Singapore-based Sea Ltd beat first-quarter revenue estimates on Tuesday, driven by improvements in its core e-commerce business in South East Asia and Latin America, sending its shares up 2.5%.
The New York-listed company said total revenue in the first quarter of 2022 rose 64.4% to $2.9 billion, above analysts' estimate of $2.76 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Sea, which saw a meteoric rise in business in 2020 and into 2021, has been realigning its business in the international markets following slowing sales and regulatory challenges.
The company widened its full-year 2022 e-commerce revenue outlook range to between $8.5 billion and $9.1 billion, compared with $8.9 billion to $9.1 billion forecast earlier.
First Quarter 2022 Highlights
▪ Group
o Total GAAP revenue was US$2.9 billion, up 64.4% year-on-year.
o Total gross profit was US$1.2 billion, up 81.3% year-on-year.
o Total net loss was US$(580.1) million compared to US$(422.1) million for the first quarter of 2021. Total net loss excluding share-based compensation was US$(445.1) million compared to US$(320.0) million for the first quarter of 2021.
o Total adjusted EBITDA1 was US$(509.9) million compared to US$88.1 million for the first quarter of 2021.
▪ E-commerce
o GAAP revenue was US$1.5 billion, up 64.4% year-on-year.
o GAAP revenue included US$1.3 billion of GAAP marketplace revenue2 , up 75.3% year-on-year, and US$0.3 billion of GAAP product revenue2 , up 26.8% year-onyear. GAAP revenue and GAAP marketplace revenue as % of total gross merchandise value (“GMV”) increased from 7.3% and 5.7% a year ago to 8.7% and 7.2%, respectively.
o Gross orders totaled 1.9 billion, an increase of 71.3% year-on-year.
o GMV was US$17.4 billion, an increase of 38.7% year-on-year.
o Gross profit margin for e-commerce improved year-on-year as the company have seen faster growth of transaction-based fees and advertising income, which have higher profit margin compared to revenue generated from other value-added services. At the same time, gross profit margin of revenue generated from other value-added services also improved quarter-on-quarter.
o Adjusted EBITDA1 loss per order before headquarters’ common expenses (“HQ costs”) improved year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter for Shopee overall. Shopee is on track to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA before allocation of HQ costs in Southeast Asia and Taiwan by this year as Sea shared previously. In Southeast Asia and Taiwan, such loss was 4 cents in the first quarter of 2022, a more than 70% improvement from 12 cents for the same period in 2021.
o In Brazil, such loss also improved by more than 45% year-on-year to US$1.52 in the first quarter of 202the2.
o After HQ costs allocation, the company currently expect Shopee to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA in Southeast Asia and Taiwan by the end of next year.
o Adjusted EBITDA for Shopee overall was US$(742.8) million compared to US$(412.9) million for the first quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA loss per order was US$0.40 in the first quarter of 2022, compared to US$0.38 for the same period in 2021, which was mainly attributable to HQ costs increase.
▪ HQ costs increased by US$162.1 million year-on-year, which accounted for close to 50% of the total year-on-year increase in adjusted EBITDA loss. HQ costs consisted mainly of staff cost, general and administrative expenses such as building facilities and server hosting expenses.
▪ The increase in HQ costs was mostly attributable to staff cost increase, which grew by US$113.3 million. This was mainly because of headcount increase, and in particular, research and development staff increase, which cost grew by US$86.0 million, as Sea invested in our technological capabilities and expanded our service offerings.
o In Southeast Asia and in Taiwan respectively, Shopee continued to rank first in the Shopping category by average monthly active users and total time spent in app for the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3.
o In Indonesia, where Shopee is the largest e-commerce platform, gross orders grew by around 77% year-on-year. Shopee also continued to rank first in the Shopping category by average monthly active users and total time spent in app for the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3.
o Shopee Brazil continued to rank first in the Shopping category by downloads and total time spent in app and second by average monthly active users for the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3. Shopee Brazil also ranked first in the Shopping category by monthly active users in March and April 2022, according to data.ai3.
o Globally, Shopee was the top ranked app in the Shopping category by downloads in the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3. In the same category, for Google Play, Shopee also ranked first globally by total time spent in app and second by average monthly active users in the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3.
▪ Digital Entertainment
o GAAP revenue was US$1.1 billion, up 45.3% year-on-year.
o Bookings4 were US$0.8 billion, compared to US$ 1.1 billion for the first quarter of 2021. This represents compounded annual growth of 27% from the first quarter of 2020.
o Adjusted EBITDA1 was US$431.4 million, compared to US$717.3 million for the first quarter of 2021.
o Adjusted EBITDA represented 52.2% of bookings for the first quarter of 2022, compared to 64.4% for the first quarter of 2021.
o Quarterly active users were 615.9 million, compared to 648.8 million for the first quarter of 2021. This represents compounded annual growth of almost 24% from the first quarter of 2020.
o Quarterly paying users were 61.4 million, representing paying user ratio of 10.0% for the first quarter compared to 12.3% for the same period in 2021. Meanwhile, this represents increase from paying user ratio of 8.9% in the first quarter of 2020.
o Average bookings per user were US$1.3, compared to US$1.7 for the first quarter of 2021.
o Our self-developed global hit game, Free Fire, continued to maintain top global rankings in user and grossing metrics. It remained the most downloaded mobile game globally in the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3. In the same category, for Google Play, Free Fire also ranked third globally by average monthly active users in the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3.
o Free Fire continued to be the highest grossing mobile game in Southeast Asia and Latin America for the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3. Free Fire has maintained this leading position for the past 11 consecutive quarters in Southeast Asia and in Latin America.
o In the United States, Free Fire was the highest grossing mobile battle royale game for 5 consecutive quarters for the first quarter of 2022, according to data.ai3.
▪ Digital Financial Services
o GAAP revenue was US$236.0 million, up 359.9% year-on-year.
o Adjusted EBITDA1 was US$(124.9) million, compared to US$(153.1) million for the first quarter of 2021.
o Quarterly active users5 across our SeaMoney products and services reached 49.0 million, up 78.2% year-on-year.
o In Indonesia, which has the most comprehensive set of products and services among our markets, over 30% of the quarterly active users have used multiple SeaMoney products or services in the first quarter of 2022.
o Total payment volume for the mobile wallet was US$5.1 billion, up 48.5% yearon-year.
o In April, application for digital bank license by a consortium led by Sea and YTL Digital Capital Sdn Bhd. was approved by the Minister of Finance Malaysia.
Full Year 2022 Guidance Update
Given the elevated macro uncertainties, Sea now see a wider dispersion of potential scenarios for Shopee for the full year of 2022 and hence are revising itse-commerce guidance to correspondingly reflect this view. The company now expect GAAP revenue for e-commerce to be between US$8.5 billion and US$9.1 billion, representing 71.8% growth from 2021 at the midpoint of the broader guidance, compared to the previous guidance of between US$8.9 billion and US$9.1 billion.
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