Alibaba posts 54% quarterly sales surge

The company's market capitalization was about $250 billion as of Sept 22. At that scale, Alibaba is on the verge of becoming one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world.The reception area at the office section of Hangzhou-based Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [Long Wei / China Daily]

Company aims to make 'Double 11' shopping event a global attraction

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Tuesday released its first quarterly financial statement, which showed revenue growth of 54 percent year-on-year.

The company conducted a record-breaking $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September.

The company said that in the quarter ended on Sept 30, its gross merchandise volume was up 49 percent and active buyers increased 52 percent in its China retail marketplaces.

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"We delivered a strong quarter with significant growth across our key operating metrics," said Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Lu.

Alibaba, whose online marketplaces－Taobao and Tmall－had 307 million active buyers in China as of September, saw revenue rise to 16.8 billion yuan ($2.74 billion) between July and September, beating the 16 billion yuan average of 26 estimates, according to Bloomberg.

Net profit fell 38.6 percent to 3.03 billion yuan.

The company's Taobao app has proven to be a strong driver of Alibaba's online retail business in China. Mobile revenue in the quarter was up 1,020 percent year-on-year to 3.72 billion yuan. 

The company is preparing for its Nov 11 sales event, its busiest shopping day of the year, and seeking content partners in Hollywood to compete with Tencent Holdings Ltd for the 527 million Chinese who access the Internet from mobile devices. 

"I do expect Alibaba to beat expectations, and I think that if its globalization strategy looks strong during the Nov 11 online shopping event, I would expect this to continue during the quarter and for the firm to post impressive fourth-quarter results," said Neil Flynn, head equity analyst at Shanghai-based Chineseinvestors, which covers US-listed Chinese companies.

Flynn, who has been following US-listed Chinese Internet companies for years, said the timing of Alibaba's IPO was favorable since the fourth quarter is the biggest quarter for e-commerce companies in China. That is because of the Nov 11 online shopping festival, which began in 2009.

"The excitement surrounding this and the first post-IPO earnings release has seen Alibaba rally by $16 in a month. I'm expecting investors to be very impressed by the sales figures from the upcoming online shopping event," he said.

Alibaba, whose marketplaces rang up 35 billion yuan in the 24-hour sales event last year, said it is going to make this year's event a global one by helping more Western retailers sell to Chinese consumers and more Chinese products go overseas.

"This should see Alibaba reach $110 by the end of November, but I expect that some investors will begin to take profits before the end of the year, so I think that we'll see Alibaba end the year at $105," Flynn said.

Alibaba shares crossed the $100 mark for the first time on Oct 28. That represented a jump of 35 percent from its IPO price of $68.

The company's market capitalization was about $250 billion as of Monday. At that scale, Alibaba is on the verge of becoming one of the 10 most valuable companies in the world.