Shares of Facebook parent company Meta jumped more than 15 per cent in after-hours trading after the company reported a 201 per cent yearly surge in fourth-quarter net profit, driven by a jump in advertising revenue and an increase in user numbers.
The California-based company posted a net profit of more than $14 billion in the quarter that ended on December 31, up 21 per cent compared with the third quarter.
Revenue for the three-month period surged by an annual 25 per cent to more than $40.1 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $39.1 billion.
This is the third consecutive quarter that the company has reported double-digit revenue growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Meta's shares, which closed at $394.78 on Thursday, surged 15.1 per cent to trade at $454.40 a share in after-hours trading.
The stock has gained about 14 per cent so far this year and the company had a market value of about $1.01 trillion at close on Thursday.
In the fourth quarter, advertising impressions delivered across Meta’s family of apps increased 21 per cent on an annual basis while the average price for an advertisement soared by 2 per cent year on year.
Meta’s family of apps includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and other services.
“We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and chief executive.
“We have made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI [artificial intelligence] and the metaverse.”
The company’s earnings per share jumped 203 per cent annually to $5.33 in the fourth quarter.
Meta, which employs more than 67,000 people, expects its March quarter total revenue to be in the range of $34.5 billion to $37 billion.
Facebook’s daily active users stood at 2.11 billion as of December 31, an increase of 6 per cent, while monthly active users surged 3 per cent to 3.07 billion.
“These numbers are a testament to the long-term benefits of Zuckerberg's turnaround that began in 2022,” Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, told The National
“Not only did the company show an impressive ability to improve margins, but it was also agile enough to direct any extra revenues to the correct operations.
“This leaves no doubt to the fact that Zuckerberg's company is a serious player in all the main races being disputed at the moment, especially VR [virtual reality] and AI [artificial intelligence].”
In the fourth quarter, the company's costs and expenses stood at $23.73 billion, down 8 per cent on an annual basis, while its capital expenditure, including principal payments on finance leases, stood at more than $7.9 billion.
The company said it expects its full-year 2024 total expenses to be in the range of $94 billion to $99 billion, unchanged from its prior outlook.
The company's advertising sales contributed more than 96 per cent to overall sales in the fourth quarter, growing by about 23.8 per cent on an annual basis to more than $38.7 billion.
Revenue from other streams – including the Reality Labs unit – jumped 54 per cent on an annual basis to more than $14 billion.
Reality Labs, which includes augmented and VR-related consumer hardware, software and content for the metaverse, reported an operating loss of over $4.6 billion.
The unit's operating losses are expected to “increase meaningfully year over year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem”, said Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer.
The company expects its 2024 capital expenditure to hover in the range of $30 billion and $37 billion, a $2 billion increase of the high end of its prior range.
“We expect [capex] growth will be driven by investments in servers, including both AI and non-AI hardware, and data centres as we ramp up construction on sites with our previously announced new data centre architecture,” Ms Li said.
As part of its restructuring efforts in March, Meta announced it would lay off 10,000 employees and close about 5,000 open roles.
In November last year, the company laid off 11,000 employees, or 13 per cent of its workforce.
Meta said restructuring charges in the fourth quarter totalled $4.2 billion and $4.6 billion for the full year.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The nine articles of the 50-Year Charter
1. Dubai silk road
2. A geo-economic map for Dubai
3. First virtual commercial city
4. A central education file for every citizen
5. A doctor to every citizen
6. Free economic and creative zones in universities
7. Self-sufficiency in Dubai homes
8. Co-operative companies in various sectors
9: Annual growth in philanthropy
The biog
Profession: Senior sports presenter and producer
Marital status: Single
Favourite book: Al Nabi by Jibran Khalil Jibran
Favourite food: Italian and Lebanese food
Favourite football player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Languages: Arabic, French, English, Portuguese and some Spanish
Website: www.liliane-tannoury.com
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Twin-turbocharged%204-litre%20V8%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20625%20bhp%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20630Nm%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh974%2C011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Scotland 59 (Tries: Hastings (2), G Horne (3), Turner, Seymour, Barclay, Kinghorn, McInally; Cons: Hastings 8)
Russia 0
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4.0-litre%20twin-turbo%20V8%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E666hp%20at%206%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E850Nm%20at%202%2C300-4%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQ1%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh1.15%20million%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company Profile
Founders: Tamara Hachem and Yazid Erman
Based: Dubai
Launched: September 2019
Sector: health technology
Stage: seed
Investors: Oman Technology Fund, angel investor and grants from Sharjah's Sheraa and Ma'an Abu Dhabi
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
NEW%20UTILITY%20POLICY%3A%20WHAT%20DOES%20IT%20REGULATE%3F
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Agreements%20on%20energy%20and%20water%20supply%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Applied%20service%20fees%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customer%20data%20and%20information%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Prohibition%20of%20service%20disconnections%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customer%20complaint%20process%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Management%20of%20debts%20and%20customers%20in%20default%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Services%20provided%20to%20people%20of%20determination%20and%20home%20care%20customers%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Crime%20Wave
%3Cp%3EHeavyweight%20boxer%20Fury%20revealed%20on%20Sunday%20his%20cousin%20had%20been%20%E2%80%9Cstabbed%20in%20the%20neck%E2%80%9D%20and%20called%20on%20the%20courts%20to%20address%20the%20wave%20of%20more%20sentencing%20of%20offenders.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERico%20Burton%2C%2031%2C%20was%20found%20with%20stab%20wounds%20at%20around%203am%20on%20Sunday%20in%20Goose%20Green%2C%20Altrincham%20and%20subsequently%20died%20of%20his%20injuries.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%26nbsp%3B%E2%80%9CMy%20cousin%20was%20murdered%20last%20night%2C%20stabbed%20in%20the%20neck%20this%20is%20becoming%20ridiculous%20%E2%80%A6%20idiots%20carry%20knives.%20This%20needs%20to%20stop%2C%E2%80%9D%0D%20Fury%20said.%20%E2%80%9CAsap%2C%20UK%20government%20needs%20to%20bring%20higher%20sentencing%20for%20knife%20crime%2C%20it%E2%80%99s%20a%20pandemic%20%26amp%3B%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20know%20how%20bad%20it%20is%20until%20%5Bit%E2%80%99s%5D%201%20of%20your%20own!%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
