TECHNOLOGY company Sea on Tuesday (Mar 4) announced a net profit of US$237.6 million for the three months ended December 2024, reversing from a loss of US$111.6 million in the corresponding year-ago period.
However, its earnings did not meet the estimate of US$239.3 million in a Bloomberg poll of 11 analysts.
Revenue for the fourth quarter was US$5 billion, up 36.9 per cent year on year from US$3.6 billion. This beat the consensus estimate of US$4.7 billion in a 14-analyst Bloomberg poll.
For the full year, Sea’s net profit more than doubled to US$447.8 million, from US$162.7 million. Its top line gained 28.8 per cent to US$16.8 billion, from US$13.1 billion.
Shopee, Free Fire beat guidance
Shopee, Sea’s e-commerce platform, posted gross merchandise value (GMV) of US$28.6 billion for the quarter, up 23.5 per cent year on year from US$23.1 billion.
Shopee’s Q4 revenue added 41.3 per cent to US$3.7 billion on year, from US$2.6 billion.
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For the full year, Shopee exceeded the group’s original guidance, as its full-year GMV added 28 per cent to US$100.5 billion, from US$78.5 billion.
Shopee’s full-year top line was US$12.4 billion, gaining 37.9 per cent from US$9 billion.
The e-commerce arm has seen growth from its partnership with YouTube, with January’s average daily orders attributed to YouTube content in Indonesia having grown more than sixfold since the launch in September 2024. Shopee is seeing promising results from the collaboration in Thailand and Vietnam as well, with more markets to come.
“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 Forrest Li, CEO, Sea.
This growth is expected to be driven by markets in Asia and Brazil, with Brazil to grow faster as the newer market, said Sea president Chris Feng. Profitability for 2025 is expected to be better than 2024, but there is some seasonality expected from quarter to quarter.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) for the e-commerce site was S$155.8 million for the full year, swinging back to the black from an adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of US$213.8 million previously.
Meanwhile, mobile game Free Fire, developed by Sea’s digital entertainment arm Garena, reported Q4 bookings of US$543.2 million, up 19 per cent from US$456.3 million in the corresponding period in the prior year.
Its full-year bookings figure also beat Sea’s original guidance. For the 12 months, bookings were up at US$2.1 billion, 18.7 per cent higher than US$1.8 billion a year ago.
“We now expect Garena to grow double digit year-on-year, for both user base and bookings in 2025,” said Li.
SeaMoney now second-biggest unit
Digital financial services provider SeaMoney has become Sea’s second-largest business unit, overtaking digital entertainment.
Full-year revenue for SeaMoney was US$2.4 billion, up 34.6 per cent from US$1.8 billion. Its adjusted Ebitda was US$712.2 million, climbing 29.5 per cent from US$550.1 million.
Loans to consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises grew 63.9 per cent to hit US$5.1 billion, as at Dec 31, 2024. The non-performing loan ratio stood stable at 1.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
In the three months, SeaMoney’s revenue was US$733.3 million, up 55.2 per cent from US$472.4 million. Adjusted Ebitda expanded 42.1 per cent on year to US$211 million, from US$148.5 million.
“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 Li.
Loan growth will likely come from newer markets that SeaMoney operates in, rather than older markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Sea expects that the penetration of its buy now pay later product SPayLater into Shopee, as well as cash loans and off-Shopee, to further expand the customer base, said Feng.
