China e-commerce giant Alibaba's quarterly revenue leaps 39 percent

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's revenue surged 39 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2016, it said Thursday, its fastest growth in the last four quarters.

Revenue hit 24.18 billion yuan (3.75 billion US dollars ) for the three months to March, it said in its quarterly results announcement, defying both China's economic slowdown and increasing competition in the world's biggest e-commerce market.

"Our excellent results this quarter reflect the unique strength of our core e-commerce business despite challenging economic conditions," Alibaba's chief financial officer Maggie Wu said in the statement.

Net income attributable to shareholders rose 85 percent year-on-year in the quarter ended in March to 832 million US dollars , the company said. For the full financial year ended in March, net income rocketed 196 percent to 11.08 billion US dollars .

Alibaba is China's dominant player in online commerce with its Taobao platform estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market, and its Tmall platform is believed to have over half of business-to-consumer transactions.

It has been seeking to expand outside its core e-commerce business, in sectors ranging from sports to entertainment. (AFP)