Our team delivered net sales growth of 7.6% and adjusted earnings per share growth of 9.3%, excluding divestitures.
Consolidated gross profit rate increased 10 basis points for the quarter, including more than 50 basis points in Walmart U.S. We're working closely with our suppliers to manage inflation, finding a few places where we can roll back prices.
During the fiscal year just ended, excluding divestitures, we grew net sales by 9%, grew operating profit by 18%, invested $13 billion in capex to grow our business, returned 16 billion to shareholders via share buybacks and dividends, grew advertising business globally to $2.1 billion, and took important steps to build our U.S. financial services capabilities with agreements to make two key acquisitions.
If you look at growth since the beginning of fiscal '21 through the end of fiscal '22, excluding divestitures, our company is about 17% larger in terms of revenue, 31% larger in terms of operating income, and globally, our percentage of digital sales grew from 6% to 13%.
We increased capacity by nearly 20% last year, and we expect to increase capacity by another 35% this year.
For Walmart InHome, we recently announced an expansion of this membership service to make it available to about 30 million homes in the U.S., up from 6 million.
To enable the expansion, we're creating roles for more than 3,000 associate delivery drivers.
We'll be building out a fleet of all electric delivery vans to support our delivery services and our goal of a zero emissions logistics fleet by 2040.
We added more than 20,000 new sellers to the platform in the U.S. last year and expect to add nearly 40,000 more this year.
We're now up to nearly 170 million SKUs, and we're adding more every day.
We grew our U.S. GMV delivered by our Fulfillment Services by 500% last year.
For Q4, our Fulfillment Services represented 44% of total marketplace orders in India and 22% in Mexico.
We have nearly a thousand GoLocal service to pickup points, and we expect to end this year closer to 5,000.
Globally, it's been growing at a high rate with high margins and is now a $2.1 billion business in only a few years.
Because of how the fly wheel is coming together, I feel great about our ability to deliver against the growth algorithm we discussed last year of about 4% top-line growth and operating income growth rates higher than sales.
They drove comp sales of 5.6%.
Last year, we increased the number of orders coming from our stores by 170% versus the previous year, and that's on top of more than 500% from the year before.
Excluding fuel and tobacco, comps were 10.8% for the quarter and nearly 26% on a two-year stack.
Membership income grew 9.1%, driven by membership count, which reached another record high during the quarter.
The team leveraged operating expenses and grew operating income 24%, excluding fuel.
Overall sales were strong again in Q4 with growth of 9.8% in constant currency, excluding divestitures.
Our 21% e-commerce penetration is a new record and up nearly 400 basis points from last year.
During Big Billion Days, 40% of sellers were first time sellers on the marketplace, and more than 100,000 kiranas participated by making last-mile deliveries.
And, BAIT, our value-based internet and telephone service that enables customers in Mexico to enjoy digital connectivity, surpassed 2 million members.
For the full year, we had record sales of $568 billion with increased traffic to stores and clubs, while e-commerce penetration approached 13%.
Walmart U.S. grew sales by more than $23 billion and saw strong market share gains in food and consumables.
Over the past two years, our U.S. segments have grown sales by $67 billion, or 17%, and operating income by 25%.
Total constant currency revenue grew 7.9% to over $153 billion and reached another important milestone with quarterly net sales exceeding $150 billion.
gross margin rate increasing by a healthy 54 basis points, reflecting primarily price management resulting from cost increases in mix, along with benefits from a growing advertising business, partially offset by higher supply chain costs.
Supply chain costs were over $400 million higher than expected, but we expect some of those costs to abate overtime.
In the first three quarters combined, COVID leave costs were about $600 million but increased over $450 million just in Q4, presenting an unexpected headwind of over $300 million.
Despite these expense challenges, adjusted operating income increased more than 6% and earnings per share increased more than 9%.
Free cash flow was $11.1 billion for the year, down versus last year due primarily to inventory build throughout the year, higher capex, and cost increases.
We increased share repurchases significantly this year with buybacks of just under $10 billion, a pace we plan to continue or increase in the coming year given our view of the long-term value of the company.
ROI increased 90 basis points to just under 15%, the best level in five years due primarily to growth in operating income.
had its first ever $100 billion-plus sales quarter with sales of $105 billion.
Comp sales grew 5.6%, up more than 14% on a two-year stack.
Transactions were up more than 3% despite COVID pressures.
E-commerce sales grew 1% against strong gains last year, resulting in a 70% two-year stack.
In fact, the number of active advertisers using Walmart Connect grew more than 130% year over year.
