Business
Senmiao Technology Announces Unaudited Financial Results for First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2021
Automobile Business Shifts Focus to Short-Term Rentals as COVID-19 Impacts Ride-Hailing Drivers In China CHENGDU, China, Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Senmiao
About this update from Senmiao Technology Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"Automobile Business Shifts Focus to Short-Term Rentals as COVID-19 Impacts Ride-Hailing Drivers In China\n\n\nCHENGDU, China, Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Senmiao Technology Limited (NASDAQ: AIHS) (\"Senmiao\"), a provider of automobile transaction and related services (the \"Auto Business\") targeting the online ride-hailing industry in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020.\nFirst Quarter of Fiscal 2021 Highlights\nRevenue from operating leases surpassed automobile sales and became the largest proportion of the total revenue Total revenues decreased by 77% year-over-year to $1,146,916 from $5,012,563 due to impact of COVID-19 on ride hailing sector in Senmiao's areas of operation in China Net loss of $2,370,184 versus net loss of $505,432 in the same period last year\"During the quarter, we focused on ways to adjust the growth strategy of our Auto Business as ride-hailing drivers continued to be adversely affected in the aftermath of COVID-19,\" commented Xi Wen, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Senmiao. \"We shifted our focus during the quarter to a new opportunity, namely the provision of short-term car rentals. We have noticed an increasing trend in demand for short-term rentals since the end of 2019, so we capitalized on this by reallocating resources to better utilize automobiles that are being surrendered by ride-hailing drivers that continue to face financial pressures as a result of COVID-19. Creating this additional revenue stream has also helped to mitigate the drop in online ride-hailing automobile sales in Chengdu and Changsha as we plan for a recovery of our Auto Business in the second half of 2020. So far in the second quarter of this fiscal year (our quarter ending September 30), we have signed a strategic cooperation agreement with one of the largest auto dealer groups in southwest China to increase access to electric vehicles, which we hope will significantly improve our sales channels and enhance our service options. In an effort to further strengthen our balance sheet, we also secured an investment of approximately US$7 million from a fundamental investor and successfully raised net proceeds of US$6 million through an underwritten public offering. We remain confident that we will emerge from this pandemic in a better position to expand o...