(Yicai) Jan. 22 -- East Buy Holding’s shares fell after the livestreaming e-commerce platform said it sank to a loss in the six months ended Nov. 30 following the departure of its leading presenter, Dong Yuhui, and the sale to him of an affiliated company.

East Buy [HKG: 1797] closed 2.4 percent lower at HKD15.80 (USD2.03) a share today, after earlier plunging by almost 10 percent. The broader Hong Kong market lost 1.6 percent. East Buy’s stock is down nearly 16 percent this year to date.

The net loss was CNY96.8 million (USD13.7 million) in the fiscal first half of 2024, versus a CNY160.7 million net profit a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company announced yesterday. Revenue dropped 9.3 percent to CNY2.2 billion (USD302.6 million).

Last July, East Buy said Dong Yuhui had decided to step down and buy its affiliate Time With Yuhui Beijing Technology for CNY76.6 million (UD10.5 million). The acquisition was completed in October. 

Dong’s exit and the disposal of Time With Yuhui mark a turning point for East Buy, a unit of New Oriental Education and Technology Group, in a highly competitive market where platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, Taobao Live, and Kuaishou dominate.

“If we excluded the financial impact from the disposal of Time With Yuhui on July 25, which are the one-off expenses incurred and profit generated by Time With Yuhui, the net profit from continuing operations was CNY32.7 million,” East Buy said in the earnings report.

The divestment of Time With Yuhui impacted administrative costs, which surged 181 percent from a year ago to CNY392 million, largely because of the allocation of undistributed profits to Time With Yuhui, East Buy said. Sales and marketing expenses jumped over 24 percent to CNY459 million, resulting mainly from higher staff costs.

Editor: Futura Costaglione