X5 Retail net profit rose 25% to 2.5 bln rubles in Q1, below forecast
MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - X5 Retail Group boosted IFRS net profit 24.7% to 2.469 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2014, the company said in an interim financial statement.
Net profit in dollar terms rose 8.5% to $70.6 million in the quarter, below the $75.4 million contained in a consensus forecast compiled by Interfax.
X5's EBITDA margin in the three months was 6.8%, unchanged from a year earlier but slightly lower than the consensus forecast of 6.9%.
EBITDA was up 13.3% to 9.796 billion rubles but down 1.4% in dollar terms of $280.2 million, just below the consensus forecast of $284.9 million.
Similarly, gross profit rose 12.1% to 34.646 billion rubles but declined 2.5% in dollar terms to $991. The gross profit margin edged down to 24% from 24.4% a year earlier.
Revenue rose 13.9% to 144.167 billion rubles in the three months but was down 0.9% in dollar terms to $4.124 billion.
"X5 also announced that with effect from Q1 2014, the Company has changed its presentation currency from the U.S. dollar to the ruble, in order to eliminate exchange rate volatility and improve comparability of presented results with prior years' figures," the statement says.
The average ticket increased 8.9% in the three months year-on-year and the number of customers rose 4.8%.
The 0.4 percentage point decline in the gross profit margin "was primarily due to the lower commercial margin at Perekrestok and Karusel due to an increase in promotional campaigns at these formats as well as X5's overall stable price environment before and after the 2014 New Year holiday. These were partially offset by an improvement in Pyaterochka's Q1 2014 commercial margin, lower Company shrinkage and to a lesser extent logistics costs in Q1 2014," it says.
General, administrative and sales expenses were up 13.9% to 30.791 billion rubles in the period. Expenses as a percentage of revenue remained unchanged from a year earlier at 21.4%.
Net finance costs edged down 0.8% to 2.674 billion rubles. X5 had an exchange rate loss totaling 25 million rubles in the quarter, compared with a gain of 50 million rubles a year earlier.
The operating profit amounted to 5.907 billion rubles, 11.8% more than a year earlier.
X5's consolidated cash flow in the quarter was negative 4.632 billion rubles compared with positive 866 million rubles in the same period last year "primarily due to a negative change in working capital that was partially offset by lower income tax paid and higher net cash from operating activities before changes in working capital," the statement says.
"Net cash used in investing activities, which generally consisted of payments for property, plant and equipment totaled 4.289 billion rubles in Q1 2014, compared to 3.204 billion rubles in Q1 2013, and reflects higher expenditures for store expansion and refurbishment," it says.
Total debt was 116.735 billion rubles as of the end of March, up from 110.523 billion rubles at the end of 2013. Long-term debt accounted for 72.4% of the total.
Net debt at the end of March amounted to 111.91 billion rubles, up from 102.911 billion rubles. All of the debt is denominated in rubles.
The net debt/EBITDA ratio was 2.83 at the end of March, up from 2.68 at year-end 2013.
