Alibaba Group Announces September Quarter 2021 Results

HANGZHOU, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988, �Alibaba” or “Alibaba Group”) today announced its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021.

“This quarter, Alibaba continued to firmly invest into our three strategic pillars of domestic consumption, globalization, and cloud computing to establish solid foundations for our long-term goal of sustainable growth in the future,” said Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group. “Our global annual active consumers across the Alibaba Ecosystem reached approximately 1.24 billion, with a quarterly net increase of 62 million consumers, and we are on track to achieve our longer-term target of serving two billion consumers globally.”

“We recorded revenue growth of 29% year-over-year, driven by performance of our diversified businesses,” said Maggie Wu, Chief Financial Officer of Alibaba Group. “During this quarter, our continued investments in key strategic areas have resulted in robust growth for these young businesses.”

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

In the quarter ended September 30, 2021:

• Revenue was RMB200,690 million (US$31,147 million), an increase of 29% year-over-year. Excluding the consolidation of Sun Art, our revenue would have grown 16% year-over-year to RMB180,438 million (US$28,004 million). Aggregate revenue of our international commerce retail and international commerce wholesale was RMB15,092 million (US$2,342 million), an increase of 34% year-over-year. Our cloud computing revenue was RMB20,007 million (US$3,105 million), an increase of 33% year-over-year.
• Annual active consumers (“AACs”) of the Alibaba Ecosystem across the world reached approximately 1.24 billion for the twelve months ended September 30, 2021, an increase of approximately 62 million from the twelve months ended June 30, 2021. This includes 953 million consumers in China and 285 million consumers overseas, representing a quarterly net increase of 41 million and 20 million, respectively.
• Income from operations was RMB15,006 million (US$2,329 million), an increase of 10% year-over-year due to a RMB15,690 million decrease in share-based compensation expense related to Ant Group share-based awards granted to our employees. We excluded share-based compensation expense from our non-GAAP measurements. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measurement, decreased 27% year-over-year to RMB34,840 million (US$5,407 million). Adjusted EBITA, a non-GAAP measurement, decreased 32% year-over-year to RMB28,033 million (US$4,351 million). The year-over-year decreases were primarily due to our increased investments in key strategic areas that have exhibited robust growth in operations, as well as our support to merchants. These investments in key strategic areas within our commerce segment, such as Taobao Deals, Local Consumer Services, Community Marketplaces and Lazada, increased by RMB12,575 million year-over-year. Excluding the impact of these investments, profits of our commerce segment would have remained stable year-over-year.
• Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB5,367 million (US$833 million) and net income was RMB3,377 million (US$524 million). Non-GAAP net income was RMB28,524 million (US$4,427 million), a decrease of 39% year-over-year.
• Diluted earnings per ADS was RMB1.97 (US$0.31) and diluted earnings per share was RMB0.25 (US$0.04 or HK$0.30). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB11.20 (US$1.74), a decrease of 38% year-over-year and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was RMB1.40 (US$0.22 or HK$1.68), a decrease of 38% year-over-year.
• Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB35,830 million (US$5,561 million). Non-GAAP free cash flow was RMB22,239 million (US$3,451 million), a decrease compared to RMB40,540 million in the same quarter of 2020, mainly due to a decrease in profit as a result of our increased investments in key strategic areas.

Reconciliations of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures presented above are included at the end of this results announcement.

Guidance

The guidance below is a forward-looking statement that reflects assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this announcement and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, many of which we are not able to predict or control. Based on our current view of macroeconomic conditions and the competitive landscape, and subject to the uncertainties highlighted under the section entitled “Safe Harbor Statements” below, we are revising our fiscal year 2022 revenue guidance. We expect our fiscal year 2022 revenue to grow 20% to 23% year-over-year.

