China's JD.com beats estimates, adds record new users amid regulatory tightening
FILE PHOTO: A sign of China's e-commerce company JD.com is seen at its shop at a mall in Shanghai, China October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
SHANGHAI : JD.com Inc on Monday beat analysts' expectations for the quarter through June and added a record number of new users as the Chinese e-commerce giant benefited from a post-COVID surge in online shopping.
The results come amid a crackdown on the tech industry by Chinese regulators that has led to an upheaval in sectors such as e-commerce, gaming, ride-hailing and cryptocurrency.
Excluding items, the company posted a profit of 2.90 yuan per American depositary share (ADS), compared with analysts' expectations of 2.35 yuan.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders fell to 794.3 million yuan (US$122.48 million) from 16.4 billion yuan (US$2.53 billion) a year earlier. Non-GAAP net income to ordinary shareholders fell to 4.6 billion yuan compared to 5.9 billion yuan a year earlier.
Net revenue at JD.com rose about 26per cent to 253.8 billion yuan (US$39.14 billion) in the second quarter ended June 30. Analysts had expected revenue of 249.27 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
JD's annual active customer accounts jumped 27.4per cent to 531.9 million.
In the quarter, JD added 32 million new users, a company record, following a strong showing at its annual shopping festival in June.
The results come amid ongoing Chinese regulatory tightening in a range of industries, which has affected both JD and the tech industry.
China's anti-monopoly regulator fined rival Alibaba a record US$2.5 million dollars in April for anti-competitive behavior. Alibaba later missed its revenue estimates for that quarter.
In December, regulators fined JD.com 500,000 yuan for pricing irregularities.
In April, the China Shanghai stock exchange terminated a planned IPO for JD Digits, JD's fintech division, citing a request from the company to withdraw it. The pullback came after authorities abruptly blocked the listing of Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group
Sales in JD's product segment, which consists of revenue from e-commerce customer purchases, rose over 23per cent to 219.69 billion yuan.
(US$1 = 6.4841 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Anil D'Silva and Bernadette Baum)
