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Food delivery giant Meituan to deepen dialogue with regulators after beating estimates to post first-quarter revenue growth
- Meituan’s first-quarter revenue reached US$5.8 billion, up 120.9 per cent from a year earlier
- Net losses widened to US$752 million because of heavy investment in new retail initiatives
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Meituan, operator of China’s largest food delivery and local services platform, reported a 120.9 per cent revenue increase in the first quarter, as the company vowed to deepen its dialogue with antitrust regulators amid an investigation into the company’s operations.
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“We believe that the government supervision on anti-monopoly practices will benefit the healthy development of the whole internet industry, and promote fair competition and prevent misconduct,” said Wang Xing, Meituan’s founder and chief executive, in an earnings call with analysts after the market close on Friday.
“In response to the investigation, we have set up a dedicated team that is cooperating with the regulator’s investigation,” Wang said. “We will review our existing business strategies and internal management, and also improve our compliance standards. This is a strategic priority for our company.”
Beijing-based Meituan posted revenue of 37 billion yuan (US$5.8 billion) in the quarter ended March, up from 16.8 billion yuan a year ago, on the back of stellar growth from its food delivery, in-store, hotel and travel business segments. That beat the 35.7 billion yuan consensus estimate from a Bloomberg poll of market analysts.
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The company, however, recorded a wider net loss of 4.8 billion yuan, from a 1.7 billion yuan loss in the same period last year, that was attributed to heavy investment in new retail initiatives like community group-buying services.
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