Meituan Sees Impressive 21.4% Q4 Revenue Increase Amid Rivalry with Alibaba-Backed Ele.me

Chinese food delivery titan Meituan (3690.HK) reported a surprising 21.4% surge in quarterly revenue on Friday, holding its own against strong competitors like Alibaba-supported Ele.me.

Meituan's versatile "super app" offers a variety of services, including bike-sharing, movie ticket sales, mapping, food delivery, and restaurant reservations. The company disclosed a total revenue increase from 49.52 billion yuan a year ago to 60.13 billion yuan ($8.76 billion) for the three months ending in December.

Refinitiv data reveals that analysts had anticipated a revenue of 57.88 billion yuan on average.

The net loss for the fourth quarter was reduced to 1.08 billion yuan, a significant improvement from the 5.34 billion yuan loss a year prior.

Despite being adversely affected by COVID-19 restrictions in 2021, Meituan managed to achieve a profit in the third quarter by reducing investments in new ventures.

The company's core local commerce revenue for the fourth quarter, encompassing food delivery and non-food delivery service Meituan Instashopping, increased by 17.4% to 43.47 billion yuan.

The operating profit for this segment saw a remarkable 56.8% year-over-year growth, reaching 29.5 billion yuan.

However, Meituan's in-store, hotel booking, and travel sector businesses experienced a decline in quarterly revenue due to the ongoing effects of COVID restrictions in China. The company characterized the year-on-year reduction as comparable to that of the second quarter.