Mail.ru expecting revenue growth of 7%-12% in 2015, forecasting EBITDA margin at 46%-47%
MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Mail.ru Group is expecting revenue growth of 7%-12% and forecasting EBITDA margin in the range of 46%-47% in 2015.
"Based on current visibility and current market conditions, we expect FY 2015 revenue growth, including both VK and Headhunter on a pro-forma basis, to be between 7%-12%," the statement cited Mail.ru CEO and board of directors chairman Dmitry Grishin as saying.
"While we have managed to offset some of the FX impact on USD based costs there is still some impact, and hence we anticipate full year EBITDA margins at between 46-47%," he said.
"Our engagement with users remains very strong, and user behavior remains unchanged. International initiatives under the my.com brand are going well and VK [VKontakte] presents a number of opportunities. However there is no change in the underlying environment from what we said previously, and hence forecasting remains problematic," Grishin said.
"As such we do not anticipate any near or medium term improvement in the display revenues, or in the Headhunter business. Notwithstanding this, we see a number of opportunities in mobile and video advertising, and in our games business," Grishin said. "We continue to maintain tight cost control, however we are somewhat impacted by forex headwinds as some of our costs are dollar-denominated," he said.
The revenue of Mail.ru Group Ltd. was 35.8 billion rubles in 2014, which is 14.8% more than the figure for 2013. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 13.5% to 18.3 billion rubles. EBITDA margin fell to 51.1% from 51.7%. Net profit rose by 11.4% to 12.5 billion rubles.
These results are presented with account of the full consolidation of social network VK from the beginning of 2013. The revenue of VKontakte for 2014 was 4.3 billion rubles, which is 12.9% more than in 2013. EBITDA was 1.6 billion rubles, which is 54.9% more than in 2013. In Q4 2014 VK's revenue rose 22.6% to 1.3 billion rubles.
Mail.ru's net debt as at December 31, 2014 was 16.9 billion rubles.
According to the information and analytical terminal EFIR-Interfax, at present the consensus forecast for the revenue of Mail.ru in 2015, which is based on the estimates of investment bank analysts, is 35.8 billion rubles. Meanwhile, because the actual data on the company's revenue for 2014 turned out to be higher than analyst estimates, it is possible that they will review their estimates for 2015 and go towards raising them. Moreover, the consensus forecast of the rate of revenue growth for Mail.ru in 2015 in comparison to 2014 corresponds with the expectations of the issuer. So, analysts, before the publication of the report, expected that in 2014 Mail.ru's revenue would be 32.4 billion rubles (according to the report it was 35.8 billion rubles). So the consensus forecast of Mail.ru's revenue growth rate in 2015 amounted to 10.4%.
The consensus forecast of Mail.ru's margin in 2015, based on the estimates of investment bank analysts, is at present 47.8