Page 157 - RusRPTNov21

remain minority shareholders in the company. SkillFactory is an online education platform that focuses on professional training and higher education with an audience of more than 100,000 students. Its revenue grew 3.4x YoY to RUB 638mn in 2020, while MAIL’s existing EdTech assets generated RUB 6.1bn (up c. 3.2x YoY) in revenue that same year. SkillFactory plans to continue to use its existing brand.
● Other
Sber and MRG announced on October 7 the injection of a further R12.2bn into their O2O JV (with both contributing equal amounts in the form of equity). The latest injection increases the total funding provided by both partners this year to R43bn (including both equity and previously allocated debt converted into equity). Last year, a similar sum of R12bn was injected in August. The funds will be used to further develop O2O's assets, including technology and new hires, to drive sustainable growth and unlock further market opportunities, within the e-grocery segment in particular.
O2O consists of:
Food tech: Delivery Club (98%), Samokat (85%), Local Kitchen (85%), r_keeper (99%) and Performance Group (25%).
Mobility: Citymobil (97%), Citydrive (formerly YouDrive) (77%) and 2GIS (3%).
Russian consumer electronics major M.Video-Eldorado Group announces today the full acquisition of online lending platform Direct Credit as part of its strategy to develop its “promising fintech business.” The transaction amounted to 1.3bn rubles (nearly $18mn at the current exchange rate). Direct Credit services will be integrated into in the group’s fast-growing OneRetail platform, both online and in traditional stores. “This will enable us to create a hybrid fintech market that is unmatched in the Russian market and that will be in high demand among our customers,” stated Alexander Izosimov, CEO of M.Video-Eldorado Group.
9.2.8 Telecoms corporate news
VEON reported 3Q21 IFRS results. Revenues were up 10.2% y/y to $2,005mn on a reported basis and up 11.2% y/y in local-currency terms, with EBITDA up 8.6% y/y to $889mn (and up 9.1% in local-currency terms) for a margin of 44.3% (down 0.7 pp y/y).
In Russia, revenues were up 8.2% y/y to R75.3bn (after 6.2% growth in 2Q21), including 4.5% revenue growth for mobile service and 38% for sales of devices. VEON added 0.5mn mobile customers in Russia in the quarter to reach 50.6mn subscribers (up 1.7% y/y). VEON's EBITDA in Russia increased by 1.9% y/y for a 37.5% EBITDA margin (down 0.7 pp y/y), impacted by higher staff costs following a return to normal operations after lockdowns and the additional headcount of recent business acquisitions (OTM and Westcall), the greater contribution of lower-margin device sales and an increase in dealer commissions as Beeline Russia's customer base expanded.
In Pakistan, revenues increased by 13% y/y, underpinned by 25.5% y/y growth in mobile data revenues. Jazz's customer base grew by
157 RUSSIA Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com