MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) has reported a 31.78 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has earned $51.35 million, or $1.16 a share in the quarter, compared with $38.96 million, or $0.88 a share for the same period last year. Revenue during the quarter surged 41.80 percent to $256.28 million from $180.73 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 155 basis points over the previous year period to 63.50 percent. Total expenses were 74.77 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 81.36 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 659 basis points in operating margin to 25.23 percent.
Operating income for the quarter was $64.67 million, compared with $33.69 million in the previous year period.
Pedro Arnt, chief financial officer of MercadoLibre, Inc., commented, "Last year was one of our most significant in terms of the tangible results of the quality work and level of execution that the entire team at MELI delivered. The scope of control over the customer experience that we are now able to deliver is something that would have been hard for us to anticipate five years ago. This end to end servicing of each e-commerce transaction that we now offer puts us in an excellent position to focus on delivering a best in class user experience to our buyers and sellers, which is the driving principle behind everything we do."
Operating cash flow declines
MercadoLibre, Inc. has generated cash of $190.26 million from operating activities during the year, down 14.05 percent or $31.11 million, when compared with the last year. The company has spent $84.24 million cash to meet investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $183.54 million in the last year.
The company has spent $19.67 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $27.71 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $234.14 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 40.30 percent or $67.26 million from $166.88 million on Dec. 31, 2015.
Debt moves up
MercadoLibre, Inc. has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $313.52 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 5.81 percent or $17.22 million from $296.31 million on Dec. 31, 2015. Interest coverage ratio improved to 9.51 for the quarter from 7.97 for the same period last year.
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