MercadoLibre, Inc. Reports Financial Results For Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2010

* Q4 ' 10 net income increased by 41.2% year-over-year to $15.9 million

* Items sold during Q4'10 increased by 31.2% year-over-year to 11.3 million

* Total payments transactions in Q4 ' 10 increased by 134.5% to 2.4 million

* Net Income during FY ' 10 increased by 68.7% year-over-year to $56.0 million

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb. 23, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MercadoLibre, Inc. (Nasdaq:MELI) ( http://www.mercadolibre.com), Latin America's leading e-commerce technology company, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010.

Marcos Galperin, President and Chief Executive Officer of MercadoLibre, Inc., commented, "We are pleased to have ended a strong year with accelerating growth as all of our businesses performed well throughout the holiday season. We believe this is a testament to the power of the e-commerce ecosystem we have built. Additionally, our value proposition continues to prove very attractive to the fast-growing base of Internet users in Latin America. In our view, the combination of low prices, attractive product selection, clear and intuitive listing formats, increasingly seamless payments integration, and advertising services we offer continue to create great value for both buyers and sellers alike."

Financial Results Summary

MercadoLibre reported consolidated net revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2010 of $62.3 million, representing 27.1% year-over-year growth.Revenue growth was negatively impacted by the pre-sale of credit card receivables beginning in the third quarter of 2010. Had the company carried out similar pre-sales of credit card receivables during 2009, revenue growth would have been 38.4% during the fourth quarter of 2010 as compared to the same quarter one year earlier.

For the three months ended December 31, 2010, items sold on MercadoLibre grew 31.2% to 11.3 million while total Payments transactions through MercadoPago grew 134.5% to 2.4 million as compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. Gross merchandise volume for the fourth quarter 2010 grew 25.6% year-over-year to $988.1 million, while total payment volume grew 73.8% year-over-year to $236.1 million.