Ant Group’s nine-month gross profit may jump as much as 73 per cent year-on-year
- Gross profits for the first nine months of the year probably increased between 67 per cent and 73 per cent to as much as 69 billion yuan, filing shows
- Ant Group’s IPO is pending registration with the mainland’s securities regulator, the final and ceremonial step before the listing
Ant Group, China’s largest digital payments provider by volume, estimated that its gross profit has risen by as much as 73 per cent in the first nine months from a year earlier, as the digital economy boomed in its domestic market.
Gross profits were probably within a range of 66.8 billion yuan (US$9.83 billion) to 69 billion yuan between January and end-September, up between 67 per cent and 73 per cent from the same period a year earlier, Ant Group said in its latest prospectus to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The data offers greater insight into how Ant Group has coped with the coronavirus pandemic and will be carefully parsed by investors hoping to participate in what could be the biggest-ever initial public offering (IPO) on record globally.
Ant Group also replied to queries raised by Shanghai’s listing committee during last week’s vetting of its prospectus, elaborating more its relationship with shareholder Alibaba Group Holding and its affiliate MYbank. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post. Ant Group said it has an established mechanism to approve affiliated transactions to protect the interest of small shareholders.