OREANDA-NEWS. November 7, 2012. OJSC “Magnit” (the “Company”; MICEX and LSE: MGNT) is pleased to announce its unaudited 9M 2012 financial results prepared in accordance with IFRS2.

During 9M 2012 the Company added (net) 810 stores (517 convenience stores, 15 hypermarkets, 8 “Magnit Family” stores and 270 cosmetics stores) and increased its selling space by 29.90% in comparison to 9M 2011 from 1,740.42 thousand sq. m. to 2,260.88 thousand sq. m. The total store base as of September 30, 2012 reached 6,119 stores (5,523 convenience stores, 105 hypermarkets, 11 “Magnit Family” stores and 480 cosmetics stores).

Revenue in rubles increased by 33.02% YoY from 240,181.59 million RUR in 9M 2011 to 319,485.04 million RUR in 9M 2012. The top line growth was due to an increase in selling space as well as to a 4.60% increase of like-for-like sales (excl. VAT). Revenue growth in dollar terms amounted to 23.04%: from USD 8,349.38 million to USD 10,273.36 million.3

Gross margin grew from 23.38% in 9M 2011 to 26.07% in 9M 2012. Gross profit in rubles increased by 48.32% from 56,161.42 million RUR (USD 1,952.33 million) to 83,299.50 million RUR (USD 2,678.58 million).

EBITDA increased by 89.41% from 17,287.04 million RUR (USD 600.95 million) in 9M 2011 to 32,743.51 million RUR (USD 1,052.90 million) in 9M 2012. EBITDA margin in 9M 2012 amounted to 10.25% which is 3.05% above the figure of 9M 2011 (7.20%).

9M 2012 net income increased by 140.59% and amounted to 16,791.15 million RUR (USD 539.94 million) vs. 6,979.03 million RUR (USD 242.61 million) in 9M 2011.

Sergey Galitskiy, the Company’s CEO, provided the following comments on the published results:

"One analyst, whom I respect, asked the question, 'Will Magnit surprise again.' Yes, once again we have delivered very good results but please understand that this is not the most crucial thing for us. Rather, the most important objective for us is to build a competitive business model. It is the market that will determine the level of the EBITDA margin."