Page 126 - RusRPTDec21

plans for the e-grocery segment, and now aims to be in the top three players (it had previously targeted leadership in the respective channel, with a 20% share). The company has commented about making rational investments into promoting the service and targets its stock-up mission breaking even by the end of 2021 and express-delivery in 2023. We see much more aggressive investments by market leaders and regaining leadership in current environment could be difficult for X5.
Among the development options, X5 has previously considered JVs or placements, but the outlook on these is rather vague at the moment. X5’s GDRs are flat YTD and now trade on 2022F EV/EBITDA of 6x and a 12-month dividend yield of 8%. We do not see these as overly demanding, while the slowing momentum in the offline business and no rapid pace online could pressure the investment case in the near term, in our view.
126 RUSSIA Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com