BEIJING, Nov. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JD.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: JD and HKEX: 9618 (HKD counter) and 89618 (RMB counter), the "Company” or "JD.com”), a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, today announced its unaudited financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2024.
Third Quarter 2024 Highlights
- Net revenues were RMB260.4 billion (US$137.1 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 5.1% from the third quarter of 2023.
- Income from operations was RMB12.0 billion (US$1.7 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 29.5% from the third quarter of 2023. Operating margin was 4.6% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 3.8% for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP2 income from operations was RMB13.1 billion (US$1.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 17.9% from the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP operating margin was 5.0% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 4.5% for the third quarter of 2023.
- Net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was RMB11.7 billion (US$1.7 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 47.8% from the third quarter of 2023. Net margin attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was 4.5% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 3.2% for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was RMB13.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 23.9% from the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net margin attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was 5.1% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 4.3% for the third quarter of 2023.
- Diluted net income per ADS was RMB7.73 (US$1.10) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 54.6% from RMB5.00 for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS was RMB8.68 (US$1.24) for the third quarter of 2024, an increase of 29.5% from RMB6.70 for the third quarter of 2023.
"In the third quarter, our total revenues increased by 5.1% year-on-year, resulting from a rebound in growth of electronics and home appliances, and sustained momentum in general merchandise,” said Ian Su Shan, Chief Financial Officer of JD.com. "As we continued to build up supply chain capabilities to drive better scale benefits and operating efficiency, both our gross margin and non-GAAP net margin achieved healthy improvement year-on-year in the quarter. Further highlighting our commitment to shareholder return, in the third quarter we completed our share repurchase program announced in March 2024, and launched a new US$5.0 billion share repurchase program through the end of August 2027. This set of results is attributable to our continuous progress in user growth and engagement, price competitiveness and platform ecosystem. Going forward, we will continue to create long term value for our users, business partners and shareholders.”
Updates of Share Repurchase Program
The Company repurchased a total of approximately 31.0 million Class A ordinary shares (equivalent of 15.5 million ADSs) for a total of approximately US$390 million during the three months ended September 30, 2024. The Company repurchased a total of approximately 255.3 million Class A ordinary shares (equivalent of 127.6 million ADSs) for a total of approximately US$3.6 billion during the nine months ended September 30, 2024. All of these ordinary shares were repurchased from both Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange pursuant to the Company's share repurchase programs publicly announced.
The total number of ordinary shares repurchased by the Company for the three months ended September 30, 2024 amounted to approximately 1.1% of its ordinary shares outstanding as of June 30, 20243. The total number of shares repurchased by the Company for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 amounted to approximately 8.1% of its ordinary shares outstanding as of December 31, 20234.
The Company has fully utilized the repurchase amount authorized under its US$3.0 billion share repurchase program announced in March 2024, and has adopted and announced a new share repurchase program (the "New Share Repurchase Program”) in August 2024. Pursuant to the New Share Repurchase Program effective from September 2024, the Company may repurchase up to US$5.0 billion worth of its shares (including ADSs) over the next 36 months through the end of August 2027.
Business Highlights
- JD Retail:
Since August 26, 2024, China's government-backed trade-in programs in over 20 provinces and cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Sichuan, among others, have been launched on JD.com. With years of experience in first-party business model, advanced logistics and fulfillment capabilities and other differentiated supply-chain expertise, JD.com offers customers a wealth of product selections and industry-leading integrated services covering delivery, installation, dismantling and cleaning, along with a seamless process for customers to benefit from the government subsidies effortlessly. JD.com's trade-in offerings have been well received by customers.
In the third quarter, JD.com announced its expansion in the apparel and accessories business, committed to becoming a premier destination for stylish fashion items. By enriching product selections and providing superior shopping experience, the initiative aims to promote the user mindshare of "shopping for clothing on JD.com” while boosting growth for both domestic and international brands. In addition, during the third quarter, the French luxury brands BALENCIAGA and SAINT LAURENT unveiled their official flagship stores on JD.com.
On September 5, 2024, JD Super, JD.com's supermarket division, celebrated its 10th anniversary. As an important component of the Company's strategic vision for the coming decade, JD Super will further boost the core competencies of partnered brands, including supply chain efficiency, product competitiveness, and cost-effectiveness, supporting them to achieve high-quality, sustainable growth on JD.com.
- JD Health: During the third quarter, JD Health made further progress in innovating its service model, enabling online payment through individual medical insurance accounts in ten cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. As of September 30, 2024, JD Health had cumulatively introduced such services in twelve cities, with access to nearly 2,000 medical insurance-designated retail pharmacies, covering a population of over 100 million.
