FlashEx Q2 2026 Earnings Call - Revenue Misses as Margins Contract Amid Strategic Pivot to AI and Low-Altitude Logistics

Operator: Good day, and welcome to BingEx 2026 second quarter financial results conference call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Yidan Fu from Piacente Financial Communications. Please go ahead.

Yidan Fu, IR Representative, Piacente Financial Communications: Thank you, operator. During this call, we will discuss our business outlook and make forward-looking statements. These comments are based on our predictions and expectations as of today. Actual events or results could differ materially from those mentioned in today’s news release and in this discussion due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those mentioned in our most recent filings with the SEC. The non-GAAP financial measures we provide are for comparison purpose only. The definition of these measures and the reconciliation table are available in the news release we issued earlier today. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. In addition, a webcast replay of this conference call will be available on the BingEx company’s IR website at ir.ishansong.com. Furthermore, throughout the call, we will constantly use the company brand name, FlashEx, to refer to its publicly listed entity, BingEx Limited.

Joining us today from FlashEx senior management are Mr. Adam Xue, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hongjian Yu, Co-founder, Director, and Executive President, and Mr. Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Adam Xue.

Adam Xue, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Thank you, Yidan. Hello, everyone, and welcome to FlashEx second quarter 2026 earnings call. The on-demand delivery industry continued to evolve in the second quarter. Users today expect more than speed alone, placing growing weight on the entire service experience from the moment they place an order to the moment it arrives. At the same time, AI is advancing quickly, and low-altitude airspace is opening up, creating new ways to fulfill orders in our industry. This plays to the on-demand dedicated courier model FlashEx has been building all along, as well as the technology work we have been advancing over the past several quarters. The operating approach we have followed over the past several quarters translated into real results in the second quarter, with scale and delivery efficiency improving together.

Total order volume grew 8.9% quarter-over-quarter, and average delivery time shortened from 25.7 minutes in the first quarter to 25.3 minutes in the second quarter, even as volume rose. Behind this is the rider base and service network that keep expanding. As of the end of the second quarter, registered Flash-Riders reached 3.23 million, and our service coverage expanded to 299 cities. Our user base also grows steadily, with registered users up 4 million from the end of the first quarter to 124 million. Turning to our financial performance, total revenue from the second quarter were CNY 940.3 million, with a gross margin of 10.2%. Non-GAAP income from operations was CNY 10.8 million, and non-GAAP net income was CNY 11.4 million. Our cash position stood at CNY 853.4 million as of the end of the second quarter, reflecting a healthy overall financial position.

Looking at the order mix by category, volume recovery in the second quarter came from across source. Fresh flowers, a core category we have cultivated for years, grew 29.2% quarter-over-quarter in order volume. Food, cakes, and electronics all posted order volume growth both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, leaving our overall order mix more balanced. Several major categories moving up in turns tell us how well our on-demand dedicated courier model fits high-value scenarios, and it also spreads our order composition more widely, reducing our reliance on any one category. On the merchant side, we set out to simultaneously grow our merchant base and improve its quality in the second quarter. Newly signed merchants grew 18% quarter-over-quarter, and the share of high-value, high-stickiness merchants rose meaningfully as our merchant base expanded.

Enterprise clients stood out in particular, with new signing up 53.1% quarter-over-quarter, moving our merchant structure in a healthier direction. This came partly from optimizing our sales team assessment framework and partly from a dedicated effort to develop key accounts pursuing enterprise clients through a separate track, given their longer sales cycles and more complex decision-making. What we have observed is that delivery demand from these clients comes out of the day-to-day business processes, such as transferring inventory between stores, sending client documents back and forth, or dispatching after-sale parts urgently. These demands run more continuously, and the relationships last longer, making our revenue more stable. On the individual user side, the role FlashEx plays for our users continues to expand from delivering an item to completing a task.

