Tongdao Liepin Group

In 1H 2026, revenue was RMB 989 million, up 5.6% year on year. Gross margin increased 1.4 percentage points to 79%, and non-GAAP operating profit reached RMB 136 million, up 8.8% year on year. Non-GAAP profit attributable to owners was around RMB 110 million, up 30.5% year on year as stated by the CFO. Operating profit was RMB 114 million and profit attributable to owners was RMB 88 million. For 2026, management expects cash billings to maintain mid-single-digit growth, gross margin to keep the first-half improvement trend, total operating expense to rise modestly while the expense ratio declines, and full-year non-GAAP profit attributable to owners to grow by more than 20% year on year.

The CEO framed the business as benefiting from structural opportunities in recruitment, especially in AI, advanced manufacturing, and other emerging industries. He emphasized that AI is changing hiring from a volume game to a precision game, with employers demanding AI skills, cross-functional talent, and better recruitment efficiency. He positioned Liepin’s AI products and deep industry know-how as the company’s core advantage and said the new AI agent Lilly should deepen client stickiness and expand the service chain. His tone was confident and strategic, with repeated references to transformation, capability building, and a new growth phase.

The CFO highlighted that revenue growth was led by talent recruitment and other HR services to business customers, which generated RMB 820 million, up 6.7% year on year, while individual-user talent development revenue was broadly stable at up 0.2%. He said gross margin improved to 79% from a year earlier, operating expense was RMB 714 million with an expense ratio of 72.2%, and R&D fell 13.3% to RMB 109 million due to AI-enabled efficiency and organizational optimization. He also said the company held more than RMB 2.4 billion in cash as of June 30, 2026, completed the 2025 dividend at HKD 0.2 per share with a 63% payout ratio, and will continue to enhance shareholder returns.

Analysts focused on how AI is changing recruitment demand, the monetization potential of Liepin’s AI products, and the outlook for second-half 2026. Management said AI skills are becoming a basic requirement, scarce talent is harder to identify and assess, and recruiter efficiency expectations are rising, which supports demand for Liepin’s premium platform. On monetization, management pointed to AI Pro, Intended Candidate Search, and the new Lilly AI agent as already validated by first-half performance, while the CFO said AI should support mid-single-digit full-year cash billings growth and more than 20% full-year non-GAAP profit growth. On expenses, management said sales expense may edge up slightly because of subsidiary channel changes, but main-platform sales expense should decline, R&D should continue trending down, and the operating expense ratio should fall.