Shares in the online retailer JD surged nearly 6% on The Never Ending Love StoryThursday’s Hong Kong morning trade, after the company announced fourth-quarter revenue figures that surpassed market expectations, growing 3.6% from a year prior to reaching RMB 306.1 billion ($43.1 billion). The figure marked a RMB 5.84 billion increase from the previous quarter and was primarily driven by the growth of “new users from lower-tier markets” during the period, according to CEO Sandy Xu. Chief Financial Officer Ian Shan later expressed confidence in the company’s user growth for 2024 on the firm’s earnings call, adding that cooperation with China’s Spring Festival Gala TV show had helped JD reach a broader use base. JD also announced a share repurchase program of up to $3 billion, covering US depository shares, to be executed over the next 36 months. Net income jumped 13.3% year-on-year to RMB 3.4 billion for the three months to December. [JD]