Alibaba’s China consumer-facing businesses, including those in China commerce, local consumer services, and digital media and entertainment segments, generated GMV of approximately RMB7,976 billion (US$1,258 billion).
The combined annual active consumers, after de-duplication, of its consumer-facing businesses in China reached a historic milestone of over 1 billion, up approximately 113 million year-over-year, and slightly exceeded its target for the fiscal year 2022.
Alibaba’s international commerce retail business, which mainly includes Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol, and Daraz, generated GMV of approximately US$54 billion (RMB341 billion) and served 305 million annual active consumers in the twelve months ended March 31, 2022.
Revenue was RMB204,052 million (US$32,188 million), an increase of 9% year-over-year that was primarily driven by the revenue growth of the China commerce segment by 8% year-over-year to RMB140,330 million (US$22,137 million).
Alibaba’s local consumer services segment by 29% year-over-year to RMB10,445 million (US$1,647 million) and cloud computing segment by 12% year-over-year to RMB18,971 million (US$2,993 million).
Income from operations was RMB16,717 million (US$2,637 million), compared to a loss from operations of RMB7,663 million in the same quarter of 2021.
Excluding one-off and certain other items as identified in “March Quarter Operational and Financial Results” below, income from operations would have decreased by RMB6,894 million year-over-year primarily due to its increased investments in Taocaicai and Taobao Deals, the continued impact of COVID-19 as well as asset impairment and special provisions made by Sun Art.
Adjusted EBITA, a non-GAAP measurement, decreased 30% or RMB6,801 million year-over-year to RMB15,811 million (US$2,494 million).
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB16,241 million (US$2,562 million) and net loss was RMB18,357 million (US$2,896 million), primarily due to decreases in the market prices of its equity investments in publicly-traded companies, which it excluded from its non-GAAP measures, partly offset by income from operations.
Non-GAAP net income was RMB19,799 million (US$3,123 million), a decrease of 24% year-over-year.
Diluted loss per ADS was RMB6.07 (US$0.96) and diluted loss per share was RMB0.76 (US$0.12 or HK$0.94). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB7.95 (US$1.25), a decrease of 23% year-over-year and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was RMB0.99 (US$0.16 or HK$1.22), a decrease of 23% year-over-year.
Net cash used in operating activities was RMB7,040 million (US$1,111 million). Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measurement of liquidity, was an outflow of RMB15,070 million (US$2,377 million), compared to an outflow of RMB658 million in the same quarter of 2021, mainly due to the payment of the final installment of RMB9,114 million (US$1,438 million) of the RMB18,228 million fine levied by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation pursuant to China’s Anti-monopoly Law (the “Anti-monopoly Fine”), and a decrease in profit.
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In the fiscal year 2022, more than 124 million annual active consumers each spent over RMB10,000 on Taobao and Tmall. Approximately 98% of annual active consumers who spent over RMB10,000 on Taobao and Tmall in fiscal year 2021 continued to be active in the fiscal year 2022.
During the year ended March 31, 2022, online physical goods GMV of Taobao and Tmall, excluding unpaid orders, recorded year-over-year low single-digit growth.
In the March quarter, the combined GMV growth of January and February was flat, and the overall GMV of the quarter had a low single-digit decline, mainly due to disruptions in supply chain and logistics, as well as demand softening, as a result of the impact of COVID-19 in March.
Taobao Deals (or Taote), Alibaba’s value-for-money platform, helped us drive more first-time shoppers into Alibaba’s e-commerce ecosystem. For the twelve months ended March 31, 2022, annual active consumers on Taobao Deals reached a milestone of over 300 million, a quarterly net increase of over 20 million.
More than 20% of these annual active consumers using Taobao Deals had not shopped on Taobao or Tmall in the fiscal year 2022.
During the fiscal year and quarter ended March 31, 2022, the number of paid orders on Taobao Deals grew rapidly at over 100% and 35% year-over-year, respectively. The meaningful slowdown in order growth in the March 2022 quarter was due to the impact of COVID-19.
In the fiscal year 2022, Alibaba’s direct sales and other revenue grew 43% year-over-year to RMB260,955 million (US$41,165 million), primarily driven by Sun Art and robust growth of Alibaba’s Tmall Supermarket and Freshippo businesses.
Excluding the consolidation of Sun Art, direct sales and other revenue would have grown 28% year-over-year in the fiscal year 2022.
By leveraging Alibaba’s on-demand instant delivery capability, the online portion of Sun Art’s revenue increased by five percentage points to 29%, while Freshippo’s online GMV contribution remained at over 60% in the fiscal year 2022.