The Chinese e-commerce giant – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, reported on Wednesday a revenue growth of 55% in the second quarter, surpassing the analysts' forecasts, due to sales in the division of e-commerce and a strong growth in media and entertainment division.
The company has shown solid results for the second quarter in a row, which suggests the possibility of a strong growth even amid concerns about the state of the Chinese economy and its retail sector.
China's largest company engaged in e-commerce is preparing for the shopping festival on November 11.
The event will be an indicator for the company and for the Chinese retail sector, although the US Securities and Exchange Commission is currently studying the methods and accounting system that Alibaba uses to report on the festival results.
The company also wants to increase the volume of cross-border sales, as the Chinese market is becoming increasingly saturated. Alibaba expands its presence abroad, in particular at the expense of buying the online retailer Lazada Group SA in South East Asia for about $1 billion.
Alibaba had revenue in the amount of 34.3 billion Yuan ($ 5 billion) in the three months to September 30, exceeding the forecast of 24 analysts polled by Reuters, to 33.9 billion Yuan.
The company's net profit was 7.08 billion Yuan versus 22.7 billion Yuan. Such a high rate in the third quarter of 2015 is due to revaluation of Alibaba Health Division.
Alibaba Adjusted earnings were 79 cents per share against 57 cents per paper in the third quarter of the last year. The FactSet analysts expected an adjusted profit of the company at 69 cents per share on revenue of $5 billion.
The revenue of the key division of the company, engaged in trade, jumped by 41% over the previous year to 28.49 billion Yuan, mainly due to sales in China.
The division of media and electronic entertainment, united on Monday in the framework of a new organization, reported an increase in revenue by 302% compared to the same period last year.
The net income attributable to shareholders decreased by 67% to 2.97 Yuan per share, against 8.87 Yuan in the same period last year. ($ 1 = 6.7600 Chinese Yuan)