Dallas, Texas 05/014/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) –Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) reported disappointing first quarter results last week, which resulted in the company stock posting significant losses in the post result announcement trading period. The markets reacted negatively to the firm lowered guidance for its full year growth and completely discounted the double digit increase in sales it had managed to post during the reporting period. Revenue for the reporting quarter came in at $757.6 million, while losses per share came in at 6 cents and total quarter operating loss of $37.8 million.
Some key positives which emerged from the reporting quarter operations included an 85 percent increase on a YOY compare in its Unit volume in tandem with a 29 percent increase in its gross billings which came in at $1.82 billion. Even more impressive was the fact that 54 percent of total sales occurred via its mobile platform. This development has been seen as a huge positive for the company, since more and more retailers are struggling to get their revenue from mobiles to increase as user preferences change across the globe. It also boasted of total cash from operations for the quarter at $1 billion. It also increased its full year outlook and expects EBITDA to come in the $300 million range.
Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) Chief Executive Officer, Director Eric P. Lefkofsky in his interactions with the press post the earnings call tried to limit the damage by highlighting the positives from the quarter operations by stating that, “We saw continued progress in the first 3 months of 2014. Our Local marketplace of over 200,000 deals is loved by the customers that have discovered it, and it’s just starting to gain broader awareness. Our mobile app that is consistently rated five stars has catapulted us to being one of the only large-scale, e-commerce companies in the world that is predominantly mobile.”
