增長壓力下 阿里巴巴給投資人打氣

HONG KONG — The Alibaba Group of China has disappointed investors since its record-breaking American stock listing nearly two years ago, as volatile financial results and regulatory run-ins have driven the price of its shares down almost to where they began.

香港——將近兩年前，中國公司阿里巴巴集團創下了美國首次公開募股的記錄，此後它的表現卻令投資者感到失望。該公司不穩定的財務業績，以及與監管機構之間的爭執，導致其股票跌到了最初價位的附近。

Now the e-commerce giant is trying to reassure.

現在，這家電子商務巨頭正在試圖讓投資者放心。

For the first time, Alibaba on Tuesday offered investors financial guidance for the coming year, saying that it expected revenue growth to accelerate from last year’s pace. At a meeting at its Hangzhou headquarters, Alibaba cited strength in its core business, despite China’s slowing economic growth, as well as benefits from new ventures that have raised eyebrows among some investors.

本週二，阿里巴巴第一次爲投資者發佈了未來一年的財務指導，其中表示今年營收增長的步伐預計將比去年加快。儘管中國經濟增長在放緩，該集團一些新項目的收益也引起了部分投資者的不滿，但在其總部杭州召開的會議上，阿里巴巴對自身核心業務的實力進行了着重強調。

The forecast comes as Alibaba seeks to demonstrate that its strategy, which has long focused on growth, is good for business.

阿里巴巴此次發佈財務預期的背景是，它正在試圖證明，它長期以來一直側重於增長的策略對生意是有利的。

In China, Alibaba operates online sales platforms that connect consumers with mom-and-pop stores, as well as with global brands like Burberry and Zara. It has been showing sales growth on its platforms using a measure called gross merchandise volume, a yardstick for transactions across its platforms.

在中國，阿里巴巴經營着一些網上銷售平臺，將消費者和商家連接起來。這些商家既有夫妻店，也覆蓋了博柏利(Burberry)和Zara這樣的全球知名品牌。它使用一種叫做“商品交易總額”的指標來衡量旗下各平臺的交易規模，顯示平臺的銷售增長。

Alibaba said on Tuesday that it would de-emphasize that figure, saying it would no longer report it quarterly. It will continue to report an annual figure, and offered a target for 2020.

阿里巴巴週二表示將淡化這個指標，不再將其寫入季度報告。不過，它將繼續報告年度數字，還提出了2020年的目標。

It had provided the measure at the request of investors, “but actually, in our heart, we know this is not exactly the only index,” said Jack Ma, the company’s executive chairman, who spoke at the investor event.

阿里巴巴之前是應投資者的要求統計這個指標的，“但實際上，在我們心裏，我們知道這不是唯一的指標，”阿里巴巴董事局主席馬雲在投資者會議上說。

Alibaba has invested in a wide array of new businesses, including movies and video, food delivery services and news outlets. On Tuesday, the company stressed that its deals would help it retain Chinese consumers, who increasingly use their smartphones for daily tasks. Still, Maggie Wu, the company’s chief financial officer, said that in the near term, revenue from new businesses would reduce the company’s profit margin because it was still in building mode.

阿里巴巴投資了一些不同領域的新業務，包括電影和視頻，外賣服務及新聞媒體。週二，集團強調，這些投資有助於留住在日常活動中越來越多地使用智能手機的中國消費者。儘管如此，公司首席財務官武衛表示，在短期內，這些新業務的營收將降低公司的利潤率，因爲它們仍然處在構建階段。

Last month, Alibaba said the United States Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the way the company accounted for the sales data from Singles Day, an unofficial online shopping holiday in China. Officials are also investigating how the company accounts for a logistics initiative called Cainiao. Alibaba has said that it is cooperating and that new disclosures would help the S.E.C. answer its questions.

上個月，阿里巴巴公佈，美國證券交易委員會(United States Securities and Exchange Commission)正在調查該公司“光棍節”——中國一個非正式的網上購物節——銷售數據的計算方式。美國官方還在調查該公司下屬企業菜鳥物流的會計覈算方式。阿里巴巴表示正在配合他們的工作，而新披露的消息將有助於回答美國證券交易委員會的問題。

Mr. Ma’s decision to attend and speak at the meeting — he rarely speaks publicly on behalf of the company these days — appeared to be aimed at soothing investors. Mr. Ma, who founded Alibaba, has concentrated in recent years more on philanthropy than on the day-to-day operations of the company.

