JD?net?profit?surges?215?pct in?Q1

Chinese e-commerce giant JD reported net profit of 3.3 billion yuan ($483.8 million) in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 215 percent compared with same period of last year. Net revenue reached 121.1 yuan billion, up 20.9 percent year-on-year.

Its annual active customer accounts increased to 310.5 million in the twelve months ended March 31, 2019 from 305.3 million in the twelve months ended December 31, 2018.

JD had over 220,000 merchants on its online marketplace, and over 179,000 full-time employees as of March 31, 2019, compared with 160,000 in the same period of last year. It also operated over 550 warehouses covering an aggregate gross floor area of over 12 million square meters in China in the first quarter.

"We will continue to invest in key technologies and top industry talent as we work to reach an even broader customer base through cutting edge innovation," said Liu Qiangdong, chairman and CEO of JD.

"With our growing scale and increasingly efficient operations, JD remains well positioned to deliver strong shareholder value for the long term," he said.

He added the company's focus on delivering the best and most trusted online retail experience to customers throughout China drove another strong performance for the first quarter.

According to JD's Q1 fiscal results, its technology and content expenses increased by 54.0 percent to 3.7 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2019 from 2.4 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2018 as a result of the company's continued investment in top R&D talent and technology infrastructure.

"The first quarter saw solid top line growth with record breaking profitability, further demonstrating the superiority of JD's business model as compared to traditional retail formats," said Sidney Huang, Chief Financial Officer of JD.

"JD's commitment to providing the best value to consumers while increasing economies of scale over time was again reflected in the improving margins in our core JD Retail business. We will remain focused on customer experience and technology innovation to support our long-term profitable growth," Huang added.