MetaLight (02605.HK) Announces 2026 Interim Results: Net Loss Narrows Significantly, with Adjusted Net Profitability Sustained

HONG KONG, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- MetaLight Inc. ("MetaLight" or the "Company"; Stock Code: 02605.HK), a public transit information service provider powered by time series data analytics and AI technology, today announced its interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2026 (the "Reporting Period" or the "first half of 2026"). 2026 

Interim Results Highlights

• Total revenue was approximately RMB92.0 million, down approximately 5.1% year on year, mainly reflecting mobile internet market competition and phased commercialization adjustments to improve product experience.
• Gross profit was approximately RMB68.7 million, down approximately 9.3% year on year, with gross margin at approximately 74.6%.
• Net loss narrowed significantly to approximately RMB5.0 million from RMB125.5 million during the Reporting Period. Adjusted net profit (non-IFRS measure)⁽¹⁾ was approximately RMB13.1 million, down approximately 53.6%, mainly due to the revenue decline and severance expenses arising from phased organizational optimization.
• Chelaile's cumulative users increased approximately 6.1% to 354 million; average monthly active users rose approximately 6% year on year to 32.0 million; and its average rating across six major app stores improved approximately 8.4% between January and June 2026.

Dr. Sun Xi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MetaLight, stated: "In the first half of 2026, the Company remained focused on its core business and consolidated Chelaile's product and user base, while continuing to extend the application of its public transit data and technological capabilities and steadily advancing TransitNow's localization validation, the R&D of the Robobus operations support platform, and AI-related initiatives. The significant year-on-year narrowing of our net loss mainly reflected the non-recurrence of fair value losses on convertible redeemable preferred shares and listing-related expenses recognized in the corresponding period last year. Chelaile's user base and engagement continued to grow, indicating that demand for the core product remains solid. We will continue to prudently balance improvements in product usage experience with greater commercialization efficiency, and use product and service value to drive improvements in our core business.

TransitNow and the Robobus operations support platform build on the Company's existing public transit data and technological capabilities, while AI-related initiatives begin with product R&D and business collaboration. We believe that capability extension is reflected not only in products entering more markets and application scenarios, but also in whether technology can be embedded into more efficient ways of working across the organization. The Company continues to advance its AI-native organization, integrate AI Agents into R&D, testing and related workflows, and gradually apply proven methods and capabilities to its core business. The integration of AI with education and related industrial investment remain at an early stage. We will allocate resources based on actual needs, validation results and commercial feasibility, with long-term competitiveness and shareholder value as the ultimate measures.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, the Company will continue to consolidate Chelaile's product and user base and prudently advance business and market development based on its existing capabilities and resources. We will use verifiable phased outcomes as the basis for assessment, validate new development directions while improving our core business, and communicate the Company's actual progress with shareholders in a timely and candid manner."

2026 Interim Financial Review

Revenue

The Group's revenue decreased from approximately RMB97.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025 to approximately RMB92.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Revenue from mobile advertising services was approximately RMB89.5 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of approximately 5.0%, while revenue from data technology services was approximately RMB2.5 million. The decrease in revenue primarily reflected competitive conditions in the mobile internet market and the Group's adjustments to certain advertising inventory and display frequencies during the Reporting Period to reduce advertising disruption to users and improve product usage experience. These adjustments had a short-term impact on mobile advertising revenue, resulting in a decrease of approximately RMB4.7 million. The relevant display frequencies gradually stabilized during the Reporting Period.

Gross Profit and Gross Margin

Gross profit decreased by approximately 9.3% from approximately RMB75.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025 to approximately RMB68.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Gross margin decreased by approximately 3.5 percentage points from approximately 78.1% for the six months ended June 30, 2025 to approximately 74.6% for the six months ended June 30, 2026. The decrease in gross profit and gross margin was mainly due to an increase in cost of sales, which rose by approximately RMB2.0 million from approximately RMB21.3 million to approximately RMB23.3 million, and increased as a percentage of revenue from approximately 22.0% to approximately 25.4%, primarily reflecting higher cross-network advertising fees and server rental costs.

Selling Expenses

Selling expenses increased slightly from approximately RMB18.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025 to approximately RMB18.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, primarily due to an increase in sales personnel costs.

Administrative Expenses

Administrative expenses decreased from approximately RMB38.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025 to approximately RMB30.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, primarily because one-off listing-related administrative expenses incurred in the corresponding period last year did not recur during the Reporting Period.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses were approximately RMB24.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026, representing an increase of approximately RMB3.2 million from the corresponding period last year, primarily due to an increase in R&D personnel costs.

