Alibaba's Revenue Jump 59 Percent, GMV Increases by a Quarter

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported a better-than-expected 59 percent jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, defying a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

Alibaba's total revenue rose to CNY 32.15 billion, or $4.84 billion (roughly Rs. 32,349 crores), in the quarter ended June 30 from CNY 20.25 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of CNY 30.17 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Mobile revenue from the company's China commerce retail business increased 119.3 percent to CNY 17.51 billion, while monthly mobile active users increased 39 percent.

"We passed an important milestone this quarter in achieving higher monetization of mobile users than non-mobile users for the first time," Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said.

The company said its gross merchandise volume (GMV) - the value of transactions carried out by third-party sellers on the company's platforms - rose 24.4 percent to CNY 837 billion.

Alibaba said in June it would in the future only release GMV figures on an annual basis. The change followed the disclosure that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into the company's accounting practices.

The company, whose shares were up 4.8 percent in premarket trading, said in June that it expected to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020.

The business is seen as a future growth driver for Alibaba, but contributed just 2 percent of overall revenue in the quarter.

Paying customers in Alibaba's cloud computing business increased to 577,000 from 263,000 a year earlier, boosting revenue by 156 percent.

Net income attributable to shareholders fell to CNY 7.14 billion, or CNY 2.94 per share, from CNY 30.82 billion, or CNY 11.92 per share, in the year-earlier quarter.

Facing the prospect of a saturated online retail market in China, Alibaba has been looking to grow outside its home base.

The company bought Singapore-based online retailer Lazada Group for about $1 billion in April, giving it a greater presence in Southeast Asia.

It has also been investing in a diverse array of other businesses, including cloud services provider Aliyun and driverless vehicles, hoping they can become an eventual source of growth.

Up to Wednesday's close of $87.33, Alibaba's shares had risen 7.46 percent since the start of the year.

© Thomson Reuters 2016