By Agustino Fontevecchia for Forbes.comMercadoLibre, Latin America’s largest e-commerce group, posted earnings after the bell on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations and managing to sustain margin growth on a growing customer base and the adoption of its own online transaction platform, MercaodPago.
Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the so-called Latin American eBay posted fourth quarter net income of $15.9 million, up 41.2% from the prior year. MercadoLibre’s earnings per share were 36 cents, up 10 cents from the fourth quarter of 2009 and above the 35 cents forecasted by experts. Margins on net income were up to 25.6% from the 23% posted for the fourth quarter of 2009.
Founded in 1999, MercadoLibre reported that its revenues had grown 27.1% to $62.3 million, despite charges related to the pre-sale of credit card receivables, which if discounted would take the growth rate to 38.4%. The company has been consistently growing its customer base, with 52.9 million confirmed registered users as of the end 2010, up more than 10 million from the same period a year ago.
“We believe this is a testament to the power of the e-commerce ecosystem we have built. Additionally, our value proposition continues to prove very attractive to the fast-growing base of Internet users in Latin America,” noted Marcos Galperin, president and CEO of MercadoLibre. “In our view, the combination of low prices, attractive product selection, clear and intuitive listing formats, increasingly seamless payments integration, and advertising services we offer continue to create great value for both buyers and sellers alike.”
The company derived most of its revenues from..Read full article
