Alibaba works some magic with record 54% sales growth

Revenues rose 53.7 per cent – compared with Amazon’s 20 per cent growth over the same period – and hit $2.74bn

Alibaba's Jack Ma arrives at the NYSE ahead of Friday's IPO (GETTY IMAGES)

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba impressed the market with its first update since joining the New York Stock Exchange with a record-breaking $25bn (£16bn) float, dwarfing rivals in the three months to end of September.

Revenues rose 53.7 per cent – compared with Amazon’s 20 per cent growth over the same period – and hit $2.74bn (£1.71bn), while shares edged up as much as 3 per cent to a record high after revealing a brisk 49 per cent rise in the gross value of merchandise sold.

Alibaba affirmed Wall Street’s expectations of industry-leading growth. Investors have focused on its dominance in China, despite concerns about corporate governance and sliding margins.

Margins on earnings before tax and other payments did fall to 50.5 per cent, from 54.4 per cent in the previous quarter, but investors appeared more interested in the 52 per cent growth in active users, to 307 million.

An improvement in the mobile monetisation rate to 1.87 per cent means the Chinese company is getting a larger percentage of every mobile transaction it handles.

The company suggested that its shopping spree, in which it has spent more than $6bn (£3.75bn) since the beginning of the year, might not be over yet as it aims to increase its user base and up the number of products and services it offers.

New initiatives such as its mobile operating system, location-based services and digital entertainment are also in the pipeline.