Alibaba Group reported another strong quarter of growth, with revenues up 59 percent year-on-year to CNY 32.15 billion (USD 4.84 billion) in the three months to June. Adjusted EBITDA rose 41 percent to CNY 10.59 billion, and adjusted EPS was up 33 percent to CNY 4.90, better than expected. Net profit fell 76 percent to CNY 7.55 billion due to a gain in the year-earlier period on the spin-off of Alibaba Pictures.
The growth was led by its retail e-commerce business in China, which grew revenues 49 percent to CNY 23.38 billion. While the number of active buyers in China was up only slightly, to 434 million, Alibaba said it saw an increase in the number and value of orders per customer. More sellers and brands using its marketing services also boosted revenue, and commissions reached 30 percent of revenue in the period. Gross merchandise sold in Q2 rose 24 percent annually to CNY 837 billion.
The acquisitions of video site Youku Toudu and the southeast Asia e-commerce group Lazada also contributed to Alibaba's sales growth, but led to a drop in the EBITDA margin to 47 percent 52 percent a year ago. The company also reported a more than doubling in revenues from its cloud computing business, to CNY 1.24 billion from CNY 485 million a year ago. The growing scale helped the cloud business narrow its EBITA loss to CNY 158 million from CNY 368 million in Q2 2015.
Alibaba's operating cash flow increased 44 percent to CNY 10.40 billion in Q2. Total cash fell to CNY 89.42 billion from CNY 111.52 billion in March, due to the costs of the acquisitions, investments and share buyback from Softbank.
