Sea Ltd *Official* (NYSE: SE)

[Shion]

Shopee parent Sea books second consecutive year of profits, driven by strong e-commerce demand​

https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...of-profits-driven-by-strong-e-commerce-demand

SINGAPORE - Internet company Sea reported profits for a second consecutive year in 2024, buoyed by growth in its e-commerce and fintech units.

Shares of Sea, which is Singapore-based but listed in the US, closed up 7.14 per cent at US$132.31 on March 4 after it posted record earnings and revenue.

Profit came in at US$447.8 million (S$604.5 million) for the 12 months to Dec 31, 2024 – 175.2 per cent up on the US$162.7 million recorded in 2023. Revenue surged as well, rising 28.8 per cent to US$16.8 billion, compared with US$13.1 billion in the previous year. The group’s revenue for the fourth quarter of the 2024 financial year was US$5 billion, up 36.9 per cent year on year.

All of its business segments contributed to the bumper 2024 result, with e-commerce arm Shopee leading the charge, followed by financial services provider SeaMoney and gaming and digital unit Garena.

Chief executive Forrest Li told a results briefing on March 4 that the group expects all of its businesses to remain profitable and “self-sufficient” going forward.

“This strong set of results validates our strategies: We made the right decisions, at the right time, and executed very well on them,” he said.

Singapore-based Shopee saw a revenue jump of 37.9 per cent year on year to US$12.4 billion.


Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the e-commerce unit was US$155.8 million for the 2024 financial year, compared with losses of US$213.8 million in 2023.

Ebitda is adjusted to include unallocated expenses and helps to identify underlying trends in Sea’s operating results.

Gross orders on Shopee stood at 10.9 billion for the 12 months to Dec 31, 2024, up 33 per cent year on year. The platform’s gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 28 per cent year on year to US$100.5 billion.

GMV refers to the total value of goods sold between customers or from e-commerce platforms.

“We remain confident about our ability to continue delivering profitable growth in 2025, and expect Shopee’s full-year 2025 GMV growth to be around 20 per cent, with improving profitability,” said Mr Li.

Mr Li also noted that Shopee is using artificial intelligence (AI) within its operations.

The platform provides its sellers with AI tools to enhance product listings by improving descriptions, images and videos. It has also used AI to boost its customer service capabilities, including upgrading its customer service chatbots with the technology.

“We believe we are still early in the AI adoption curve, and remain committed to exploring AI-driven innovations to improve efficiency and deliver better experiences for our users,” said Mr Li.

Meanwhile, SeaMoney, which offers users various digital financial products, including mobile wallet services and banking, reported a 34.6 per cent growth in revenue to US$2.4 billion for the 2024 financial year.

“While we have scaled fast, risk management remains our top operational priority... In 2025, we expect loan book size to grow meaningfully faster than Shopee’s GMV annual growth rate, as we improve credit penetration both on and off Shopee,” said Mr Li.

Garena was a drag on overall growth, with the business seeing a drop in revenue in 2024 compared with 2023. But cash spent by users of the gaming and digital platform rose 18.7 per cent year on year to US$2.1 billion.

Mr Li said that Garena will continue scaling its user base and broadening its content offerings.

“We now expect Garena to grow double digits year on year, for both user base and bookings in 2025,” he said.

DBS Group research analyst Sachin Mittal said Shopee is expected to generate a 20 per cent growth in GMV in 2025.

The platform’s profitability is also forecast to climb 14 per cent for the 2025 financial year, he added.

Ms Helena Wang, analyst at Phillips Securities Research, said that while Sea has achieved “impressive growth” in 2024, the company’s share price has been on an upward trajectory for several quarters, climbing 145 per cent in the past year.

“With much of the positive news likely already priced in, we see limited upside potential from current levels,” she said.

