Page 138 - RusRPTSept23

decreasing by 20.681bn rubles on the year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to 15.606bn rubles falling by 14.228bn rubles. Return on EBITDA declined to 15% from 23% in the same period of 2022. According to CEO Timur Lipatov, the company expects a positive result from its acquisition of a 50% stake in fats and oils producer NMGK Group starting from July–September.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
● VK
Revenue of Russian Internet company VK increased 36% on the year to 57.3bn rubles in January–June, and the growth was mainly driven by online advertising sales that grew 51% to 35.1bn rubles, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the company said on August 10in a statement. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to 3.9bn rubles with the EBITDA margin of 6.8%. The total comprehensive loss narrowed by 44.7bn rubles from 53.5bn rubles in January–June 2022 to 8.8bn rubles “due to the restructuring and optimization of the group’s assets, among other reasons.” Users of VK services accounted for more than 95% of the country’s monthly online audience as of the end of June.
● Wildberries
Marketplace Wildberries will build its largest, 9bn ruble logistics centre in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, which will create 7,500 jobs, the retailer’s founder and General Director Tatyana Bakalchuk and the region’s Economic Development Minister Lev Reshetnikov said on August 29. “It will be the largest facility in Siberia...This year we should build the first 50,000 square metres and the rest next year....It is the first warehouse where we apply a new technology, it will be 24 metres high. This is our first construction of such a scale,” Bakalchuk said. With opening of logistics centres, local businessmen more than triple their sales, she added. Reshetnikov said the centre may be launched at the end of 2024. According to the project’s plan, the construction of a distribution complex will finish at the end of 2025.
● Other
9.2.8 Telecoms corporate news
The revenue of Amsterdam-based VEON decreased by 4.3% on the year
RUSSIA Country Report September 2023 www.intellinews.com