SHANGHAI, March 24 Reuters Chinese food delivery giant Meituan posted a biggerthanexpected 21.4 rise in quarterly revenue on Friday as it fended off competition from powerful rivals such as Alibababacked Ele.me.

Meituan whose socalled super app provides services ranging from bikesharing, movie ticketing, mapping, to food delivery and restaurant bookings said its total revenue rose to 60.13 billion yuan 8.76 billion for the three months ended December, from 49.52 billion yuan a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a revenue of 57.88 billion yuan, data from Refinitiv shows.

Its net loss for the fourth quarter narrowed to 1.08 billion yuan, from a loss of 5.34 billion yuan a year earlier.

Meituan was hit hard by COVID19 curbs last year but it swung to a profit in the third quarter as it cut back investment on new initiatives.

Its fourthquarter revenue from core local commerce, which includes food delivery and nonfood delivery service Meituan Instashopping, rose 17.4 to 43.47 billion yuan.

Operating profit for the segment jumped 56.8 on a yearoveryear basis to 29.5 billion yuan.

Quarterly revenue from Meituan39;s instore, hotel booking, and travel sector businesses declined due to the impact of COVID curbs in China. The firm described the yearonyear decline as being to a similar extent as that of the second quarter.

1 6.8641 Chinese yuan

Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Himani Sarkar

Source Reuters