Alibaba Quarterly Profit Doubles on Strong Online Sales

China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group reported better-than-expected growth in revenue and profit for the June quarter, thanks to China’s booming online retail market.

Alibaba said Thursday that revenue for its fiscal quarter ended June 30 reached 50.18 billion yuan ($7.4 billion), an increase of 56% from the same period last year. Quarterly profit jumped 96% year-on-year to 14 billion yuan.

Revenue acceleration in China retail marketplaces continues to benefit from robust growth in average spending per merchant and the number of paying merchants, which reached a historical high during the quarter, said Alibaba in a statement.

Alibaba’s revenue from core commerce increased 58% year-over-year to 43 billion yuan for the quarter, and its cloud computing revenue increased 96% to 2.4 billion yuan.

Annual active consumers on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces reached 466 million, an increase of 12 million from the 12-month period ended March 31, 2017, said Alibaba. Mobile monthly active users grew to 529 million in June, an increase of 22 million over March of this year.

The strong performance reflects the strength and diversity of Alibaba’s businesses, said Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba. "Our technology is driving significant growth across our business and strengthening our position beyond core commerce," said Zhang in a statement.

“It is our intention to continue investing in long-term growth opportunities, some of which are already delivering significant value to customers and investors,” said Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba.

Alibaba’s shares rose over 4% to $166 in early trading in Nasdaq.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)