Alibaba reports earnings on Tuesday. (VCG via Getty Images)
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is set to report quarterly results on Tuesday, with investors closely watching the company's performance, which serves as a barometer of consumer sentiment in the world's second-largest economy.
Analysts on average expect the company to earn $1.41 a share on revenue of $30.42 billion (£24.28 billion) for the year ending March, compared with $1.50 a share and $29.15 billion a year ago.
Alibaba's online shopping site Taobao and its B2C online retail platform Tmall may have seen a significant increase in total distribution value compared to the previous quarter.
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The platform has slashed costs as Chinese consumers seek discounts and lower prices, but analysts fear this risks hitting profit margins.
The company is also facing increasing competition from low-cost platforms such as Pinduoduo, owned by PDD Holdings Ltd. (PDD), and Douyin, owned by ByteDance, according to Reuters.
Bitcoin has struggled to gain momentum, with the global cryptocurrency market capitalization falling 1.1% overnight to about $2.23 trillion.
The cryptocurrency was trading at around $62,504 on Monday, struggling to make any significant gains after soaring following the approval of a U.S. exchange-traded fund (ETF).
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Despite the downturn, crypto investors were surprised by news that two bitcoin wallets holding a combined 1,000 bitcoin (worth $61 million at current prices) had suddenly woken up after a decade of dormancy, with the owners withdrawing nearly all of the available funds.
According to a recent analysis by Chainalysis and Fortune, approximately 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses have remained dormant for more than a decade.
SoftBank posted a quarterly profit of 231.1 billion yen (£1.2 billion), benefiting from soaring valuations due to the AI boom.
The Tokyo-based company reported a second consecutive quarterly profit, well ahead of analysts' expectations, compared with a 57.6 billion yen (£295 million) loss in the first quarter last year.
In February, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said the company was back on a “growth trajectory.”
The Vision Fund's investment division posted an investment loss of 96.7 billion yen, missing forecast profits of 185.1 billion yen.
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SoftBank has been stepping up its investments in AI-related hardware in recent months, taking control in some cases, and Bloomberg reports that the Japanese investment firm is in talks to buy British semiconductor startup Graphcore.
The story continues
SoftBank Arm Holdings plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI) chips and aims to launch its first products in 2025, Nikkei Asia reported.
Distribution group Diploma has shot to the top of the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) after posting double-digit revenue growth thanks to the acquisition of a US company.
Adjusted pre-tax profit for the six months to March 31 came to £115.2 million, on revenue up 10% to £638.3 million.
The specialty distribution business raised its full-year outlook after its adjusted profit rose 17%. The company now expects constant currency revenue growth of about 16%, 5 percentage points higher than its previous outlook.
During the period, the company acquired US-based Peerless Aerospace Fasteners for £236 million, which it said would further strengthen its strength in speciality aerospace fasteners, and the UK's Plastics & Rubber Group for £38 million.
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