China's Alibaba Q1 net profit up 34 pct

SHANGHAI May 13 (Reuters) - Alibaba.com (1688.HK), China's largest e-commerce commerce, reported a 34 percent rise in quarterly profit to notch its best results in a year as it signed up more businesses for its online services.

The company said January-March profit rose to 330 million yuan ($48 million) from a revised 246.7 million yuan a year eralier, beating an average analyst forecast of 277.9 million yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Alibaba.com, which operates online sites connecting millions of buyers and sellers globally, is the listed unit of Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo (YHOO.O) holds a nearly 40 percent stake.

Web commerce in China has surged in recent years, as buyers tap the internet for better deals from more reliable suppliers in the nation's highly fragmented distribution networks.