Sea reports 6.2% increase in Q1 earnings to US$427.9 million

[SINGAPORE] Sea on Tuesday (May 12) reported a 6.2 per cent increase in its first-quarter earnings to US$427.9 million, from US$403.1 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share for the three months ended Mar 31 grew 2.9 per cent to US$0.70, from US$0.68 in Q1 2025.

The growth was driven by higher revenue contributions across all business segments. Revenue rose 46.6 per cent year on year to US$7.1 billion.

Revenue for e-commerce arm Shopee grew 44.4 per cent to US$4.5 billion, from US$3.1 billion a year earlier; its gross merchandise value (GMV) growth for the quarter increased 30.2 per cent to US$37.3 billion.

Shopee’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) stood at US$223.2 million for Q1 2026, down 15 per cent from US$264.4 million a year earlier.

The arm’s VIP programme, which runs on a subscription model, booked 40 per cent growth quarter on quarter, reaching more than 10 million subscribers at the end of March.

Shopee’s retention rate stands about 80 per cent in all markets, with VIP members contributing 30 to 40 per cent of spending uplift and accounting for about 20 per cent of GMV.

Artificial intelligence is making an impact on Shopee’s operations; AI-generated content tools were responsible for a 14 per cent improvement in its purchase conversion rate in Q1 2026.

Sea CEO Forrest Li said that the company is “on track to deliver our 2026 guidance: to grow Shopee’s annual GMV by around 25 per cent year on year, with full-year adjusted Ebitda no lower than 2025 in absolute dollar terms”.

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The group’s financial services arm, Monee, reported a 57.8 per cent increase in revenue to US$1.2 billion in Q1 2026, from US$787.1 million a year earlier. The increase was attributed to its consumer and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit business.

The consumer and SME loan book stood at US$9.9 billion, up 71.3 per cent year on year. Non-performing loans were “stable” quarter on quarter, at 1.1 per cent.

Monee added 4.9 million first-time borrowers in Q1 2026. Active credit users crossed 38 million at the end of the quarter, marking a 38 per cent increase from Q1 2025.

“Expansion into more user segments, off-Shopee use cases and early markets like Brazil are giving us a much larger addressable opportunity across our portfolio,” said Li. Brazil became the fourth market to cross US$1 billion in loans, growing 250 per cent from Q1 2025.

Sea expects to continue to grow in the country, as it expands its procurement network in the country and Shopee’s same-day delivery offering.

Chris Feng, president of Sea, said that the key driver of growth in Brazil lies in localisation efforts, such as having a single flexible credit limit across Shopee PayLater and personal cash loans.

“We also spend a lot of effort in localising data sources, not just from Shopee but also from the open banking networks in Brazil; that’s part of the reason that we see better risks,” he added.

Garena’s Q1 2026 bookings were up 20.1 per cent year on year, at US$931.4 million. Average bookings per user came in at US$1.40, from US$1.17 for Q1 2025.

The arm’s revenue rose 40.6 per cent to US$696.6 million, from US$495.6 million a year earlier. Li noted that this was Garena’s “best quarter since 2021”.

“This performance was driven by the continued strength of Free Fire, alongside a record contribution from Arena of Valor,” he added.