(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Ping An Healthcare And Technology, the mobile  healthcare platform that went public in Hong Kong last May, continued to  loss-make last year but the firm's performance outdid analyst  expectations.

Ping An Healthcare's annual net loss narrowed 8.8 percent to CNY913 million  (USD136.6 million), which was one-fifth better than an average analyst  estimate, according to a statement from the Shanghai-based firm.

"Making  profits are just around the corner," state-backed news outlet The Paper  reported company President Wang Tao as saying at the earnings  presentation.

The  company, also known as Ping An Good Doctor, posted a 78.7 percent  expansion in revenue to CNY3.3 billion (USD499.6 million) for the year,  also beating an expectation of CNY3 billion.

Health-related  e-commerce accounted for 55 percent of the firm's income in 2018. The  segment's revenue doubled to CNY1.9 billion. The Ping An Insurance  subsidiary's other three major segments are family doctor services,  consumer health and health management. 

Income  from the family doctor segment grew by nearly three-quarters to CNY411  million, though the gross profit margin dropped 18.8 percentage points  on the year to 40.1 percent. The rising cost of providing services  contributed to the decline and it brought down the firm's overall  margin. The company has revised its contracts for this year and raised  fees in response. 

The  company, with a market capitalization of CNY40 billion as of Feb. 27,  boasted over 265 million registered users as of the end of last year.  Paid-users rose 86 percent in 2018 to reach 2.3 million, with the  average annual conversion rate to paid-users increasing 0.9 percentage  point to 3.6%.

Editor: William Clegg