BUSINESS AND STRATEGIC UPDATES

Commerce

China Retail Marketplaces – comprehensive product supply and engaging user experience to target the diverse demands of consumers in China

For the twelve months ended September 30, 2021, there were approximately 863 million AACs on our China retail marketplaces and New Retail businesses, with increasing percentage of new consumers from lower-tier cities, which reflect our success in broadening product offerings to meet diverse consumer demand.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2021, we recorded single-digit physical goods GMV year-over-year growth, primarily due to slowing market conditions and more players in the China e-commerce market. By categories, physical goods GMV growth was slower in the apparel and accessories category, but continued to be resilient in the consumer electronics and home furnishing categories.

Taobao Deals (??) continues to exhibit robust user growth by providing consumers with more high quality, value-for-money products, enriching food and beverage offerings sourced from our Community Marketplaces business, and reducing delivery costs as well as improving delivery experience for consumers in lower-tier cities. For example, Taobao Deals launched programs that incentivize bundling purchases of products delivered from self-operated warehouses, which reduce costs and improve delivery experience for consumers. For the twelve months ended September 30, 2021, there were over 240 million AACs on Taobao Deals with increasing percentage of new consumers from lower-tier cities.

In November 2021, we celebrated the thirteenth annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, which generated RMB540.3 billion in GMV, excluding unpaid orders, during the 11-day campaign. We are leveraging the power of the festival as a platform to fulfill our social responsibility and build a sustainable future. This year’s festival is also more inclusive. Among a record of 290,000 brands that participated in the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival this year, 65% are small and medium-sized businesses, manufacturers from industrial belts and new brands. In addition, a dedicated eco-friendly vertical on Tmall featured 500,000 products with official Green Product Certification from more than 2,000 merchants.

New Retail – multi-format New Retail businesses built on an expanding digital supply chain and increasingly diversified fulfillment services

Our Community Marketplaces business continues to expand coverage into lower-tier cities and grow rapidly, with GMV growing over 150% quarter-over-quarter. We continue to strengthen consumer experience by enhancing quality product supply and on-time delivery. In this business, we are able to leverage the supply chain capabilities of Sun Art, which has strong regional procurement and supply chain capabilities in the perishables, FMCG and general merchandise categories.

Local Consumer Services – healthy order growth supported by growing merchant base

During the quarter, Ele.me continued to invest in user acquisitions and user experience enhancements that resulted in strong AAC growth of 28% year-over-year. Order volume growth was also strong at over 30% year-over-year, with increasing percentage from non-restaurant orders, driven by fast growth in number of merchants as well as user penetration. Order growth was particularly strong in the grocery and healthcare categories.

Cainiao Network – improving efficiency across the Alibaba Ecosystem and the logistics industry in China and internationally

Cainiao Network continues to expand its global infrastructure by strengthening its end-to-end logistics capabilities, including international freight service, destination warehousing and fulfilment, and last-mile delivery service enablement. As of September 30, 2021, Cainiao operated over 3 million square meters of warehouses dedicated to cross-border businesses. Cainiao has launched initiatives to improve the shopping experience for international consumers by launching self-pickup lockers in four European countries where AliExpress has operations.

Cainiao Post continues to expand its coverage into less-developed areas of China to improve delivery efficiency. As of September 30, 2021, Cainiao Post covered more than 1,000 counties and towns in less-developed areas of China with the number of daily packages handled in these markets growing over 280% year-over-year.

International Commerce – robust growth of multiple platforms in key international markets

In September 2021, our international commerce retail business, mainly including Lazada, AliExpress, Trendyol and Daraz, grew rapidly to achieve approximately 285 million AACs in the twelve months ended September 30, 2021, representing a quarterly net increase of 20 million. Both international commerce retail and international commerce wholesale demonstrated a robust growth in the September quarter, with aggregate year-over-year revenue increase of 34% to RMB15,092 million (US$2,342 million).

Lazada, our Southeast Asia e-commerce platform, continues to empower brands and merchants with localized market insights and to accelerate onboarding of local merchants in their respective markets. The increase in assortment of local and global product supply has resulted in stronger consumer mindshare and user stickiness as evidenced by improving user visit frequency for the last seven consecutive quarters. For the quarter ended September 30, 2021, Lazada recorded over 82% year-over-year order growth.

