Page 61 - bne magazine November 2021_20211104 uzbekistan risding

bne November 2021 Eastern Europe I 61
One of the main beneficiaries of the change is e-commerce. As the coronacrisis pushed more consumption online, the sector expanded five times faster than the real economy. Ozon is a case in point. Often likened to e-commerce giant Amazon, the company is in fact a much younger player with more growing to do. Ozon’s IPO last year raised $1.2bn, and its appearance on the prestigious list of top ten retailers testifies to its rapid growth since then. Q2 results showed that orders placed with the company have jumped from 14.6mn to 40.9mn year- on-year. Revenue has correspondingly grown by 108.4% in the same period.
Food retail is another winner. Online sales of food products in Russia tripled in the first half of this year, reaching RUB149bn ($2bn). X5, a food retail group which maintained its position
as Russia’s largest retailer, recently announced that total sales for Q3 were up 11.6% year-on-year, with 353 new stores opened in the quarter, as reported by bne IntelliNews.
The Auchan network, meanwhile, saw its Russian income shrink by 17.3% in the first half of the year according to Infoline, while Metro’s stayed the same. For Auchan, this is the sixth year in a row that sales have fallen. The CEO of Auchan in Russia, Ivan Martinovich, disputed Kommersant’s evaluation, telling the newspaper that the company’s overall profit was up 3% this year, with EBITDA up 66%.
Nonetheless, as consumption soars
in a market undergoing a rapid shift
in dynamics, Russian retailers are indisputably outperforming their cohort. Some will put this down to their ability to quickly interpret and adapt to changing demands. X5, for example, has put particular emphasis on the success of its digital business, which grew by 157% year- on-year in 3Q21. Ozon, meanwhile, has touted the rapid expansion of its Express service, with the opening of its first dark store in St Petersburg earlier this year.
It is clear that the key to growth in this highly competitive sector is to capture a large customer base as quickly as possible. Expect international retailers to try out ever more inventive services and products in an effort to win back their slice of the pirog.
Russia facing fourth coronavirus wave as infection rates rise to fresh highs
FPRI BMB Russia
Infection rates in Russia have reached their highest level since January. There were 25,781 new cases on October 4, the highest the figure has been since there were 26,301 infections on January 2. October 4 also saw 883 deaths, making it the first time in several days that the number of daily deaths did
not break the all-time record. October 3 now holds that record after 890 people died. Moscow is particularly hard hit: the number of hospitalisations of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients has increased by 20% over the past week, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Measures are being taken to stop the spread. In many regions, a QR code that verifies vaccination status will be required to attend large events, while in other regions events are banned entirely. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova warned that a difficult period is coming, saying: “I want to ask you
to be careful, observe all restrictive measures, take care of yourself and your loved ones.” Infectious disease specialist Evgeny Timakov predicts that cases will begin to decrease in November and the situation will be stable from mid- December until spring.
Vaccine reluctance remains a primary concern. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said a vaccination rate of 60% is necessary to achieve herd immunity and stop the spread, but only 36% of Russian adults are currently vaccinated. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that “the vaccination level is insufficient to stop the spread of infection,” and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov suggested a more “active” vaccination campaign is needed. To this end, Russians may soon be able to receive imported vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna. A proposal by the Health Ministry would grant the Moscow International Medical Cluster (MIMC) the right to import vaccines.
Murashko says Sputnik V is back on track for WHO approval. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) applied to the WHO for accelerated registration of Sputnik V in October 2020. On September 15, the WHO suspended consideration of Sputnik V after auditing a factory in Bashkiria and finding it lacked “good manufacturing practices.” On October 2, Murashko met with the head of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, in Geneva. Murashko said all issues related to the registration of Sputnik V have been resolved, and claimed
that, after proper documentation had been provided to the WHO, “all the disagreements that arose have been removed.”
New coronavirus deaths in Russia
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