JD revenue soars with post-Covid online sales boom

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday as online sales remained strong even after coronavirus-led restrictions were lifted in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Beijing-based company, which recorded growth across a wide range of product lines, joined competitors Pinduoduo and Alibaba Group in racking up double-digit growth as China’s economy recovers from COVID-19 damage.

JD.com Chief Executive Officer Richard Liu said its business partners are recovering rapidly as well.

Last month, data showed that China’s retail sales edged up 3.3% in September from a year earlier, beating analysts’ forecast for a 1.8% growth.

Sales in JD.com’s product segment, which includes online retail sales, rose 27% to 151.4 billion yuan ($22.99 billion) in the quarter.

JD.com’s net revenue rose 29% to 174.21 billion yuan in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Analysts had expected revenue of 170.2 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Excluding items, JD.com earned 3.42 yuan per American depository share (ADS) while analysts had expected a profit of 2.65 yuan per ADS.