Alibaba reports solid earnings beat, revenue rises most since Sept. 2021

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Thursday said revenue grew by 14% year-on-year in the quarter ended June 30. That’s the biggest annual increase in revenue since the September 2021 quarter, according to Refinitiv data.

The company’s U.S.-traded shares rose by 4.5% in pre-market trading.

Here’s how Alibaba did in the June quarter versus Refinitiv consensus estimates:

• Revenue: 234.16 billion Chinese yuan ($32.29 billion) versus 224.92 billion yuan expected, up 14% year-on-year.
• Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders: 34.33 billion Chinese yuan versus 28.66 billion yuan expected, up 51% year-on-year.

Alibaba’s main business, Taobao and Tmall Group, saw revenue rise 12% year-on year to 114.95 billion yuan in the June quarter. The company noted that the Taobao app for online shopping saw daily active users rise in June by 6.5% from a year ago.

The company’s push into overseas markets also bore results, with revenue from international commerce retail surging by 60% year-on-year to 17.14 billion yuan in the June quarter.

That international demand also helped drive Alibaba’s Cainiao logistics business revenue up by 34% to 23.16 billion yuan during the same period.

Alibaba’s cloud business reported revenue growth of 4% to 25.12 billion yuan

Thursday’s quarterly results compare with a year-ago period when China was still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic and a two-month lockdown was imposed in Shanghai.

The Chinese economy has been a mixed bag since the country eased its strict pandemic controls in December; investors expected a strong rebound, but domestic consumer demand has remained sluggish. This year, second-quarter GDP came in slower than analysts expected.

Hangzhou-headquartered Alibaba has been undergoing major changes in recent months. In March, Alibaba said it would split into six business groups, with…