The parent company of Flipkart, Walmart has said that the former has the potential to launch IPO in long-term. In May 2018, Walmart has purchase 77% controlling stake in Flipkart for a hefty $16 billion, valuing the company at around $21 billion. Flipkart and Amazon jointly hold 80% of India’s e-commerce sector, according to analysts.
Responding to a question on whether at some point it would make sense for Flipkart to be a stand-alone business, Brett Biggs, Chief Financial Officer at Walmart, said, “Yes, we’ve talked about longer-term that IPO is a potential for that business. I can tell you, it runs pretty independently right now and that’s when you buy a business like that, that’s what you want it to do.” Biggs was speaking at the UBS Global Consumer & Retail Conference. Last month, Walmart said Flipkart led its e-commerce sales in the international segment. E-commerce contributed about 12% of total segment sales in the three months ended January 2020.
The net sales at Walmart International has increased 2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $33 billion in Q4FY20.
Biggs said although Flipkart’s losses “will be pretty similar” to losses the firm recorded last year, the business, nonetheless, is “growing at a good rate.”
Filings by Singapore-based Flipkart Private - the Flipkart group’s first financial filing post acquisition by Walmart - showed the group’s total revenues increased 42.32% y-o-y to Rs 43,615.5 crore on a consolidated basis in the year to March 2019. Losses, although elevated, dipped by 63.2% y-o-y to Rs 17,231.5 crore.