- JD Logistics: JD Logistics and Taobao and Tmall Group recently reached a cooperation, under which JD Logistics will connect with the Taobao and Tmall platforms. As of mid-October 2024, the parties have mostly completed the system integration. A large number of merchants on the Taobao and Tmall platforms have selected JD Logistics as a service provider, and users are also able to track JD Logistics shipments within the Taobao and Tmall apps.
- JD.com excelled in the 2024 Standard & Poor's Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, with a notable increase in its score compared to last year and a leading position in the global retail sector. This achievement is primarily attributable to JD.com's commitment to ESG, particularly its efforts in areas such as enhancing governance for compliance, supporting employee development, strengthening supplier management, and further optimizing ESG information disclosure.
- Driven by JD.com's unwavering commitment and unremitting efforts to creating more jobs and making contribution to the society, the Company's total expenditure for human resources, including both its own employees and external personnel who work for the Company, amounted to RMB111.6 billion for the twelve months ended September 30, 2024.
Net Revenues. Net revenues increased by 5.1% to RMB260.4 billion (US$37.1 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB247.7 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Net product revenues increased by 4.8%, while net service revenues increased by 6.5% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to the third quarter of 2023.
Cost of Revenues. Cost of revenues increased by 3.1% to RMB215.3 billion (US$30.7 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB208.9 billion for the third quarter of 2023.
Fulfillment Expenses. Fulfillment expenses, which primarily include procurement, warehousing, delivery, customer service and payment processing expenses, increased by 6.9% to RMB16.3 billion (US$2.3 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB15.2 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Fulfillment expenses as a percentage of net revenues was 6.3% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 6.1% for the third quarter of 2023.
Marketing Expenses. Marketing expenses increased by 25.7% to RMB10.0 billion (US$1.4 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB8.0 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Marketing expenses as a percentage of net revenues was 3.8% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 3.2% for the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to the increased spending in promotion activities.
Research and Development Expenses. Research and development expenses increased by 15.9% to RMB4.4 billion (US$0.6 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB3.8 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Research and development expenses as a percentage of net revenues was 1.7% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 1.5% for the third quarter of 2023.
General and Administrative Expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased by 6.0% to RMB2.3 billion (US$0.3 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB2.5 billion for the third quarter of 2023. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of net revenues was 0.9% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 1.0% for the third quarter of 2023.
Income from Operations and Non-GAAP Income from Operations. Income from operations increased by 29.5% to RMB12.0 billion (US$1.7 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB9.3 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Operating margin was 4.6% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 3.8% for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP income from operations increased by 17.9% to RMB13.1 billion (US$1.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB11.1 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP operating margin was 5.0% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 4.5% for the third quarter of 2023. Operating margin of JD Retail before unallocated items remained stable of 5.2% for the third quarter of 2024 and 2023.
Non-GAAP EBITDA. Non-GAAP EBITDA increased by 17.0% to RMB15.1 billion (US$2.1 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB12.9 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP EBITDA margin was 5.8% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 5.2% for the third quarter of 2023.
Net Income Attributable to the Company's Ordinary Shareholders and Non-GAAP Net Income Attributable to the Company's Ordinary Shareholders. Net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders increased by 47.8% to RMB11.7 billion (US$1.7 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB7.9 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Net margin attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was 4.5% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 3.2% for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net income attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders increased by 23.9% to RMB13.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB10.6 billion for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net margin attributable to the Company's ordinary shareholders was 5.1% for the third quarter of 2024, compared to 4.3% for the third quarter of 2023.
Diluted EPS and Non-GAAP Diluted EPS. Diluted net income per ADS increased by 54.6% to RMB7.73 (US$1.10) for the third quarter of 2024 from RMB5.00 for the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS increased by 29.5% for the third quarter of 2024 to RMB8.68 (US$1.24) from RMB6.70 for the third quarter of 2023.