Trendyol, the biggest e-commerce platform in Turkey with best-in-class in-house logistics, is rapidly growing its local services and wallet businesses. Trendyol has a leading market position in Turkey and recorded robust GMV growth of over 80% year-over-year based on constant currency in the quarter ended September 30, 2021.

Cloud Computing

In the September quarter, our cloud computing revenue grew 33% year-over-year to RMB20,007 million (US$3,105 million), primarily driven by strong growth in revenue from customers in the Internet, financial services and retail industries.

Products

During our 2021 Apsara Conference held in October, we unveiled several new products and technology upgrades. Highlights include:

• Yitian 710 Server Chip: We announced a new in-house processor designed for use at our data centers. The server chips, named Yitian 710, deliver exceptional computing performance and energy efficiency. Together with our global partners including Intel, Nvidia, AMD and ARM, we will continue to innovate our computing infrastructure and offer diverse computing services to our global customers.

• X-Dragon Architecture: In the fourth generation X-Dragon architecture, we unveiled the industry’s only large-scale Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) networking capability with a latency as low as 5 microseconds, which will further accelerate data intensive applications on the cloud.

Technology

Alibaba Cloud’s unique advantages are its proprietary technology and Alibaba Group’s continued commitment to invest in research and development in new product offerings and industry-specific solutions for our customers and partners. Highlights of our proprietary technologies in the quarter include:

• Database: Our proprietary technologies have consistently won recognition from leading research and advisory organizations. For example, Alibaba Cloud continues to be the top-ranking cloud relational database operator in China, according to IDC’s 2020 China Relational Database Market Research Report.

• Open Source Anolis OS: Alibaba Cloud announced the new operating system Anolis OS. Anolis OS is completely open source and provides services through vendors and community. Alibaba Cloud plans to invest RMB2 billion in Anolis OS that provides technology and services to our ecosystem.

Digital Media and Entertainment

In the September quarter, Youku’s daily average subscriber base increased 14% year-over-year, driven primarily by quality content and continued contribution from the 88VIP membership program.

Alibaba Pictures has consistently shown its solid track record in content investment and distribution. For example, Alibaba Pictures participated in the production and distribution of almost all of China’s major box office hits during the Golden Week holiday in October.

Cash Flow from Operating Activities and Free Cash Flow

In the quarter ended September 30, 2021, net cash provided by operating activities was RMB35,830 million (US$5,561 million), a decrease of 34% compared to RMB54,296 million in the same quarter of 2020. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measurement of liquidity, decreased by 45% to RMB22,239 million (US$3,451 million), from RMB40,540 million in the same quarter of 2020, mainly due to a decrease in profit as a result of our increased investments in key strategic areas. A reconciliation of net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow is included at the end of this results announcement.

Share Repurchases

During the September quarter, we repurchased approximately 26.9 million of our ADSs (the equivalent of approximately 214.9 million of our ordinary shares) for approximately US$5,147.5 million under our share repurchase program.

SEPTEMBER QUARTER SUMMARY FINANCIAL RESULTS

		Three months ended September 30,
		2020		2021
		RMB		RMB		US$		YoY % Change
		(in millions, except percentages and per share amounts)
Revenue		155,059		200,690		31,147		29%
Income from operations		13,634		15,006		2,329		10%(2)
Operating margin		9%		7%
Adjusted EBITDA(1)		47,525		34,840		5,407		(27)%(3)
Adjusted EBITDA margin(1)		31%		17%
Adjusted EBITA(1)		41,216		28,033		4,351		(32)%(3)
Adjusted EBITA margin(1)		27%		14%
Net income		26,524		3,377		524		(87)% (4)
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders		28,769		5,367		833		(81)%(4)
Non-GAAP net income(1)		47,088		28,524		4,427		(39)%(3)
Diluted earnings per share(5)		1.31		0.25		0.04		(81)%(4)
Diluted earnings per ADS(5)		10.48		1.97		0.31		(81)%(4)
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share(1) (5)		2.25		1.40		0.22		(38)% (3)
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS(1) (5)		17.97		11.20		1.74		(38)% (3)

