China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a better-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday, boosted by record sales during its annual Singles' Day shopping blitz and growth in its cloud computing business.
The e-commerce giant usually reports its highest revenue in the December quarter due to its mega "Singles' Day" shopping bonanza in November. The company said the 24-hour shopping event hit a record $38.4 billion (€35.37 billion) in 2019.
Impact Of Coronavirus
Alibaba said it was supporting the fight against the coronavirus outbreak by ensuring supply of daily necessities and introducing relief measures for its merchants.
The outbreak, which originated in the city of Wuhan, is expected to pile more pressure on China's economy and comes as the country signed a Phase 1 deal with the United States to ease a protracted trade war that had weighed on its growth.
Sales from the company's core commerce business jumped 38% to 141.48 billion yuan (€18.66 billion), while revenue at its cloud computing unit surged 62% to 10.72 billion yuan (€1.41 billion).
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders rose to 52.31 billion yuan (€6.90 billion) from 33.05 billion yuan (€4.36 billion).
Revenue rose to 161.46 billion yuan ($23.12 billion) in the third quarter ended Dec. 31 from 117.28 billion yuan, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected revenue of 159.28 billion yuan (€21.01 billion), according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
