Hangyu Li: Thank you, Tongbo. Hello, everyone. I’m pleased to present our fourth quarter results. Over the past year, we have been committed to achieving sustainable growth, placing a high priority on improving operational efficiency and optimizing our cost structure. We continued our impressive level of profitability with a net profit margin of 28.6%, up 3.5 percentage points quarter over quarter. This demonstrated the effectiveness of our operational strategies and highlights our ability to adapt to changing market conditions. It is also important to highlight that our net cash inflows from operating activities for the year exceeded $135 million, providing a solid financial foundation for the sustainable development of our business.
This success is a direct reflection of our commitment to strengthening our core competence, allowing us to quickly adjust our strategy in response to changing market conditions and customer demands. Notably, since the fourth quarter of 2021, our net profit margin has remained above 20%, which is a testament to the strength and resilience of our business model. Looking to the future, we’ll continue to focus on refined operations and efficient office financial management to ensure the company sustains healthy and stable development. In addition, we’ll strictly follow the instructions of the board and implement strategic share repurchases to enhance shareholder value. Now let me present to you some of our key financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023.
All comparisons are year-over-year, and all figures are in RMB unless otherwise noted. For the fourth quarter of 2023, net revenues decreased by 6.4% to RMB541.7 million from RMB578.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The decrease was primarily due to a year-over-year decline in gross buildings from post-secondary courses in 2023. Cost of revenues decreased by 2% to RMB73.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 from RMB75.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The decrease was primarily due to lower compensation expenses related to a reduction in our cost of revenue headcount. Growth profit decreased by 7% to RMB468 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 from RMB503.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. In the fourth quarter of 2023, operating expenses were RMB348.9 million, representing a 3.8% increase from RMB336 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Sales and marketing expenses increased by 12.2% to RMB305.8 in the fourth quarter of 2023 from $272.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to increased spending on sales activities, including higher sales force compensation, as well as higher spending on brand and marketing activities focused on interest-based courses. General and administrative expenses decreased by 36.8% to RMB35.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 from RMB56.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, the decrease was primarily due to lower office costs and rental expenses resulting from the early termination of certain office spaces. Product development expenses increased by 3.6% to RMB7.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 from RMB7.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 was RMB155.2 million, compared with RMB181 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Basic and diluted net income per share was RMB22.59 in the fourth quarter of 2023. As of December 31st, 2023, the company had RMB766.4 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and RMB142.1 million of short-term investments compared with RMB757.4 of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and RMB70.5 million of short-term investments as of December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, the company had a deferred revenue balance of RMB1113.9 million compared with RMB1690.9 million as of December 31, 2022. Capital expenditures were primarily for information technology infrastructure equipment and leasehold improvements required to support the company’s operations.
Capital expenditures were RMB0.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with RMB0.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. For more details on our full year 2023 financial results, please see our earnings press release. Now for our outlook, for the first quarter of 2024 we currently expect net revenues to be between RMB500 million and RMB520 million, a year-over-year decrease of 8.3% to 11.8%. This outlook is based on current market conditions and reflects the company’s managements current and the preliminary estimates of the market, operating conditions and the customer demand, all of which are subject to change. With that, I’d like to open up the call to questions. Operator?
Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] At this time we are showing no further questions. So this will conclude our question-and-answer session. At this time, I would like to turn the conference back over to Yuhua for any closing remarks.
Yuhua Ye: Once again, thank you everyone for joining today’s call. We look forward to speaking with you again soon. Good day and good night.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.
End of Q&A:
