Alibaba Group Holding said it expects revenue growth for 2019 to hold above 60 per cent, as it expands beyond e-commerce and pushes deeper into growth markets such as Southeast Asia.

The New York-listed company on Friday reported adjusted earnings per share of 5.73 yuan in the three months ended in March, topping analysts’ estimates. Revenue climbed 61 per cent to 61.9 billion yuan (US$9.9 billion), faster than analyst projections. 

Alibaba will continue to invest in acquiring new users and winning more share of consumer spending through expanding physical products, digital content and local services, company chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong said in a post-earnings conference call. 

The Hangzhou-based firm set a record of US$768 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), a measure of sales, in its financial year ended in March. 

“I remain confident that we are on track to reach our goal of US$1 trillion GMV by fiscal 2020,” Zhang said.

Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

The company is also “actively exploring” a CDR listing in China, according to chief financial officer Maggie Wu.  

Alibaba will continue to expand new retail formats such as its Hema supermarkets. Its logistics unit, Cainiao, will continue to build out its infrastructure to support the growth by its new retail operations, Zhang said. 

Annual active users on its China retail platforms, led by Taobao Marketplace and Tmall, increased by 37 million to reach 552 million.

China’s biggest e-commerce services provider, led by co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma Yun, is diversifying to combat maturing growth in its core business and to fend off rising competition from rivals such as Tencent Holdings in the retail and payments space. Continue Reading