增长压力下 阿里巴巴给投资人打气

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——将近两年前，中国公司阿里巴巴集团创下了美国首次公开募股的记录，此后它的表现却令投资者感到失望。该公司不稳定的财务业绩，以及与监管机构之间的争执，导致其股票跌到了最初价位的附近。

Now the e-commerce giant is trying to reassure.

现在，这家电子商务巨头正在试图让投资者放心。

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.

本周二，阿里巴巴第一次为投资者发布了未来一年的财务指导，其中表示今年营收增长的步伐预计将比去年加快。尽管中国经济增长在放缓，该集团一些新项目的收益也引起了部分投资者的不满，但在其总部杭州召开的会议上，阿里巴巴对自身核心业务的实力进行了着重强调。

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

阿里巴巴此次发布财务预期的背景是，它正在试图证明，它长期以来一直侧重于增长的策略对生意是有利的。

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.

在中国，阿里巴巴经营着一些网上销售平台，将消费者和商家连接起来。这些商家既有夫妻店，也覆盖了博柏利(Burberry)和Zara这样的全球知名品牌。它使用一种叫做“商品交易总额”的指标来衡量旗下各平台的交易规模，显示平台的销售增长。

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.

阿里巴巴周二表示将淡化这个指标，不再将其写入季度报告。不过，它将继续报告年度数字，还提出了2020年的目标。

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.

阿里巴巴之前是应投资者的要求统计这个指标的，“但实际上，在我们心里，我们知道这不是唯一的指标，”阿里巴巴董事局主席马云在投资者会议上说。

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.

阿里巴巴投资了一些不同领域的新业务，包括电影和视频，外卖服务及新闻媒体。周二，集团强调，这些投资有助于留住在日常活动中越来越多地使用智能手机的中国消费者。尽管如此，公司首席财务官武卫表示，在短期内，这些新业务的营收将降低公司的利润率，因为它们仍然处在构建阶段。

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.

上个月，阿里巴巴公布，美国证券交易委员会(United States Securities and Exchange Commission)正在调查该公司“光棍节”——中国一个非正式的网上购物节——销售数据的计算方式。美国官方还在调查该公司下属企业菜鸟物流的会计核算方式。阿里巴巴表示正在配合他们的工作，而新披露的消息将有助于回答美国证券交易委员会的问题。

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.

马云如今很少代表公司公开发言，而他决定参加这次会议并讲话的目的似乎是想安抚投资者。作为阿里巴巴的创始人，马云近年来较少涉入公司的日常运作，而是把精力更多地放在慈善事业上。

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.

在他发表的话题广泛的演讲中，马云回顾了公司发展过程中的一些往事，表示对阿里巴巴主营业务的增长有信心，也在考虑推进公司健康和娱乐业务的发展。

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.

马云还为阿里巴巴打击假货销售的努力进行了辩护。他表示这项任务并不容易——部分原因在于假货的质量变得比过去好多了。

“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.

“问题在于，如今的假货质量有所提高，价格也比真品有优势，”他说。他还指出，为外国品牌代工的厂家有不少转向阿里巴巴等网站分销仿品，有时则售卖自己的品牌。

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.

马云称，真正对外国大品牌造成威胁的不是仿品，而是在网上销售这类产品的商业模式。

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

“我也必须考虑到这样一个因素：做生意的方式发生了变化，”他说。

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.

如果说他听起来像是在为炮制假货的工厂说话，他又马上改变了口风，一边将拳头握在胸前，一边承诺阿里巴巴会打赢与造假者之间的这场战争。

“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.”

“我们不能百分百地解决这个问题，因为这是与人类的本能作斗争，”他说。“但在解决这一问题方面，我们可以做得比任何政府、机构和个人都好。”

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.

最近几年，一些造假者仿冒的水平大大提高，制造的产品与真品非常相似，只有熟悉缝线等细节的专业人士才能看出真品和仿品的区别。

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.

因为在它的销售平台上可以买到假货，阿里巴巴一直是一些国际品牌指责的重点对象。其中，淘宝上假货尤其多，因为是无数小商户在销售商品。去年，阿里巴巴曾因这个问题受到中国政府的批评。今年5月，遭到在遏制造假行为方面做得不够的指责后，它又被一家总部位于美国的反假货联盟除名。

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.

阿里巴巴首席财务官武卫周二表示，预计集团截至明年3月这个财年的营收会比前一年增长48%。这个数字比分析师们估计的要高。阿里巴巴表示，刨去一些现在刚开展的业务，预计营收将增长36%。相比之下，前一年则增长了33%。