Delimobil founder Vincenzo Trani: I'm, like Giorgio Armani, going to die working for this company, in this office
Vincenzo Trani
Photo: Press-office
Delimobil has completed its active investment phase and is ready to revisit the issue of dividend payments based on the 2026 results. The company does not plan to change its strategy, which is focused on developing the carsharing business in the regions, but the outcome of negotiations regarding the acquisition of several companies in the sector at once may affect this.
Delimobil founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors Vincenzo Trani told Interfax in an interview about how the company is adapting to the current new safety requirements, as well as about the approach to business management in terms of psychology and mentality.
About dividends
PJSC Carsharing Russia will return to the issue of dividend payments based on the 2026 results, as doing so immediately after a period of active investment would not be entirely appropriate, Trani said.
"We will always adhere to a return to dividends that takes into account the company's financial performance and does not hinder its growth. These dividends will allow investors to receive payouts while preserving the opportunity for further business growth. In other words, the focus is on growth, but dividends will be there. I doubt we will be able to pay dividends for 2025 - it would not be entirely appropriate to do so immediately after a period of rapid investment - but we will definitely consider paying dividends for 2026," he said.
For the first half of 2025, Delimobil reported a net debt/EBITDA ratio of 6.4x. This ratio, in particular, forms the basis of the company's dividend policy, according to which, when net debt/EBITDA is less than 3x, it strives to allocate at least 50% of net profit to International Financial Reporting Standards to dividends, but if it is higher, the dividend amount would be calculated taking into account the current needs of the company for 0financing sustainable development and the macroeconomic situation.
Since its IPO in February 2024, the company has paid dividends once - one ruble per share for the first half of 2024. No dividends were paid for the full year 2024 (net debt/EBITDA for the period was 5.1x).
The company currently forecasts net debt/EBITDA for 2025 at around 4x, although it forecast in the spring it would be below 3x.
About strategy
In the spring, Delimobil's management underwent a reshuffle. Along with Trani's return to the Board of Directors of PJSC Carsharing Russia as chairman, Vladimir Sadovin, a former Azbuka Vkusa executive who had served on the board as an independent director since December 2023, took over as the company's CEO. Meanwhile, former CEO Elena Bekhtina moved to the Board of Directors and became head of the strategy committee under the Board of Directors.
"Usually, the key figures in companies are CEO -1; but for us, the really key ones, besides CEO -1, are the chairman of the Board of Directors in my person as the founder, as well as the head of the strategy committee. This helps bring about a kind of teamwork in which decisions are made by a collegial body. The Board of Directors has three committees in total: audit, remuneration and nominations, and strategy. The latter is the main driver of the company's growth strategy. Thus, in our case, the CEO will consult not only with the founder, but also with the strategy committee, at the level of which a business mission and a business trend are being devised within the framework of the established strategy," Trani said.
Delimobil positions itself as a federal carsharing company and develops related services based on this "core", such as car maintenance, car sales from its fleet, and advertising (so far, the contribution of additional services to the revenue structure is up to 10%).
In 2024 and the first half of 2025, the company was in an active investment phase, building up its car fleet and network of its own service stations. Further, the company in its materials indicates a transition to a strategy of "cautious expansion" and "effective growth."
Trani said that the company now occupies around 40% of the Russian carsharing market in terms of the size of its car fleet, which totals 30,700 cars (in 2024, the company increased its fleet by 19% to 31,700 cars).
The company has not yet changed its strategic goals for launching its services in three to five new cities annually.
About potential deals
"It will be seen later. Our future strategy will be affected, among other things, by one very important objective that we face - the purchase of another carsharing company, and we are actively looking at this direction," Trani said.
He said there is no deal yet; the discussion lasts for several months - that is, negotiations are at the initial stage.
