By Kimberley Kao
Sea Ltd., one of Southeast Asia's largest companies by market capitalization, ended the year on a high note, posting a surge in quarterly profit on broad-based growth across its business verticals.
The consumer-internet giant behind e-commerce platform Shopee said Tuesday that fourth-quarter net profit jumped 73% to $410.9 million. Analysts had expected $385.8 million, according to a Visible Alpha consensus estimate.
Revenue also topped market views, climbing 38% from a year earlier to $6.85 billion.
Shopee's e-commerce gross merchandise value, a measure of sales, increased 29%, while gross order volume rose 30.5%, it said. Adjusted Ebitda grew 33% to $202.5 million.
For 2026, the company aims to grow Shopee's annual GMV by around 25%, with its full-year adjusted Ebitda no lower than that of 2025 in absolute dollar terms, said Forrest Li, Sea's chairman and chief executive.
Singapore-based Shopee is the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and accounts for more than two-thirds of Sea's revenue, with gaming and financial services making up the rest.
Citi research analysts noted ahead of the results that New York-listed Sea has shed more than 45% of its value since September, reflecting growing concerns about an intensified competitive landscape and Shopee's Ebitda margin outlook.
However, the company's business execution will likely help it navigate the challenges, they said.
The Southeast Asian region is likely "entering a normalizing duopoly landscape with both Shopee and [TikTok Shop] competing intensely but rationally," they wrote in a note. "Both players are likely to retain decent sustainable growth with gradual improving margins thanks to structural growth and operating leverage."
Sea's gaming division, Garena, recorded a 24% rise in bookings--a measure of revenue--to $672.4 million in the fourth quarter.
Monee, the company's digital financial services arm, continued to show promise amid Sea's efforts to diversify its income streams. The segment was its fastest-growing business, with revenue up 54% to $1.1 billion for the three months ended December.
In 2025, Shopee served around 400 million active buyers and 20 million sellers, while Monee gained more than 20 million unique first-time borrowers, CEO Li said.
"All our businesses scaled well, exceeding our initial growth expectations" for 2025, he said. "We will double down on operational excellence, and work towards delivering another year of strong growth and healthy profits."
Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-03-26 0720ET
