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Allegro Confirms 2024 Outlook as Q1 Earnings Climb, Focus Shifts to Competing with Temu

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Allegro, Poland’s top e-commerce platform, reported a 4.9% rise in Q1 adjusted core earnings in its domestic market and confirmed its full-year forecast, even as competition from platforms like Temu intensifies.

Incoming CEO Marcin Kuśmierz said the company continues to see strong buyer engagement both domestically and abroad:

“Not only is the number of active buyers rising in Poland and internationally, but they also continue to spend more with us on average.”

Q1 Results Overview

  • Adjusted EBITDA (Poland): 859.4 million zlotys ($229.6 million)
    (slightly below analyst expectations of 875 million zlotys)

  • Gross Merchandise Value (GMV):

    • Poland: Up 8.9% to 14.78 billion zlotys

    • International Markets: Up 82%

  • Active Buyers (Group-wide): 21 million (↑5.4% YoY)

    • Of which 6 million are international

Competitive Strategy and Platform Evolution

Despite “not the best” trading conditions in Q1, Finance Chief Jon Eastick noted that the outlook for Q2 is firmer, with the company remaining optimistic for the latter half of 2024.

To differentiate from Asian e-commerce players like Temu, Allegro has removed listings with long shipping times, particularly those from East Asia. This has helped:

  • Increase shopping frequency

  • Boost the number of local merchants on its international platforms (↑56% YoY)

“Removing most of the long delivery time Asian selection helped Allegro distinguish itself,” Eastick said.

Allegro also continues to invest in logistics infrastructure to lower costs and improve service, expanding its network of:

  • In-house parcel lockers

  • Partner-managed delivery points

The share of delivery volumes managed by Allegro rose to 29% in Q1, up from 24% in Q4 2023.

Market Reaction

Despite the overall positive momentum, Allegro shares slipped ~2% in early trading. Analysts at JPMorgan called the result “moderately negative” due to:

  • Slightly softer Polish profitability

  • No upside surprises in GMV growth

Still, Allegro remains Poland’s dominant player and is steadily building out its international presence in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, aiming to consolidate its regional leadership.

Snowflake Raises Annual Revenue Forecast Amid AI-Driven Demand Surge

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Snowflake (SNOW.N) raised its fiscal 2026 product revenue forecast on Wednesday, driven by strong enterprise demand for its data analytics and AI services. The company’s shares jumped 6% to $190.09 in after-hours trading following better-than-expected first-quarter results and an upbeat outlook for the current quarter.

The AI boom has been a key growth engine for Snowflake. Through partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic, the company has expanded its platform to support customers building and running advanced AI models, particularly for data-driven applications. This has significantly broadened its appeal across industries prioritizing cloud migration and AI adoption.

Updated Guidance and Performance

  • Q1 Product Revenue: $996.8 million (↑26% YoY), surpassing analysts’ forecast of $959.2 million

  • Q2 Product Revenue Forecast: $1.035 – $1.040 billion vs. $1.021 billion expected

  • Fiscal 2026 Product Revenue Forecast: $4.325 billion (up from $4.28 billion)

On an adjusted basis, Snowflake earned 24 cents per share, beating expectations of 21 cents.

Analysts attribute Snowflake’s momentum to its ability to scale cloud-based AI tools for enterprise clients, particularly those building AI agents and automation workflows. The company’s flexibility in integrating AI across large datasets makes it a key player in modern enterprise cloud ecosystems.

The stock is now up 16% year-to-date, reflecting investor confidence in Snowflake’s strategy to stay ahead in the competitive cloud and AI infrastructure market.

Baidu Says Homegrown Tech Shields AI Ambitions from U.S. Chip Curbs

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Chinese tech giant Baidu asserted on Wednesday that its artificial intelligence (AI) development remains largely insulated from recent U.S. semiconductor export restrictions, thanks to an expanding domestic supply of chips and software. The company also reported stronger-than-expected Q1 financial results, fueled by growth in its AI cloud segment.

“Domestically developed chips and increasingly efficient homegrown software will form a strong foundation for long-term innovation in China’s AI ecosystem,” said Shen Dou, Baidu’s Vice President, during a conference call with analysts.

The statement follows the latest U.S. curbs on advanced chips — including Nvidia’s H20, a product tailored for the Chinese market — which officially took effect last month. Baidu’s confidence mirrors that of rival Tencent, which recently cited existing chip stockpiles as a buffer against Washington’s tightening export controls.

Baidu’s first-quarter revenue rose 3% year-over-year to 32.45 billion yuan ($4.5 billion), surpassing analysts’ estimates of 30.9 billion yuan, according to LSEG. The company’s non-online marketing revenue, primarily driven by its AI cloud business, jumped 40% to 9.4 billion yuan, highlighting Baidu’s accelerating pivot away from its legacy ad-based search engine model.

While revenue from its online marketing segment fell 6% to 17.31 billion yuan — slightly below forecasts — Baidu posted a robust profit of 21.59 yuan per American Depositary Share, up from 14.91 yuan a year earlier.

Baidu has made aggressive moves in the generative AI space since becoming one of the first Chinese firms to launch a ChatGPT-style chatbot in early 2023. However, its flagship Ernie model now faces stiff competition from fast-rising domestic players like DeepSeek.

In response, Baidu scrapped subscription fees for premium AI chatbot services in April and launched enhanced models including Ernie X1 and Ernie 4.5, later upgrading both to “Turbo” versions. The company’s AI ambitions are powered by its self-developed P800 Kunlun chips, with a 30,000-chip cluster said to be capable of training DeepSeek-scale models.

Despite the upbeat earnings and AI momentum, Baidu’s U.S.-listed shares were slightly down 0.3% in Wednesday morning trading.