Sea Group reports positive net income in Q4, sales beat estimates

Photo credit: Sea Group

Sea Group has posted a positive net income US$422.8 million in the fourth quarter of last year, a dramatic improvement from a net loss of US$616.3 million in Q4 2021.

The company’s Q4 2022 revenue was around US$3.5 billion, a 7.1% increase from the previous year. Most of it came from its ecommerce arm Shopee, which contributed US$2.1 billion.

The better-than-expected Q4 results come as Sea had dramatically reduced expenses throughout 2022, including cutting about 7,000 jobs and withdrawing from underperforming markets.

“Our decisive pivot to focus on efficiency and profitability since last year is already driving meaningful bottom line improvements,” says Forrest Li, Sea’s chairman and group CEO. “Our approach is to do less but do it better as we serve our users across our digital ecosystem.”

For Q4 2022, Sea’s digital entertainment unit Garena brought in almost US$948.9 million in revenue, while its fintech segment SeaMoney accounted for US$380.2 million.

Sea’s cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments were recorded at US$6.9 billion, which was a decrease of around 5.5% from the previous quarter.

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Meanwhile, its fiscal year 2022 revenue was at US$12.4 billion, a 25.1% increase year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA-wise, it stood at a loss of US$878.1 million, widening from a loss of US$593.6 last year.