Sea increases 2019 adjusted revenue threefold to $2.9b

Southeast Asian internet giant Sea has posted total adjusted revenue for full year 2019 at US$2.9 billion, nearly tripling the US$1 billion it recorded during the same period in 2018.

Photo credit: Sea

The result was mainly driven by its digital entertainment unit Garena, which raked in US$1.8 billion for 2019. That represents a 167.4% increase from the US$661 million it posted in 2018.

The gaming unit also recently hit a record 60 million daily active users and 354.7 million quarterly active users. Citing data from App Annie, Sea said that its self-developed game Free Fire was the highest-grossing mobile game in Latin America and in Southeast Asia in the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2019.

Shopee, on the other hand, recorded US$942.1 million during the reported financial year, up 224.1% from 2018’s US$290.7 million. Sea said that in Indonesia, year-on-year growth for Shopee’s GMV and orders accelerated each quarter last year, ultimately registering over 188 million orders for the market in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Sea’s net loss widened to roughly US$1.45 billion for 2019, increasing 51.7% from US$961 million a year ago. The cost of service for its ecommerce unit and other related services accounted for most of the loss, taking up US$907.5 million. Its digital entertainment segment took up US$436 million.

Looking ahead, Sea expects Garena’s 2020 adjusted revenue to fall somewhere between US$1.9 billion and US$2 billion, and around US$1.7 billion to US$1.8 billion for Shopee.

In addition to Garena and Shopee, Sea also operates SeaMoney, its digital financial business that offers e-wallet services, payment processing, credit-related digital financial offerings, and other financial products.

Throughout 2019, Sea said that it has been working on further integrating SeaMoney with its Shopee platform across different markets. In January 2020, over 30% of Shopee gross orders in Indonesia were paid using the payment arm’s e-wallet, said the company. Quarterly paying users for the e-wallet services have also exceeded 8 million in Q4 2019.

The company plans to expand the service outside of Sea’s platforms to include other online and offline merchants, it said.

In an effort to further develop its digital financial services, Sea recently has applied for a digital full bank license in Singapore to address the unmet needs of millennials as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore – the traditionally underserved segments of the market.