Alibaba posts better-than-expected results

Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd delivered better-than-expected financial results in the October-December period on Thursday, with total revenue standing at 247.76 billion yuan ($35.9 billion), up 2 percent year-on-year. 

Its net income came in at 45.75 billion yuan for the quarter ending Dec 31, up 138 percent on a yearly basis, while the non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income reached 49.93 billion yuan, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year.

Daniel Zhang, chairman and CEO of Alibaba, said the company delivered a solid quarter despite softer demand, supply chain and logistics disruptions due to impact of changes in COVID-19 measures.

"Looking ahead, we expect continued recovery in consumer sentiment and economic activity. We are focused on driving growth for our customers amid the competitive landscape, and creating sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders."

During this period, the gross merchandise volume from its core e-commerce business, which refers to its Taobao and Tmall platforms, fell by mid-single digits from a year earlier mainly due to soft consumption demand and a surge in COVID-19 cases in China that resulted in supply chain and logistics disruptions in December.

Revenue in the cloud computing business amounted to 20.18 billion yuan during this period, an increase of 3 percent year-on-year, mainly driven by public cloud growth.

Alibaba Cloud has ramped up its international presence, and launched operation of its third data center in Japan in December to support the growing cloud service demands from local customers. Moreover, it added new data centers in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Thailand, South Korea and Japan in 2022.