarter figures, unless they are otherwise, and all monetary figures are not specified. Again, as mentioned, our total sales volume for the fourth quarter was 173,000 units, a decrease of 24% compared to the same period of last year. Specifically, China sales volume was 159,000 units, accounted for 92% of total sales volume. And overseas volume was 14,000 units. For the full year 2025, total sales volume was nearly 1.2 million units, including 1.1 million units in China market and 80,000 units overseas. At the end of 2025, the number of franchise awards in China was 4,540. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $676 million, down 17% compared to the same period of last year. To break down the scooter revenues by ranging, the scooter revenues in China were $545 million, down 16% year over year, and accounted for 91% of total scooter revenues. The decrease was mainly due to the lower sales volume and revenue per scooter. China's scooter's ASP was 3,431, down 3% year-over-year and up 5% sequentially, mainly driven by the changes in product needs, with the shift from models such as MP, NLT, and NST to FX, U1, and NX, those new models. Overseas scooter revenues, including electronic motorcycles, mopeds, and heat scooters, was $36 million, representing 6% of total scooter revenues. Blended scooter ESP increased to $2,600, up 32% year-over-year, mainly driven by the greater sales mixed contribution from electronic motorcycles, which compounded the higher retail prices. Accessories, spare parts, and services revenue were 95%. up 11% year-over-year, and accounted for 14% of total revenues. This increase was primarily driven by higher revenues from new smart services, as well as from accessory spare parts sales in China market. For the full year 2025, the total revenue increased by 31%, from 3.3 billion last year to 4.3 billion this year. And China's scooter revenue as a whole saw a nearly 42% year-over-year increase from $2.6 billion last year to $3.6 billion this year, taking 93% of total scooter revenues. Overseas scooter revenues increased by 33%, from $397 million last year to $267 million this year, taking 7% of total scooter revenues The total overseas revenues, including schoolers and non-schoolers, contributing to nearly 7% of the total revenues. Let's take a look at ASC in 2025. The overall school ASC increased slightly from RMB 3,203 last year to RMB 3,269 this year. Among this, the China scooter AST decreased slightly from R&B 3,377 last year to R&B 3,264 this year, primarily due to the changes in the product mix we mentioned in the previous quarters. In 2014, large-scale scooters like NXP, NT, and M3 dominated our best sellers. with the average retail price exceeding RMB 5,000, while the more compact model MT scooters with a retail price range from RMB 3,700 to 4,600 emerged as the best seller in 2025. While in the meanwhile, the large scale scooter like NXP and LT still maintain a strong sales momentum in 2025. The overseas blended scooter ESP was 3,330, nearly 40% increase year over year, and driven by the greater proportion of revenue. So we continued by the overseas blended scooter ESP. The overseas blended scooter ESP in 2025 was 3,330, a nearly 40% increase year over year, and driven by a greater proportion of revenue contribution from higher priced electronic motorcycles and mopeds. The gross margin for the first quarter was 15.3%, up 2.9 ppt compared to the same period of last year, and the increase was primarily attributed to the continued margin improvements in the domestic market. For the full year 2025, our gross margin was 19.6%, up from 15.2% in the previous year, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.4 PPP. And this increase was primarily driven by the China market, reflecting a strategic shift in the product mix towards the higher-margin scooters, for example, the MT, NXT, FXT, and etc., along with our continued cost reduction in the domestic market. This was partially offset by a lower gross margin of kick scooters in international markets. The fourth quarter OPEX was 206 million, 13 million higher than the same period of last year, and the OPEX ratio was 30.5% compared to 23.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Selling and marketing expenses were 144 million, 8 million higher than the same period of last year, primarily due to the higher rental expenses in the international markets, along with the increased staff cost and the higher depreciation and amortization expenses. These were partially offset by a decrease in advertising and promotion expenses in China market. Selling and marketing expenses accounted for 21.3% of revenue, compared to 16.6% in the same period of last year and 12.7% last quarter. Research and development expenses were nearly $50 million, $11 million higher than the same period of last year, mainly due to the higher staff costs, share-based compensation, and increased design and testing expenses. Research and development expenses accounted for 7.3% of revenue, compared to 4.7% in the same period of last year and 2.6% last quarter. General and administrative expenses were nearly 13 million, around 6 million lower than the same period of last year, mainly due to a decrease in taxes and surcharges, which were partially offset by an increase in foreign exchange losses. G&A expenses accounted for 1.8% of revenue and compared to 2.2% in the same period of last year and 2.3% last quarter. For the full year 2025, the OPEX were RMB 933 million, 24% higher than last year. And the OPEX ratio was nearly 21.7% compared to 22.8% last year. Selling and marketing expenses were 676 million, 186 million, or 38% higher than last year, and about 15.7% of revenue, compared to 14.9% in 2024. R&D expenses were 166 million, 36 million or 28% higher than last year and about 3.9% of revenue compared to 4% in 2024. G&A expenses were 91 million, 40 million or 30% lower than last year and about 2.1% of revenue compared to 4% in 2024. Non-GAAP operating expenses for RMB 906 million accounted for 21% of revenues compared to 22.1% last year. In the fourth quarter, we had a net loss of 88 million and a non-GAAP net loss of 82 million. On a full year basis, we had a net loss of 39 million RMB and a non-GAAP net loss of 12 million RMB. Turning to our balance sheet and cash flow, we ended the year with 1.3 billion in cash, restricted cash, term deposits, and short-term investments. On an annual basis, the operating inflow was around 350 million RMB, primarily reflecting the net income after adjusting for non-cash items. Our fourth quarter capex was 48 million. And for the full year 2025, the CapEx was $178 million, $58 million higher than last year because of the module cost and store expansion in the domestic market. And now let's turn to guidance. We expect the first quarter revenue to be in the range of RMB $887 million to $1,023 million, an increase of 30% to 50% year over year. And the sales volume for 2026 was expected in the range of 1.67 million to 1.91 million units, as Yen just mentioned. Please be aware that this outlook is based on the information available as of the date and reflects the company's current and preliminary expectation, which is subject to change due to the uncertainty related to various factors. And with that, we'll now open the call for any questions that you may have for us. Operator, please go ahead.

