Flipkart Acquisition Continues to Hit Walmart’s Bottom Line

The Flipkart acquisition once again negatively impacted Walmart International's operating income on Thursday which dropped to $600 million (roughly Rs. 4,300 crores) in the third quarter ending September from $1.2 billion (roughly Rs. 8,600 crores) a year-ago quarter -- a massive drop of 46.2 percent. Operating income declined 5.4 percent -- or 4.1 percent in constant currency -- due in part to a non-cash impairment charge for Walmart International.

"As expected, the inclusion of Flipkart negatively affected operating income," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Net sales at Walmart International were $29.2 billion - an increase of 1.3 percent.

The inclusion of Flipkart and strength in Walmex and China were partially offset by softness in the UK, said the company.

In the second quarter, the operating income of Walmart's international operations fell by 29.3 percent to $893 million while net sales declined marginally to $29.13 billion.

Walmart wrapped up Flipkart's acquisition for $16 billion in 2018, which made it the world's biggest e-commerce deal.

The company, however, was bullish on record sales it achieved during Flipkart's "The Big Billion Day" festive sales in India.

"We celebrated the first anniversary of Flipkart and PhonePe as part of the Walmart family. It was great to see record sales in India during The Big Billion Days event," said Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Walmart.

"Looking ahead, we're prepared for a good holiday season. Our integrated offering with stores and eCommerce delivers value and convenience for our customers," he added.

The US e-commerce behemoth reported $128 billion in total revenue for third quarter -- an increase of $3.1 billion or 2.5 percent.

The company had net cash provided by operating activities of $14.5 billion for the nine months ended October 31, 2019, which decreased when compared to $17.3 billion for the nine months ended October 31, 2018 primarily due to the timing of vendor payments and US associate payroll, as well as the inclusion of Flipkart operations.

"We generated free cash flow of $6.8 billion for the nine months ended October 31, 2019, which decreased when compared to $10.3 billion for the nine months ended October 31, 2018 due to the same reasons as the decline in net cash provided by operating activities, as well as $0.8 billion in increased capital expenditures," Walmart mentioned.

Flipkart posted $6.14 billion (Rs. 43,615 crores) revenue for the fiscal 2018-19, according to Chennai-based business intelligence platform Paper.vc.

"The financials reveal how the e-tailer has performed after Walmart acquired 77 percent of its equity in August 2018 for $16 billion (Rs. 1,07,662 crores)," said Paper.vc.

According to the posted financials, the group firm (Flipkart) managed to achieve a 63 per cent reduction in losses to $2.42 billion (Rs 17,231 crores) for the fiscal under review, from the $6.6 billion (Rs 46,895 crores) loss posted in 2017-18.