Since March, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said it was looking at a steady recovery in the region, but cautioned that the road to economic recovery remains unclear.
Notwithstanding virus-related restrictions on denting operations, the company's revenues rose 22 percent in the three months to March 31.
The benefit, driven by demand for food, electronics and cloud computing, was stronger than expected. Disruptions in the supply chain and investment losses have weighed negatively on its earnings.
Two of the biggest e-commerce companies in China, Alibaba and Pinduoduo, both announced their earnings for the quarter late Friday, as China's internet sales show signs of rebounding back to pre-coronavirus rates. Alibaba stock and Pinduoduo each traded lower late Thursday.
Alibaba Group's income dropped from a year earlier by 88 percent as investments in other publicly traded firms showed. The e-commerce company based in Hangzhou, China, gained 3.16 billion Chinese yuan ($447 million), or an adjusted 1.15 yuan per share (16 cents), as sales increased 22 percent from a year earlier to 114.3 billion yuan ($16.14 billion).
The productivity of China's economy, in which Alibaba is a major force, is being monitored closely as a preview of how the rest of the world could fare after sudden economic shutoffs aimed at controlling Covid-19 's spread.
The country disclosed this week it would not set a target for economic growth. This is the first time since 1990 the government has failed to do so. Several multinational companies have also scrapped predictions for the year ahead, citing pandemic instability.
Alibaba shares fell 2.1 percent on the stock market May 22, closing at 212.16. The group's stock climbed around 28 percent since reaching a six-month low of 169.95 in mid-March. Shares moved beyond their 50-day moving average last week. Alibaba said the decline had been driven by a $1.09 billion investment loss in the period, compared to a net gain the year before.
According to chief executive officer Daniel Zhang, the company's overall business has continued to see solid growth, with a total yearly active client base of 960 million around the world, despite concluding the year with a quarter heavily affected by the global health crisis.
The company disclosed that in the 12 months ended December 31 annual active users on its China marketplaces were up by 15 million to 726 million. In March this year, smartphone monthly active users rose by 22 million to 846 million.
Gross volume of merchandise, or cumulative amount of sales for merchandise sold, exceeded 7,053 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) for digital platforms at Alibaba.
