OREANDA-NEWS. Lebedyansky has made public its unaudited M907 financial statement drafted to IFRS, according  to which  its  revenue surged 34.7% y-o-y  to $699.9 mn  (nevertheless falling short of Antanta Capital analysts' forecast of $722.3 mn), EBITDA rose 13.8% y-o-y to $125.5 mn (vs. $140.9 mn ) and net income dipped 5.6% y-o-y to $69 mn (vs. $81.6 mn).Selling expenses climbed a whopping 59% y-o-y to $147.9 mn in the reporting period and administrative and general expenses jumped 57% y-o-y to $44.9 mn on the back of higher transport, warehouse and payroll costs. That said, transport costs rose by 42% per  liter of  the  food maker’s beverage products, a 34%  increase coming  from higher cargo rates and 5.3% due to real ruble appreciation against the US dollar. Warehouse costs rose by 58% per liter pushed up by a seasonal 11%  increase  in  rented storage space, a higher rate of damaged goods written off due to a shortage of storage space at Lebedyan-based production units (which translated into a 14% increase in warehouse costs per liter), a 16% hike in warehousing charges and 5.3% appreciation of the Russian ruble against the dollar. It is noteworthy that Lebedyansky lifted its capital spending 59% y-o-y to $85 mn in M907.

The company’s  sales were  further dented by  seasonality and  rising competition  from other juice producers. As a result, its share of the juice market contracted. According to AC Nielsen, Lebedyansky accounted for 30% (27.5%, excluding Troya Ultra) in terms of volume on the Russian juice market as of late Q307 and 30.7% (28.8%, excluding Troya Ultra) in terms of value. AC Nielsen’s estimates made late in 2006 were 33.2% (30.2%, excluding Troya Ultra) in terms of volume and 34% in terms of value (31.7%, excluding Troya Ultra). That said, upbeat trends were observed in the baby food and mineral water segments.