________________
(1)		See the sections entitled “Information about Segments,” “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to the Nearest Comparable U.S. GAAP Measures” for more information about the non-GAAP measures referred to within this results announcement.
(2)		The year-over-year increase was primarily due to a RMB15,690 million decrease in share-based compensation expense related to Ant Group share-based awards granted to our employees (see “Cost and Expenses – Share-based Compensation Expense” below). We excluded share-based compensation expense from our non-GAAP measurements.
(3)		The year-over-year decreases were primarily due to our increased investments in key strategic areas, such as Taobao Deals, Local Consumer Services, Community Marketplaces and Lazada, that have exhibited robust growth in operations, as well as our support to merchants.
(4)		The year-over-year decreases were primarily due to net losses arising from changes in market prices of our equity investments in publicly-traded companies in the quarter ended September 30, 2021, compared to net gains in the same quarter of 2020, as well as our increased investments in key strategic areas and support to merchants as mentioned above, partly offset by the decrease in share-based compensation expense related to Ant Group share-based awards granted to our employees.
(5)		Each ADS represents eight ordinary shares.

SEPTEMBER QUARTER INFORMATION BY SEGMENTS

The table below sets forth selected financial information of our operating segments for the periods indicated:

		Three months ended September 30, 2021
		Commerce(1)		Cloud computing(2)		Digital media and entertainment		Innovation initiatives and others(2)		Unallocated(3)		Consolidated
		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		US$
		(in millions, except percentages)
Revenue		171,170		20,007		8,081		1,432		—		200,690		31,147
Income (Loss) from ?operations		25,617		(1,985)		(1,700)		(3,904)		(3,022)		15,006		2,329
Add: Share-based ?compensation ?expense		5,025		2,377		566		1,008		1,145		10,121		1,571
Add: Amortization ?of intangible ?assets		2,628		4		203		14		57		2,906		451
Adjusted EBITA		33,270(4)		396		(931)		(2,882)		(1,820)		28,033		4,351
Adjusted EBITA ?margin		19%		2%		(12)%		(201)%				14%

		Three months ended September 30, 2020
		Commerce(1)		Cloud computing(2)		Digital media and entertainment		Innovation initiatives and others(2)		Unallocated(3)		Consolidated
		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB		RMB
		(in millions, except percentages)
Revenue		130,922		15,029		8,066		1,042		—		155,059
Income (Loss) from ?operations		30,894		(5,107)		(2,351)		(2,971)		(6,831)		13,634
Add: Share-based ?compensation ?expense		12,483		4,535		1,413		980		5,283		24,694
Add: Amortization ?of intangible ?assets		2,581		5		228		21		53		2,888
Adjusted EBITA		45,958(4)		(567)		(710)		(1,970)		(1,495)		41,216
Adjusted EBITA ?margin		35%		(4)%		(9)%		(189)%				27%

________________
(1)		The “Commerce” segment was previously referred to as the “Core commerce” segment.
(2)		Beginning on April 1, 2021, we reclassified the results of our DingTalk business, which was previously reported under the innovation initiatives and others segment, to the cloud computing segment. This reclassification conforms to the way that we manage and monitor segment performance and reflects the integration of DingTalk with Alibaba Cloud to further facilitate the digital transformation of our enterprise customers. Comparative figures were reclassified to conform to this presentation.
(3)		Unallocated expenses primarily relate to corporate administrative costs and other miscellaneous items that are not allocated to individual segments.
(4)		Commerce adjusted EBITA before key strategic investments was RMB52,241 million (US$8,108 million), compared to RMB52,354 million in the same quarter of 2020. Starting from the quarter ended March 31, 2021, for purposes of presenting our commerce adjusted EBITA before key strategic investments, we expanded the list of key strategic investment areas that we break out in order to present the progress of these areas. Comparative figures are presented in the same manner accordingly. “Commerce adjusted EBITA before key strategic investments” was previously referred to as “Marketplace-based core commerce adjusted EBITA”. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITA for commerce to commerce adjusted EBITA before key strategic investments is included at the end of this results announcement.

