Russian retailer Magnit has reported like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 5.5% in its full financial year 2023.
Net retail sales amounted to RUB 2.5 billion (€25 million) during the year, reflecting a 9.1% year-on-year increase compared to 2022.
Gross profit increased by 7.8% year on year to RUB 577.3 billion (€5.8 billion), while gross margin decreased by 8 bps to 22.7% as the company intensified promotions and witnessed higher shrinkage.
EBITDA for the full-year amounted to RUB 166.3 billion (€1.7 billion) with a 6.5% margin, driven by gross margin and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expense dynamics.
Net income increased by 94.0% year on year, to RUB 66.1 billion (€670 million), with margins up 115 bps year on year to 2.6%.
Elsewhere, e-commerce GMV amounted to RUB 16.7 billion (€170 million) in the fourth quarter, while total e-commerce GMV, including VAT, for the full year 2023 reached RUB 46.1 billion (€470 million).
Magnit noted that its net retail sales growth continued to outpace selling space growth due to better sales densities.
Fourth-Quarter Highlights
Overall sales densities in improved by 3.6% year on year during the fourth quarter, while across Magnit supermarkets it increased by 5.2%.
Magnit's convenience segment accounted for 70% of net retail sales in this period, while the supermarket format generated 10.2% of net retail sales.
Dixy stores' share in net retail sales remained flat at 11.1% in the reported quarter.
Share Purchase
In November of last year, the Russian retailer purchased an additional block of shares from foreign shareholders, completing a buyback worth around $736 million that has given Western investors a chance to recoup some assets stranded in Russia.
Magnit bought back outstanding shares worth around 48.5 billion RUB ($540.6 million) in September 2023, but held an additional tender offer of 7,899,569 shares, equating to approximately 7.8% of all those issued, to give more investors the opportunity to exit Russian asset holdings.
