Sea back in the black with $79.9M Q2 profit

Despite the decline, the figure was still higher than the US$60 million estimate in a Bloomberg poll of 12 analysts. It was also a return to profit quarterly, as the group had posted a net loss of US$23 million in Q1 FY2024.

Revenue for the second quarter was US$3.8 billion, rising 23% from US$3.1 billion in the corresponding year-ago period. The figure also beat estimates of US$3.7 billion in a 15-analyst poll by Bloomberg.

Based on adjusted EBITDA, Sea posted earnings of US$448.5 million, sliding from US$510 million. It surpassed analysts’ US$397.4 million estimate.Revenue for its e-commerce segment, which houses the Shopee platform, was US$2.8 billion, rising 33.7% from S$2.1 billion year on year.

E-commerce adjusted EBITDA, which resulted in a loss of US$9.2 million for the three months. Analysts had estimated that the segment would post a loss of US$21.2 million for the second quarter.The gross merchandise value (GMV) of the e-commerce segment was US$23.3 billion, up 29.1%.

Forrest Li, chief executive of Sea, said that “with the strong results delivered in the first half and our outlook for the rest of the year, we expect that Shopee will become adjusted EBITDA positive from the third quarter.”“We are also revising up our guidance for Shopee’s 2024 full-year GMV growth to mid-20%,” he added.

Under its digital financial services segment, Sea had a quarterly revenue of US$519.3 million, up 21.4% year on year. The segment includes services such as digital bank MariBank, and digital-payments provider SeaMoney.Adjusted EBITDA for this segment was US$164.7 million, up 20.2% from US$137 million year on year.

As for digital entertainment, revenue slid to US$435.6 million, from US$529.4 million in Q2 FY2023. Adjusted Ebitda was US$302.8 million, up 26.5% from US$239.5 million.Sea trades on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares closed on Monday at US$66.92, up US$2.06 or 3.2%, before the results.