O'Key boosts net profit 44% in 2012, above forecast
MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - Retailer O'Key boosted its net profit by 44.4% to 4.679 billion rubles in 2012, the company reported.
This was higher than the prediction voiced by a consensus forecast compiled by Interfax (4.022 billion rubles).
Earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 25.5% to 9.427 billion rubles last year, whereas the EBITDA margin edged down from 8.1% to 8%. According to the consensus forecast, EBITDA should have been 9.3 billion rubles, and the margin should have been 7.9%.
The net margin rose from 3.5% to 4% last year. Basic and diluted earnings per share soared 45% to 17.4 rubles, compared to 12 rubles in 2011.
Gross profit climbed 29.8% to 27.627 billion rubles last year, and the gross margin reached a record level of 23.5%, compared to 22.8% in 2011, "following an improvement in purchasing conditions driven by the increased scale of O'Key's operations and the
group's growing purchasing power," the statement said.
The retailer grew its revenues by 26% to 117.33 billion rubles in 2012 thanks to an increase in selling space and 7% like-for-like sales growth (due, in turn, to a 4.3% rise in the average check and a 2.5% increase in traffic).
"We are delighted with the progress we made during 2012, having enjoyed a successful year on several fronts. We grew our retail revenues by 25.7% to 115.9 billion rubles, or by 7% on a like-for-like basis, to deliver on the sales and LFL revenue targets that were set at the beginning of 2012," CEO Patrick Longuet is quoted as saying in the statement.
"Furthermore, our EBITDA margin of 8% demonstrates that our focus on delivering exceptional customer experience is generating high returns," he said.
"We opened 12 new stores during 2012, which included openings in four new cities, ensuring that O'Key is well on its way to meeting its target of establishing a presence in 25 Russian cities by 2015. In terms of our expectations moving forward, the organic expansion of our hypermarket network remains a priority. We currently have 26 hypermarkets in our pipeline, and we are rapidly expanding our land bank to ensure that our flow of planned new store openings remains high," Longuet said.
O'Key's cost of goods sold jumped 24.8% to 89.7 billion rubles in 2012.
General, selling and administrative expenses totaled 20.36 billion rubles, or 17.4% of revenue last year, compared to 15.7 billion rubles (16.9%) in 2011. This growth was "mainly due to the growth of O'Key's operations and increased costs related to personnel, operating leases and advertising costs," the statement said.
O'Key had total debt of 13.69 billion rubles in 2012 (compared to 12.07 billion rubles in 2011), 9.86 billion of which were long-term borrowings. Net debt edged up from 9.13 billion rubles to 9.15 billion rubles, and the net debt to EBITDA ratio was down from 1.2 to 1.
O'Key operates a network of brand-name hypermarkets and O'Key Express supermarkets. It had 84 stores at the end of March, including 51 hypermarkets and 31 supermarkets with a total of 435,000 square meters of selling space, up 21.5% from a year previously.