Russian retailer Magnit booked a 71.62% increase in full-year EBITDA today (22 January), driven by improved margins and higher sales.
The company said that EBITDA rose from RUB27.6bn (US$939.3m) in 2011 to RUB47.37bn in 2012. In 2012, the group was able to strengthen its EBITDA margin, which rose to 10.56%, up from 8.22% in 2011.
Total sales rose 34% during the period, climbing to RUB335.7bn. Growth was driven by space expansion. Throughout 2012, the group opened 1,575 stores. Of these 1,040 were convenience outlets.
Like-for-like sales were also up, climbing 5.26% excluding VAT.
Commenting on the result, CEO Sergey Galitskiy said Magnit intends to invest US$1.8bn as it looks to drive higher sales through space expansion in 2013.
“We are already thinking of 2013 and have set a challenging task for ourselves
to open over 1,100 convenience stores, over 60 stores of the hypermarket and
Magnit family format, and 250 cosmetics stores,” he revealed.
