Page 22 - BELRptJune18

exports is $1.5bn and is growing by approximately 18-20% every year,” Shumilin noted.
Belarus is among the top ten most cryptocurrency and blockchain projects-friendly countries in Europe , according to a survey published by BlockShow Europe 2018. The survey provides cryptocurrency regulations in 48 Europeancountries.Belarusisranked10t h ,partlyduetoazerotaxpolicyon cryptocurrencies valid through 2023. Belarus is considered one of the best places for ICO, according to the government agency BELTA . The survey followed December's decree signed by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that set up the regulation and legislative basis of transactions in crypto-currencies. The document is designed to attract digital coin entrepreneurs, who are moving businesses to locations more welcoming to crypto-currencies.
9.2.5 Retail corporate news
Russia’s children toy store giant Detsky Mir is mulling launching in Belarus , the company said on May 7.
Detsky Mir is currently studying opening branches in Belarus in the leading stores and shopping malls as well as looking at M&A deals to enter via an acquisition of a local retail player, according to Kommersant.
“Detsky Mir is already present in another of Russia’s neighbours, operating 22 stores in 12 cities in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Entering the Belarus market could support the company’s aggressive development pipeline: management guidance points to at least 70 new stores in 2018 and 250 new outlets in 2018-21F,” VTB Capital (VTBC) analysts said in a note.
“The figures would imply a blended selling space compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 10%, which would make Detsky Mir one of the fastest growing companies in our coverage universe. In our view, Detsky’s scale, the recently streamlining of processes and the strong awareness of its brand in Belarus from Soviet times provide good grounds for successful retail operations,” the bank added.
VTBC forecast the company’s revenues to grow by 15% y/y in 2018 and with profitability margins remaining comparable y/y.
“The capex-lite roll-out and robust cash flow generation mean that our model returns a 12-month dividend yield of 9%. We consider the 2018F EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.9x as appealing,” the bank added.
22 BELARUS Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com