Shopee, loan growth fuel Sea Group’s 2nd profitable year

Shopee may be Sea Group’s least profitable business, but its importance to the rapid growth of the wider group’s fintech arm is becoming clear, judging from its just released results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.

Shopee and financial services unit SeaMoney both hit key milestones, and the company’s revenue grew by 29% year on year in 2024, the fastest since 2021.

It was also Sea Group’s second consecutive time to make a full-year profit.

While fourth quarter profits missed analyst expectations, investors liked what they saw, sending Sea’s New York-listed shares up by 7% in the trading session that followed. Its shares have gone up by over 137% over the past year.

This momentum seems likely to continue in 2025, with the firm expecting double-digit growth across all three units. Notably, Shopee is expected to expand its gross merchandise value (GMV) by 20% this year, while SeaMoney’s loan book is projected to outpace that.

Shopee has invested heavily in areas from livestreaming to logistics to maintain its position as Southeast Asia’s top ecommerce platform. In 2023, it also made staff cuts in Indonesia to improve operational efficiency.

Shopee Celebrity Club livestreaming session / Photo credit: Shopee

With ecommerce rivals like Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop making headway in the region, however, its lead isn’t guaranteed.

Crossing US$100 billion

In its results, Sea reported that streaming made up 15% of Shopee’s physical goods order volume in the region in Q4 2024.

This contributed to the ecommerce platform’s GMV breaching the US$100 billion mark in 2024, up by 28% from 2023.

Revenue for Shopee last year was also 38% higher than in 2023, driven by strong growth in core marketplace revenue, which consists of advertising and seller commission fees. Income from these fees rose by 41% in the fourth quarter.

2024 also marked the first full year that Shopee achieved positive adjusted EBITDA.

Sea Group CEO and founder Forrest Li noted on the company’s earnings call that one of Shopee’s key advantages was SPX Express. The in-house logistics arm, Sea said, gave the platform “geographic reach, faster delivery speed, and cost leadership.”

In Q4, “almost half” of SPX Express’ orders in Asia were delivered within two days of a purchase. Its logistics costs per order were also US$0.05 lower than the same period a year ago.

Number two

“Strong comeback”

“Actively reviewing” all possibilities