IPO of Kaluga's Kristall distillery might be moved to Feb - organizer

MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - The IPO of Kaluga's Kristall Distillery scheduled for January could be pushed back to February.

"At the moment we are expecting to receive all the necessary documents from the Central Bank. However, if the regulator requests additional data, the placement will be carried out in February," Alexey Kurasov, head of corporate finance at Financial Group Finam (placement organizer), told Interfax.

As reported, Kristall was planning to list on the Moscow Exchange in December 2023, and then postponed it to January 2024.

During the IPO, the company plans to raise 1.5 billion rubles, which it intends to use for the development of production, logistics and marketing.

Currently, the company has an investment program designating 2.5 billion rubles over the next three years for the development of production (0.9 billion rubles), logistics (0.6 billion rubles to build a 15,000 sq. m. warehouse), and marketing (1 billion rubles to promote new products, including replacing delisted brands).

The investor presentation shows that revenue in 2024 is projected to be 7.151 billion rubles versus an estimated 3.578 billion rubles in 2023 (results have not yet been published). In 2025, revenue is forecast at 12.455 billion rubles and at 18.275 billion rubles in 2026.

The growth in financial indicators is expected to be achieved through increased production. Moreover, as noted in the presentation, a minimal increase in vodka production and an annual doubling of other alcoholic beverage production are envisaged. Vodka production in 2024 is forecast at 17.3 million liters (the same as in 2023). In 2025, vodka production could rise to 18.2 million liters, and then to 19.1 million liters in 2026. Meanwhile, the production of other alcoholic beverages is estimated at 19.7 million liters in 2024 (the forecast for 2023 was 6.6 million liters), 39.4 million liters in 2025, and 59 million liters in 2026.

The company's key objective is to increase its share of the non-vodka alcoholic beverage market to 18% by 2026.

In H1 2023, the company's revenue totaled 1.499 billion rubles against 764 million rubles the previous year. EBITDA came in at 130 million rubles versus 91 million rubles, respectively.

Kristall first entered the debt market in March 2023, placing three-year bonds on the MOEX worth 300 million rubles with a quarterly coupon and a yield to maturity of 14.21%.

The Kristall plant is located in Obninsk (Kaluga region). The owner of the company is businessman Pavel Pobedkin.

According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, Pobedkin established JSC Kristall Alcohol Group at the end of September with a charter capital of 8 million rubles.