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We'll now go to our first question.

Our first question comes from the line of Yating Chen from CICC. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Hi, Yan and Xian. This is Yatin from CSEC and I have two quick questions. First, could you share the current inventory situation for your kick scooters in overseas markets and how you are thinking about the kick scooter business in 2026? Second, with the implementation of the new national standard for scooters in China, How should we think about the potential cost increase and the company's response? Thank you. That's all my questions.

Okay, this is Fionn. I'll take the first question. Regarding to the inventory, actually, we already released the balance sheet figures in our earnings release. And the amount is around 650 million RMB for the whole inventory, net inventory level. And I should say that more than 50% of our overall inventory are the aged kick scooters, which means more than 300 million RMB inventory are coming from the aged kick scooters. And that's why, you know, Yen just mentioned in the call is that in 2026, our top priority on the kick scooters is to improve the turnover of the HD inventory, especially the kick scooters, to change the business model into more lean and straightforward and with our channel partners. On top of that, I think, you know, for the whole year 2026 for the kick scooters, we are going to focus on the inventory itself instead of the new models imports. And so now we are, we expected to spend the whole year 2026 to improve the inventory clearance and also, you know, to change the channel into a more healthier business model to support our going forward kick schooler business.

Hi, Aking. This is Yan. So to address your second question on the cost increase, so we have done a few things. First, I think, you know, with the new standard, because there are material changes, yes, there will be cost increases. We also have increased our retail price, not exactly proportionally, but have increased our price to cover partial of the cost increase. Second, we are also, through our cost reduction initiatives, really through engineering to figure out what are really the cost-down initiatives to be implemented on each of the scooters, basically through a platform standardization and also some of the common parts, that will help us to actually reduce the BOM cost. So by doing so, I think we're in good hands to sort of handle the cost increase with the new standard.

It's very clear. Thank you for your answers.

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time, so I'll hand the call back to Dr. Yan Li for closing remarks.

All right. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for participating on today's call and for your support. We appreciate your interest and look forward to reporting to you again next quarter on our progress. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.