By Clarence Leong

Meituan's first-quarter revenue more than doubled from a year earlier, as Chinese consumer demand remained resilient amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The online delivery specialist on Friday posted 37.02 billion yuan (US$5.80 billion) in revenue for the quarter, beating an estimate of CNY35.28 billion from analysts polled by FactSet. The largest revenue contribution came from its food-delivery business, which more than doubled to CNY20.6 billion. The business posted CNY1.1 billion in operating profit in the quarter, turning around from an operating loss of CNY70.9 million in the same period last year, thanks to a higher operating margin.

"Food delivery continued to be an essential service in the post-Covid-19 era, primarily driven by the ongoing evolution of consumer behavior and the increasingly diverse supplies on our platform," it said.

Meituan recorded a net loss of CNY4.85 billion for the quarter, widening from a loss of CNY1.58 billion in the same period last year, mainly due to spending on rapidly-expanding retail businesses and new initiatives. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting a loss of CNY4.69 billion.

The bulk of the company's investments was in its community group-buying business, a fast-growing e-commerce niche in China where people band together to buy food and household goods at better prices. Meituan has said it could remain loss-making for several quarters as it ramps up that business.

Meituan said its restaurant- and hotel-booking segment has fully recovered from the pandemic.

Meituan has become one of China's most valuable listed internet companies amid a 93% rise in its Hong Kong-listed shares in the past 12 months.

The Chinese tech sector has been under pressure lately, as Beijing steps up regulatory scrutiny into their business models. Meituan was among dozens of the country's major tech companies that have recently pledged to comply with antimonopoly laws after the commerce regulator slapped Alibaba Group Holding with a record US$2.8 billion antitrust fine.

Write to Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This story was corrected at 06:15 a.m. EDT. The original, in the last paragraph misspelled the company's name as Alibaba Group Holdings.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-28-21 0542ET