Montevideo, Uruguay. February 22, 2024 — Mercado Libre (NASDAQ: MELI), Latin America's leading technology company, today announced record results following a strong financial and operational performance in the fourth quarter and through 2023.

Net revenue in 2023 rose by 37.4% year-over-year to reach a record $14.5 billion, with the growth rate accelerating to 42.0% year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Income from operations excluding one-off expenses hit $572 million in the last quarter, with the margin rising 270 basis points over the fourth quarter of 2022. For the year as a whole, income from operations rose 122.1% year-over-year to reach an unprecedented $2.1 billion, excluding one-off expenses. Net income rose 155.8% to $1.2 billion in the full year, excluding one-off expenses, also a record.

Martin de los Santos, CFO of Mercado Libre, commented: “2023 was a remarkable year for Mercado Libre as we delivered strong revenue growth, major market share gains and significant margin expansion, whilst we continued to invest in the business. We are also pleased that the year showed our long-term strategy is bearing fruit and that we are making the right investments to position our ecosystem as a long-term winner in Latin America’s commerce and financial services markets. We are seeing the powerful impact of the compounding of several years of investments in technology, which we believe is taking our value proposition and user experience to new levels.”

This trend is particularly evident in the commerce business, where unique active buyers reached a total of almost 85 million in 2023, with user growth accelerating to its fastest year-on-year pace since 2020. Items sold in 2023 grew 22,4% year-over-year, with the performance getting even stronger at the  end of year, with 28,7% growth in the fourth quarter - the fastest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2021. The performance of Brazil and Mexico was particularly pleasing in the fourth quarter. Mercado Libre’s logistics network continues to be a major competitive advantage and in 2023, the total number of items delivered by fulfillment network grew by 45,0% to 650 million, with almost 80% of deliveries within 48 hours.

In fintech, growth of the credit business picked up to 33.0% year-over-year in the fourth quarter,  and the portfolio reached $3.8 billion. The quarter-on-quarter growth was driven by the credit card and the Brazil consumer book, and delinquency trends remain stable. The number of users of MercadoPago’s asset management services doubled year-over-year to 30.4 million in the fourth quarter. Funds deposited in interest bearing accounts grew more than 2 times in Brazil, almost 4 times in Mexico and more than 6 times in Argentina. This is a sign of rising engagement with MercadoPago’s fintech services.

“In 2023, we were pleased to deliver an attractive combination of growth, scale gains and operational efficiency, which led to margin expansion even as we continued to invest in the business. In the long-term, we are confident in our ability to repeat this algorithm. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2024, we remain optimistic about our growth opportunities as we continue to pursue our mission to broaden access to commerce and financial services in Latin America,” Martin de los Santos concluded.

Financial highlights for full year 2023

Commerce

• Net revenue from the commerce business in 2023 rose 41.2% in dollars, year-over-year, to reach $8.2 billion.
• Gross merchandise Value (GMV), the total value of merchandise sold, in 2023 rose 29.9% in dollars, year-over-year, to reach $44.8 billion.
• Unique active buyers reached a total of almost 85 million in 2023, with user growth accelerating to its fastest year-on-year pace since 2020. 
• In 2023, Mercado Libre relaunched its loyalty program as Meli+ and introduced Meli Delivery Day, a slower shipping option that lowers the threshold of purchases that qualify for free shipping. 
• The number of items delivered with free shipping reached new records in Brazil and Mexico, as did the number of items purchased per buyer. 
• Mercado Libre's logistics network continues to add value, with the fulfillment network in 2023 shipping a total of 650 million items - an increase of 45.0% over 2022. 
• The total number of advertisers on Mercado reached almost 170,000 in 2023 after increasing for seven consecutive quarters, which helped Mercado Ads revenue as a percentage of GMV reach 1.6%.  

Fintech

• The Fintech business strategy continued to deliver consistent results in 2023. Net revenue from Mercado Pago reached $6.3 billion, up 32.6% in dollars from 2022. 
• Total payment volume (TPV) rose 47.9% in dollars, year-over-year, to reach $182.8 billion, while the total number of unique fintech users rose 6.1% to reach 68.8 million. 
• Total payment transactions (TPN) in 2023 increased by 73.1% year-over-year, topping 9.5 billion. 
• The total payment volume via Mercado Pago, outside the Mercado Libre platform, also maintained its growth rate, reaching $135.6 billion, an increase of 55.3% in dollars.

Financial highlights of Q4

• Mercado Libre in the fourth quarter delivered another set of strong financial results.
  
  Revenue grew 42.0% to reach $4.3 billion, thanks to strong performances in Brazil, where revenue was up 45.6% year-over-year, and in Mexico, which delivered 51.4% year-over-year growth. 
• Income from operations in the fourth quarter was $572 million, excluding non-recurring expenses, 77.6% year-on-year growth. 
• Revenue from the Commerce business grew 48.1% year-over-year helped by an increase in first-party product sales, while Fintech grew 34.2% boosted by accelerating credit revenues. 
• Gross Volume of Merchandise (GMV) in the fourth quarter rose 39.9% in dollar year-over-year to reach $13.5 billion thanks to a 29% fourth quarter year-over-year increase in items sold.
• Total payment volume (TPV) in the fourth quarter rose 57.2% year-over-year to reach $56.5 billion, while total payment transactions (TPN) increased by 76.2% year-over-year to nearly 3.0 billion.
• Total unique active users of financial products in the fourth quarter rose 21.3% year-over-year to reach 53 million, the first time it exceeded 50 million users. The total number of insurance policies in the fourth quarter increased by 145.7% year-over-year to reach 9.7 million.
• The credit portfolio expanded by 33.0% to reach $3.8 billion, with quarter-on-quarter growth driven by the credit card business and the Brazil consumer book. The strong performance of the credit business is the result of the competitive advantages in distribution and underwriting, as well as the geographic diversification and cautious risk management.

Impact Report

Mercado Libre’s fourth quarter results show continued robust growth from investments in technology and steady improvements in user experience. As part of the record year, Mercado Libre in 2023 also delivered key achievements in sustainability. The company granted more than 45 million business loans to entrepreneurs and SMEs. Also, Mercado Libre delivered a record 22 million packages via sustainable transportation, tripled the number of electric vehicles in its logistics fleet, and sold more than 10 million positive impact items - which include products that are reusable or compostable or lead to reduced carbon emissions or energy usage. Read about Mercado Libre's commitment sustainability in its Impact Report 2023, which will be available at: sustentabilidadmercadolibre.com

More information on our site Investor Mercado Libre.