Page 97 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

9.2.6 Agriculture corporate news
RusAgro ’s 3Q17 financials came in line with downbeat expectations. The declines in soft commodity prices hit profitability across segments and the key disappointment came in farming, which has not booked any EBITDA amid the launch of the new marketing year. We have included the reported levels of cash costs, new pricing outlook, and capacity updates into our model. The headline figures came in line with downbeat forecasts, following the previously reported operating data with 20-25% y/y loses in sugar, beet, and grain prices. The prime disappointment was in the farming division, which has not booked any EBITDA despite the launch of sales from the new harvest (180,000 tonnes of grain; 1mn tonnes of beet). The pressure was partially offset by strong profitability in meat (33% EBITDA margin) and solid results in sugar (16%) as low beet prices offered an improved cost base. We also note that the October-November prices for Rusagro’s key soft commodities have lost 10-25% vs. 3Q17, reflecting the seasonal spike in supply.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Russia's largest household electronics retailer M.Video said its main shareholder, the Safmar pension fund, is considering teaming up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba , Reuters and RBC reported on November 10. Russian e-commerce market, estimated at RUB500bn ($8.6bn), is rapidly growing and could reach 10% of global market by 2025, but currently it is largely dominated by cross-border trade with Chinese online sellers. Unnamed sources told RBC that Alibaba is ready to either to participate in M.Video's capital or to set up a joint venture with the retailer, while the cooperation is conditional on "business development and not simply a shareholder cash out."
Russia’s antimonopoly authority approved the merger between taxi services Uber and Russia’s local service Yandex.Taxi on November 24, reports East-West Digital News T he Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation has approved the deal that creates a company worth an estimated $3.7bn. Yandex-Uber plan to merge their respective taxi service activity in the country.
Yandex.Taxi of Russian internet major Yandex acquired food delivery service Foodfox for about $10mn , RBC reported citing unnamed market sources. Yandex CFO Greg Abovsky told Bloomberg last week that the company will " be investing very aggressively" in food delivery services and UberEats in Russia next year. The company also plans an IPO of Yandex.Taxi.
Russian online giant Mail.ru Group , owned by tycoon Alisher Usmanov, is launching a professional cybersport league, the company announced on November 20. The first game in the league will be Warface, a shooter that Mail.ru has been running since 2013. Shortly, Mail.Ru Group's cybersport league will start signing deals with sponsors, partners and platforms, and it also considers inviting foreign teams to take part in its tournaments. Currently, Warface has over 48mn registered users, most of which come from Russia and other CIS countries. In 2016-2017, Mail.ru Group ran over 50 tournaments featuring more than 4,000 teams.
Russian electronic payment system Qiwi reported net adjusted revenues
97 RUSSIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com