(Yicai Global) May 27 -- Alibaba Group’s stock price surged after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported a 9 percent increase in quarterly revenue, topping the market consensus though it was the smallest three-month gain since the company went public almost nine years ago.

Alibaba [HKG: 9988] closed up 12.2 percent at HKD91 (USD11.59) in Hong Kong today, after earlier jumping by as much as almost 14 percent. Its New York-listed shares [NYSE: BABA] gained 14.8 percent yesterday to USD94.48 each.

Revenue was CNY204.1 billion (USD30.4 billion) in the three months ended March 31, the Hangzhou-based firm said in a fiscal fourth-quarter and annual earnings report released yesterday. That was slightly better than the CNY200.6 billion analysts had predicted. Non-GAAP net profit fell 24 percent to CNY19.8 billion (USD2.95 billion).

After reasonably weathering China’s economic slowdown in the quarter, Alibaba held off giving guidance for the year ahead because of the uncertainty arising from Covid-19, saying “our operating principles include focusing on sustainable, high-quality revenue growth and optimizing our cost structure to enhance overall return.”

For the full year ended March 31, Alibaba’s revenue jumped 19 percent to CNY853.1 billion (USD127 billion). Non-GAAP net profit sank 21 percent to CNY136.4 billion (USD20.3 billion).

International commerce retail orders jumped 34 percent in the year. Those from Southeast Asian online marketplace Lazada and Trendyol, an e-commerce platform for Turkey and the Middle East, grew 60 percent and 68 percent, respectively.

Alibaba Cloud, the firm’s cloud computing unit, achieved its first annual profit in 13 years. Revenue surged to CNY74.6 billion, from CNY1.3 billion (USD190 million) in 2015, up 57 times over eight years. Its earnings before interests, taxes, and amortization were CNY1.1 billion, versus a loss of CNY2.3 billion last year.

In the past year, Alibaba Cloud added five new data centers in Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Germany. It operates in 27 regions worldwide, ranking first by infrastructure size in Asia.

Alibaba’s technology investment exceeded CNY120 billion last year, recording a stable growth for the past three years, Chief Financial Officer Xu Hong noted. The company set up seven global research centers and secured over 10,000 patents in strategic emerging industries, he said, adding that in the past three years 60 percent of Alibaba’s investment in patents went on hard-core tech fields such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and chips.

Editor: Futura Costaglione