 

[Shion]

Tech giant Sea opens new digital finance headquarters in Singapore​

The office near Buona Vista MRT station spans 10 floors and can accommodate up to 1,500 employees.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tech-giant-sea-new-digital-finance-headquarters-5116356

 

[Shion]

Shopee-owner Sea quarterly revenue jumps on steady e-commerce demand​

https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...erly-revenue-jumps-on-steady-ecommerce-demand

NEW YORK – South-east Asian technology firm Sea on May 13 reported a 30 per cent surge in first-quarter revenue, helped by steady growth across its diverse set of businesses, sending its US-listed shares up 10 per cent in premarket trading.

Purchases on Sea’s e-commerce platform, Shopee – available across various South-east Asian countries and Taiwan – surged ahead of the summer holiday and travel season.

The platform, which is a market leader in Indonesia, has attracted a large user base and become a significant growth driver for its parent company.

Shopee also offers diverse product categories, integrated digital payments, and interactive features like live streaming and in-app games.

The company had said in March it expects Shopee’s gross merchandise volume – total value of sold goods – to grow around 20 per cent in 2025, with improving profitability.

The strong start to the year gives the confidence to achieve the full-year forecast, Sea chief executive officer Forrest Li said in a statement.

The company’s revenue rose 29.6 per cent to US$4.84 billion (S$6.3 billion) for the January to March period, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$4.89 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Sea’s e-commerce segment, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the company’s total business, reported a 28.3 per cent jump in revenue in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, its gross merchandise value rose 21.5 per cent in the first quarter to US$28.6 billion.

Sea’s per-share profit of 65 cents beat estimates of 63 cents.

The digital financial services segment, reported a 58 per cent surge in quarterly revenue, the biggest jump in two years.

The segment houses Monee, formerly called SeaMoney, which provides digital payment solutions, credit services, and insurance products across South-east Asia, and is seamlessly integrated with Shopee’s e-commerce ecosystem. REUTERS

 

[Jirachi]

Shopee-owner Sea quarterly revenue jumps on steady e-commerce demand​

https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...erly-revenue-jumps-on-steady-ecommerce-demand

NEW YORK – South-east Asian technology firm Sea on May 13 reported a 30 per cent surge in first-quarter revenue, helped by steady growth across its diverse set of businesses, sending its US-listed shares up 10 per cent in premarket trading.

Purchases on Sea’s e-commerce platform, Shopee – available across various South-east Asian countries and Taiwan – surged ahead of the summer holiday and travel season.

The platform, which is a market leader in Indonesia, has attracted a large user base and become a significant growth driver for its parent company.

Shopee also offers diverse product categories, integrated digital payments, and interactive features like live streaming and in-app games.

The company had said in March it expects Shopee’s gross merchandise volume – total value of sold goods – to grow around 20 per cent in 2025, with improving profitability.

The strong start to the year gives the confidence to achieve the full-year forecast, Sea chief executive officer Forrest Li said in a statement.

The company’s revenue rose 29.6 per cent to US$4.84 billion (S$6.3 billion) for the January to March period, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$4.89 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Sea’s e-commerce segment, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the company’s total business, reported a 28.3 per cent jump in revenue in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, its gross merchandise value rose 21.5 per cent in the first quarter to US$28.6 billion.

Sea’s per-share profit of 65 cents beat estimates of 63 cents.

The digital financial services segment, reported a 58 per cent surge in quarterly revenue, the biggest jump in two years.

The segment houses Monee, formerly called SeaMoney, which provides digital payment solutions, credit services, and insurance products across South-east Asia, and is seamlessly integrated with Shopee’s e-commerce ecosystem. REUTERS

Good earnings

 

[Shion]

Sea sales top estimates as online shoppers keep spending​

https://www.theedgesingapore.com/ca...s-top-estimates-online-shoppers-keep-spending

Sea second-quarter sales beat analysts’ estimates as more of Southeast Asia’s consumers turn to online shopping for anything from iPhones to daily groceries.

The stock climbed 8% in pre-market trading after Sea said revenue rose 38% to a record US$5.26 billion in the three months through June. Analysts estimated US$5 billion on average. Net income jumped to US$414.2 million from US$79.9 million a year earlier, but fell short of the US$444 million analysts predicted.

