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RUB308bn, up 92% (broadly in line with 98% at WB). As we expected, e-commerce investments increased in 4Q, bringing total e-commerce, mobility & O2O loss to RUB10.6bn vs RUB2.4bn in 3Q. That said, YoY improvement in unit economics continued, including a 7.5-ppt increase at Y.Market, a 6-ppt increase at Eats grocery (excl. DC), a positive high-single-digit unit economics at Lavka. We also note a 20+% YoY growth in orders per hour and 10% decrease in click-to-eat time in food delivery.
● Media services’ revenue grew by 84% (29% above our forecast), with Plus subscribers reaching 19.3mn as of end-4Q (+66% YoY / +22% QoQ) – we expect Yandex’s clear leadership in ecosystem development, combined with its efforts in original content, to further strengthen its leadership in video and music streaming in the medium- term. There was also a strong 24-ppt YoY improvement in media services’ profitability to only -4.9% in 4Q.
● “Other” business units’ revenue grew by 103%, beating our forecast by 34% due to a surge in devices sales after overcoming supply chain issues in 3Q. EBITDA loss was RUB7.6bn in 4Q, an improvement vs RUB10.2bn in 3Q despite investments in fintech and other new initiatives.
● There were no news on the business restructuring or Uber’s stake in Yandex’s press release.
● VK
Russian Internet company VK’s gaming platform VK Play has launched investment arm VK Play Investment that will allocate 300 million rubles in 2023 to advance national video games developers, VK Play said on February 9.
Russian social networking site VK has announced that its board of directors (BoD) has approved the possibility of re-domiciliation from the British Virgin Islands to Russia, the company reported on February 13.
The move is subject to the company meeting all relevant legal and regulatory requirements. If the re-domiciliation goes ahead, VK will become an International Public Company under Russian law. It is expected to improve the company’s operational efficiency, although there are no details as yet regarding the timing or mechanics of the process, Renaissance Capital reported in a note.
The potential move should benefit local investors due to the reduced risks associated with a foreign domicile in the current geopolitical environment. It
166 RUSSIA Country Report March 2023 www.intellinews.com