Page 180 - RusRPTMay21

9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Russian online retailer Wildberries’ turnover rocketed 79% on the year to 134.7bn rubles in January–March, the company said on April 11 in a statement. Sales jumped 122% in units, the company said. “Despite a high base of the previous year, the number of orders in January–March increased 108% on the year to 126.5mn,” Wildberries said. The number of sellers increased by 70,000 units in January–March to 162,000 units. “In 2021, we continue active development of the business – we’re building logistics centers in Russia, we’re getting ready to come to new countries and developing IT,” Development Director Vyacheslav Ivashchenko said.
Yandex reported 1Q21 US GAAP results on April 28. The results were strong with a beat vs consensus on revenue and EBITDA.
· Revenue grew 56% y/y (to Rb73.1bn), adjusted EBITDA declined 14% y/y (to Rb10.4bn; 14% margin) and adjusted net income fell 57% y/y (increase in D&A)
· This includes the consolidation of Yandex.Market, which posted a Rb7.3bn revenue and Rb6.5bn EBITDA loss. Investments in growth (logistics, cut in marketplace commission, marketing) supported a 2.3x y/y increase in total GMV (acceleration from +1.7x in 4Q20), but predictably led to the EBITDA loss in e-commerce more than doubling q/q
· Excluding e-commerce, revenue and adjusted EBITDA were up 40% and 39% y/y, respectively
· Key drivers were further gradual recovery in growth in search segment (revenue +15% vs +8% in 4Q20; EBITDA +11%), acceleration in taxi (revenue +89%; EBITDA margin up to 14%) on growth in ride-hailing (GMV +44% y/y), and the ongoing boost in turnover of e-grocery businesses (which, at this stage, is loss-making)
· Guidance for 2021 revenue growth was increased 4pp to Rb315-330bn (+44-51% y/y); the search segment is expected to grow revenue in high-teens vs mid-teens
Conference
Call – Focus Points:
· Positive trends in search and ride-hailing continue, especially as 2Q21 will have easy comps (2Q was the weakest last year).
· Yandex.Plus (9mn users, +2.4x y/y) remains a good tool to spur spend and user retention and users now account for 1⁄2 total turnover on Market Plus
· E-commerce GMV (Market) further accelerated growth in April to 2.4x y/y
180 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com