Compared with first quarter, luggage delivery order volume grows 37.5%, food pickup grew 25%, parcel pickup grew 7.2%, and assisted purchasing grew 6.7%. Growth across these scenarios came from delivery, developing new service formats around what users actually need, and from reaching out to them at the specific moments those needs arise. Round-trip orders, which we launched recently, as one example. They combine delivery, waiting, and the return trip to a single order handled by the same Flash-Rider, designed for tasks that require a round trip, such as document and contract signing. These are exactly the tasks a dedicated courier model handles well, and they bring FlashEx further into our users’ everyday routine. Our AI work in the second quarter centered on two priorities, making our service easier for users to reach and putting AI to work across the company’s daily operations.

Starting with users, we saw notably more users placing orders through our quick app entry point in the Huawei HarmonyOS ecosystem during the second quarter. Order volume through this entry grew 27.6% quarter-over-quarter, and the number of users ordering through it grew 20.9%. This lightweight entry point made our service easier to access, driving both new user acquisition and higher order frequency. In June, we launched AI-powered ordering in the FlashEx apps. Users simply describe what they need by voice, and the system identifies and matches the pickup and drop-off addresses and other order details, completing the order in a single exchange. More recently, Flash-

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by. Your conference will resume momentarily. Once again, please stand by.

Adam Xue, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): How to finish without switching to another interface. Whether the order is an urgent document, flowers, or medicine, AI can quickly match the right delivery option. Along with the CLI tool, we open-sourced in the second quarter, developers and individual users can now reach FlashEx AI-powered service directly. Across all of our AI work, we keep coming back to one question: What does the user actually end up with? Whether an order is placed through our APP or a voice assistant or an AI agent, it is fundamentally irrelevant to the user. What shapes the experience is whether FlashEx arrives on time and completes the job to a high standard, and whether we can respond to the user concern properly. That stays at the core of how we develop and deploy AI. Now to our internal operations.

We established an organizationally innovation committee in the second quarter, letting each business unit propose and implement its own AI projects. In customer service, our AI system now independently handles 85% of the scenarios it covers, addressing routine inquiries and complaints the moment they are submitted. In marketing, compliance review of MCN content previously conducted manually now goes through a first pass by a self-developed AI reviewing system. In regional operations, the time required to model capacity plans for new city launches and holiday peaks has come down from several days to a few hours. Across these areas, operating efficiency improved by roughly 30%. We see AI as a compounding effort rather than a single leap. It builds gradually with the grains adding up over quarters.

As AI becomes a more routine part of how organization works, we believe that our operating expense ratio can improve further over the medium to long term, creating room for better profit margins ahead. Next, let’s take a look at low-altitude logistics. The business moved from single route trials to multi-route operations during the second quarter. Drone delivery order volume grew 169.3% quarter-over-quarter. We now have 22 routes in operation. In July, Hangzhou’s first cross-river route for low altitude on-demand delivery entered commercial operation, taking only 13 minutes to cross the river. With Flash-Riders handing off at each end, and a drone crossing in between, orders that once took more than 40 minutes now arrive in little over 20 minutes. Since the route began operating, deliveries have mainly been medicine, urgent business documents, fresh food, and digital accessories, all categories where timing matters.

With use continuing to increase and the delivery model proving all across different scenarios, low altitude logistics has moved past the trial stage and into a broader expansion. On the rider side, our registered Flash-Rider base continued to expand in the second quarter. We also further strengthened our training program and career protection through dedicated training around safety standards, handling procedure for high-value items, and new services such as round trip orders. The stability and professionalism of our rider team remain the foundation of our high-quality service. Looking to the second half of the year, our focus stays on the service itself. AI and low altitude logistics are two new paths to making that service better. AI helps users find us at the very moment they need us, and low altitude logistics frees our Flash-Riders from obstacles like a river or a busy road.