The results assuage some concerns about the prospects of e-commerce arm Shopee. The region’s top online retail platform is battling deep-pocketed global challengers including ByteDance’s TikTok Shop and Alibaba Group Holding’s Lazada. Emerging players like Shein and PDD Holding’s Temu are also eyeing to break into the emerging region of 675 million people where more and more shoppers are coming online.

To boost its bottom line, Shopee has been steadily raising the commissions it charges merchants in various core markets by about a third since the start of last year. The hikes, which bring Shopee’s fees above its rivals, show that Sea is confident it can attract and retain merchants, helped by a broad user base and well-established delivery services. Shopee’s second-quarter revenue rose 34% to US$3.8 billion, helped by surging commissions and ad revenue.

Sea is also betting on new initiatives from digital finance to logistics to grow its dominance and convince investors of its growth potential. Its logistics arm SPX Express now handles the majority of Shopee’s billions of parcels annually, while its finance arm — now known as Monee — increased sales 70% last quarter to US$882.8 million. Bookings at gaming division Garena rose 23%.

“In the past, cash flow from Sea’s gaming arm Garena was used to grow Shopee and Monee, but now Shopee and Monee are in healthier capital positions,” Hussaini Saifee, an analyst at Maybank Securities, said before the results. “Sea can now invest in further developing Garena which has also made a strong rebound over the last year and a half.”

 

[Shion]

Sea CEO Forrest Li sees path to US$1 trillion market cap with help from AI​

https://www.straitstimes.com/busine...th-to-us1-trillion-market-cap-with-help-of-ai

Sea founder Forrest Li told employees a trillion US dollar market capitalisation – an increase of about 10 times – is possible as the South-east Asia e-commerce leader joins tech companies globally betting on artificial intelligence (AI) for growth.

In a memo to staff on Oct 20, seen by Bloomberg News, he compared the rapid growth of AI to the personal computer and smartphone revolutions that expanded consumer access to products and services once available only to the wealthy.

But Mr Li said it will not be easy for the gaming and online retail giant to harness the value creation AI will bring.

“It will require us to make the right calls, execute extremely well, remain very disciplined and compete relentlessly,” he noted in the memo on the eighth anniversary of Sea’s stock-market debut.

“But a tech transition like this makes it possible” for Sea to be a trillion-dollar company, he said.

Mr Li, who is fond of penning memos to Sea’s 80,000-plus employees, took a different tone from a year earlier, when he warned of a difficult transition to AI. Since then, Sea has doubled down on the technology, integrating AI into its daily operations in areas such as customer service and gaming.

He touched on the company’s rising share price, relaying fears that it might fall quickly if the external environment changed – echoing memories of its crash at end 2021. He said the company is in a better position financially than in the previous decade, and does not need to rely on external capital to fund growth.

“While the external environment will always be unpredictable, I feel much more settled today about our future,” he wrote, adding that Sea is now profitable across all its three business units. “After eight years as a public company, we better understand how the capital market behaves and how to navigate it.

“So, even if the seas turn choppy again, we are in much greater control of our own decisions and our own destiny.”

Mr Li stopped short of giving details of Sea’s plans for further AI development or explaining how the company will address ever-intensifying competition.

Sea is battling deep-pocketed global challengers including ByteDance’s TikTok Shop and Alibaba Group Holding’s Lazada.

Emerging players like Shein and PDD Holdings’ Temu are also looking to break into South-east Asia, an emerging region of 675 million people where more and more shoppers are coming online.

A new battleground for Sea’s next stage of growth is also forming an ocean away from its home ground – in Brazil – as the Singaporean company looks to expand its Shopee online empire.

The company is betting on new initiatives from digital finance to logistics to grow its dominance and convince investors of its growth potential. BLOOMBERG

 

[HWZ1973]

Means target price oso 10X??