Twitter shares jump as traffic continues to accelerate in Q1

Twitter continued to be mired in red ink during the first quarter despite continued and accelerating growth of activity on its site, amid revenue headwinds.

The social media giant's net losses increased from -$79.7m in the year-ago quarter to -$61.6m for the three months to 31 March, the company said in a statement.

That drove a reduction in its pro-forma losses per share from -12 cents to -9 cents.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief, said: "We're delivering on our goal to build a service that people love to use, every day, and we're encouraged by the audience growth momentum we saw in the first quarter. While we continue to face revenue headwinds, we believe that executing on our plan and growing our audience should result in positive revenue growth over the long term."

Daily average active users hit 328m during the quarter, for growth of 6% in comparison to the year earlier mark and up from 319m over the previous three-month stretch.

Average daily active usage grew 14% year-on-year during the quarter, faster than the 11% seen in the prior quarter and the 7% reached in the third quarter of 2016.

For the second quarter of 2017, the company guided towards adjusted operating profits in terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of between $95m and $115m, with EBITDA margins seen in a range between 21% and 21.5%.

With a view to the full-year 2017, the company guided towards capital expenditures of between $300m and $400m.

"We believe Twitter is the best place to drive brand perception, and we're continuing to showcase our unique value proposition for advertisers," added Anthony Noto, Twitter's COO.

"We've received positive early feedback from our ad partners as we highlight the improved return on investment from our audience growth and better pricing.

As of 1600 GMT shares in Twitter are up by 10.47% to $16.20.