Aug 10 (Reuters) – Latin American e-commerce platform MercadoLibre Inc on Monday beat expectations for quarterly revenue, as it benefited from a surge in online shopping with people staying indoors due to the coronavirus crisis.
The company also said its unique active users jumped more than 45% to 51.5 million.
Demand for online market places has surged during the pandemic due to prolonged lockdowns and social distancing measures in place in most countries.
“The pandemic generated significant changes in consumer behavior, which translated into a new milestone in the penetration of e-commerce and online payments in the region,” Chief Financial Officer Pedro Arnt said in a statement.
Revenue rose 61% to $878.4 million, above analysts’ estimates of $748.7 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net income rose to $55.9 million, or $1.11 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $16.2 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected the company to earn 9 cents per share.
U.S.-listed shares of the company were down nearly 4% at $1150.14 in morning trading. (Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
