Friday, February 07, 2014

Alibaba’s profits, revenues up in fourth quarter

News this week: China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, posted a fourth quarterly profit for the three-month ended 30th September 2013. Net income attributable to shareholders in the period was US$792 million – that is a 12% increase compared to the previous quarter.

Alibaba’s revenues in the quarter jumped 51% year-on-year to reach US$1.78 billion. Compared with the previous quarters however, this represents a slowdown from the growth of 61% and 71% recorded in Q2 and Q1 respectively. However, Alibaba outperformed its key industry peers as Tencent posted revenue growth of 34% in their most recent financial quarter.

Cao Lei, director at Hangzhou-based China e-Business Research Center, said, “The results are pretty steady but bear no surprises. In terms of growth speed it’s lower than expected. Fourth quarter earnings should post an uptick as transaction volumes and advertising fees increase during the November 11 (Singles’ Day) sales promotion.”

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

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