(Reuters) -China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday that fourth-quarter revenue climbed 2%, missing expectations.
The 208.20 billion yuan ($30.12 billion) logged for the three months ended in March compares with a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 210.3 billion yuan drawn from 26 analysts.
Chinese consumer spending has gained some momentum since the country abandoned draconian zero-COVID policies late last year, but still remains relatively muted amid a wobbly economic recovery.
Earlier this year, Alibaba announced plans to restructure into six units, a move that follows a two-year regulatory crackdown on China’s tech sector. It expects all of its units except for its China-facing e-commerce division to seek outside funding and go public.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 23.52 billion yuan, compared with a loss of 16.24 billion yuan.
Revenue for the full year climbed 2% to 868.69 billion yuan, marking its slowest rate of growth since the company went public in 2014.
In addition to lackluster consumer spending, Alibaba has also been struggling to attract new users as China’s e-commerce sector matures and it grapples with inroads made by new competitors such as PDD Holdings and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok that is also owned by ByteDance.
($1 = 6.9121 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Devika Syamnath)