Cash Flow and Working Capital
As of September 30, 2024, the Company's cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaled RMB196.8 billion (US$28.0 billion), compared to RMB197.7 billion as of December 31, 2023. For the third quarter of 2024, free cash flow of the Company was as follows:
| For the three months ended | |||||||||
| September 30, 2023 | September 30,
2024 | September 30, 2024 | |||||||
| RMB | RMB | US$ | |||||||
| (In millions) | |||||||||
| Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities | 15,004 | (6,219 | ) | (886 | ) | ||||
| Less: Impact from consumer financing receivables included in the operating cash flow | (1,747 | ) | (2,232 | ) | (318 | ) | |||
| Less: Capital expenditures, net of related sales proceeds | |||||||||
| Capital expenditures for development properties | (3,013 | ) | (3,461 | ) | (493 | ) | |||
| Other capital expenditures* | (1,980 | ) | (1,897 | ) | (271 | ) | |||
| Free cash flow | 8,264 | (13,809 | ) | (1,968 | ) | ||||
Net cash used in operating activities was RMB6.2 billion (US$0.9 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, decreased by RMB21.2 billion compared to the third quarter of 2023. The cash flow variance was mainly due to the cross-quarter payments resulted by the delay of payments on non-working days for accounts payable in the end of the third quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, as well as the swift payments made to lock in sufficient supplies in-stocks to support the trade-in program.
Net cash provided by investing activities was RMB21.7 billion (US$3.1 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, consisting primarily of net cash received from maturity of short-term investments, partially offset by the cash paid for capital expenditures.
Net cash used in financing activities was RMB1.8 billion (US$0.3 billion) for the third quarter of 2024, consisting primarily of cash paid for repurchase of ordinary shares, partially offset by the net cash received from proceeds of borrowings.
For the twelve months ended September 30, 2024, free cash flow of the Company was as follows:
| For the twelve months ended | |||||||||
| September 30, 2023 | September 30, 2024 | September 30, 2024 | |||||||
| RMB | RMB | US$ | |||||||
| (In millions) | |||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | 58,394 | 52,817 | 7,526 | ||||||
| Add/(Less): Impact from consumer financing receivables included in the operating cash flow | 451 | (1,124 | ) | (160 | ) | ||||
| Less: Capital expenditures, net of related sales proceeds | |||||||||
| Capital expenditures for development properties | (13,618 | ) | (11,007 | ) | (1,568 | ) | |||
| Other capital expenditures | (5,831 | ) | (7,117 | ) | (1,014 | ) | |||
| Free cash flow | 39,396 | 33,569 | 4,784 | ||||||
From the first quarter of 2024, the Company started to report three segments, JD Retail, JD Logistics and New Businesses, to reflect changes made to the reporting structure whose financial information is reviewed by the chief operating decision maker of the Company under its ongoing operating strategies. JD Retail, including JD Health and JD Industrials, among other components, mainly engages in online retail, online marketplace and marketing services in China. JD Logistics includes both internal and external logistics businesses. New Businesses mainly include Dada, JD Property, Jingxi and overseas businesses.
The table below sets forth the segment operating results, with prior period segment information retrospectively recast to conform to the current period presentation:
| For the three months ended | For the nine months ended | ||||||||||||||||
| September 30, 2023 | September 30, 2024 | September 30, 2024 | September 30, 2023 | September 30, 2024 | September 30, 2024 | ||||||||||||
| RMB | RMB | US$ | RMB | RMB | US$ | ||||||||||||
| (In millions, except percentage data) | |||||||||||||||||
| Net revenues: | |||||||||||||||||
| JD Retail | 212,059 | 224,986 | 32,060 | 677,697 | 708,893 | 101,016 | |||||||||||
| JD Logistics | 41,663 | 44,396 | 6,326 | 119,424 | 130,740 | 18,630 | |||||||||||
| New Businesses | 6,685 | 4,970 | 708 | 19,838 | 14,476 | 2,063 | |||||||||||
| Inter-segment eliminations* | (12,709 | ) | (13,965 | ) | (1,989 | ) | (38,374 | ) | (42,276 | ) | (6,024 | ) | |||||
| Total consolidated net revenues | 247,698 | 260,387 | 37,105 | 778,585 | 811,833 | 115,685 | |||||||||||
| Operating income/(loss): | |||||||||||||||||
| JD Retail | 11,001 | 11,608 | 1,654 | 28,988 | 31,041 | 4,423 | |||||||||||
| JD Logistics | 288 | 2,086 | 297 | (325 | ) | 4,493 | 640 | ||||||||||
| New Businesses | (192 | ) | (615 | ) | (87 | ) | 466 | (1,980 | ) | (281 | ) | ||||||
| Including: gain on sale of development properties | - | - | - | 1,481 | - | - | |||||||||||
| Total segment operating income | 11,097 | 13,079 | 1,864 | 29,129 | 33,554 | 4,782 | |||||||||||
| Unallocated items** |
| ||||||||||||||||