Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Thursday night that it will not complete a primary listing in Hong Kong before the end of this year as initially planned.

"Before our conversion to a primary listing in Hong Kong, we also need to formulate and submit a new employee stock ownership program to our shareholders for approval in order to comply with the newly amended rules in Hong Kong," Alibaba said in a statement.

The new program will continue to align the development of the company with the interests of long-term shareholders, Alibaba said, adding "we will continue to evaluate the various factors during this process and update our investors in due course".

Alibaba, which already has a secondary listing in Hong Kong, said in July it expected the primary listing to be completed by the end of this year.

The company also reported that its total revenue stood at 207.18 billion yuan ($28.96 billion) during the July-September period, up 3 percent year-on-year.

Its net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders came in at 20.56 billion yuan for the quarter ending Sept 30. Non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income reached 33.82 billion, an increase of 19 percent from a year earlier.