China Finance Online Co. Limited , a leading web-based financial services company that provides Chinese retail investors with fintech-powered online access to securities trading services, wealth management products, securities investment advisory services, as well as financial database and analytics services to institutional customers, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first half ended June 30, 2021.
Dr. Z. James Chen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Finance Online, commented, "Since the senior management change in late May, we introduced sweeping restructuring measures to cut costs and boost efficiency and repositioned our focus on each business unit's profitability. The Company has achieved operational stability over the past four months since July. Excluding the restructuring related non-recurring expenses, the Company is targeting to reach breakeven operating results for the second half of 2021."To get more China finance news, you can visit shine news official website.
Net revenues were $14.8 million, compared with $19.6 million during the first half of 2020 and $20.5 million in the second half of 2020, respectively. In the first half of 2021, revenues from financial services, the financial information and advisory business, advertising business and enterprise value-added services contributed 35%, 36%, 19% and 10% of the net revenues, respectively, compared with 37%, 42%, 12% and 9%, respectively, for the corresponding period in 2020.
Revenues from financial services were $5.1 million, compared with $7.3 million in the first half of 2020 and $5.8 million in the second half of 2020, respectively, mainly due to reduced revenue from the equity brokerage business which was affected by the softer Hong Kong stock market.
Revenues from the financial information and advisory business were $5.3 million, compared with $8.1 million in the first half of 2020 and $9.3 million in the second half of 2020, respectively. Revenues from the financial information and advisory business were mainly comprised of subscription services from individual and institutional customers and financial advisory services. The decreases in revenues from the financial information and advisory business were mainly due to the slow-down of our advisory services for individual investors as dramatic policy changes and resurgent of COVID Delta cases dampened retail investors' confidence. However, during the first half of 2021, subscription service from institutional customers posted solid growth with an increase of 28.6% from the first half of 2020 and an increase of 13.8% from the second half of 2020.Revenues from the advertising business grew 19.3% to $2.8 million from $2.3 million in the first half of 2020 and compared with $3.2 million in the second half of 2020.
Revenues from enterprise value-added services were $1.6 million, compared with $1.7 million in the first half of 2020 and $2.0 million in the second half of 2020, mainly due to the weaker market condition which deterred corporates' decision on marketing spending.
Gross profit was $8.3 million, compared with $12.1 million in the first half of 2020 and $13.6 million in the second half of 2020. Gross margin in the first half was 55.9%, compared with 61.7% in the first half of 2020 and 66.6% in the second half of 2020. The year-over-year decrease in gross margin was mainly due to lower advertising revenue and softer enterprise value-added services business.
General and administrative expenses were $4.1 million, compared with $4.5 million in the first half of 2020 and $6.9 million in the second half of 2020. The year-over-year decrease was mainly attributable to bad debt provision in our equity brokerage business.
Sales and marketing expenses were $6.3 million, compared with $7.5 million in the first half of 2020 and $10.0 million in the second half of 2020. The year-over-year decrease was mainly attributable to effective cost control measures we adopted.
Research and development expenses were $4.1 million, compared with $4.0 million in the first half of 2020 and $4.1 million in the second half of 2020. The year-over-year increase was mainly attributable to one-time non-recurring severance expenses associated with downsizing the R&D team. In the past few years, the Company has completed the development of its fintech capabilities and related products.