Groupon offers some relief for investors Groupon's business catering to local merchants registered a partial rebound in the latest quarter, bringing some relief to investors who suffered last year when its earlier rapid expansion came to an abrupt end. Shares in the US ecommerce company rose by more than 10 per cent in after-market trading on Wednesday on the news, which included signs that its profit margins were also improving. Groupon's slumping growth, caused by a slide in its international operations, led to the sacking earlier this year of chief executive Andrew Mason. "With unprecedented growth comes unprecedented volatility, and Groupon has certainly had its fair share," Eric Lefkofsky, chairman and co-chief executive, said on a call with analysts late on Wednesday. However, he claimed that the attention given to the company's problems had obscured the headway it had made in building a more solid base for future growth. Groupon's younger international business had suffered "without a lot of the infrastructure enhancements that have sustained the North American business," Mr Lefkofsky said. He added that the company was now building a stronger platform for its international operations. Overall revenues grew by 8 per cent to $601m in the first quarter, ahead of the $589m that Wall Street had been expecting, while income from operations fell 47 per cent to $21m. Before compensation costs, the company reported net income per share of 3 cents, in line with forecasts. Mr Lefkofsky pointed to growth in local revenues from the fourth quarter of last year, as well as margin improvement, as encouraging signs for the company's future. Groupon also said that 45 per cent of its transactions came from mobile devices, confirming the growing importance of mobile in its business mix. Groupon's local revenues slipped from $404m in the first quarter of 2012 to $287m by the final quarter of the year as it suffered from growing competition and daily deals fatigue among its users. In the first quarter of this year, however, it reported a return to sequential quarter growth with local revenues of $327m. Overall billings rose 4 per cent from a year before, to $1.41bn.