We have seen this market change many times since we started, and we still believe the hardest thing to replicate here is trust, earned through every safe, on-time delivery. Behind that trust is our brand, our Flash-Rider team, and our technology. This is the foundation of the long-term value we create for our users, our riders, and our shareholders. That concludes my remarks. Now, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Luke Tang. Thank you.

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Thank you, Adam. Hello, everyone. This is Luke. I’d like to walk you through our second quarter 2026 financial results. During the second quarter, our unique on-demand dedicated courier model remained resilient as we further refined our operations and extended the use of AI across the organization. We also maintained a healthy cash position and continued to return capital to shareholders through our repurchase program. Before I begin, please know that all numbers are in CNY and all percentage changes are on a year-over-year basis unless otherwise noted. Our revenues for the second quarter were CNY 940.3 million, compared with CNY 1,024.6 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by intensifying marketing competition. Our cost of revenues for the second quarter was CNY 844.7 million, compared with CNY 901.9 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was in line with the decline in revenues.

Our gross profit was CNY 95.5 million in the second quarter, compared with CNY 122.7 million in the same period of 2025, representing a gross profit margin of 10.2%, compared with 12% in the prior year quarter. Turning to operating expenses. Our total operating expenses for the second quarter were CNY 88.3 million, representing a decrease of 14.6% from CNY 103.4 million in the same period of 2025. We consisted of CNY 36.6 million in selling and marketing expenses, CNY 37.9 million in general and administrative expenses, and CNY 13.7 million in research and development expenses. The decrease in operating expenses was primarily attributable to the reduction in advertising expenses, staff costs, and the share-based payment expenses.

Our income from operations was CNY 7.3 million, compared with CNY 19.3 million in the same period of 2025. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, our non-GAAP income from operations was $10.8 million for the second quarter, compared with $31.9 million in the same period of 2025. Our net loss was $34 million, compared with net income of $53.5 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was mainly due to $41.7 million of losses from changes in fair value of long-term investments in the second quarter. Excluding changes in fair value of long-term investments and share-based compensation expenses, our non-GAAP net income was $11.4 million, compared with $45.6 million in the same period of 2025. Our cash position remained healthy, with cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments totaling $853.4 million as of the second quarter end.

We also carried out share repurchases under the extended buyback program approved in March. As of August 19th, we had repurchased a total of approximately 3.9 million ADS in the open market for an aggregated consideration of approximately $11.8 million USD. This underscores our confidence in the company’s long-term value. As we move through the rest of 2026, we remain committed to disciplined execution and to the high quality service that differentiates. We are confident that as AI becomes increasingly embedded across our operations, it will support a structural improvement in our operating expenses ratio over the long term, creating room for better profits margins ahead. That concludes our prepared remarks. We would now like to open the floor to your questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. For the benefit of all participants on today’s call, if you wish to ask your question to management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. Our first question comes from Gangxin Liu with China International Capital Corporation. Your line is now open.

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Hi. Good evening, Xuecong and Luke Tang. Can you hear me?

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Yes, very well.

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Thank you for taking my question. This is Gangxin Liu from China International Capital Corporation. I actually have two questions.

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Hello?

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Yes?

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Yeah.

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Can you hear me?

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Thank you, Gangxin. Can you repeat your questions? Thank you.

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Okay. My first question is about the anti-involution trends about this industry, because we know in May, seven leading instant retailer players, including Shenzhou, signed the Hangzhou Anti-Involution Self-discipline Convention. How do you interpret the broader industry trend from here? What impact, if any, have you seen on our ASP and/or the volume? Will you view this as a pricing inflection point for the industry? First question. Thank you.

