China's Alibaba 2007 net profit more than quadruples

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Top Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Ltd said on Tuesday its full-year 2007 profit grew 340 percent, amid healthy online trade.

Its shares lost more than one-fifth of their value on Tuesday before the results were announced, following a sell-off of Nasdaq-listed Chinese Internet companies overnight.

Alibaba, in which U.S. Internet company Yahoo is a key investor, reported profit of 967.8 million yuan (68.1 million pounds) for the year to the end of 2007, compared with 219.93 million yuan a year earlier.

The result beat Goldman Sachs' forecast of 947 million yuan and Cazenove's estimate of 889 million yuan.

Alibaba's stock had fallen by more than 44 percent this year through Monday, compared with a 24 percent fall in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

It shares closed down 21 percent on Tuesday at HK$12.20, below its initial public offering price of HK$13.50 last November.

($1=7.082 Yuan)

(Reporting by Vinicy Chan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)