BENGALURU: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday it would buy back shares worth up to US$6bil (RM26bil) over two years, as it beat first quarter revenue forecasts but missed income estimates.
The Chinese company, which is looking to grow its business beyond e-commerce and is targeting new lines in cloud computing, big data, entertainment and offline retail, says the repurchase will replace its existing buyback program.
Alibaba said strength in the Chinese e-commerce market helped its total revenue rise to 38.6 billion yuan (RM24.3bil) in the quarter to the end of March, versus an average forecast of 36 billion yuan according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
But Alibaba’s adjusted EPS (earnings per share) was 4.35 yuan (RM2.74), versus estimates of 4.48 yuan.
Alibaba has ramped up expansion outside of China and consolidated its South-East Asian retail site Lazada, which it acquired last year. This included integrating the Singapore-based platform’s payment system, Hello Pay, with Alibaba’s own payment affiliate, Alipay.
It has taken steps to expand its US merchant base over the past quarter and said it plans to host an event next month, which 1,000 US businesses are expected to attend.
This US push follows a meeting between chairman Jack Ma and US President Donald Trump earlier this year, at which Ma pledged to create one million jobs in the country.
Revenue from Alibaba’s core e-commerce business grew by 47% to 31.6 billion yuan (RM19.9bil) in the quarter, up from the previous quarter’s growth rate of 45%.
Meanwhile net income attributable to shareholders rose to 10.6 billion yuan (RM6.7bil), up 98% from 5.4 billion yuan in the year-earlier quarter.
Its digital media and entertainment business saw an increase in revenue of 234% to 3.9 billion yuan, reflecting the dividends from the consolidation of Youku Tudou, which Alibaba acquired for US$3.5bil in October.
Alibaba’s cloud business continued its run of triple-digit growth, recording revenue of 2.2 billion yuan for the quarter, up 103% from a year earlier. - Reuters
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