Luke Tang, Chief Financial Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Yes. Thank you for your questions. This is Luke. I will take your first questions. On May 28th, FlashEx joined the six other leading platforms in Hangzhou in signing an industry self-discipline convention covering marketing practices, merchant rights, rider protections, and governance. What the convention points toward is shifting the center of competition from price back to service itself, and directing more resources into creating incremental demand and improving conditions for merchants and riders. We see this as a healthy signal that the industry is maturing. For FlashEx, this direction aligns closely with how we have operated for 12 years. Each Flash-Rider stays with one order from pickup to handout. Under this model, riders can give every-

Adam Xue, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Delivery their full attention, and the Flash-Rider experience and the user experience have never come at each other’s expense. They reinforce one another. The convention moves the industry away from price wars and heavy subsidy-driven traffic, refocusing competition on service, quality, efficiency, and the experience. For a platform whose competitiveness rides on service quality and fulfillment certainty, that is a favorable environment for us. in the second quarter, our total order volume grew 8.9% quarter-over-quarter, supported by better capacity allocation, the continued expansion of our service scenarios and new service formats. We welcome the industry’s return to rational competition and will keep investing along these lines. On pricing, our focus is on the longer-term competitive dynamics rather than short-term movements. We have always believed that the core competitive advantage in on-demand delivery is not low price, but where every order reaches the user reliably and safely.

That is where our differentiation lies and where our long-term value comes from. Thank you. Waiting for your second question. Thank you.

Gangxin Liu, Analyst, China International Capital Corporation: Okay, good to hear that. My second question is about the low altitude. Could you give us an update on the growth of drone delivery order volumes? As you mentioned the total volumes earlier, I just want to see the growth trend here. Also, your expansion roadmap beyond existing capacity, for example, beyond Hangzhou. Besides, combined these drones and AI deployment, do these efforts translated into visible per cost the segment level, and what’s your path to a scalable breakeven? Thank you.

Adam Xue, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, FlashEx (BingEx Limited): Okay. Thank you for your question. This is Adam speaking. Let me take order volumes and user cases first, and then expansion and the economics. In the second quarter, drone delivery order volume grew 169.3% quarter-over-quarter, and we now have 22 routes in operation, taking the business from single site trails into multi-route operations. In July, Hangzhou’s first crossover route for low-altitude on-demand delivery entered commercial operation with a 30-minute flight across the river. With a Flash-Rider handoff at each end and a drone crossing in between, orders that took more than 40 minutes now arrive in little over 20, at the same price as a standard FlashEx order. On user cases, what we carry today is mostly medicine, urgent business documents, fresh food, and digital accessories, all time-sensitive and relatively high in unit value.

Low altitudes shows its value where ground capacity runs into geography or traffic, crossing a river, a hill, or a district line, or a road that backs up at peak hours. These happen to be categories where we are already strong, and they sit close to what we already done. Our priorities at this stage are operationally safety, whether routes can be replicated, and whether the time advantage over ground delivery holds up consistently in the scenarios where it matters. We are confident the unit economics here will keep improving as route density rises, as daily order volume per route grows, and as we get more out of equipment and ground size. The 169.3% growth in drone order volume this quarter also tells us demand is validating well. In terms of the next step on the low-altitude business, our near-term focus is on refining the model in Hangzhou itself.

This business draws heavily on local airspace management, landing site resources, and the supporting industry base. So what we want first is a set of operating standards and a cost model built in Hangzhou that we can carry into other markets. As our route network continues to grow denser and operation experience builds, we are confident this model will travel well. On AI, our work in customer service, marketing, and regional operations lifted efficiency in those areas by around 30% in the second quarter, showing up in lower headcount requirements and shorter process cycles. The way we see AI is that it accumulates efficiency step by step as it becomes a more routine part of how organization works. Those gains keep on compounding, and we believe there is further room for our OpEx ratio to improve over the medium to long term, creating conditions for better margins ahead.

Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. That concludes the questioning and answer session. I will now turn the call over to Yidan Fu for closing remarks.

Yidan Fu, IR Representative, Piacente Financial Communications: Thank you once again for joining BingEx second quarter 2026 financial result and business update conference call today. If you have any other further questions, please contact the IR team at BingEx or Piacente Financial Communications. Thank you, and have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.