(Reuters) – Southeast Asian technology company Sea Ltd beat first-quarter revenue expectations on Tuesday, led by strong performance from its e-commerce unit Shopee, sending its U.S.-listed shares up 7% in pre-market trading. .
Shopee benefited from early Ramadan, and Sea's digital entertainment business benefited from the popularity of online multiplayer game Free Fire.
Sea's total revenue for the quarter ended March 31 rose 23% to $3.73 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.56 billion, according to LSEG data.
Chief Executive Officer Forrest Lee said in a statement: “Our first quarter results give us a strong start to 2024, and we are on track to achieve our full-year guidance.'' Stated.
The $37 billion company posted impressive results in 2020 and 2021, with pandemic-driven demand boosting revenue and helping it expand beyond Southeast Asian markets.
However, the global economic slowdown has forced Sea to streamline its operations and cut thousands of jobs.
The company achieved its first annual profit last year, thanks to efforts such as exiting India, Europe and some Latin American markets.
E-commerce sales, the company's largest division, rose 33% to $2.7 billion in the March quarter, compared to LSEG's estimate of $2.54 billion.
Orders for the digital entertainment business, which includes the gaming platform Garena, were higher than expected at $512.1 million, but growth in the digital financial services sector was lower than expected.
Sea reported a net loss of $23 million, compared with a profit of $87.3 million a year earlier, as costs rose nearly 50%.
On an adjusted basis, the company lost 4 cents per share, below the average analyst estimate of a loss of 2 cents.
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bangalore; Editing by Shinjini Ganguly)
