Magnit might raise interim dividends to 40% of net profit
MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - Magnit might set aside 40% of net profit for interim dividends for the first half of this year, rather than 25-30% as stated in previous guidance, the Russian retailer's CEO, Sergei Galitsky told analysts following the release of results for the first quarter, Deutsche Bank said in a report.
The company paid out about 30% of net profit - 4.355 billion rubles of 14.52 billion rubles - in dividends for the first half of 2013. Magnit first began to pay interim dividends in 2012.
Galitsky said in January 2013 that Magnit planned to set aside 25-30% of net profit for dividends in the next two to three years.
The company released unaudited IFRS results for the first quarter of 2014 on Tuesday, showing net profit up 13.52% year-on-year to 6.988 billion rubles.
It was reported earlier that Magnit plans to pay dividends of 89.15 rubles per common share, or a total of 8.43 billion rubles for 2013. With interim dividends, the overall payout for last year will amount to 12.8 billion rubles, or 36% of the year's net profit of 35.6 billion rubles.
Galitsky said on Tuesday that Magnit does not intend to change its guidance for sales and EBITDA margin for 2014. The company said in January that it expects sales to grow 22-24% in 2014, but closer to the higher figure, and the EBITDA margin to be 10.5%.
Magnit's EBITDA grew 21.82% to 14.88 billion rubles in the first quarter as sales grew 24.95% to 163.99 billion rubles. The EBITDA margin dropped to 9.07% in the quarter from 9.31% a year earlier, due to growth of marketing and general expenses, as well as the company's entry into the Moscow and St. Petersburg markets, where rents and wages are higher.