Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM)

Fourth Quarter 2018 Financial Results

• Net Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2018 were RMB2,187.8 million ($318.2 million), exceeding the high end of the Company's original guidance of RMB2,130.0 million ($309.8 million).
• Net income attributable to Autohome Inc. increased 39.0% to RMB1,015.3 million ($147.7 million) from RMB730.4 million in the corresponding period of 2017. Basic and diluted earnings per share/per ADS ("EPS") were RMB8.60 ($1.25) and RMB8.52 ($1.24 ), respectively, compared to basic and diluted EPS of RMB6.24 and RMB6.15, respectively, in the corresponding period of 2017.

Mr. Min Lu, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "As we closed out 2018, despite relatively soft macro-economic conditions in China, we continued to outperform in business operations and financial metrics.  This demonstrates the successful execution of our overall strategy in transforming Autohome into a technology and data-driven automotive eco-platform, which serves as the essential foundation for driving future growth of robust traffic, a broadened and actively engaged user base and deepened partnerships with automakers and dealers, providing compelling returns on investment from our innovative marketing solutions. In addition, we have achieved solid monetization from our new initiatives in auto-financing and data products with increasing client penetration, complementing our core leading media and leads generation businesses in 2018.  Looking ahead, we will continue our efforts in building the next generation auto eco-system utilizing AI, big data and cloud, in order to further reinforce our leadership, as well as to generate long-term value and growth opportunities."

Mr. Jun Zou, Chief Financial Officer, added, "While we experienced challenges in the overall automobile sales environment in China during 2018, we delivered excellent results, generating full-year revenue growth of over 35% if excluding direct sales, and adjusted net income growth of over 40% compared to last year.  This reflects the unique strength of our platform with multifaceted revenue streams, as well as our disciplined cost control with increasing operational leverage.  Given the several consecutive quarters of increased revenue and profitability year-over-year, we are confident in the resiliency and high-performance of our platform and organization, which bodes well with our continued focus on business expansion, eco-system advancement, cost-containment strategies, and partnership collaboration."

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,565.0 million ($227.6 million) to RMB1,585.0 million ($230.5 million) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, representing a 21.5% to 23.1% year-over-year increase. This forecast reflects the Company's current and preliminary view on the market and its operating conditions, which are subject to change.

Starting on January 1, 2018, Autohome adopted a new revenue recognition accounting standard ASC 606. Under ASC 606, the most significant impact on Autohome will be the change of presentation of value-added tax from a gross basis to a net basis. The above guidance reflects revenues net of value-added tax under the new revenue recognition standard.

BEIJING, June 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Autohome Inc. (ATHM) ("Autohome" or the "Company"), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with TTP Car Inc. ("TTP"), a company operating an online auction platform for used automobiles, pursuant to which Autohome agreed to make an investment in TTP in the form of an 8.0% convertible bond for consideration of US$100 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, within three years after the closing, Autohome has the right to purchase an additional 8.0% convertible bond in aggregate in the principal amount of US$65 million to be issued by TTP upon Autohome's request from time to time.

Mr. Min Lu, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "The used car business is one of Autohome's strategic directions. We have already built a cutting-edge e-commerce platform for used car customers along the entire value chain from used car sales to used car purchasing. As one of the leading online players, we believe the offline used car business is the inevitable direction to set up our online-merge-offline (OMO) system and optimize Autohome's business interest. TTP is a leading player in the used car auction industry, having a nationwide presence with its service network. The cooperation with TTP is one of the milestones of Autohome's OMO strategy."

Mr. Jun Zou, Chief Financial Officer of Autohome, added, "Autohome is building an eco-system through organic growth and investments, and TTP plays an important role in such an eco-system. The two companies have strong strategic alignment, and their businesses complement each other. We believe the cooperation will generate significant synergies for both parties."

Declaration of Special Cash Dividend

Autohome’s board of directors has considered and approved the declaration and payment of a special cash dividend to the holders of ordinary shares of par value US$0.01 each in the Company out of the Company’s cash balances in U.S. Dollars in an aggregate amount of RMB600 million (inclusive of applicable taxes, fees and expenses), or approximately RMB5.08 per ordinary share (inclusive of applicable taxes, fees and expenses) based on 118,162,300 ordinary shares outstanding as of September 30, 2017 (approximately $90.2 million in the aggregate or $0.76 per ordinary share, inclusive of applicable taxes, fees and expenses and translated using the exchange rate on September 29, 2017 being RMB6.6533 to $1.00). The final total amount and per share amount of dividends in U.S. Dollars to be paid to the holders of ordinary shares will be subject to the actual exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. Dollars on the date when the RMB600 million is exchanged to U.S. Dollars, and the Company's total number of ordinary shares outstanding as of the record date (as indicated below). The special cash dividend will be paid on or about January 15, 2018 to the holders of ordinary shares of the Company of record as of the close of business on January 4, 2018 (the "Record Date"). ‎Dividends to be paid to the Company's ADS holders through the depositary bank will be subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, including the fees and expenses payable thereunder.

