Alibaba Reports 61% Jump in Quarterly Revenue

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. posted better-than-expected 61% growth in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, fueled by strong e-commerce business, the Hangzhou-based company said Friday.

New York-listed Alibaba said fourth-quarter revenue surged to 61.9 billion yuan ($9.74 billion). Revenue from its core commerce business rose 62% to 51 billion yuan. Management projected 60% revenue growth for the 2019 fiscal year.

Alibaba’s net profit declined 29% year-on-year in the quarter to 7.6 billion yuan, reflecting increased spending to expand its business reach to brick-and-mortar retail, cloud computing and logistics, the company reported.

The decline in the annual profit was also because the company’s profit last year was boosted by nonrecurring gains from the sale of certain investments, Alibaba said.

“Alibaba had an excellent quarter and fiscal year, driven by robust growth in our core commerce business and investments we have made over the past several years in longer-term growth initiatives,” Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said.

Annual active users on the company’s China retail platforms, led by Taobao and Tmall, increased by 37 million, or 7%, to reach 552 million by the end of 2017, Alibaba said.

For the full 2018 fiscal year, Alibaba reported 58% revenue growth and a 40% rise in profit.

As of March 31, Alibaba had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of 205 billion yuan, down from 220 billion yuan as of Dec. 31. The decrease was primarily because of cash used for investing activities, including investments in Wanda Cinemas, home improvement chain Easyhome and department store operator Intime Retail, Alibaba said.

“Looking ahead to fiscal 2019, we expect overall revenue growth above 60%, reflecting our confidence in our core business as well as positive momentum in new businesses,” said Maggie Wu, Alibaba’s chief financial officer.

Alibaba’s NYSE-listed stock climbed over 3.5% to close at $188.89 on Friday.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)