So-Young reports rapid growth

So-Young International Inc, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese online platform for cosmetic surgery, has reported fast growth in the third quarter of 2019, according to its unaudited financial results disclosed on Thursday night.

Total revenues reached 302.4 million yuan ($43 million), a 79.6 percent year-on-year increase, while income from operations was 20 million yuan, compared with a loss of 22.1 million yuan in the same period of 2018.

Its net income over the period was 31.6 million yuan, compared with a net loss of 25.2 million yuan for the third quarter last year.

Gross profit for the third quarter was 248.5 million yuan, increasing 72.2 percent from 2018. Gross margin was 82.2 percent, a decrease from 85.7 percent in the third quarter of 2018.

It also announced the total number of purchasing users registered 172,500, increasing 60.2 percent year on year.

The number of paying medical service providers on So-Young's platform was 3,230, an increase of 33.6 percent from 2,418 in the third quarter of 2018, while the number of medical service providers subscribing to information services on So-Young's platform was 2,104, an increase of 51.5 percent year-on-year.

Xing Jin, co-founder and CEO of So-Young, said the company believes the medical aesthetic service industry will continue to generate substantial growth opportunities for the company to adjust its strategy to benefit.

The company expects total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2019 to be between 320 and 340 million yuan, representing a 74.9 to 85.8 percent increase from the same period in 2018.

The Beijing-based company raised $179 million through an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May.

The compound annual growth rate of China's medical aesthetics market was 23.6 percent from 2014 to 2018. The market reached 122 billion yuan in 2018 and is expected to triple to 360 billion yuan by 2023, according to research institute Frost & Sullivan.