Alibaba beats expectations as revenues surge
Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba trumped market expectations this afternoon, providing some relief for Asian investors in a week that has seen markets rocked by the US-China trade war and fears of a global recession.
The retail group posted better-than-expected quarterly results after revenues from its cloud and e-commerce operations surged, sending shares up more than two per cent in pre-market trading.
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Revenue rose 42 per year-over-year to 114.9bn yuan (£13.7bn) during the three months to the end of June, beating analyst expectations of 111.7bn yuan.
Alibaba also reported adjusted EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for core commerce at 41bn yuan, marking a 25 per cent increase on the same quarter in the previous year.
“Alibaba had a great quarter, expanding our user base to 674m annual active consumers, demonstrating our superior user experience,” said Daniel Zhang, chief executive of Alibaba Group.
He added: “We will continue to expand our customer base, increase operating efficiency and deliver robust growth. With strong cash flow from our core commerce business, we will continue to invest in technology and bring digital transformation to millions of businesses globally.”
The results come against a backdrop on turbulence on both the US and Asian stock exchanges, with China today escalating a tit-for-tat trade battle after it warned it would “have to take necessary countermeasures” against US tariffs.
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David Blair, global boss retail design and branding agency at FITCH, said: “Alibaba’s almost unstoppable rise continues to take hold in Eastern markets. Despite ongoing trade wars, the retail giant continues to deliver good results with today’s positive earnings and I expect this will continue into quarter-three thanks to the wide-reaching eco-system that Alibaba is building.”