Xiaomi reports US$1.1bil Q1 loss ahead of IPO
HONG KONG: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi booked a quarterly net loss of US$1.1bil, but also record overseas revenue and surging smartphone shipments ahead of its blockbuster initial public offering next month.
Expectations of a highly sought after IPO have grown after Xiaomi, founded only eight years ago, blew past its 100 billion yuan (US$15.6bil) sales target for 2017 with a couple of months to spare.
The Hong Kong IPO is expected to raise US$10bil and value Xiaomi at between US$70bil and US$100bil, sources have said. Stoking expectations, up to 30% of the offering is expected to be sold as Chinese depository receipts on the mainland, in what is expected to be the first-ever CDR offering.
In its first prospectus for the CDR sale posted yesterday, Xiaomi did not provide a year-ago quarterly profit figure, but compared the 7 billion yuan (US$1.1bil) loss for January-March to a net loss of 43.89 billion yuan for the whole of 2017.
Xiaomi, however, said that after adjusting for fair value changes of convertible redeemable preferred shares, the company made a net profit of 1.04 billion yuan in the first quarter.
That compares with 3.9 billion yuan profit for the whole of 2017.
The company’s smartphone shipments jumped 88% from the same quarter a year earlier thanks to strong growth overseas and at home, helping Xiaomi log revenue of 34 billion yuan for the period.
That compares with 114.6 billion yuan for all of last year.
Revenue from overseas rose to a record high of 12.5 billion yuan in the quarter, with its phones topping the Indian market, it said in the filing.
Xiaomi did not reveal a fund raising target or the number of shares on offer in the filing.
The fund raising, which could be the largest listing globally in almost four years, comes as tech companies and investors look to capitalise on a bull run for the Hong Kong market, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index rising 19% over the past year. — Reuters