Ctrip.com Reports Increased Q1 Profit

Chinese online travel website Ctrip.com achieved net revenues of RMB156 million in the first quarter of 2006, up 60% year-on-year.

The company today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2006.

Despite the fact that the first quarter is normally the slowest season in a year for business travel, we achieved another record quarter in terms of our revenue growth. The continuously rapid growth in travel industry and the effective execution of our strategies in serving the frequent independent travelers market enabled us to increase our revenues across all three major product lines, said Min Fan, CEO of Ctrip.

For the first quarter of 2006, Ctrip.com reported total revenues of RMB167 million, representing a 61% increase from the same period in 2005 and 1% increase from the fourth quarter of 2005.

Hotel reservation revenues totaled RMB96 million for the first quarter of 2006, representing a 36% increase from the same period in 2005 due to increased volume and commission per room night, and an 8% decrease from the previous quarter due to a seasonally weaker first quarter as a result of reduced hotel bookings from proceeding quarter during the Chinese New Year Holidays.

The total number of hotel room nights booked was approximately 1.38 million in the first quarter of 2006, compared to approximately 1.1 million room nights for the same period in 2005 and approximately 1.52 million room nights in the previous quarter.

Air ticket booking revenues for the first quarter of 2006 were RMB60 million, representing a 103% increase from the same period in 2005 and a 15% increase from the previous quarter, primarily due to a strong growth of air tickets sales volume and higher commission per ticket achieved.

The total number of air tickets sold in the first quarter of 2006 was approximately 1.28 million air tickets, compared to approximately 0.68 million for the same period in 2005 and approximately 1.17 million in the previous quarter.

Packaged-tour revenues for the first quarter of 2006 were RMB9 million, up 173% from the same period in 2005 and 32% from the previous quarter due to increased acceptance of our packaged-tour products by its customers.

For the first quarter of 2006, net revenues were RMB156 million, a 60% increase from the same period in 2005. Net revenues increased slightly from the fourth quarter in 2005.

Total operating expenses for the first quarter of 2006 were RMB78 million. Income from operations for the first quarter of 2006 on a GAAP basis was RMB50 million. Net income for the first quarter of 2006 was RMB48 million on a GAAP basis.

As of March 31, 2006, the cash balance increased to RMB794 million, compared to RMB742 million as of December 31, 2005.

For the second quarter of 2006, Ctrip expects to continue year-on-year net revenue growth of approximately 40%.