Alibaba more upbeat, sees 53pc growth
HANGZHOU: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised its outlook for fullyear revenue growth after reporting sales that beat estimates, driven by a leap in Chinese consumer spending and a push into new businesses.
China’s biggest e-commerce company is now predicting a 49 to 53 per cent rise in revenue in the current fiscal year, after acquiring the Cainiao logistics business.
For the September quarter it reported 61 per cent revenue growth, its fastest as a public company, as mobile spending surged and the cloud division kept up a blistering pace of growth.
Shares in Alibaba climbed 3.5 per cent in pre-market trade.
The Internet giant has opened its wallet to woo shoppers and improve marketing services for merchants while splurging billions to look for new sectors of growth. It’s shaking up supermarkets and department stores while investing in artificial intelligence and cloud computing, areas in direct competition with Amazon.com Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Alibaba’s cloud business almost doubled revenue in the quarter.
“The margins were better than expected,” said Billy Leung, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Haitong International Securities Co. “It’s definitely a positive for the company.”
Next week, Alibaba will hold its annual Singles’ Day promotion, the biggest shopping event on the calendar. Last year, transac- tions on its platforms reached 120.7 billion yuan (RM77.2 billion), dwarfing United States promotions Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Sales for the quarter were 55.1 billion yuan, surpassing the 52 billion yuan projected by analysts.
Adjusted earnings-per-share were 8.57 yuan compared with the 6.90 yuan average of estimates. Bloomberg