Chinese retail giant JD.com hits record quarterly profits to beat expectations
Chinese e-commerce behemoth JD.com exceeded estimates for its first quarter earnings this year, up 20.9 per cent on the same period in 2018 with record-breaking quarterly profits.
The tech giant recently cut staff and wages in a bid to increase profitability and saw revenue grow to Rmb121bn (£13.8bn) for the quarter up until 31 March 2019.
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It is just over the Rmb120bn analysts predicted.
The firm turned around a loss of Rmb4.8bn in the final quarter of last year to make a profit of Rmb7.3bn this quarter.
It is also significantly more than the Rmb1.5bn from a year previous.
“The first quarter saw solid top line growth with record breaking profitability, further demonstrating the superiority of JD.com’s business model as compared to traditional retail formats,” said JD's chief financial officer, Sidney Huang.
The company also saw an increase in the number of active users, with 310.5m using the site over the 12 months to the end of the first quarter.
It's up from the 305.3m accounts recorded at the end of the fourth quarter, but slightly below the record of 313.8m that were active at the end of June last year.
“We will continue to invest in key technologies and top industry talent as we work to reach an even broader customer base through cutting edge innovation," said chairman and CEO, Richard Liu.
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"With our growing scale and increasingly efficient operations, JD.com remains well positioned to deliver strong shareholder value for the long term.”
JD.com's stock price, which is traded on the NASDAQ, was up around five per cent in early morning trading in the US.