Shopee-owner Sea signals strong online shopping momentum with revenue beat

By Yuvraj Malik

(Reuters) - Sea Ltd beat revenue estimates for the second quarter and raised its forecast for e-commerce platform Shopee, signaling robust demand for online shopping in Southeast Asia and sending its U.S.-listed shares up 11% on Tuesday.

CEO Forrest Li said Shopee will deliver an adjusted core operating profit in the third quarter, with the gross merchandise value (GMV) for the platform expected to grow mid-20% this year. Its earlier forecast was for 2024 GMV growth in the high-teens range.

"Sea has been aggressively pushing for growth in its e-commerce segment, which has led to a material increase in GMV growth and reduced losses," said analysts at Bernstein.

E-commerce revenue, which makes up about two-thirds of the company's total, grew 34% to $2.8 billion, surpassing market expectations of $2.68 billion, according to LSEG.

Shopee competes with Tokopedia, a unit of Indonesia's GoTo Gojek Tokopedia and Temu, a unit of China-based PDD Holdings.

A global economic slowdown has weighed on Sea's revenue growth in recent years, forcing the company to streamline its businesses and cut thousands of jobs. It had enjoyed a meteoric run in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic-led demand lifted revenues and helped it expand beyond Southeast Asian markets.

Exiting India, and some markets in Europe and Latin America, as well as raising fees charged to sellers on its platform, helped the company achieve its first annual profit last year.

Sea's revenue rose 23% to $3.81 billion in the quarter ended June 30, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.71 billion.

Bookings at its digital entertainment segment, which includes gaming unit Garena, grew a stronger-than-expected 21%, while sales from its financial services business SeaMoney were up 21.4%, just shy of estimates.

On a per share basis, the company earned 14 cents, below estimates of 18 cents.

Sea also said CFO Tony Hou had stepped down from its board of directors.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)