OREANDA-NEWS. September 03, 2012. In the first half of 2012 LSR Group generated RUB 22,681m of revenues and RUB 4,666m of EBITDA

Sales revenue amounted to RUB 22,681m

EBITDA amounted to RUB 4,666m

EBITDA margin was 21%

Operating profit amounted to RUB 2,306m

Normalised operating profit amounted to RUB 3,450m

Net profit amounted to RUB 257m
 
Aleksandr Vakhmistrov, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of LSR Group comments:

The positive trends observed in the construction market during 2011 continued in 1H 2012.

The renewed activity of customers provided a significant boost to our housing sales in all regions of operations. In particular, in St. Petersburg our new contract sales exceeded the pre-crisis level already in 1Q 2012. During the reported period in all regions of operations we signed new contracts for the sale of 198 th m2, up 68% on 1H 2011.  The total value of the contracts signed with our customers for the sale of apartments and other premises amounted to RUB 17.2bn, up 87% against 1H 2011. As part of our expansion strategy in the Moscow region we significantly increased the scope of our real estate development operations and signed new contracts with the customers for the sale of almost 40 th m2, up 375% against 1H 2011.

Mortgage lending remains one of the key drivers of the growing housing demand. In 1H 2012, approximately 30% of our sales in the mass market segment were financed through mortgages.

The financial results of our development business in 1H 2012 reflect transfers in line with our construction schedule and our sales of the previous years, according to IFRS. Thus, strong sales during the reported period are expected to push up the financial performance of our real estate development business in future.

In 1H 2012, building materials market saw positive trends both in terms of volumes and prices. As a result we increased our sales and profitability in all key product segments. In Q2 2012, our cement plant in Slantsy (Leningrad region) reached its full capacity. At the end of June 2012, we put into operation our brick plant in the Moscow region with an annual capacity of 70 million bricks. We expect that both facilities would contribute significantly to our financial results already in 2H 2012. Construction of our new brick plant in the Leningrad region is kept on schedule.

We believe there are good perspectives for further development of our business in 2H 2012. In real estate development we intend to start pre-sales in several large projects and continue to expand our operations in the Moscow region. We also expect further growth of building materials market driven by both residential construction and large infrastructure projects.