OREANDA-NEWS. OJSC “Magnit”, Russia’s largest retailer (the “Company”; MICEX and LSE: MGNT) announces its unaudited 1H 2013 results prepared in accordance with IFRS.

During 1H 2013 the Company added (net) 532 stores (506 convenience stores, 12 hypermarkets, 6 “Magnit Family” stores and 8 cosmetics stores) and increased its selling space by 29.66% in comparison to 1H 2012 from 2,119.53 thousand sq. m. to 2,748.09 thousand sq. m. The total store base as of June 30, 2013 reached 7,416 stores (6,552 convenience stores, 138 hypermarkets, 26 “Magnit Family” stores and 700 cosmetics stores).

Revenue in rubles increased by 31.42% Y-o-Y from 207,602.53 million RUR in 1H 2012 to 272,838.04 million RUR in 1H 2013. The topline growth was due to an increase in selling space as well as to a 5.29% increase of like-for-like sales (excl. VAT). Revenue growth in dollar terms amounted to 29.82%: from USD 6,775.76 million to USD 8,796.43 million.2

Gross margin grew from 25.61% in 1H 2012 to 27.26% in 1H 2013. Gross profit in rubles increased by 39.87% from 53,175.21 million RUR (USD 1,735.54 million) to 74,374.73 million RUR (USD 2,397.88 million).

EBITDA increased by 34.25% from 20,547.29 million RUR (USD 670.63 million) in 1H 2012 to 27,583.96 million RUR (USD 889.32 million) in 1H 2013. EBITDA margin in 1H 2013 amounted to 10.11%.

1H 2013 net income increased by 39.44% and amounted to 14,520.33 million RUR (USD 468.14 million) vs. 10,413.57 million RUR (USD 339.88 million) in 1H 2012.

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

"Dear Shareholders: We continue to do quite well. I hope that our results did not dampen your summer mood."