馬雲如今很少代表公司公開發言，而他決定參加這次會議並講話的目的似乎是想安撫投資者。作爲阿里巴巴的創始人，馬雲近年來較少涉入公司的日常運作，而是把精力更多地放在慈善事業上。

In a wide-ranging speech, Mr. Ma recalled anecdotes from the history of the company, said he was confident about the growth of Alibaba’s main businesses, and mused about its push into health and entertainment.

在他發表的話題廣泛的演講中，馬雲回顧了公司發展過程中的一些往事，表示對阿里巴巴主營業務的增長有信心，也在考慮推進公司健康和娛樂業務的發展。

Mr. Ma also defended Alibaba’s efforts to fight the trade in counterfeit goods, which he said was not easy — partly because fakes have become much better.

馬雲還爲阿里巴巴打擊假貨銷售的努力進行了辯護。他表示這項任務並不容易——部分原因在於假貨的質量變得比過去好多了。

“The problem is that the fake products today, they make better quality, better prices than the real products, than the real names,” he said, adding that many of the factories tapped by foreign brands had turned to websites like Alibaba’s to distribute fakes and sometimes their own brands.

“問題在於，如今的假貨質量有所提高，價格也比真品有優勢，”他說。他還指出，爲外國品牌代工的廠家有不少轉向阿里巴巴等網站分銷仿品，有時則售賣自己的品牌。

Mr. Ma said it was not fake products but the business model of selling those products online that was the real threat to major foreign brands.

馬雲稱，真正對外國大品牌造成威脅的不是仿品，而是在網上銷售這類產品的商業模式。

“We also have to think about one thing: The way of doing business has changed,” he said.

“我也必須考慮到這樣一個因素：做生意的方式發生了變化，”他說。

If he seemed to be giving credit to the factories that churn out fakes, he quickly changed tone, making a fist over his heart as he vowed that Alibaba would win the war against counterfeiters.

如果說他聽起來像是在爲炮製假貨的工廠說話，他又馬上改變了口風，一邊將拳頭握在胸前，一邊承諾阿里巴巴會打贏與造假者之間的這場戰爭。

“We cannot solve the problem 100 percent, because it’s the fight against human instinct,” he said. “But we can solve the problem better than any government, than any organizations, than any people in the world.”

“我們不能百分百地解決這個問題，因爲這是與人類的本能作鬥爭，”他說。“但在解決這一問題方面，我們可以做得比任何政府、機構和個人都好。”

In recent years, some counterfeiters have become more sophisticated, making products so similar to the originals that only experts familiar with details like stitching can tell the difference between the real and the fake.

最近幾年，一些造假者仿冒的水平大大提高，製造的產品與真品非常相似，只有熟悉縫線等細節的專業人士才能看出真品和仿品的區別。

Alibaba has been the focus of criticism from some international brands because of the availability of fake goods on its sales platforms, particularly Taobao, which hosts goods from numerous small vendors. Last year, it faced criticism from the Chinese government on the issue, and in May, it was suspended from a United States-based coalition against fake goods after accusations it had not done enough to stop counterfeiters.

因爲在它的銷售平臺上可以買到假貨，阿里巴巴一直是一些國際品牌指責的重點對象。其中，淘寶上假貨尤其多，因爲是無數小商戶在銷售商品。去年，阿里巴巴曾因這個問題受到中國政府的批評。今年5月，遭到在遏制造假行爲方面做得不夠的指責後，它又被一家總部位於美國的反假貨聯盟除名。

Ms. Wu, the chief financial officer, said on Tuesday that the company expected revenue for the current fiscal year, which runs through next March, to rise 48 percent from the year before, which is more than analysts had estimated. Excluding some new businesses now rolled into its operations, Alibaba said it expected revenue to rise 36 percent, compared with 33 percent the year before.

阿里巴巴首席財務官武衛週二表示，預計集團截至明年3月這個財年的營收會比前一年增長48%。這個數字比分析師們估計的要高。阿里巴巴表示，刨去一些現在剛開展的業務，預計營收將增長36%。相比之下，前一年則增長了33%。