CONSENSUS: Mail.ru Group nearly doubles net profit in H1
MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax) - Russian Internet company Mail.ru Group almost doubled its net profit in the first half of 2011 to $73 million, according to a consensus forecast.
Analysts polled by Interfax reckon Mail.ru net profit totaled $73.08 million in the first half, 91.8% up on the same period of 2010.
Revenue is expected to be up 61% to $221.16 million and the consensus on EBITDA is an 85% climb to $99.4 million.
JP Morgan analysts say the Mail.ru Group leadership adopted a conservative plan for the 2011 financial year, envisaging a 30% rise in revenue. New forecasts for the development of the Russian online advertising market has made JP Morgan increase its first half results forecast for Mail.ru Group.
Mail.ru Group owns the Mail.ru internet resource and ICQ instant messaging service outright, 21.35% of the Qiwi payment service, 2.33% of Facebook, 1.41% of games producer Zynga and 4.63% of the Groupon discount service. The company also controls 97% of HeadHunter.ru, 100% of the Odnoklassniki social network and 39.99% of the Vkontakte social network.
The main shareholders of Mail.ru Group are Alisher Usmanov structures, South-African holding company Naspers and Chinese company Tencent, which together own 81.14% of votes and 60.34% of capital.
Mail.ru Group got listed on the LSE in early November 2010, placing GDR at the upper end of the price range - $27.7.
The company will publish its first half 2011 report on Wednesday, August 31.
Table of forecasts for Mail.ru Group (mln $)
| Company | Revenue | EBITDA | EBITDA margin, % | Net profit |
| JPMorgan | 227 | 98 | 43 | 75 |
| Alfa Bank | 218 | 99 | 45,4 | 76 |
| Bank of America Merrill Lynch | 217 | 104,2 | 48 | 73.9 |
| Otkrytie Bank | 219 | 95 | 43,5 | 71 |
| The Goldman Sachs Group | 223 | 98 | 44 | 68,7 |
| VTB Capital | 223 | 102,4 | 46 | 73,9 |
| Concensus | 221,16 | 99,4 | 44,98 | 73,08 |
| Change (%) | 61 | 85 | 14,7 | 91,8 |
| H1 2010 results | 137,2 | 53,7 | 39,2 | 38,1 |