Cutting P2P, VALA's revenue drops to 200 million, with a loss of 150 million. Can Sun Haitao's car manufacturing venture last long?

Byline|Beidou

Source|Beidou Business & Beidou Finance

Recently, VALA Group (02051.HK, formerly 51 Credit Card) released its full-year 2025 results. In 2025, VALA Group’s total revenue was RMB 243 million, up 8.2% year over year; driven by a deep restructuring of its business mix, high investment in new businesses, and contraction in its traditional businesses, the company recorded a full-year operating loss of approximately RMB 154 million.

Of particular note, this is the first full annual financial report since VALA’s name change. In August 2025, the company officially changed from “51 Credit Card Inc.” to “Vala Inc.” and no longer uses the Chinese dual foreign-language name of “51 Credit Card Co., Ltd.”

According to Beidou Business & Beidou Finance, the founder of the former 51 Credit Card, Sun Haitao, later stated on social media: “Our financial business is contracting, and in the future it will get smaller and smaller. We will focus on the Vala track.”

I. Rebranding and transformation: From 51 Credit Card to VALA—financial business shrinks as the car-making business surges

VALA’s transformation began during an industry adjustment period around 2020.

Over the past few years, 51 Credit Card successively reduced its P2P business and adjusted the scale of its credit matchmaking, which caused the company’s revenue to plunge from RMB 2.05 billion in 2019 to RMB 225 million in 2024. From 2019 to 2023, the company generated operating revenue of RMB 2.045 billion, RMB 274 million, RMB 440 million, and RMB 396 million, respectively, with highly volatile performance.

In March 2024, Sun Haitao officially announced the new-energy multi-functional vehicle Vala to the public, becoming another cross-border new entrant into car-making. Unlike other EV startups, Vala positions its product as a multi-functional vehicle—essentially a combination of an MPV and a motorhome. The official description defines it as “a new species beyond camping vans and motorhomes,” and even boasts that “making Vala the iPhone of the automotive industry.”

In August 2025, the company completed the rebranding, marking a complete shift of strategic focus. From “51 Credit Card” to “VALA,” this is not just a change in brand name, but a transformation of the business essence—from an internet finance platform to a provider of new-energy, mobile lifestyle services.

II. A dramatic change in earnings structure: ValaLife surges 524% to become the largest source of revenue

The financial report shows that VALA’s business structure is undergoing a fundamental shift.

In 2025, its ValaLife business (including cars and camping) surpassed the RMB 100 million mark in revenue, reaching approximately RMB 101 million, up 524.3% year over year. Its share of total revenue jumped from about 7% in 2024 to 41.6%, becoming the core engine driving the group’s revenue growth.

By contrast, the traditional financial businesses continued to shrink. The credit matchmaking service revenue share fell to about 19%, and credit card technology service fees accounted for only 0.1%—these two were the businesses that helped 51 Credit Card rise. Although SaaS service fee revenue remained at a certain scale, its growth rate clearly slowed.

Sun Haitao said in the earnings call that the ValaLife business, leveraging a light-asset production model, differentiated products, and a lightweight channel model, has secured an early-mover position in the new-energy multi-functional “small RV” blue-ocean segment. In the second quarter of 2025, Vala delivered 126 vehicles in batches, up about 27.3% quarter over quarter; its full-year cumulative deliveries achieved a notable increase versus 2024.

In September 2025, the six-seat new-energy smart “small RV” Vala Home, developed jointly, made its debut at the World Smart Industry Expo, further enriching the product lineup. Vala reached a strategic cooperation with Ruiqi Automobile, a company under the Seres Group, and adopted a light-asset contract manufacturing model to reduce pressure on capital expenditures.

III. Sun Haitao’s 30 share-buying increases: management’s confidence and commitment to transformation

During the key period of performance transformation, Sun Haitao demonstrated confidence in the company’s future with real capital.

Public information shows that in 2025, Sun Haitao had completed 30 rounds of share increases for VALA, forming a series of continuous capital additions. On January 12, 2026, according to the latest disclosures from the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing House, Sun Haitao increased his holdings again by 40 million shares. After the increase, his latest shareholding totaled about 277 million shares, with a stake proportion close to 17%.

This series of high-frequency, ongoing open-market additions is quite rare among comparable Hong Kong-listed companies. The market generally believes that the founder’s continuous share increases not only highlight a long-term positive view of the company’s strategic transformation direction, but also send an active signal to the capital market—despite near-term performance pressure, management remains confident about the long-term value of the Vala business.

Looking at stock performance, VALA’s share price has long been below HK$1, and its market capitalization has fallen from the peak of HK$10 billion at the time of its listing in 2018 to the current level of about HK$1.1 billion. However, Sun Haitao’s continued share increases seem to imply that the downturn period is precisely the best time to plan for the future.

IV. Challenges and outlook: loss of RMB 154 million—can car-making support the future?

Despite a clear transformation direction, VALA still faces significant challenges.

For the full year 2025, the operating loss was approximately RMB 154 million. Although this expanded compared with the RMB 69.018 million loss in 2024, considering the high-investment phase characteristics of new businesses, this loss magnitude remains within a controllable range. In the first half of 2025, the group achieved revenue of RMB 136 million, up 16.4% year over year; during the period, net losses were approximately RMB 50.87 million, basically flat versus the same period last year.

More worth attention are cash flow and the ability to operate on an ongoing basis. Car-making is a capital-intensive business. Vala currently adopts a light-asset contract manufacturing model, producing in cooperation with Ruiqi Automobile under Seres. This, to a certain extent, reduces pressure from fixed-asset investment. However, sales channel construction, brand building, and R&D investment still require substantial funding.

With prices starting from RMB 268,000 for Vala Pro, and a range of 505 kilometers, it is positioned in the niche multi-functional vehicle market. This pricing strategy and niche-market positioning determine that it is difficult to achieve mass-volume sales like mainstream new-energy models. How to build brand awareness in a niche market and achieve a balance of profitability is the core question that Sun Haitao’s team needs to answer.

Overall, VALA’s 2025 financial report is a “scorecard of transformation pains.” From 51 Credit Card to VALA—moving from financial technology to new-energy mobile lifestyle—Sun Haitao has led the company through a risky cross-border leap.

The financial report shows that the 524% growth in the ValaLife business demonstrates the potential of the new business, but the RMB 154 million loss also reminds the market that the transformation road is far from smooth. Sun Haitao’s 30 share increases are both a firm endorsement of his own strategic choices and a long-term value signal sent to investors.

In this niche blue ocean of new-energy motorhomes, whether VALA can truly become the “iPhone of the automotive industry” will still need to be tested over time. But at least, this company is no longer that internet finance platform that relied on P2P and credit card management.