Alibaba’s revenues up and profit down

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Hong Kong, 19th March: Last week, the Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company in China, released its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2025. The company posted total revenues of US$41 billion in the quarter, up 2% year-on-year.

However, the net income dropped 66% year-on-year, down to US$2.2 billion. The company attributed the decrease to the investment in quick commerce, user experiences, and technology.

In terms of B2B business, revenues from Alibaba’s China commerce wholesale under the Alibaba China E-commerce Group, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$990 million, a year-on-year increase of 5%. Meanwhile, the International commerce wholesale business under the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, generated revenues of US$980 million, a 10% increase over the previous year. B2B revenues accounted for only 4.8% of the group’s total revenues in the quarter.

Alibaba also announced its results for the nine months ended 31st December. Revenues in the nine-month period were US$116 billion, an increase of 2.7% year-on-year. Net income decreased by 31% in the period, amounting at US$11 billion. Diluted earnings per share in the first nine months of the financial year were RMB 4.18 (US$0.60).

Eddie Wu, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, said, “This quarter, Alibaba maintained strong investments across our core pillars of AI and consumption. AI is and will continue to be one of our primary growth engines. Our Cloud Intelligence Group’s revenue is up 36% with AI-related product revenue delivering triple-digit growth for the tenth consecutive quarter. Our Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform is showing strong growth, emerging as a new engine driving cloud business growth. On the consumer side, we have integrated use cases across our consumer ecosystem into Qwen app, which generated significant new users and transactions. Qwen’s consumer interface surpassed 300 million monthly active users, as AI agents perform real-world task execution at scale. Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to drive growth on both enterprise AI and consumer AI fronts, powered by our fullstack AI capabilities spanning foundation models, cloud infrastructure, and proprietary chips, alongside deep integration with our broader ecosystem.”

Made-in-China.com up 15% in revenue

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Nanjing, 20th March: Last week, Shenzhen-listed Focus Technology, owner and operator of Made-in-China.com, reported its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2025. Revenues in the year were US$273 million. That represents an increase of 15% year-on-year, due to the stable revenue growth from Made-in-China.com platform.

The Nanjing-based company’s net income in year grew 11%, reaching US$72 million. The company attributed the increase in income to the continuous cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Diluted earnings per share for 2025 were RMB 1.58 (US$0.22).

As of 31st December, Made-in-China.com had a total of 29,793 paid users on its platform, which is a year-on-year increase of 8.7%.

50,000+ visits at 2026 CDIIF

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Chengdu, 13th March: A major industrial event in central and western China, 2026 Chengdu International Industrial Fair (CDIIF) concluded at the Western China International Expo City, drawing 50,372 visits during the three-day event.

Running from 11th to 13th March 2026, CDIIF 2026 featured over 550 exhibitors from around the world, occupying an exhibition area of more than 50,000 m2. Under the theme of “Innovate Industry Chain, Make a Low-Carbon Future”, the event showcased forward-looking industry insights and many cooperation outcomes, injecting strong early-year momentum into the high-quality development of western China’s manufacturing sector.

This year’s event featured themed exhibitions areas of automation, CNC machine tools and metalworking, robotics, and information and communication technology. A specially established Sichuan Industrial Chain Exhibition also included, making the event formed a comprehensive, full-industry-chain display.

HKTDC’s FILMART and EntertainmentPulse features 790+ exhibitors

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Hong Kong, 20th March: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) 30th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) and EntertainmentPulse featured over 790 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions, bringing together enterprises from emerging markets and mature film markets.

About 8,000 industry professionals from 53 countries and regions attended the two events, highlighting the development momentum and collaborative potential of the global film and television industry.

One of the highlights of this year FILMART was AI Hub, showcasing the latest AI technologies and solutions from the leading AI and technology companies. Forums were also held during FILMART, focusing on the latest developments in the global film, television and entertainment technology sectors. Meanwhile, EntertainmentPulse addressed popular topics.

Quick takes

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IEG’s new acquisition

Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), a leading exhibition organiser in Italy, has acquired 51% of the NIS Summit – Nutrition Innovation Summit, functional ingredients, health and supplement market in Brazil’s main business and innovation platform. The transaction, costing R$20 million (US$3.78 million), will further strengthens the expansion strategy into structural segments with constant growth and low sensitivity to economic cycles. After the transaction, the current NIS members will remain at the helm until 2029, IEG will exercise the option to purchase the remaining 49% at the end of the period.

Macau welcomes 4m visitor arrivals in February

In February 2026, Macau recorded an increase of 33% year-on-year in the number of visitor arrivals, reaching 4,172,940, mainly driven by the Lunar New Year holidays. Same-day visitors were up by 42%, while overnight visitors grew by 19%. However, the average length of stay of visitors shortened by 0.2 day year-on-year, down to 0.9 day.

IEG’s revenues up 6.6% in FY2025

Italian Exhibition Group S.p.A. (IEG) released its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2025, reporting revenues of €266 million (US$313 million), up 6.6% year-on-year. The growth was due to the development of its events in the organised events business line to the tune, and the increasing influence of the conference division. However, net profit for the year decreased by 6.3%, amounting at €30.4 million (US$36 million). In 2025, the company completed four acquisitions. In the future, under its 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, the company will expand its portfolio with the launch of new events, with the goal of introducing at least one new trade fair each year.