By Matt Grossman

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Thursday logged revenue growth in the latest quarter as its user base expanded, but a large fine imposed by the Chinese government under an anti-monopoly law led to a quarterly net loss.

The Chinese e-commerce giant posted a net loss of CNY1.99 per American depository share, or about 30 U.S. cents per ADS, compared with earnings of CNY1.16 per ADS in the year-ago quarter. The total net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders was CNY5.48 billion, or about $836 million, compared with net income of CNY3.16 billion a year earlier.

The fine imposed by the Chinese government related to the country's anti-monopoly law, of CNY18.23 billion or roughly $2.78 billion, added to Alibaba's costs in the quarter.

Stripping out that and other one-time items, Alibaba posted adjusted earnings of CNY10.32 per ADS, or roughly $1.58 per ADS. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast a first-quarter adjusted profit of CNY11.16 per ADS.

Alibaba's sales rose to CNY187.4 billion, or about $28.6 billion, from CNY114.31 billion in 2020's comparable quarter. Analysts were forecasting sales of CNY180.2 billion.

For the full fiscal year that ended in March, annual active customers on Alibaba's Chinese retail marketplaces for the 12 months ending in March was 811 million, an increase of 32 million compared with the 12 months that ended on Devember 31.

Revenue from Alibaba's core commerce segment grew to CNY161.37 billion, from CNY93.87 billion in 2020's equivalent quarter. Cloud-computing revenue improved to CNY16.76 billion, from CNY12.22 billion in the prior-year period.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

Corrections and Amplifications

This article was corrected at 8:23 a.m. ET because it misstated that the increase of 32 million was relative to the year ending in March 2020. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s annual-average-customer measure for its Chinese retail marketplaces for the 12 months ending in March was 811 million, an increase of 32 million compared with the 12 months that ended on Dec. 31.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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