Recently, Xuanwu Cloud (2392.HK) published an unaudited operating summary for the first quarter of 2024. According to the data, the company achieved revenue of 289 million yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 25.6% over the previous year, while the SaaS business segment that the company continues to focus on is gaining momentum, achieving revenue of 159 million yuan in the current period, an increase of 40.0% over the previous year. Based on this, the company's SaaS business revenue also accounted for more than 50% of total revenue for the first time, reaching 55.2%.

Xuan Wuyun said that the increase in operating data for the first quarter was mainly due to the strong performance of the company's marketing cloud business sector and the smooth expansion of AI and AIoT smart freezers in the cloud sector. At the same time, the company also adhered to steady and prudent cost control principles and measures such as updating the organizational structure, which caused the company's operating expenses to continue to decline compared to the same period last year. As a result, the company's profit loss in the first quarter narrowed, and the results of cost reduction and efficiency were remarkable.

At the same time, Xuanwu Cloud also achieved continuous breakthroughs in customer operations. The data showed that the company's total number of core customers reached 274 in the first quarter, an increase of 13.7% over the previous year. The ARPU value of core customers reached 1.011 million yuan, an increase of 11.4% over the previous year. At the same time, the company's core customer net revenue retention rate was 103.4%. The increase in these data also means that Xuanwu Cloud's future performance foundation will be more stable, and the overall room for imagination will further expand.

Xuanwuyun's “report card” for the first quarter also fits the company's strategic direction in 2024 and is off to a good start. Earlier, at Xuanwuyun's 2023 annual results conference, the company's management indicated that the company will continue to focus on the SaaS business sector in 2024, while striving to maintain an overall revenue scale of more than 20% and achieve break-even at the overall business level throughout the year. In terms of customer operations, the company will also continue to increase the total number of customers in 2024, especially the key operating data of increasing the number of SaaS customers and cross-selling ratios to continue increasing the ARPU value.

It is worth noting that while the company's overall operations are growing steadily, Xuan Wuyun has also recently made some moves in the capital market. The company recently announced a share repurchase plan, which plans to use no more than HK$100 million to repurchase shares based on actual market conditions. In response, Xuan Wuyun said that it is mainly based on full confidence in the company's future development and the consideration that the current stock price is lower than the company's internal actual value.

The buyback plan has undoubtedly injected a “strong shot” into the capital market in the short term, and from the growth trend shown in the first quarter, Xuanwu Cloud is accelerating the company's strategic goals for 2024, so in the long run, the company may gradually return to a normal value range in the capital market in the future, and has more room for imagination.