Sea Q2 earnings up 10.6% at US$458.1 million as Shopee hits new highs

[SINGAPORE] Sea announced a 10.6 per cent increase in second-quarter earnings to US$458.1 million, from US$414.2 million a year earlier and beating analyst estimates of US$434.5 million.

Revenue for Q2 2026 grew 48.1 per cent year on year to US$7.8 billion from US$5.3 billion, driven by increased contributions across all business segments, the group said on Tuesday (Aug 11).

Earnings per share came in at US$0.72, compared with US$0.68 for the year-ago period.

Shopee, Sea’s e-commerce arm, reported a 48.2 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to US$5.6 billion from US$3.8 billion.

This was driven by core marketplace revenue – consisting of transaction-based fees and advertising revenues – which rose 65.6 per cent year on year to US$4.3 billion.

It was slightly offset by lower value-added services revenue related to logistics services, which fell 9 per cent to US$676.4 million.

Gross merchandise value (GMV) grew 28.4 per cent to US$38.3 billion in Q2, with gross orders up 27.5 per cent at 4.2 billion.

Forrest Li, Sea’s chairman and CEO, said that instant and same-day delivery gained traction in Q2 as Shopee expanded its groceries and pharmacy categories.

Order volumes using instant delivery grew 50 per cent while cost per order fell around 20 per cent, driven by economies of scale.

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Membership of ShopeeVIP, a paid subscription programme, exceeded 15 million as at Jun 30, up 45 per cent as it was rolled out across all of Shopee’s markets in Asia and Brazil.

Li said that retention rates remain around 80 per cent, and members have higher engagement and spend more.

Sellers and external partners have also come onboard to support and co-fund ShopeeVIP benefits. “This has helped improve the programme’s unit economics in Asia,” said Li.

There is further opportunity to raise Shopee’s take rate, with the increase coming not just from commissions but from paid ads, said Sea president Chris Feng.

While the pace of increase from commissions will be less than before, there is room to increase the take rate from helping sellers be more efficient and grow their volumes, he added.

Affiliate marketing has also improved, with content creators generating over 85 per cent more leads via Facebook, and with Instagram Reels being a popular channel to drive purchases.

Li said that Shopee hit “new highs in GMV, revenue and gross order volume in Q2”, adding that improving operational efficiency and growing scale have strengthened unit economics.

“With this solid momentum, we are optimistic that Shopee will achieve the milestone of US$1 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the full year.”

Monee, Sea’s financial services arm, reported a 58.9 per cent increase in Q2 revenue to US$1.4 billion from US$882.8 million a year earlier. Operating income grew 14.8 per cent to US$279 million from US$243.1 million.

These increases were attributed to the consumer and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit business. As at Jun 30, consumer and SME loans stood at US$11.1 billion, up 62.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Its non-performing loan rate stood at 1 per cent as at Jun 30, stable quarter on quarter.

Monee added some 5.3 million first-time borrowers in Q2, while active credit users grew 34 per cent to more than 40 million as at Jun 30. Off-Shopee users accounted for more than 20 per cent of the total SPaylater portfolio as at Jun 30, with the figure going up to 35 per cent in some markets.

Li said that Monee was still in an early stage of growth.

“Only a fraction of the users across our ecosystem are using Monee’s financial products today, and credit penetration remains low across our markets,” he added. “This gives us great confidence in Monee’s long-term growth and earnings potential.”

Sea’s gaming arm Garena reported bookings – an approximation of cash spent by its users during the period – of US$763.5 million in Q2, up 15.5 per cent from US$661.3 million a year earlier.

Revenue for the quarter grew 33.5 per cent year on year to US$746.6 million from US$559.1 million.

“We will continue to invest prudently in serving more users and serving them better, broadening our foundation for profitable growth into the future,” said Li.