CONTENTS PAGE Corporate Information 2 Chairman’s Statement 3 Management Discussion and Analysis 5 Biographical Information of Directors and Senior Management 12 Directors’ Report 15 Corporate Governance Report 50 Environmental, Social and Governance Report 75 Independent Auditor’s Report 84 Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss 92 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 93 Consolidated Balance Sheet 94 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity 96 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 98 Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements 100 Financial Summary 202 1 CORPORATE INFORMATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRINCIPAL BANKERS Executive Directors China CITIC Bank International Limited Mr. Fan Luyuan (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer) China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. Mr. Yu Yongfu Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. Ms. Zhang Wei (President) The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Non-Executive Directors Hang Seng Bank Limited Mr. Li Lian Jie JPMorgan Chase N.A Mr. Shao Xiaofeng REGISTERED OFFICE Independent Non-Executive Directors Clarendon House, 2 Church Street Ms. Song Lixin Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda Mr. Tong Xiaomeng Mr. Johnny Chen HEAD OFFICE AND PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS IN HONG KONG EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 26/F, Tower One, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street Mr. Fan Luyuan (Committee Chairman) Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Ms. Zhang Wei Telephone : (852) 2215 5428 Facsimile : (852) 2215 5420 REMUNERATION COMMITTEE Mr. Tong Xiaomeng (Committee Chairman) BEIJING OFFICE Mr. Fan Luyuan 18-20/F, Building 2, World Profit Center, Ms. Song Lixin No. 16 Tianze Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China Postal Code : 100125 AUDIT COMMITTEE Telephone : (86) 10 5911 5566 Mr. Johnny Chen (Committee Chairman) Facsimile : (86) 10 5911 5599 Ms. Song Lixin Mr. Tong Xiaomeng PRINCIPAL SHARE REGISTRAR AND TRANSFER OFFICE NOMINATION COMMITTEE MUFG Fund Services (Bermuda) Limited Mr. Fan Luyuan (Committee Chairman) The Belvedere Building, 69 Pitts Bay Road Mr. Tong Xiaomeng Pembroke HM08, Bermuda Mr. Johnny Chen HONG KONG BRANCH SHARE REGISTRAR COMPANY SECRETARY AND TRANSFER OFFICE Mr. Ng Lok Ming, William Tricor Secretaries Limited Level 22, Hopewell Centre AUDITOR 183 Queen’s Road East, Hong Kong PricewaterhouseCoopers SINGAPORE SHARE TRANSFER AGENT WEBSITE Boardroom Corporate & Advisory Services Pte. Ltd. www.irasia.com/listco/hk/alibabapictures 50 Raffles Place,#32-01 Singapore Land Tower Singapore 048623 STOCK CODE Stock Code on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited: 1060 Stock Code on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited: S91 2 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT Dear Shareholders, Alibaba Pictures Group Limited (the “Company” or “Alibaba Pictures”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) is about to celebrate the fourth anniversary since its establishment. The past year is marked by success of the Company in building new infrastructure, as well as its enduring focus on and refined operation in film content production. Our belief in our strategic vision is unwavering, and we remain confident in the prospect of our future. China’s film market delivered box office receipts of RMB55.8 billion in 2017, representing a year-on-year growth of 23%. Totalling RMB20.2 billion in the first quarter of 2018, not only did China’s film box office increase by nearly 40% year-on-year, it also surpassed that of the North America for the first time, making China the world’s biggest box office contributor. It is expected that China’s box office will continue to deliver stable growth for years to come. Meanwhile, signified by a number of phenomenal films that won critical acclaim while delivering excellent box office in the past year or so, including, among others, Wolf Warrior 2 (戰狼2) and Operation Red Sea (紅海行動), the Chinese film market as a whole is entering a new era where production is driven by content and demand. It is an honour for Alibaba Pictures to be able to play its part in an era that brings with itself so much hope and possibilities. As an internet-based company engaged in TV and film operations, not only are we committed to bringing happiness to our customers, we have also been driving the entire sector towards informatisation and internetisation. Going forward, we aim to take the sector to achieve still higher levels of smartisation and innovation. At the centre of our effort in developing new infrastructure, Tao Piao Piao (the Group’s online ticketing platform) further strengthened its market-leading position and achieved the largest share of the domestic market during the 2018 Lunar New Year holiday. We firmly believe that Tao Piao Piao is not only