The Beijing-based company said revenue rose to 260 billion yuan (US$36 billion) in the March quarter, from about 243 billion yuan a year earlier, on the back of electronics, home appliances, general merchandise and logistics services income. That was ahead of the 257.72 billion yuan average forecast from 21 analysts’ estimates compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group.
Net income attributable to shareholders was up nearly 14 per cent to 7.1 billion yuan, compared with about 6.3 billion yuan in the same period last year.
“The year 2024 is marked with execution, and we are already seeing measurable results across the business,” chief executive Sandy Xu Ran said in a statement released after the market closed. “In the first quarter, our focus on user experience helped to drive strong growth in the number of active users as well as user engagement.”
JD.com chief executive Sandy Xu Ran speaks at the company’s 20th anniversary in Beijing on June 18, 2023. Photo: EPA
JD.com’s shares in Hong Kong closed 2.56 per cent higher to HK$132.40 on Thursday. Its US-listed shares, meanwhile, were up about 3.5 per cent in premarket trading and have climbed more than 16 per cent this year.
The company’s latest quarterly financial results reflect the expansion of China’s online retail market in the first quarter, when total sales rose 12.4 per cent year on year to 3.3 trillion yuan, largely driven by service-based consumption, according to data published last month by the Ministry of Commerce.
JD.com chief financial officer Ian Shan Su said the firm’s general merchandise business continued to pick up momentum, “thanks to the robust recovery of [the firm’s] supermarket category”.
“During the quarter, we also continued to execute on our share-repurchase programme which, alongside our annual dividend, underscores the company’s healthy profitability, sound balance sheet and commitment to returning value to shareholders,” he said.
The company repurchased 98.3 million Class A ordinary shares, the equivalent of 49.2 million American Depositary shares, for a total of US$1.3 billion during the period from January 1 to May 15. That amounted to 3.1 per cent of its ordinary shares outstanding as of December 31, 2023.
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