NEWBORNTOWN (09911) achieved a profit attributable to equity shareholders of $101 million in the first half of the year, an increase of 18.7% year-on-year.

NEWBORNTOWN (09911) announced its interim results for 2026, reporting customer contract revenue of approximately $607 million, a year-on-year increase of 37.0%. Gross profit was $351 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 42.1%. Profit attributable to equity shareholders amounted to $99.3 million, up 45.8% year-on-year. Adjusted profit attributable to equity shareholders was $101 million, a year-on-year rise of 18.7%. Adjusted EBITDA reached $111 million, an increase of 23.6% year-on-year. Basic earnings per share were $0.08. Among these, the social business continued to grow strongly, with revenue reaching $539 million, an increase of 36.5% year-on-year; the innovative business maintained rapid growth, achieving revenue of $68 million, up 41.2% year-on-year. The announcement stated that the performance benefited from the ongoing implementation and deepening of the "national replication + product replication" strategy. In the first half of this year, the company made significant achievements in global business expansion. While continuously consolidating competitive barriers in its advantageous markets such as the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, the company also made varying degrees of positive progress in new markets including Latin America, East Asia, Europe, and North America, further expanding its global user coverage. With comprehensive advancements in product capability, operational strength, organizational capacity, and AI integration, along with the continuous improvement of its multi-product, multi-market structure, the company's systematic advantages became more evident, enhancing its competitiveness and influence in the global social entertainment industry. During the reporting period, AI technology has become a key driver of quality improvement and efficiency enhancement for the company. In the first half of the year, the company's token usage increased by more than 100 times year-on-year, reflecting the deep integration of AI technology in research and development, operations, and marketing across various business segments. In social products, AI has been widely applied in critical areas such as recommendation matching, social assistance, intelligent operations, material design, and safety risk control, continuously improving product operational efficiency and optimizing user experience. In the customer acquisition segment, the company has established an AI marketing closed loop covering hot material identification and scalable production, creative generation, intelligent placement, and placement management. Additionally, the company continues to promote the application of AI, exploring more possibilities of integrating artificial intelligence with social entertainment. Furthermore, the company actively promotes brand operations in key markets by organizing various user and brand activities, such as the annual creator gala, in-platform theme activities, and offline advertising, to enhance the visibility of flagship products and strengthen connections with local markets. Earlier this year, the company was included in the Stock Connect program, which further enhanced the liquidity of its shares and broadened participation channels for investors from mainland China. The company remains committed to long-termism and continues to pursue share repurchases and cancellations. During the reporting period, the company repurchased 10.206 million shares, totaling over HK$85 million, and canceled 5.174 million shares. The Board believes that share repurchases and cancellations are beneficial for enhancing long-term shareholder value and is confident about the market outlook and its business prospects.