Alibaba Logs Single-digit Growth, Fails to Reach Revenue Goal
LONDON — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Thursday reported revenue was up 9 percent, a new low since listing in 2014, to 204 billion renminbi, or $32.15 billion, for the quarter ended March 31.
Income from operations swung back from the loss of last quarter to 16.71 billion renminbi, or $2.63 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization decreased 30 percent year-over-year to 15.81 billion renminbi, or $2.49 billion.
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Due to decreases in the market prices of Alibaba’s equity investments in publicly traded companies, the company saw a net loss of 18.35 billion renminbi, or $2.89 billion, in the period, while the net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders was 16.24 billion renminbi, or $2.56 billion.
The company acquired 28.3 million new annual active users in the quarter. Out of Alibaba’s 1.31 billion users, more than 1 billion are in China and 305 million are overseas.
Daniel Zhang, chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, said: “Despite macro challenges that impacted supply chains and consumer sentiment, we continued to focus on customer value proposition and building the capabilities to deliver value. We saw tangible progress across our businesses, especially in operational improvements in key strategic areas.”
In the fiscal year ended March 31, Alibaba saw revenue increase by 19 percent to 853.06 billion renminbi, or $134.56 billion, which was lower than the 30 percent growth rate the company anticipated last year. During the period, the revenue growth of its Chinese commerce, cloud and international commerce segments increased by 18 percent, 23 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
Income from operations during the fiscal year dropped 22 percent year-over-year, to 69.63 billion renminbi, or $10.98 billion. Excluding certain items, such as increased investments in Taobao Deals and Taocaicai, increased spending for user growth, as well as support to merchants, the income from operations would have decreased by 41.68 billion renminbi year-over-year.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 61.95 billion renminbi, or $9.77 billion, and net income was 47.07 billion renminbi, or $7.42 billion, showing year-over-year decreases of 59 percent and 67 percent, respectively in fiscal year 2022.
Toby Xu, chief financial officer of Alibaba Group, said “Despite a challenging macro environment, our continued investments in strategic initiatives have generated promising growth momentum and improved operating efficiency.”
Looking ahead to fiscal year 2023, the company did not offer a projection for annual revenue, but said it will focus on “generating sustainable, high-quality revenue growth” and optimizing “operating cost structure.”
The company’s shares rose about 5 percent in pre-market trading in New York.
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