Third Quarter 2017 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 5.0% year-over-year to RMB1,548.4 million ($232.7 million), exceeding the high end of the Company’s original guidance of RMB1,520 million ($228.5 million).
• Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS (“EPS”) were RMB3.65 ($0.55) and RMB3.59 ($0.54), respectively, compared with basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period of 2016 of RMB2.27 and RMB2.25, respectively.

Mr. Min Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, “Our strong execution on all of our strategic initiatives during the quarter resulted in revenue growing 38.7% year-over-year for the media and leads generation services combined. Going forward, we remain committed to strengthening our competitive advantage in the core media and leads generation business as we increasingly benefit from our two newest initiatives in data solutions and auto-financing. Our core media and leads generation business continues to drive our robust performance, and we target to focus on growing these two businesses by further optimizing the user experience, enhancing user engagement, expanding the target audience, increasing mobile traffic to Autohome branded apps and websites, streamlining auto searches, leveraging our newly upgraded Dealer Cloud Platform to strengthen the vehicle selection and purchase process, as well as growing leads volumes and conversion rates.”

“In addition to our core business, big data is one of our key competitive advantages which we are leveraging. We have launched our data product suites earlier this month, and we expect the advanced data will reinforce our entire ecosystem by providing highly differentiated value to our clients. Our auto-financing initiative continues to progress well with an expanding variety of products covering loans, leases and insurances services for consumers and dealers. We expect auto-financing to better facilitate transactions for clients on our online marketplace. We will continue to develop synergies between our core media and leads generation business and our new data and auto-financing initiatives to realize the enormous growth potential our platform,” concluded Mr. Min Lu.

Mr. Jun Zou, Chief Financial Officer of Autohome, added, “As we enter the second half of the year, we continue to exceed our growth and margin expectations as net income increased 63.3% year-over-year. By maintaining discipline in our execution, enhancing consumer engagement and strengthening our financial position, I am confident in our ability to achieve our targets by the end of the year. This means that we are on the right path to achieve our strategic vision of building a reliable, consumer-driven platform with valuable data, content and high quality leads. While we are generating significant cash flow, we will continue to invest in innovative technology and digital marketing that enable our auto partners to improve leads conversion, enhance management of listings and advertising, and close automobile-related sales more efficiently. Given our strong cash position and ability to generate positive cash flow, our board of directors has approved a special cash dividend of approximately $90.2 million in the aggregate or $0.76 per ADS/ordinary share.”

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,690 million ($254.0 million) to RMB1,710 million ($257.0 million) in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, representing a 16.1% to 15.1% year-over-year decrease.

BEIJING, Sept. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (“Autohome” or the “Company”) (ATHM), a leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that Mr. Jun Zou has been appointed to serve as the chief financial officer of the Company (the “Chief Financial Officer”), and that Mr. Yan Kang and Mr. Julian Jiun-lang Wang have resigned as president and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, respectively. Mr. Kang and Mr. Wang also resigned from the board of directors of the Company (the “Board”).  The appointment and resignations all took effect as of September 28, 2017.  The resignations of Mr. Kang and Mr. Wang were not due to any disagreement with the Company regarding its business, finance, accounting and/or any other affairs. Following their resignations, the Board is now comprised of seven members.

The new Chief Financial Officer of the Company, Mr. Zou, has over 23 years of experience in financial management and capital markets in the U.S., Europe and China. He most recently served as iDreamSky’s chief financial officer, during which time he led the company’s initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the company’s subsequent privatization. Prior to joining iDreamSky, Mr. Zou served as the chief financial officer for several U.S.-listed Chinese companies, including E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NYSE:DANG, now privatized), a leading business-to-consumer e-commerce company in China from 2012 to 2014, and Xunlei Ltd. (XNET), a leading cloud-based acceleration technology company in China from 2010 to 2012. He has also worked as the chief financial officer for the global technical services business unit and the head of the global customer financing and treasury at Huawei Technologies, a Fortune 500 technology company in China from 2006 to 2008. Before returning to China, Mr. Zou served in progressive managerial roles in treasury, customer finance, strategic planning and eventually as global controller for the managed services business unit at Ericsson in the U.S. and Sweden. Mr. Zou received a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas in the U.S. and a Bachelor’s degree in international business and economics from Shanghai International Studies University in China.

Mr. Min Lu, the chairman of the Board and the chief executive officer of the Company, stated: “We are very delighted to have Mr. Zou serve as our new Chief Financial Officer. We also wish to express our sincere gratitude to each of Mr. Kang and Mr. Wang for their services to Autohome as our board members and officers and wish them continued success in their future endeavors.”

First Quarter 2017 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 23.3% year-over-year to RMB1,348.4 million ($195.9 million).
• Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS (“EPS”) were RMB2.83 ($0.41) and RMB2.80 ($0.41), respectively, compared with basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period of 2016 of RMB2.16 and RMB2.11, respectively.

Mr. Yan Kang, President of Autohome, stated, “We started off the year strongly with better-than-expected financial and operational results. Revenue growth from our core media and leads generation services increased 27.8% year-over-year, primarily driven by solid growth in mobile traffic and our continued gain in market share for online advertising spending, which demonstrates Autohome’s leading market position and brand recognition among consumers as well as our unrivaled advantage in leads generation. While our progress so far is very encouraging, we still have a lot of work ahead of us, particularly when it comes to growing our community, efficiently connecting consumers throughout the automobile ownership cycle, facilitating transactions, strengthening our core competitive position, and expanding the scale of our automotive ecosystem using big data analysis and technology.”

Mr. Julian Wang, Chief Financial Officer, added, “We delivered an excellent quarter as we continued to gain top-line growth momentum which surpassed our original guidance. We also saw a solid improvement in our profitability despite the effects of seasonality. This reflects the success of our strategy to remain at the forefront of the industry in terms of user engagement, technology advancement, brand recognition, and commitment to our partners. Looking towards the rest of 2017, we are committed to further driving the growth and profitability of our core media platform and leads generation business, as well as further developing our value-enabling transactions and services. We will continue to enhance our value propositions to consumers, automakers and dealer clients in order to further strengthen the foundation of our business.”

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,405 million ($204.1 million) to RMB1,437 million ($208.8 million) in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, representing a 1.9% to 4.3% year-over-year increase. This quarter also marks the end of our buyout clean-up effort.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 86.3% year-over-year to RMB2,014.9 million ($290.2 million).
• Diluted Earnings Per Share RMB3.23 vs. last years same quarter of RMB2.50.

Mr. Yan Kang, President of Autohome, commented, “Our solid operational and financial results during the fourth quarter and full year 2016 demonstrates Autohome’s solid foundation for future growth which is driven by robust and sustainable traffic, active user engagement, tailored product offerings, compelling returns on investment for our automaker and dealer clients, and Ping An Group’s continued support of our long-term vision. Looking forward, we will continue to focus on developing our future consumer-centric automotive platform which is composed of four distinct categories: auto-media, auto-ecommerce, auto-finance, and auto-lifestyle. This will transform Autohome from a content-driven vertical media platform into a comprehensive automotive ecosystem which leverages our advanced technology and data analytics. We believe the combination of a well-established ecosystem based on precise data analytics, broad user base and strong brand equity will position us as the clear market leader in all aspects of China’s online automotive market. We are very excited about the opportunities we see ahead in 2017 as we look to further expand our business, drive synergistic value with our partners, and push to the forefront of innovation in the digital automotive category.”

Mr. Julian Wang, Chief Financial Officer, added, “While we experienced some management changes and operational difficulties for the online transaction business during 2016, our core media and leads generation businesses remains strong across all key metrics, including user numbers, brand recognition, user engagement, and automaker/dealer partnerships. Our new strategic focus will concentrate on seizing the enormous market opportunities we see and utilize our leading technology to further benefit both our audience and clients. This will also better position Autohome to generate high revenue growth and healthy profitability.  We are encouraged by the results we have seen so far and are confident of our ability to re-accelerate the expansion of our business, maintain cost-effective management, invest prudently for sustainable and profitable long-term growth, and generate increased value for our shareholders.”

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,268 million ($182.6 million) to RMB1,319 million ($190.0 million) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, representing a 16.0% to 20.6% year-over-year increase.          

BEIJING, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (“Autohome” or the “Company”) (ATHM), a leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that on February 22, 2017, Yun Chen Capital Cayman, an affiliate of Ping An Group, completed a transaction to acquire approximately 6.5% of the total issued shares in the Company from Telstra Holdings Pty Limited. Immediately after the transaction, Yun Chen Capital Cayman increased its beneficial ownership in the Company to approximately 53.9% of the total issued shares in the Company. Concurrently, Mr. Paul Tyler and Mr. Yong Sun have tendered their resignations from the board of directors of the Company, with effect from February 22, 2017.

Mr. Min Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Autohome commented, “Ping An has continuously supported our long-term vision and is demonstrating its confidence in our strategies and future potential by increasing its stake in Autohome. I’d also like to thank Paul and Yong for their services to the Company on the board of directors and wish them all the best in the future endeavors.”

Third Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 64.1% year-over-year to RMB1,474.9 million ($221.2 million), above the high end of the Company’s original guidance of RMB1,394 million ($209.0 million).
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted EPS were RMB2.54 ($0.38) and RMB2.52 ($0.38), respectively, compared with non-GAAP basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period of 2015 of RMB2.29 and RMB2.23, respectively.

Mr. Yan Kang, President of Autohome, stated, “We once again delivered strong operational and financial results that exceeded the high end of our guidance as we continued to build upon the momentum we gained during the first half of the year. In addition, we have initiated a new set of strategic initiatives dubbed ‘4+1’, representing the ‘4’ key market segments in our future consumer-centric automotive ecosystem: auto-media, auto-ecommerce, auto-finance, and auto-lifestyle; and the ‘1’ engine that will transform Autohome from a content-led vertical media business to an automotive eco-platform based on advanced analysis and technology. We are confident that our focused strategy and targeted execution will solidify our dominant leadership position, connect users to resources across various stages of the automobile life cycle and ensure that our automaker and dealer clients can fully rely upon our innovation and differentiated value propositions.”

Mr. Julian Wang, Chief Financial Officer, added, “I am pleased with our performance during the third quarter of 2016 which I believe showcases our strength and competitiveness across multiple automotive marketplaces. We continue to grow and execute our long-term strategy of driving consumer audience engagement and delivering more high-quality leads to our automaker and dealer clients. This is steadily increasing revenue and profitability as we expand our business to scale. These are still early days in our pursuit of the huge opportunities in front of us, so we are very excited to see progress in deepening the connection between our audience and clients.”

“In addition, we have appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP as our independent auditor, to replace Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP, effective as of November 12, 2016. PricewaterhouseCoopers Zhong Tian LLP is also the independent auditor for Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd., we trust that having the same auditor will facilitate closer and more efficient coordination. We greatly appreciate Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP for their professional services over the past several years.

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB2,039 million ($305.8 million) to RMB2,121 million ($318.1 million) in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016, representing a 88.5% to 96.1% year-over-year increase.

Second Quarter 2016 Financial Highlights¹

• Net Revenues increased 60.1% year-over-year to RMB1,378.4 million ($207.4 million), above the high end of the Company�s original guidance of RMB1,376 million ($207.0 million). 
• Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS (�EPS�) were RMB3.04 ($0.46) and RMB2.99 ($0.45), respectively, compared with basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period of 2015 of RMB2.72 and RMB2.63, respectively.

Mr. Yan Kang, President of Autohome, stated, �We exceeded the high end of our guidance during the quarter which is a demonstration of the solid foundation we have built our business on and our focus on long-term sustainable growth. Our market leading position continues to be supported by our large market share for both mobile and web traffic, integrated advertising and transaction platform, multi-brand portfolio of consumer automobile services, diverse industry partnerships, and loyal and motivated employees.  We will continue to execute the current growth strategy which is focused on expanding our consumer audience, growing our core advertising and leads generation business, and optimizing the new transaction marketplace business. We will explore ways to leverage Ping An�s extensive resources and support to further drive innovation and offer a unique experience to our users and customers in order to reinforce our leadership position and accelerate and explore sustainable growth opportunities to maximize shareholder value.�

Mr. Julian Wang, Chief Financial Officer, added, �With a solid business foundation and the continued execution of our strategy, we delivered another quarter of strong revenue and profitability growth which exceeded our expectations.  We look forward to taking full advantage of the expanding market opportunities we see for Autohome and are confident that our continued focus on business expansion, operational efficiency and value creation will enable us to benefit from these opportunities as China�s online automobile sector leader.�

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,350 million ($203.1 million) to RMB1,394 million ($209.8 million) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2016, representing a 50.2% to 55.1% year-over-year increase

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 75.5% year-over-year to RMB1,093.5 million ($169.6 million), exceeding the high end of the Company’s original guidance of RMB1,060 million ($164.4 million).
• Diluted Earnings Per Share was RMB2.11 vs last years same quarter of RMB1.44.

Mr. James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, “We are pleased to report another strong quarter of better-than-expected growth despite seasonality. Our solid operational and financial performance reflects the continued solid execution of our key growth strategies, including expanding our consumer audience and growing our core advertising and leads generation business as well as the emerging transaction marketplace business.  While we continue to optimize these three pillars of business by leveraging our preferred media channels, leading traffic generation, enhanced user engagement, and precise transaction matching, we will concentrate our efforts on introducing expanded and differentiated solutions to further drive our overall performance and reinforce our leadership position in the market.

With a solid start to the year, I am confident in our ability to execute our growth strategies to further reinforce our strengths and competitive advantages as the leading online media and transaction facilitator for automobile consumers in China.”

Mr. Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, “The increases in both net revenues and net income for the first quarter demonstrates our ability to drive accelerated revenue growth from our diversified businesses and generate consistent profit by leveraging our efficient cost structure. We will continue to strengthen the foundation of our business by focusing on its expansion, operational efficiency and value creation by capturing the large and growing number of opportunities in the market.”

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,323 million ($205.2 million) to RMB1,376 million ($213.4 million) in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016, representing a 53.7% to 59.8% year-over-year increase.  

BEIJING, May 27, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (ATHM) (“Autohome” or the “Company”) today announced that a petition has been filed under section 94 of the Cayman Islands Companies Law by certain minority shareholders of the Company.

The Board of Directors of the Company is evaluating the petition and how it may impact the Company's business and operations. 

BEIJING, May 25, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (ATHM) (“Autohome” or the “Company”), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that the special committee (the “Special Committee”) of the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”) has appointed Houlihan Lokey (China) Limited as its independent financial advisor.

As previously announced, the Board formed the Special Committee to consider, review and evaluate a previously announced non-binding “going-private” proposal that the Board received on April 16, 2016 from a consortium comprised of Mr. James Zhi Qin, a director and the chief executive officer of the Company, Boyu Capital Advisory Co. Ltd, Hillhouse TBC Holdings L.P. and Sequoia China Investment Management LLP (the “Proposal”).

The Special Committee is considering the Proposal. The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that neither the Board nor the Special Committee has made any decision with respect to the Company’s response to the Proposal. The Special Committee has not set a definitive timetable for the completion of its evaluation of the Proposal or any other alternative and does not currently intend to announce developments unless and until an agreement has been reached. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed, or that the Proposal or any other transaction will be approved or consummated. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to the Proposal or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

BEIJING, April 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (NYSE:ATHM) (“Autohome” or the “Company”), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that its board of directors (the “Board”) has formed a special committee consisting of three independent, disinterested directors (the “Special Committee”) to consider the previously announced non-binding “going-private” proposal that the Board received on April 16, 2016 from a consortium comprised of Mr. James Zhi Qin, a director and the chief executive officer of the Company, Boyu Capital Advisory Co. Ltd, Hillhouse TBC Holdings L.P. and Sequoia China Investment Management LLP.

Mr. Ted Tak-Tai Lee, Mr. Guangfu Cui and Mr. Junling Liu will serve on the Special Committee, which will be chaired by Mr. Ted Tak-Tai Lee. The Special Committee intends to retain independent legal and financial advisors in due course to assist it in evaluating the proposal.

The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that neither the Board nor the Special Committee has made any decision with respect to the Company's response to the proposal.  There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated.  The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

BEIJING, April 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autohome Inc. (ATHM) (“Autohome” or the “Company”), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that its board of directors (the “Board”) has received a non-binding proposal letter, dated April 16, 2016, from Mr. James Zhi Qin (“Mr. Qin”), director and chief executive officer of the Company, Boyu Capital Advisory Co. Ltd (“Boyu”), Hillhouse TBC Holdings L.P. (“Hillhouse”) and Sequoia China Investment Management LLP (“Sequoia”, together with the Mr. Qin, Boyu and Hillhouse, the “Consortium” and each a “Consortium Member”), proposing a “going-private” transaction (the “Transaction”) to acquire (a) all of the outstanding Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares represented by American depositary shares of the Company (“ADSs”, each representing one Class A ordinary shares of the Company)) not already owned by the Consortium and (b) all of the outstanding Class B ordinary shares of the Company at a purchase price in cash equal to US$31.50 per Class A ordinary share, $31.50 per Class B ordinary share and $31.50 per ADS.

According to the proposal letter, the Consortium intends to fund the consideration payable in the Transaction with a combination of equity and debt capital. A copy of the proposal letter is attached as Annex A to this press release.

The Board is reviewing and evaluating the proposal. The Company expects that the Board will adopt various procedures and protocols designed to evaluate the proposal and safeguard the interest of the Company’s shareholders that are unaffiliated with the Consortium.

The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that the Board only recently received the non-binding proposal letter from the Consortium and no decisions have been made with respect to the Company's response to the proposal. There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated. The Company does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction, except as required under applicable law.

Fourth Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 46.3% year-over-year to RMB1,081.5 million ($167.0 million), exceeding the high end of the Company’s original guidance of RMB979 million ($151.1 million).
• Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS (“EPS”) were RMB2.56 ($0.40) and RMB2.50 ($0.39), respectively, compared with basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period of 2014 of RMB2.29 and RMB2.19, respectively.

Mr. James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, “Our operational and financial performance surpassed our expectations during every quarter of 2015 as we again delivered significant growth, profitability and value to our shareholders. By leveraging our dominant market position, we were able to provide an enhanced user experience to consumers by allowing them to better navigate the automobile ownership cycle. We further solidified our core advertising and lead generation platforms during the year, as well as successfully completed the groundbreaking efforts in enabling our consumers to discover, connect and transact seamlessly all through Autohome. In doing so, the Autohome brand now carries more value than ever among consumers.”