one of the leading online ticketing platforms in China, but also an excellent platform that Chinese users access to make decisions when picking films. The Group will continue to leverage on advantages created by the ecosystem of Alibaba Group Holding Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively, “Alibaba Group”), with a view to creating scenarios and interactive experiences of greater diversity to its customers. At the beginning of 2018, the Group decided to integrate the IP-related merchandising business owned by Alibaba Pictures with Alifish (a platform under Alibaba Group), with a view to concentrating available resources to accelerate the development of its merchandising business, combining contents with consumption scenarios to improve user experience, and creating competitive advantages through differentiation. Targeting cinemas and studios end, the Group launched Beacon – its one-stop promotion and distribution platform – during the first half of 2018. Through this key project, the Group aims to provide customers with smart promotion and distribution solutions to the difficulties commonly encountered by the film industry such as a lack of information transparency and the inaccuracy in resource allocation, by integrating the most complete TV & film analytical data, relevant media resources and business information within the Alibaba Group network. Further, the Group also plans to create and launch online cinema products by combining Tao Piao Piao’s business strengths with information-based operational capabilities. Meanwhile, in an effort to improve sector-wide collaborative efficiency and resource allocation at the data-product end, Tao Piao Piao Pro features a database of production management software and film industry information. This is an indication that values associated with the wholesome development of young talents and quality contents are being realised, which will drive the sector to improve data transparency and efficiency. 3 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT Additionally, the Group will continue to focus on developing operational capabilities for copyright integration, so as to provide industry practitioners with financial product solutions while strengthening the collaboration with partners along the industry chain. Credit should be given to the investment in quality contents, for which Alibaba Pictures – a newcomer to the film industry – was enabled to gradually build up its confidence. Over the past year or so, the Group participated in the investment of some of the top 10 annual box office earners in China, such as Wolf Warrior 2 (戰狼2), Operation Red Sea (紅海行動), Detective Chinatown 2 (唐人街探案2) and Youth (芳華), just to name a few. At the same time, a number of its major investment projects were released in 2017, including, among others, Once Upon a Time (三生三世十里桃花) and Mr. Pride vs Miss Prejudice (傲嬌與偏見), which recorded satisfactory box office performance. The film and web drama of Legend of the Ancient Sword 2 (古劍奇譚2) are expected to be released in succession within the coming year. The Group also attaches great importance to supporting young directors and screenwriters. Alibaba Pictures therefore sponsors “Plan A”, through which it seeks to identify and support film talents from younger generations around the world. It is expected that some of the films made by young directors participating in “Plan A” will be released successively in the following year. The Group fully understands that in addition to in-house production, collaborating with top-tier domestic and overseas production houses known for quality contents is another key approach to high quality content products. Through strategic investments, Alibaba Pictures will maintain extensive strategic collaborations with exceptional production houses within the industry chain, so as to create complementary advantages. Looking ahead, the Group will continue to invest considerable resources in quality contents, Tao Piao Piao, etc., while strictly adhering to its dual-drive strategy known as “new infrastructure + quality contents”; the Group plans to further access Alibaba Group’s media and entertainment ecosystem, so as to achieve value maximisation through the effort of and the synergy brought about by all concerning segments. To honour its commitment towards enhancing commercial value of the TV & film industry through technology, the Group will create an internet-centred model that extends to various business procedures, such as talent development, content production, production management, promotion and distribution, and IP-based business development, with a view to guiding the entire sector through the reforms of industrialisation and smartisation. Last but not least, on behalf of the Board of the Company, I would like to thank our staff for their diligent work and commitment over the past year. I would also like to take this opportunity to express our most sincere gratitude to our customers, business partners and shareholders