Hong Kong
China’s Alibaba Group Holding reported its strongest quarterly revenue growth in almost two years on Thursday as its domestic e-commerce unit focuses on low-cost products to attract consumers amid a sober economic environment.
The Chinese e-commerce giant posted first-quarter revenue of 234.16 billion yuan ($32.29 billion), up 14% from the prior-year quarter which was hit by strict pandemic lockdowns. The figure beat analysts’ estimates of 224.92 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.
The company’s U.S.-listed shares rose as much as 5.6% to $100.1 in early trading. The latest revenue figure represents an improvement from flat to 3% growth in the past four quarters.However, fears have grown about China’s economy, which has faltered after an initially brisk recovery from the lifting of COVID curbs late last year. On Wednesday, China reported it tipped into deflation in July at the consumer price level – a development expected to further weigh on shoppers’ will to spend.
The latest macro data indicates some uncertainties in the pace of post-COVID recovery, but as economic and consumer activities continue to resume, our businesses demonstrated encouraging trends, Alibaba Group CEO and Chairman Daniel Zhang told analysts in a post-earnings call. Regulatory concern has eased for China’s tech giants, including Alibaba, this year, with Chinese authorities keen to boost private sector confidence.This was the first set of quarterly results for the $241 billion market-value behemoth since it split its business into six units, which many experts said could also ease scrutiny over the tech giant.
