(Yicai) May 23 -- Kuaishou Technology's shares rose after the competitor of Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, reported a record-high profit in the first quarter thanks to continued growth in its online marketing and e-commerce. The firm posted its first annual profit last year since listing in 2021.

Kuaishou [HKG: 1024] jumped 2.7 percent to HKD59.70 (USD7.65) a share as of 2.20 p.m. in Hong Kong today, after jumping by as much as 4.6 percent at one point.

Net profit was CNY4.1 billion (USD566 million) in three months ended March 31, compared with a net loss of CNY876 million (USD120.9 million) a year ago, according to the firm's financial report released yesterday. Revenue rose 17 percent to CNY29.4 billion (USD4.1 billion).

Kuaishou's revenue from online marketing services jumped 27 percent to CNY16.7 billion, accounting for 57 percent of its total. The figure had made up 52 of its income a year earlier.

"Through Kuaishou's robust efforts to promote the use of its smart marketing solution across various scenarios, the number of active marketing clients surged almost 90 percent last quarter from a year ago," the Beijing-based firm noted.

By increasing merchant supplies and expanding shopping scenarios, the gross merchandise volume of Kuaishou's e-commerce business rose 28 percent to CNY288.1 billion (USD39.8 billion), with active buyers up 22 percent to 126 million, according to the company.

Developing the e-commerce business was the key that enabled Kuaishou to swing into the black last year. The firm's GMV soared 31 percent to CNY1.18 trillion (USD165.9 billion) in 2023, becoming the fifth Chinese e-commerce platform to top CNY1 trillion after Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo, and Douyin.

In a separate announcement yesterday Kuaishou said that it will buy back up to HKD16 billion (USD2 billion) of stock over the next three years. It has spent HKD3.1 billion (USD397.1 million) to repurchase 61.7 million shares, or 1.4 percent of its total capital, based on its existing plan, it added.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev