Metropolis Capital Holdings Limited provided earnings guidance for the nine months ended 30 September 2022. For the period, the company informed unaudited consolidated results for the nine months ended 30 September 2022 and the information currently available, despite there was an increase in the Group's revenue by approximately 10% for the 2022 Third Quarter Period, as compared to the that for the corresponding period last year, the Group is expected to record a decrease of approximately 80% in profit after tax for the 2022 Third Quarter Period, as compared to that for the nine months ended 30 September 2021. The decrease in profit after tax for the 2022 Third Quarter Period was primarily attributable to increase in finance costs of more than RMB 6.6 million due to the increase in the interest on bank and other borrowings as the balance of bank and other loans significantly increased; change from the reversal of loss allowances on finance lease receivables and receivables arising from sale and leaseback arrangements for the nine months ended 30 September 2021 to the recognition of loss allowances on the Lease Receivables for the 2022 Third Quarter Period; and the recognition of loss allowances on factoring receivables for the 2022 Third Quarter Period, as compared to nil loss allowance made on the Factoring Receivables for the corresponding period last year, which is partially off-set by a decrease in staff costs and other operating expenses of about RMB5.7 million in aggregate.

The Group recognized loss allowances on the Lease Receivables and Factoring Receivables mainly due to the increase in receivables arising from sale and leaseback arrangements and factoring arrangements. In addition, as disclosed in the interim report of the Company for the six months ended 30 June 2022, the city-wide lockdown measures which have been implemented to contain the outbreak of local novel coronavirus caused by the divergent variants of COVID-19 in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China, from late March 2022 to early June 2022, has led the Group to adopt stricter risk control measures and make provisions in order to prevent future credit risks when the Group conducted impairment assessment on the relevant Lease Receivables and Factoring Receivables.