SEPTEMBER QUARTER OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL RESULTS

Revenue

Revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was RMB200,690 million (US$31,147 million), an increase of 29% compared to RMB155,059 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was mainly driven by the revenue growth of our China commerce retail business, which includes the consolidation of Sun Art starting in October 2020, and the revenue growth of our cloud computing business. Excluding the consolidation of Sun Art, our revenue would have grown 16% year-over-year to RMB180,438 million (US$28,004 million).

The following table sets forth a breakdown of our revenue by segment for the periods indicated:

		Three months ended September 30,
		2020					2021
		RMB		% of Revenue			RMB		US$		% of Revenue			YoY % Change
		(in millions, except percentages)
Commerce:
China commerce retail
– Customer management		69,338		45	%		71,695		11,127		36	%		3	%
– Others(1)		26,132		17	%		55,132		8,556		27	%		111	%
		95,470		62	%		126,827		19,683		63	%		33	%
China commerce wholesale		3,637		2	%		4,174		648		2	%		15	%
International commerce retail		7,789		5	%		10,375		1,610		5	%		33	%
International commerce wholesale		3,510		2	%		4,717		732		2	%		34	%
Cainiao logistics services		8,226		5	%		9,846		1,528		5	%		20	%
Local Consumer Services		8,839		6	%		9,513		1,476		5	%		8	%
Others		3,451		2	%		5,718		888		3	%		66	%
Total commerce		130,922		84	%		171,170		26,565		85	%		31	%
Cloud computing(2)		15,029		10	%		20,007		3,105		10	%		33	%
Digital media and entertainment		8,066		5	%		8,081		1,254		4	%		0	%
Innovation initiatives and others(2)		1,042		1	%		1,432		223		1	%		37	%
Total		155,059		100	%		200,690		31,147		100	%		29	%

________________
(1)		“Others” revenue under China commerce retail is primarily generated by our direct sales businesses, comprising mainly Sun Art, Tmall Supermarket, Freshippo and direct import, where revenue and the cost of inventory are recorded on a gross basis. We started consolidating Sun Art in October 2020.
(2)		Beginning on April 1, 2021, we reclassified the results of our DingTalk business, which was previously reported under the innovation initiatives and others segment, to the cloud computing segment. This reclassification conforms to the way that we manage and monitor segment performance and reflects the integration of DingTalk with Alibaba Cloud to further facilitate the digital transformation of our enterprise customers. Comparative figures were reclassified to conform to this presentation.

Commerce

• China commerce retail business

  Revenue from our China commerce retail business in the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was RMB126,827 million (US$19,683 million), an increase of 33% compared to RMB95,470 million in the same quarter of 2020. Customer management revenue grew 3% year-over-year, primarily due to single-digit physical goods GMV growth that resulted from slowing market conditions and more players in the China e-commerce market.

  “Others” revenue under China commerce retail business was RMB55,132 million (US$8,556 million), achieving year-over-year growth of 111% compared to RMB26,132 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily driven by the consolidation of Sun Art, as well as the contributions from our direct sales businesses, such as Tmall Supermarket and Freshippo.

• China commerce wholesale business

  Revenue from our China commerce wholesale business in the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was RMB4,174 million (US$648 million), an increase of 15% compared to RMB3,637 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to increase in paying members’ spending on value-added services on 1688.com.

• International commerce retail business

  Revenue from our international commerce retail business in the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was RMB10,375 million (US$1,610 million), an increase of 33% compared to RMB7,789 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to the growth in revenue generated by Lazada and AliExpress.

• International commerce wholesale business

  Revenue from our international commerce wholesale business in the quarter ended September 30, 2021 was RMB4,717 million (US$732 million), an increase of 34% compared to RMB3,510 million in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was primarily due to increases in both the number of paying members and average revenue from paying members on Alibaba.

Contacts

Investor Relations Contact:
Rob Lin

investor@alibabagroup.com

Media Contacts:
Cathy Yan

cathy.yan@alibaba-inc.com

Liyan Chen

liyan.chen@alibaba-inc.com

Brion Tingler

brion.tingler@alibaba-inc.com

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