MEITU (01357) has issued a forecast indicating that its adjusted net profit attributable to equity holders for the six months ending June 30, 2026, could rise by 36% to 40% year-on-year under non-IFRS standards.

As of June 2026, the company's monthly active users (MAU) reached approximately 282 million, with a record high of 33 million MAU from productivity applications. Meanwhile, MAU from daily life use cases remained broadly stable. Paid subscribers continued to grow steadily, exceeding 18.44 million by June 2026. Notably, paid subscribers from productivity applications increased by 29.8% year-on-year to 2.35 million, while those from daily life use cases rose 18.8% to 16.09 million.

The annualized recurring revenue (ARR) from AI productivity applications hit approximately RMB 620 million as of June 2026, up 47.8% year-on-year. Among these, the ARR for MEITU's products Kaipai and Vmake more than doubled and tripled compared to the same period last year, respectively. Additionally, MVLAND, a new product launched by the group, saw its ARR double within just three months of its debut. User spending on AI computing power consumption points grew over 46% quarter-on-quarter in both the first and second quarters of 2026, with acceleration in the second quarter, reflecting deeper user engagement with AI visual creation workflows.

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the group's core business, "Imaging and Design Products," generated unaudited revenue of approximately RMB 1.8 billion, a 30.9% year-on-year increase. Productivity application revenue rose 40.1%, accounting for over 18% of total Imaging and Design Products revenue. Since MEITU exited the copyright image library business by the end of 2025, these growth rates are calculated on a comparable basis, excluding the revenue contribution of RMB 27 million from that discontinued operation in the first half of 2025, to more accurately reflect the growth trend of productivity applications. Daily life use case revenue grew 32.3%, contributing about 82% of the Imaging and Design Products revenue, indicating improved monetization capabilities and steady progress in the globalization strategy.

The strong growth momentum is primarily driven by the increase in revenue from "Imaging and Design Products," which itself is fueled by a sustained rise in paying subscribers and higher average revenue per paying user. Paid subscriber growth from international markets continues to outpace that from mainland China, validating the effectiveness of the group's globalization strategy. Revenue growth has led to a faster increase in gross profit compared to operating expenses, creating an operating leverage effect that boosts profitability more than the gross profit margin improvement.

The adjusted net profit attributable to equity holders excludes certain non-cash and non-operating items, such as share-based compensation and fair value changes in the group's short-term and long-term investments. After accounting for all non-cash and non-operating items, under IFRS, the group expects net profit attributable to equity holders for the period to increase by at least 35% compared to the six months ended June 30, 2025.