[SINGAPORE] Sea reported first-quarter 2025 earnings of US$410.8 million, reversing from a loss of US$23 million in Q1 2024 on Tuesday (May 13).
Revenue for the quarter rose 29.6 per cent to US$4.8 billion from US$3.7 billion a year prior. This was a slight miss from US$4.88 billion to US$4.84 billion forecast by a Bloomberg poll of 14 analysts.
“Our strong start to the year gives us more confidence in achieving our full-year guidance,” said Forrest Li, chairman and CEO of Sea.
E-commerce segment Shopee reported a 28.3 per cent increase in Q1 2025 revenue to US$3.1 billion, up from US$2.4 billion in Q1 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the segment stood at US$264.4 million for the quarter, reversing from a loss of US$21.7 million in Q1 2024.
“Our strong execution of our operational priorities – enhancing price competitiveness, improving service quality, and strengthening our content ecosystem – has continued to make Shopee competitive and differentiated,” said Li.
Monee, Sea’s newly rebranded digital financial services arm, reported a 57.6 per cent increase in Q1 2025 revenue to US$787.1 million from US$499.4 million in Q1 2024. Adjusted Ebitda for the quarter was US$241.4 million, a 62.4 per cent year-on-year increase.
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The increase in Monee’s Q1 2025 revenue was driven mainly by consumer and SME (small and medium enterprise credit) business. As at Mar 31 2025, Monee’s loan book stood at US$5.8 billion, a 76.5 per cent increase year on year. The non-performing loans ratio for the loan book stood at 1.1 per cent.
“As we scale, we remain focused on risk management as a top priority. We are confident that we can grow Monee in a way that is resilient to credit cycles and profitable in the long term,” said Li
Gaming arm Garena reported a 51.4 per cent year-on-year increase in bookings for Q1 2025 to US$775.4 million. Revenue also grew 8.2 per cent to US$495.6 million for the quarter from US$458.1 million in Q1 2024.
Quarterly active users for Garena’s Free Fire game increased 56.8 per cent in Q1 2025 to 661.8 million, and quarterly paying users were up 32.2 per cent to 64.6 million, compared with a year prior.
This was Garena’s best quarter since 2021, with Li saying: “Thanks to the phenomenal success of the Free Fire and Naruto collaboration in January, Free Fire’s average daily active users (DAU) in the first quarter was close to its peak quarterly average DAU during the pandemic.”