“Looking ahead, we believe we are well-positioned to stay at the forefront of our industry by growing the number of user communities, increasing user engagement, enhancing brand loyalty, and offering innovative services and solutions. We are confident that our strategic focus, proven track record, and powerfully aligned platform of advertising media, lead generation and transaction will further strengthen our competitive advantage and reinforce our leading position in China’s automobile consumer market.”

Mr. Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, “We significantly strengthened the foundation of our business in 2015 by delivering more differentiated value to our consumers, suppliers, and partners. As such, we are better positioned to continue the accelerated growth of our audience, advance our transaction platform, capture the large and growing market opportunities of advertising media, leads generation and transaction marketplace, while maximizing shareholder value over the long-term.”

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB1,019 million ($157.3 million) to RMB1,060 million ($163.6 million) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, representing a 63.6% to 70.1% year-over-year increase.

Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 64.9% year-over-year to RMB898.6 million ($141.4 million) for the third quarter of 2015, exceeding the Company's original guidance of RMB850 million ($133.7 million) to RMB884 million ($139.1 million).
•  Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS ("EPS") for the third quarter of 2015 were RMB2.05 ($0.32) and RMB2.00 ($0.31), respectively, compared to basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period in 2014 of RMB1.59 and RMB1.52, respectively.

James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "We are pleased to report another great quarter, which again exceeded the high end of our expectation range, despite the overall macroeconomic conditions in China. Our core advertising and dealer yellow-page businesses continued to be the robust growth drivers. We believe our superior content and expanded suites of products, along with highly-effective leads generation, continued to drive significant traffic and user engagement onto Autohome's platform. With this continued success, we are very much encouraged and will remain fully committed to executing a multi-faceted transaction platform in order to provide superior value to all of our customers, and to capture the large opportunity for transaction business in the China market."

"Looking into the rest of the year, we will continue to drive growth by seeking ways to increase user engagement, enhance brand awareness, while striving to demonstrate the customer value. In the meantime, we strive to deliver and demonstrate the customer value that sets Autohome apart from its peers, which includes enhanced leads generation, pricing transparency and innovative solutions. Most importantly, we will continue to focus on further ramping up our transaction capabilities related to both new cars and used cars. We are confident that our combined platform of media, lead generation and transaction will solidify our dominant leading position in China's automobile consumer market and significantly sustain our competitive advantage."

Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We have delivered strong performance at all fronts, including revenue, profit and cash generation in the third quarter, which is a solid proof of our business resilience, highly cost-effective product offerings, and operating leverage. As we continue to focus on business growth throughout the rest of the year, we plan to further invest in business expansion in order to maintain sustainable growth in revenues and profitability, as well as to create long-term shareholder value."

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB942.0 million ($148.2 million) to RMB979.0 million ($154.0 million) in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015, representing a 27.4% to 32.5% year-over-year increase. As a result, the fiscal year 2015 annual net revenues are expected to be in the range of RMB3,324.5 million ($523.1 million) to RMB3,361.5 million ($528.9 million), representing a 55.9% to 57.6% year-over-year increase.

Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 69.9% year-over-year to RMB861.0 million ($138.9 million) for the second quarter of 2015, exceeding the Company's original guidance of RMB811 million ($130.8 million) to RMB848 million ($136.8 million).
• Non-GAAP basic and diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2015 were RMB2.89 ($0.47) and RMB2.80 ($0.45), respectively, compared to Non-GAAP basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period in 2014 of RMB2.08 and RMB1.95, respectively.

James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "We are pleased to have achieved another solid set of quarterly results, which again exceeded our original expectations. This is thanks to our team's dedication to delivering continued success. With respect to our mobile traffic, during the quarter the number of average daily unique visitors to Autohome's mobile platform reached 9.8 million, representing a year-over-year increase of 88.5% compared to June 2014. Also, growth of traffic on mobile applications continued to outgrow that on mobile websites and this result shows that our strategic investments in mobile application development and promotion is bearing fruit. Further, we took several new concrete steps to build out our e-commerce capabilities which are at the core of our transaction-centric model."

"As we move into the second half of the year, we will focus on leveraging our success to date by making investments to achieve the multiple-year growth opportunities ahead of us. We will invest further to build out our mobile capabilities and we will also speed up our headcount expansion in our lead generation business. Most importantly, we will focus on further building out our transaction capabilities related to both new cars and used cars. We expect these investments will accelerate our effort to become a transaction-centric company. Also, while these initiatives will come with cost in the near-term, we believe they will contribute to our long-term success and development going forward. We remain fully committed to establishing a multi-faceted transaction platform and to continuing to provide superior services and products for our customers, which in turn will solidify our dominant leading position in China's automobile consumer market."

Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "Our strong performance in the second quarter was the successful results of the continued strengths in our product offerings coupled with operational efficiency. With such vigorous ongoing growth of our business and a consistently healthy cash position, we are very well positioned to further invest in the business in order to sustain the long-term growth in revenues and profitability. We fully believe that this will enable us to continue creating value for our shareholders well into the future."

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB850 million ($137.1 million) to RMB884 million ($142.6 million) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015, representing a 55.9% to 62.2% year-over-year increase.

BEIJING, May 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Autohome Inc. (ATHM) ("Autohome" or the "Company"), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced it has entered a strategic partnership with China Grand Automotive Services, Co., Ltd ("China Grand Auto"), the leading dealership enterprise in China's passenger vehicle dealership and services industry, to forge a one-stop auto e-commerce platform dedicated to new car sales, auto financing and aftermarket services.

With this strategic partnership, Autohome and China Grand Auto will integrate their respective distinct advantages from both online and offline platforms to provide automobile consumers with comprehensive and convenient transaction services. This partnership will combine and leverage Autohome's leading user engagement and quality auto sales leads along with the presence and capabilities of China Grand Auto's extensive car sales network and comprehensive value added services. The initial focus of services offered through this partnership will be auto financing, online marketing, e-commerce opportunities and big data analysis services, and will continue to expand into a wide range of other areas in the future.  

James Qin, CEO of Autohome stated, "Autohome has been focused on providing superior services for automakers, dealers and automobile consumers over the past ten years. Partnering with China Grand Auto is a perfect synergy for Autohome as we share the same 'user-centric' value proposition and we will be able to create a wide portfolio of joint products and services to collectively fulfill a complex consumer need. We are looking forward to establishing a deep and long-term partnership with China Grand Auto and we firmly believe that we will further enhance our service capabilities and competitive advantages through this cooperation."

"The auto industry has experienced a revolution with impressive growth and operational effectiveness during the internet era," said Mr. Zhou Yu, Vice President of China Grand Auto. "As the leading dealership enterprise in China, we are embracing this evolution and are continually looking for ways to transform ourselves to stay relevant and ahead of the curve. We truly believe that the partnership with Autohome will benefit both companies and create additional value-added services for our respective automobile consumers."

First Quarter 2015 Financial Results

• Net revenues for the first quarter of 2015 increased 82.1% to RMB622.9 million ($100.5 million) from RMB342.0 million in the corresponding period in 2014.
• Basic and diluted earnings per share and per ADS ("EPS") for the first quarter of 2015 were RMB1.49 ($0.24) and RMB1.44 ($0.23), respectively, compared to basic and diluted EPS in the corresponding period in 2014 of RMB1.16 and RMB1.08, respectively.

James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "We are pleased to report another quarter of strong and above-expectation top-line growth despite the seasonality factor. Our solid results reflect the ongoing progress of various key initiatives, most notably in the areas of expanding our mobile platform and fully building out our transaction model. More specifically, during the first quarter of 2015, sales leads from mobile reached to a record high of 58.7% contribution to the total. We are very excited about the steep ramp up of our mobile traffic. We are working to introduce more related products to even further boost the traffic and enhance the user experience and engagement, and therefore benefit our overall performance. Further, we have successfully transitioned to a phase where a majority of our business is being run through the transaction model we have created. As part of this, we officially launched i-Autohub, a new intelligent and integrated marketing system, in March 2015 to better serve our growing dealer network by assisting dealers with managing sales leads and ultimately improving their conversion rates and transaction execution. We continue to aim to be the leading online automobile transaction facilitator in China and believe we are well on track to achieving this goal."

"As we look forward to the remainder of the year, we intend to further maximize our strengths and competitive advantages as the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China. We provide users with the most comprehensive content available, consistently achieve industry leading growth in dealer subscriptions, have created a very successful PC and mobile based model, and have established a multi-faceted transaction platform that is driving the success of both our business partners and Autohome."

Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We are proud to have started off 2015 with such robust top-line growth while also maintaining a consistently healthy cash position. In connection with our business expansion, we have been reinvesting in the business in order to sustain our long-term growth in revenues and profitability. For the rest of the year, we will continue to focus on building out our transaction centric business model, driving further efficiencies in our operations, and creating value for our shareholders."

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB811 million ($130.8 million) to RMB848 million ($136.8 million) in the second quarter of fiscal year 2015, representing a 60.0% to 67.3% year-over-year increase.

