Page 115 - RusRPTApr19

88bn and Ebitda of RUB32-34bn (under new IFRS16 standards). Sberbank rates Mail.ru as Buy with a target price of $40.66 per share. At the same time UralSib Capital sees 2019 guidance as overly aggressive, with high risk of missing out and thus recommends to Sell Mail.ru. In the end of 2018 the shareholder structure of Mail.ru was reshuffled, with one of Russia's richest men Alisher Usmanov no longer having a majority voting stake through his USM holding, transferring the control to Mai.ru management to shield the company from potential sanctions. USM controlled Mail.ru through a joint venture MF Technologies with mobile operator MegaFon and Russia's third largest bank Gazprombank. MegaFon recently said it will buyout shares and go private, as it prepares to complete its transformation "into a digital business in the heart of the new digital ecosystem in Russia."
QIWI reported 4Q18 IFRS results March 29. Adjusted net revenues jumped 41% y/y to RUB5.8bn (up 35% y/y excluding Tochka Bank). This growth was driven by e-commerce (up 52% y/y, mainly helped by betting- related revenues) and remittances (up 37%). Adjusted EBITDA climbed 53% y/y to RUB1.473bn, providing a 25.3% margin (up 1.9 pp y/y). Tochka Bank's revenues soared 83% y/y to RUB1.057bn, though its adjusted net loss expanded to R281mn (from RUB80mn in 3Q18). Sovest's net revenues rocketed 469% y/y to RUB199mn, driven by a surge in payment volumes (up 205% to RUB5.8bn). Sovest posted an adjusted net loss of R538mn. Adjusted net income rose 58% y/y. The net margin came in at 17.4%, up 1.8 pp y/y but down 4.9% pp q/q. Apart from the losses from Tochka and Sovest, the adjusted net margin was pressured by Rocketbank-related expenses (R584mn).
One of Russia’s "big four" mobile operators Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) completed the sale of 18.7% stake in Russian online retailer Ozon Holdings to multi-industry investment conglomerate AFK Sistema for RUB7.9bn ($120mn). As a result of the deal the share of Sistema in Ozon will reach 19.3%, with another 16.3% held by Sistema's venture fund Sistema_VC. Notably, previously the main owner of Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenko said that Ozon's largest shareholders Sistema and Baring Vostok Capital Partners (BVCP) fund intend to increase their respective shares to 40% and develop the retailer for an IPO, Vedomosti daily reminds on March 14. "The deal suggests a RUB42bn valuation for 100% Ozon. The price is at the lower end of valuations for the recent deals, in which Sistema and Baring Vostok increased their stakes in Ozon," Maria Sukhanova of BCS Global Markets estimated in February when the deal was first announced. The price suggests about 30% premium to MTS investments, and 10% annualized return, the analyst added, commenting that strategy-wise, BCS was "not big believers in the synergies between the carrier and e-tailer.” In December Ozon said that it intends to raise several hundreds of million dollars in equity in 2019 to support new investments in logistics and IT. With giant capital injections in 2011 ($100mn), 2014 ($150mn) and 2018 (up to $92mn), Ozon is one of the most well-funded Russian e-commerce companies.
Russian internet major Yandex acquired the online inquiry service TheQuestion, which allows users and experts to answer questions posted by other readers. Yandex has bought 100% in Cyrpus-registered Znanie Company, with the details of the deal not disclosed. The service was founded by journalists Tonya Samsonova and in four years accumulated over 0.7mn answers to questions and discussions, which will now be directly integrated into Yandex search engine. TheQuestion has a monthly audience of about 10mn people. TheQuestion had already raised $1mn worth of investment in
115 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com