OREANDA-NEWS. On 11 February 2009 LSR Group, one of the leading real estate developers and building materials producers in Russia (LSE: LSRG, MICEX, RTS: LSRG), announced its sales results for the full year of 2008.

Elite Real Estate

In 2008 LSR Group signed the new sales contracts with the customers for 27 th m2 of net sellable area worth USD  288m, 83% more than in 2007, in elite real estate segment in St Petersburg.

18 th m2 of net sellable area in the completed projects were transferred to the customers. The decrease of the volumes transferred to customers against the previous year was determined by the construction schedule. The majority of 2008 completions were made in the second half of December and the completed apartments will be transferred to the customers and therefore reflected in the results of 2009.

In 2008 the company completed the development of the second and third phases of elite residential complex “Dom u Morya” (“Seaside House”) of net sellable area of 11 th m2, the residential building which is the part of Paradny Quarter project of net sellable area of 19 th m2 and the residential building in Kammenoostrovskaya Kollektsia project of net sellable area of 13 th m2.

Mass Market Residential Real Estate

In 2008 LSR Group signed the new sales contracts with the customers for 166 th m2 of net sellable area (including 25 th m2 in Yekaterinburg by the development company ZAO Nova Stroy acquired by LSR Group and consolidated starting from 1 September 2008) worth USD  490m,75% more than in 2007, in mass market residential houses.

128 th m2 of net sellable area in the completed projects were transferred to the customers, including 43 th m2 in Yekaterinburg. The decrease of the volumes transferred to customers against the previous year was determined by the construction schedule. The majority of 2008 completions were made in the second half of December and the completed apartments will be transferred to the customers and therefore reflected in the financial results in the beginning of 2009.

In 2008 the company completed the development of the three buildings of net sellable area of more than 25 th m2 in the mass market residential complex “Pulkovsky Posad”, one residential building in Komendantskiy prospect of net sellable area of 12,4 th m2, six residential buildings of net sellable area of 62 th m2 in the project “Dolgoozerniy” and two residential buildings of net sellable area of 22 th m2 in the project “Antey” in St Petersburg. In addition ZAO Nova-Story completed the development of 8 residential buildings of net sellable area of 50 th m2 from 1 September 2008 (Totally in 2008 Nova-Stroy completed 81.2 th sq. m. of net sellable area of real estate).

Commercial Real Estate

The occupancy rates of LSR Group’s three operating office centres Apollo, Gelios and Litera remained unchanged throughout 2008 and stood at 99%.

In the 3rd quarter of 2008 the company completed the development of the three new office buildings of 15 th m2 total area (10.6 th m2 of total net lettable area). All the three building are the part of “Paradny Quarter” project. LSR Group sold out one of the buildings of 5 th m2 of total area. The amount of the deal has not been disclosed due to confidentiality agreement.

Gated Communities and Moscow Real Estate Business Units

In 2008 LSR Group Gated Communities and Moscow Real Estate Business Units signed new contracts with the buyers for sales of real estate worth USD 37 m, 6% more than in 2007.

Prefabricated Panel Construction

In 2008 the prefabricated panel factories of LSR Group built and transferred to the customers in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg 464 th m2 of panel houses, 49% more than in 2007. Also starting from April 2008 when LSR Group consolidated control over prefabricated panel factory OJSC Betfor Reinforced Concrete Factory in Yekaterinburg, it sold to the customers 70 th m3 of panels for panel housing construction.

Building  Materials

In 2008 LSR Group sold 632 th m3 of reinforced concrete products (including 82 th m3 sold in Yekaterinburg) which is 9% more than in f 2007.

For aerated concrete the quantity sold was 914 th m3 (incliding 79 th m3 sold in Yekaterinburg), 65% increase against 2007. The increase of sales was driven by high demand, acquisitions of the production assets in Yekaterinburg and Ukraine,  starting up  the brand-new aerated concrete factory in Ukraine and extra sales via distribution contracts where LSR Group acted as a dealer of the 3rd party product. The sales volume of 3rd party aerated concrete was 191 th m3 in 2008 (included in the data in the table above).

The sales volume of the ready-mix concrete was 1,507 th m3, 6% less than in 2007.

The sales volume of bricks was 265 mn units which is 8% less than in 2007. The decrease of sales of bricks  and ready-mix concrete occurred in the second part of 2008 and was driven by the delays of the start of the number of new construction projects in residential and commercial real estate segments in St Petersburg and Moscow.

Aggregates

In 2008 LSR Group sold 18 mn m3 of sand which is 34% more than in 2007 and 5.4 mn m3 of crushed granite which is 27% more than in 2007.

The growth of sales was driven by high demand in infrastructure sector and the increase of production capacity: the Sand BU increased capacity by modernization and addition of the equipment to the quarries and started the extraction works in two new deposits; the Crushed Granite BU put into operation the new mobile crushing plant with annual capacity of 600 th m3, the new crushed granite deposit and opened the extra storage and distribution facilities in St Petersburg. 344 th m3 of crushed granite was sold via distribution contracts where LSR Group acted as a dealer of the 3rd party product. Also in August 2008 LSR Group consolidated control over the crushed granite producer in Yekaterinburg which sold 102 th m3 of crushed granite from 1 August.

Construction Services

LSR Group increased its sales volume in the construction services segment. The volume of tower cranes services provided in 2008 grew by 21% compared to the same period last year.

Notes:

1. The sales volumes in this press release has been rounded to the nearest thousand while percentage changes in them has been calculated using data in units.

2. LSR Group’s functional currency is the Russian Rouble. The financial data in this press-release has been convertered into the US Dollars at the average RUR/USD  exchange rate for 2008, which is 24.8553.

3. The sales volumes in Yekaterinburg are included in the tables above starting from the month in which LSR Group consolidated control over the acquired business units in Yekaterinburg in 2008 namely:

       - panels for panel housing construction, reinforced concrete products, ready-mix concrete , aerated concrete: starting from 1 April 2008;

       - crushed granite: starting from 1 August 2008;

       - development and construction: from 1 September 2008.