BEIJING, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Autohome Inc. ("Autohome" or the "Company") (ATHM), the leading online destination for automobile consumers in China, today announced that the previously announced registered follow-on public offering of American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") by the Company and certain of its existing shareholders (the "Selling Shareholders"), including Telstra Holdings Pty Limited (ACN 057 808 938), was priced at US$42.50 per ADS. The Company will issue and sell 1,650,000 ADSs, and the Selling Shareholders will sell an aggregate of 6,850,000 ADSs. Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share of the Company. In connection with this offering, the Company and the Selling Shareholders have granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,256,852 additional ADSs at the offering price within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus.

The gross proceeds to the Company will be approximately US$70.1 million. The gross proceeds to the Selling Shareholders will be approximately US$291.1 million. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the ADSs by the Selling Shareholders. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. acted as the joint bookrunners for the offering.*

PRICE US$42.50 PER ADS

Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• Net Revenues increased 71.8% year-over-year to RMB506.8 million ($81.7 million) for the second quarter of 2014, exceeding the Company's guidance of RMB472.0 million ($76.1 million) to RMB493.0 million ($79.5 million).
• Non-GAAP Earnings per share for ordinary share Diltued US$0.31 vs. last years same quarter of US$0.22

James Qin, Chief Executive Officer of Autohome, stated, "We are pleased with our strong second quarter results, which exceeded our initial expectations and were underpinned by important progress across all of our key growth drivers. We continued to achieve high double-digit increases year-over-year in net revenues and net income, reflecting strong and rapidly growing demand for our products and services as well as our ability to efficiently scale our operations to offer a broader and more competitive product portfolio."

Mr. Qin continued, "Our results clearly prove that our Company has both media and platform value. We are particularly encouraged that we are capturing a greater share of online advertising spending from automakers as evidenced by a 46.0% increase of revenues from automaker advertisers in the second quarter of 2014 versus the same period last year. On top of this, our dealer yellow page business, which includes both dealer advertising services and dealer subscription services, grew even faster with year-over-year growth of 117.6% in the second quarter of 2014. This market-leading position reinforces our ability to deepen cooperation with automakers and dealers."

"We also launched new products such as our online transaction platform and numerous sales promotions which demonstrated Autohome's ability to generate meaningful sales leads with high conversation rates. Further, we initiated several new partnerships, including online partnerships with Baidu and offline partnerships with leading automakers and dealers. These activities increased our value to our customers and partners as well as to individual consumers as we remain a top destination for auto related information."

"Importantly, we deepened penetration of our dealership network, especially within China's growing tier-3 and tier-4 cities, and strengthened our relationships with our dealer customers. The number of Autohome's paying dealers increased significantly from 7,351 in the second quarter of 2013 to 13,693 in the second quarter of 2014. Our strong relationships with dealers as well as with automakers underscore their continued confidence in Autohome as a crucial sales channel in reaching auto buyers in China."

Nicholas Chong, Chief Financial Officer, commented, "We are delighted to have recorded sustained strong financial performance throughout our first three quarters as a listed company. In the second quarter of 2014, we achieved higher than expected top line growth and strong bottom line performance driven by healthy results across all of our business lines. Furthermore, we are encouraged that net cash provided by operating activities grew substantially, by 188.9% year over year. These results highlight our financial and operating strength and we are confident that Autohome is well positioned to continue growing our market leadership position."

Business Outlook

Autohome currently expects to generate net revenues in the range of RMB507.0 million ($81.7 million) to RMB528.0 million ($85.1 million) in the third quarter of fiscal year 2014, representing a 53.1% to 59.4% year-over-year increase.

AUTOHOME INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2011, 2012 AND 2013

(Amounts in thousands of Renminbi (“RMB”) and US dollars (“US$”) except for number of shares and per share data)

BEIJING , . Dec 10, 2013 / PRNewswire / - Autohome Inc. (NYSE:. ATHM ) ("Autohome" or the "Company"), the Leading Online destination for automobile Consumers in China , today Announced that it has priced its Initial Public Offering of 7,820,000 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") at U.S. $ 17.00 per ADS.  Each ADS Represents One Class A Ordinary Share of the Company.  The ADSs are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") on December 11 , 2013 under the Ticker symbol "ATHM."
The Total Offering Size will be U.S. $ 132.94 million , Assuming the Underwriters do Not exercise Their option to Purchase Additional ADSs. The Underwriters have been Granted an option to Purchase up to an Aggregate of 1,173,000 Additional ADSs at the Initial Public Offering price to cover over- allotments, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.. ("Deutsche Bank") and Goldman Sachs ( Asia ) LLC ("Goldman Sachs") ACTED as Joint bookrunners and Oppenheimer & Co.. Inc.. and Piper Jaffray & Co.. ACTED as co-Managers for the Offering. *
Autohome's Registration Statement relating to the Initial Public Offering has been Filed with, and declared Effective by, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").  This Press Release does Not consider as being an offer to Sell or a Solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities, in any state or other jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.