TMTPOST -- The American depositary receipts (ADRs) of JD.com shed around 1.7% on Thursday despite the better-than-feared profit decline China』s No. 1 online retailer posted amid ongoing push into food delivery.
Credit：JD.com
JD.com reported net revenue for the quarter ended September 30 gained 14.9% year-over-year (YoY) to RMB299.1 billion ($21.3 billion), topping analysts estimated RMB294.45 billion polled by FactSet. JD maintained a double-digit YoY increase in sales for the fourth consecutive quarter. Though the revenue growth slowed down after the company delivered a 22.4% YoY surge in revenue, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2011, prior to the Covid pandemic.
Net income attributable to JD』s ordinary shareholders for the third quarter crashed 55% YoY to RMB5.28 billion, still beating analysts』 expectations of RMB2.87 billion. That marked a more than 50% profit decline in the bottom line for two quarters in a row after the net income jumped 36.4% for the March quarter. On non-GAAP basis, JD earned RMB5.80 billion, shedding 56% from a year ago after a YoY drop of 49% in adjusted net income three months earlier, which excludes share-based compensation and fair-value changes of long-term investments, among other items.
Adjusted earnings per American depositary share (ADS) slumped 56% YoY to RMB3.39 for the third quarter, following a 49% YoY decrease. The non-GAAP earnings per ADS fell 57% YoY to RMB3.73, still better than analysts』 expectation of RMB2.70 after a nearly 47% YoY decrease delivered from April to June. That represented a considerable reversal since the previous two quarters recorded at least 40% YoY increase in earnings.
JD』s top segment maintained solid growth during the September quarter as the company continued to see strong growth in both user base and shopping frequency, and the number of our annual active customers surpassed a new milestone of 700 million in October. JD Retails brought RMB250.6 billion with a 11.4% YoY increase, compared with a 20.6% YoY rise three months earlier. Operating income of the core business stood at RMB14.8 billion with a 27.6% YoY increase following a rise of 37.6% for the first quarter.
「Our core JD Retail has built a growth matrix where multiple drivers complement each other. We are confident to further solidify our leading market position in electronics and home appliances despite the high trade-in base, and unlock vast growth potential in the general merchandise category and advertising services,」 said JD CEO Sandy Ran Xu in a statement.
JD entered the food-delivery market in February, using heavy subsidies to get a foothold. The September quarter is the third quarter for JD to record sales from JD Food Delivery under New Businesses, which includes Dada, JD Property, Jingxi and overseas businesses. Revenue from the segment soared 213.9% YoY to RMB15.59 billion, highlighting the booming food delivery business. The segment delivered revenue around tripling YoY for the second quarter, reversing a YoY decline with a 18.1% increase in revenue for the March quarter, when sales of JD Food Delivery for the first time was recorded under the segment.
However, the rapid revenue growth of JD Food Delivery was at the cost of deepening losses. New Businesses delivered operating loss of RMB15.74 billion, 25.6 times more than the loss of RMB615 million a year ago. The loss was significantly widened for the past two quarters as the March quarter witnessed the loss almost doubling YoY, indicating the drag of costly food delivery push.
JD suggested it could ease up on spending on food delivery. 「As JD Food Delivery continued to scale up and generate deeper synergies with JD Retail, it also achieved sequential investment reduction in Q3, thanks to its improved unit economics performance,」 said Xu.
「Heavy subsidy spending continues to weigh on the industry, eroding unit economics,」 said Third Bridge analyst Jamie Chen in a recent research note. 「Subsidy intensity is expected to ease gradually after the third quarter before platforms shift their focus to unit economic discipline next year as budgets tighten.」
「While the food delivery business is still in its early stages, the current performance signals that it is progressing toward a scale that could support gradual loss reduction over time,」 wrote CFRA Research analyst Jian Xiong Lim in a research note.
