Investing.com – Stocks Alibaba Shares of Health Information Technology (HK:) rose sharply on Tuesday after the company recorded a sharp jump in its annual profit thanks to higher profits and strong demand for healthcare services and pharmaceuticals on its platforms.
Shares in the company, which was acquired by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (HK:) (NYSE:) in 2014, rose 13.7% to HK3.55, a two-month high. It was also the top gainer in the index, which rose 0.6%.
Alibaba Health’s adjusted net profit for the year to March 31, 2024 rose nearly 91% to 1.44 billion yuan ($200 million).
Revenue rose about 1% to 27.03 billion yuan as sales appeared to stagnate after COVID-induced demand sent sales soaring over the past three years.
But Alibaba Health has benefited from increased profits, especially from online health services, as well as from pharmaceutical sales.
The number of sellers on the Tmall Healthcare platform grew 28% to over 35,000 sellers, and average revenue per user grew 17% year over year.
Looking ahead, the company said 2024 is likely to be a challenging year on the macroeconomic front. But he also noted plans to further develop the Internet healthcare industry, particularly in creating cloud infrastructure for Chinese hospitals.
The firm also said it would explore the use of artificial intelligence through “large speech models.”