We expect Walmart Connect to continue to scale over the next few years with plans to become a top 10 ad business in the midterm.
In fact, we expect to have over 200 million items in our e-commerce assortment by the end of the year.
We continue expanding capabilities, including announcing the acceleration of in-home delivery to 30 million households by year-end.
SG&A expenses deleveraged 95 basis points as increased wage costs were partially offset by strong sales and lower total COVID-related expenses year over year.
Inventory increased about 28% overall, including higher cost of goods due to inflation, mix, and higher-than-normal in-transit shipments, reflecting continued efforts to improve in-stock.
International sales were strong, up nearly 10%, led by China, Mexico, and Flipkart as seasonal events, omni growth, and good inventory position contributed to results.
E-commerce sales in constant currency grew 21% on top of strong gains last year with growth of more than 75% on a two-year stack.
China comps increased nearly 20% in constant currency with continued strength from Sam's Clubs, as well as more than 90% growth in e-commerce sales.
Comp sales in Mexico increased nearly 8% and grew faster than the market according to ANTAD.
We're also pleased with the strong growth of PhonePe with TPV of more than 130% versus last year with a current run rate of $650 billion.
In Canada, comp sales were up 4.6%, led by in-store shopping and comps increased more than 13% on a two-year stack.
International adjusted operating income in constant currency increased nearly 3%, reflecting lower COVID costs, partly offset by gross margin rate decrease related to higher sales penetration from Sam's China and e-commerce.
For the full year, international adjusted operating income grew 12.7%.
Sam's Club had another impressive quarter with comps up 10.8%, excluding fuel and tobacco, an increase of nearly 26% on a two-year stack.
Transactions increased 7% and ticket was up 3.2%.
E-commerce sales grew 21%, and we expanded the rollout of delivery capabilities of digital orders to nearly all clubs during the quarter.
Membership income was up more than 9% with another record in member counts and strong Plus penetration.
Operating income was up 41% as higher fuel and membership income, as well as strong expense leverage were partially offset by gross margin pressure from inflation and supply chain costs.
As a reminder, the divestitures of our businesses in the U.K. and Japan were completed near the end of the first quarter last year, contributing about $5 billion in sales and about $0.07 of earnings per share in Q1, FY '22.
We expect total company sales to increase about 4% with Walmart U.S. comp sales slightly above 3% for the year.
Given the timing of stimulus overlaps, we expect about a 1% to 2% comp sales increase from Walmart U.S. in the first quarter, followed by somewhat higher comp sales growth throughout the remainder of the year.
We expect FY '23 total company operating income to increase at a rate slightly higher than sales growth and earnings per share to grow 5% to 6% versus FY '22 adjusted earnings per share due in part to our aggressive share repurchase program.
We expect Q1 operating income and earnings per share to be down low double digits to low-teens as we cycle the stimulus effects from last year that resulted in nearly 30% operating income growth, as well as increased wages this year.
Our effective tax rate is expected to increase to 25% to 26% due primarily to earnings mix.
FY '22 capex was about $13.1 billion, lower than anticipated due to timing of projects impacted by supply chain challenges.
Due to that and continued investment in strategic priorities, we anticipate this year's capex being at the upper end of the guidance we gave last year of 2.5% to 3% of sales.

Summary:
Because of how the fly wheel is coming together, I feel great about our ability to deliver against the growth algorithm we discussed last year of about 4% top-line growth and operating income growth rates higher than sales.
They drove comp sales of 5.6%.
Membership income grew 9.1%, driven by membership count, which reached another record high during the quarter.
Comp sales grew 5.6%, up more than 14% on a two-year stack.
Transactions were up more than 3% despite COVID pressures.
E-commerce sales grew 1% against strong gains last year, resulting in a 70% two-year stack.
Inventory increased about 28% overall, including higher cost of goods due to inflation, mix, and higher-than-normal in-transit shipments, reflecting continued efforts to improve in-stock.
International adjusted operating income in constant currency increased nearly 3%, reflecting lower COVID costs, partly offset by gross margin rate decrease related to higher sales penetration from Sam's China and e-commerce.
We expect total company sales to increase about 4% with Walmart U.S. comp sales slightly above 3% for the year.
Given the timing of stimulus overlaps, we expect about a 1% to 2% comp sales increase from Walmart U.S. in the first quarter, followed by somewhat higher comp sales growth throughout the remainder of the year.
Due to that and continued investment in strategic priorities, we anticipate this year's capex being at the upper end of the guidance we gave last year of 2.5% to 3% of sales.