Net Loss and Adjusted Net Profit during the Report Period

Net loss for the Reporting Period was approximately RMB5.0 million, compared with approximately RMB125.5 million for the corresponding period last year. The significant narrowing was mainly attributable to the non-recurrence of fair value losses on convertible redeemable preferred shares and listing-related expenses recognized in the corresponding period last year.

Adjusted net profit (non-IFRS measure)(1) was approximately RMB13.1 million, representing a decrease of approximately 53.6% from approximately RMB28.2 million for the corresponding period last year. The decrease mainly reflected a slight decline in revenue and severance compensation expenses arising from the phased optimization of the Group's organizational and personnel structure during the Reporting Period. The relevant adjustments for this phase were largely completed during the Reporting Period, and the associated severance compensation expenses were also mainly incurred during the Reporting Period.

Cash Position

As of June 30, 2026, the Group had cash and cash equivalents of approximately RMB40.9 million and time deposits of approximately RMB175.8 million. Net cash used in operating activities during the Reporting Period was approximately RMB4.0 million.

Note: (1) The Group defines adjusted net profit (non-IFRS measure) as profit or loss for the period adjusted to exclude the effects of fair value losses on financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss, listing expenses, loss on disposal of equity investments, fair value changes of equity investments measured at fair value through profit or loss, one-off external donation expenses and share-based payment expenses for equity-settled share option schemes.

2026 Interim Business Review

During the Reporting Period, the Group continued to focus on its real-time public bus information service, prioritizing the consolidation of its product and user base while continuing to extend the application of its public transit data and technological capabilities. Beyond the core business, these capabilities are gradually extending to TransitNow, demand-responsive public transport, and the operations support platform for autonomous-driving public bus (Robobus). AI-related initiatives include AI technology reserves, the development of an AI-native organization and the AI-focused venture capital fund. As these businesses are at different stages of development, the Group will advance them prudently based on actual progress, product performance, resource requirements and commercial feasibility.

In its core business, in response to intensifying competition in the mobile internet market, the Group made the consolidation of Chelaile's product and user base a current operating priority. Taking into account external feedback and product experience assessments, the Group adjusted certain advertising inventory and display frequencies during the Reporting Period to reduce advertising disruption to users and improve product usage experience. The relevant display frequencies gradually stabilized during the Reporting Period. During the same period, Chelaile's average rating across six major app stores increased by approximately 8.4% in June 2026 compared with January 2026. As of June 30, 2026, the service covered 484 cities and towns under a unified basis that excludes duplicate counting; cumulative users increased to approximately 354 million, representing growth of approximately 6.1% from the end of 2025; and average monthly active users during the Reporting Period reached approximately 32.0 million, representing year-on-year growth of approximately 6%.

In its overseas business, TransitNow was launched on iOS and Android platforms in mid-April 2026. It is currently available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur and other supported cities. TransitNow is an extension and upgrade of the Group's original Busio business, using a standalone technical architecture developed specifically for overseas business scenarios. Service continuity for existing users was preserved during the migration. The overseas business remains in an early promotion and localization validation stage. The Group will continue to monitor product usage, data integration and market feedback, and refine its product and operational arrangements accordingly.

In public transit service scenarios, the Group continued to develop its public transit analytics platform and demand-responsive public transport services. Demand-responsive public transport has been implemented in more than 20 cities in China, covering more than 60 service areas and generating cumulative service orders exceeding 10 million. During the Reporting Period, the Group also participated in the research and content drafting of the Demand-Responsive Public Transport Technology and Service Guidelines led by the China Academy of Transportation Sciences.

In autonomous-driving public bus (Robobus), the Group positions itself as a technology service provider that empowers public transport operators in their transition to Robobus operations. During the Reporting Period, the Group carried out solution design and R&D for the Robobus operations support platform, focusing on capabilities including vehicle operation monitoring, abnormal incident handling support and operational analytics. The platform is designed to provide underlying data intelligence and decision support for public transport operators. This direction remains at an early stage, and further progress is subject to product validation, cooperation arrangements, regulatory requirements and commercial feasibility.

