Alibaba's growth accelerated in the company's fiscal fourth quarter to March, showing little impact from the slowing Chinese economy. Sales were up 51 percent year-on-year to CNY 93.5 billion (USD 13.9 billion), according Telecompaper. Its core e-commerce business grew 54 percent to CNY 78.9 billion, while cloud computing was up 76 percent to CNY 7.7 billion. The net profit more than tripled, to CNY 23.4 billion from CNY 6.6 billion, thanks to valuation gains on investments. Operating profit fell 5 percent year-on-year to CNY 8.8 billion, hurt by a USD 250 million settlement of a class-action suit in the US. Adjusted EBITDA was still up 29 percent to CNY 25.2 billion.
In addition to the expansion in cloud computing, Alibaba's growth in the past year was helped by the takeover of the local delivery platform Ele.me in April 2018. Leading growth in the digital entertainment division is online video platform Youku Toudu, which increased its average daily user base by 88 percent in 12 months.
Alibaba's revenues over the full year rose 51 percent to CNY 376.8 billion. The company gave a cautious outlook for the new year, saying only that it plans to focus on "solid execution to build our businesses" and pass CNY 500 billion in revenues this year.
