(Yicai Global) May 23 -- Shares of Kuaishou Technology, the main short-video platform competing with Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, soared after the company had its first quarterly adjusted net profit since listing more than two years ago.

After jumping by as much as 6.7 percent this morning, Kuaishou [HKG: 1024] finished 3.1 percent up at HKD55.15 (USD7.01) in Hong Kong today.

Adjusted net profit was CNY42 million (USD6 million) in the first quarter, versus an adjusted net loss of CNY3.7 billion (USD527.9 billion) a year ago, the Beijing-based company said yesterday.

“Our significant breakthrough in profitability was achieved on the back of record level user metrics, revenue growth and operating efficiency improvement,” co-founder and chief executive Cheng Yixiao said.

Kuaishou's net loss narrowed 86 percent to CNY876 million (USD124.5 million) three months ended March 31, and revenue jumped 19.7 percent to CNY25.2 billion (USD3.6 billion).

The company also announced yesterday that it will launch its first share buyback plan since listing to repurchase HKD4 billion (USD511.1 million) of stock.

Revenue from online marketing services rose 15.1 percent to CNY13.1 billion, accounting for nearly 52 percent of the total. That from livestreaming services gained 18.8 percent to CNY9.3 billion.

Kuaishou's e-commerce-related gross merchandise volume climbed 28.4 percent to CNY224.8 billion (USD31.9 billion), with the average monthly number of brands available on the platform up around 30 percent. The GMV earned by such brands through their own livestreaming events soared 70 percent.

Daily and monthly active users of Kuaishou rose 8.3 percent and 9.4 percent to about 374.3 million and 654.4 million, respectively, from a year earlier.

Cheng said that with the faster recovery of the offline economy and the rapid growth in user demand for local lifestyle content entering the second quarter, Kuaishou will continue to expand its operations to more key cities and step up the supply of high-quality local vendors’ products. 

Kuaishou set up a research team to promote the development and training of large artificial intelligence models based on technological know-how in AI models and algorithms, Chen said, adding that work progressing smoothly. But the firm has not yet released any specific plans.

Editors: Xu Wei, Futura Costaglione