"This is a substantive conversation, but there are no agreements. And, to be honest, we have different conversations with different contractors. We should not forget that our strategy provides for development in the regions, we have always believed in it and continue to believe in it. And the opinion that we have only four carsharing companies is wrong. There are four carsharing companies in Moscow, and more in the regions. Thus, we are considering the possibility of buying both a company from the "four" and a company that operates in the regions," he said.
About the Italian approach to business
The founder of Delimobil, who indirectly owns a 53.25% stake (data from the bond issue prospectus published in July 2025), has no plans to sell the business.
"If you look at the founders of Italian companies, you very rarely see a founder who sold his business. It's also rare to see founders who work with someone in equal partnership within the company they established. Why is that? Because business is a family for us. We run this business as if it were a child, and our team members are already family members for us. That's why I look at Delimobil as my child, and at my colleagues as part of the family. I have no other children besides my business. This is very important for understanding the psychology behind it. That is why there are no plans to sell Delimobil," Trani said, explaining his approach to doing business.
Nevertheless, if at some point a potential partner appears, cooperation with which will lead to a multiple growth of the business, Trani admits willingness to work with him. However, to date, he does not see a potential partner with sufficient expertise on the market.
"The question is different, what's good for the company. If at some point - through cooperation or a merger or other formats - the company could objectively become 6-7 times larger, because [a potential] partner is able to provide something that I can't, then such a move would make sense, to give up part of the share so that the company could take off. As of today, I see that the company can continue to grow comparable to how it has done throughout this time with me, and today there is no other [potential] shareholder, who could make the company develop faster. This is because there is no experience. I discovered the carsharing market in Russia, I have been immersed in it from the very beginning, and I know the difficulties, pros and cons. Therefore, I believe that I can provide the maximum value in this company as a shareholder. It is for this reason that I do not plan to leave the shareholder group. But if a shareholder appears who essentially proves that, thanks to him, the company is capable of growing 6-8 times, I would be ready with him," the Delimobil founder said.
Speculating about the threshold below which Trani is not prepared to reduce his stake in Delimobil, he said, "Frankly, it's so unpleasant for me to think about it that I would say I don't want to reduce my stake even by 0.1%. And that's why we went to the IPO with a small share [the free float was 9%]. Now we do not plan to expand the shareholders, the company can develop on its own. Therefore, let's just say, except for urgent offers, which can be really very, very useful... I think I'm like Giorgio Armani, I'm going to die working for this company, in this office."
About regulatory issues
During the disclosure of its semi-annual financial results, Delimobil's top management estimated the negative impact of geolocation issues at up to 10% of revenue. Geolocation and mobile Internet issues have been observed since 2022, but they have deteriorated over the past one to two months, Delimobil said in August. This results in users being unable to find a car based on the location specified in the app; on the other hand, mechanics are not always able to swiftly locate a car for its maintenance.
Trani said that the company has requested to be included in the list of websites that will continue operating amid Internet restrictions. However, the company does not expect "an improvement in the geolocation situation by the end of 2025" (although it very much hopes so), and is developing its own solutions to improve vehicle identification and location (using photographs).
As for the verification of carsharing users in Moscow via the Mos.ru website, which was introduced on September 1, Trani views such restrictions as a means of "cleansing" the market.
"I view various restrictions with a high degree of optimism because they are 'cleansing' the market. There are different types of clients and different problems that they can create. Mos.ru is a good system that increases the digitalization of the city and can provide a certain level of security, which could cut costs for carsharing companies. Therefore, I am not pessimistic about this decision. The work on Mos.ru is carried out in partnership with the city, we are moving along the same trajectory, we know in advance in which direction this movement is going - we are very grateful to the city for such a relationship. So far, this innovation hasn't affected our performance," he said.
Delimobil was launched in 2015 and is currently represented in 16 cities across Russia. In H1 2025, Delimobil's revenue rose 16% to 14.7 billion rubles. EBITDA fell 34% to 1.9 billion rubles, while the EBITDA margin stood at 13%, compared to 23% in 2024.
