By Casey Hall
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s Meituan posted a bigger-than-expected 22.1% rise in third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as the country’s largest food delivery firm continued its recovery from the pandemic impact of last year.
The platform, whose app provides services such as bike-sharing, ticket-booking and maps, reported June-September revenue of 76.47 billion yuan ($10.69 billion), versus 62.62 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.
The result compared with the 75.59 billion average of 15 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
Meituan posted a profit of 3.59 billion yuan versus profit of 1.22 billion yuan a year earlier.
Last year’s third-quarter earnings were affected by COVID-19 containment measures, which included restrictions on movement in major cities that curtailed delivery services.
Demand remains lacklustre, with China’s post-pandemic economic recovery losing steam in recent months. Meituan CEO Wang Xing previously flagged a tougher third quarter for the food delivery business due to macroeconomic headwinds.
Quarterly revenue from core local commerce, which includes food delivery as well as non-food delivery service Meituan Instashopping, rose 24.5% to 57.69 billion yuan.
(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Klamann)
