(Yicai Global) March 10 -- JD Logistics's stock price sank despite the courier reporting a 93 percent smaller annual loss after the retail arm of its parent company, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com, cautioned that the pickup in consumption still needs time to enter a full recovery.

JD Logistics [HKG: 2618] closed down 9.1 percent at HKD12.72 (USD1.63) a share, the day’s low. The stock has fallen almost 16 percent this year.

On JD.Com's earnings conference call yesterday, JD Retail Chief Executive Lei Xu said: “We see the recovery of consumption is underway and there are imbalanced pace here and there. So, it will need some time for recovery in full.

“We continue to keep our cautious optimism on the recovery, and we believe, in the second half of the year, the recovery speed will be better,” he added.

Shares of JD.Com [HKG: 9618] slumped 11.5 percent today to end at HKD158.70 each.

The net loss at JD Logistics was CNY1.1 billion (USD156.5 million) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, versus CNY15.6 billion (USD2.2 billion) in 2021, because of higher income from integrated supply chain service clients and livestreaming e-commerce, the Beijing-based firm's earning report showed yesterday. Operating revenue jumped 31 percent to CNY137.4 billion (USD19.7 billion).

JD Logistics had nearly 80,000 integrated supply chain services clients last year, earning on average CNY365,000 (USD52,407) per client, which accounted for CNY77.4 billion of its operating revenue.

The performance of JD Logistics was also significantly boosted after it became a logistics supplier to the livestreaming e-commerce arms of short video platforms Douyin and Kuaishou.

Operating costs jumped 29 percent to CNY127.3 billion, mainly because of an increase in salaries, outsourcing costs, rent, depreciation, and amortization due to the acquisition of Deppon Logistics, a leading Chinese less-than-truckload delivery firm.

JD Logistics took over Deppon last July, which has contributed CNY14.4 billion in operating revenue since. The acquisition further improved the firm's logistics network, supply chain capability, and service quality, as the new asset had nearly 9,000 outlets, 132 distribution centers, and over 20,000 self-owned vehicles in districts and counties across China as of the year's end. 

Deppon's operating revenue rose 0.1 percent to CNY31.4 billion last year, the Shanghai-based firm's financial report showed yesterday. Net profit soared 340 percent to CNY650 million (USD93.3 million).

JD Logistics has over 1,500 warehouses and over 2,000 cloud-based warehouses, covering more than 30 million square meters.

Editor: Martin Kadiev