In developing its AI capabilities, the Group continued to advance research and innovation and their practical application in its products. A peer-reviewed paper co-authored by the Group on bus arrival prediction was accepted to the KDD 2026 Applied Data Science Track, and the relevant method has been applied to Chelaile's arrival prediction service. In one week of online validation across two cities served by Chelaile, the method reduced storage usage by approximately 90% and CPU usage by approximately 25%, while maintaining broadly comparable prediction performance. The Group also continued to advance the development of an AI-native organization and deepen the application of AI Agents in R&D, testing and related workflows; these initiatives remain under ongoing validation and iteration.

In AI-related investment, the AI-focused venture capital fund in which the Group participated has completed private investment fund filing and entered the project screening stage. As of June 30, 2026, the fund had completed one investment project. The Group will prudently advance the relevant work based on the fund's operations and project progress.

Future Outlook

Looking ahead to the second half of 2026, the Group maintains a prudent stance on the short-term trajectory of the mobile advertising market. In its core business, the priority for the second half will be to prudently improve monetization efficiency and optimize the revenue mix, while consolidating Chelaile's product and user base and continuing to improve product usage experience. The Group will use AI algorithms to optimize advertising inventory pricing strategies and placement accuracy, expand its network of programmatic advertising platform partners, reach long-tail advertisers, and gradually improve its client mix and revenue mix. In data technology services, the Group will prudently undertake projects after considering delivery resource alignment and commercial returns, and explore ways to increase the contribution of the related revenue. On the user side, Chelaile will continue to deepen its presence in third-tier and lower-tier cities and, subject to filing progress, gradually make natural language interaction and other functions available, advancing the product's evolution toward an intelligent travel assistant. Genuine demand for public transit travel exists over the long term, and product and service value remain the foundation for improving the core business.

In its innovative businesses, the Group will advance TransitNow's localized operations and market development at a measured pace based on actual validation results and resource requirements, continue the R&D and solution validation of the Robobus operations support platform, and prudently advance the subsequent work of the AI-focused venture capital fund based on the fund's operations and project progress. These businesses are at different stages of development, and their progress remains subject to product readiness, user demand, cooperation arrangements, regulatory procedures, investment progress and commercial feasibility. The Group will use verifiable phased outcomes and commercial feasibility as the basis for subsequent assessment and resource allocation.

The Group will continue to be guided by users' actual needs, enhance product and service value, and optimize resource allocation based on the actual progress and commercial feasibility of each business.

About MetaLight

MetaLight Inc. (Stock Code: 02605.HK) is a public transit information service provider powered by time series data analytics and AI technology. Guided by its mission of serving the public through advanced technology, the Company has independently developed a time series intelligence technology system centered on an AI Model Building Platform and AI model libraries for three industry verticals: public bus, renewable energy and industrial internet. The system integrates capabilities in large-scale data access, pre-processing, labeling, model training and foundation model adaptation. Based on this technology system, the Company operates the Chelaile real-time public transit information platform, providing commuters with real-time bus arrival predictions, vehicle location tracking and travel route planning, while also offering public transit analytics platforms and data technology services to transport operators. According to CIC data as of December 31, 2024, Chelaile was the largest real-time public transit information platform in China by city coverage. As of June 30, 2026, it covered 484 cities and towns nationwide with approximately 354 million cumulative users, committed to making public transit more convenient and efficient. For more information, please visit www.metalight.ai.

Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to statements of historical fact, this press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company's business outlook, estimates of financial performance, forecast business plans, development strategies and projections of anticipated trends in our industry. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "can," "could," "will," "would," "expect," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "anticipate," "forecast," "intend," "plan," "seek" or "timetable." Such forward-looking statements are based on the information available to the Company and the outlook as at the time of publication of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are based on certain projections, assumptions and premises, some of which involve subjective factors or factors beyond our control. Such forward-looking statements may prove to be inaccurate and may not materialize in the future. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In view of the risks and uncertainties, forward-looking statements contained in this press release should not be construed as representations by the Board or the Company that such plans and objectives will be achieved, and investors should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, neither the Company, its Board, employees nor agents assume any obligation to publicly release any revisions, corrections or updates to the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release or unanticipated events, nor do they assume any liability for any losses arising from the failure to realize or inaccuracy of any forward-looking statements.

Investor and Media Inquiries

MetaLight Inc.
Investor Relations
Email: ir@metalight.ai

 

 

 

 

 

Note: For the definition of adjusted net profit (non-IFRS measure), please refer to note (1) above. External 
donation expenses were newly added as an adjustment item for the current period; no related expenses were 
incurred in the corresponding period in 2025.