Alibaba Sees Cloud Growth In Otherwise Slow Q1, Clocks $3.3B Free Cash Flow, CFO Talks Listing Plans

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA reported first-quarter FY22 flat revenue growth year-on-year to $30.69 billion, beating the consensus of $30.05 billion.

Segments: The China commerce segment declined by 1% Y/Y to $21.19 billion, Cloud grew by 10% Y/Y to $1.59 billion, Local consumer services increased by 5% Y/Y to $1.59 billion, and International commerce rose by 2% Y/Y to $2.31 billion.

China Commerce (69% of revenue): The online physical goods GMV for Taobao and Tmall, excluding unpaid orders, recorded a mid-single-digit year-over-year decline due to Covid-19 resurgence and restrictions.

International Commerce (7% of revenue): The combined number of orders of Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol, and Daraz declined by 4% Y/Y due to the declining orders of AliExpress due to change in the European Union’s VAT rules, depreciation of the Euro against the U.S dollar and ongoing supply chain and logistics disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Cainiao (6% of revenue): Revenue grew 7% Y/Y to $2.58 billion.

Non-GAAP earnings per ADS of $1.75 beat the consensus of $1.52. Alibaba generated $3.3 billion in free cash flow.

Daniel Zhang, Chair and CEO, said, “Following a relatively slow April and May, we saw signs of recovery across our businesses in June.”

Tobu Xu, CFO, said, “We recently shared our plan to add Hong Kong as another primary listing venue. By becoming primary listed on both Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges, we aim to further expand and diversify our investor base.”

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 5% at $100.51 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons