eBay profits up 28 per cent
22 April 2005
Online auction site eBay has posted record profits for the first quarter of 2005.
Earnings for the company rose 28 per cent to $256.3 million (£133.5 million), boosted by strong growth in the UK, which now has ten million registered users.
Analysts had suggested that the firm may be hitting a wall in terms of users, but the financial report for the first three months of the year will allay fears that the online auction boom is over.
eBay revenues soared by 36 per cent to just over $1billion and the site said 147 million people were registered to use the site last month, up from 105 million a year ago. The number of active users, those that have bought, sold or listed on the site in the past year, also rose by 34 per cent to 60.5 million.
The company also saw a 57 per cent increase in the number of people using PayPal, its online payment service, to 71.6 million. eBay expects sales of between $4.27 billion and $4.36 billion compared with the $4.25bn to $4.35bn predicted in January.
Chief executive Meg Whitman said: "The eBay community is thriving, and we're in an excellent position to deliver on both the top-line and profit goals we've set out for 2005 and beyond."
However, eBay has seen share prices slump by more than 40 per cent this year, as investors grow worried that business is dropping off in its core German and US markets. Strong growth markets in recent months have been the UK and South Korea, while eBay expects strong activity for China and India.
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