OREANDA-NEWS. OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding (Rosinter), the leading casual dining restaurants chain in Russia and CIS (Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS ticker: ROST), announced its unaudited financial results for 1H 2014 prepared in accordance with IFRS.

1H 2014 HIGHLIGHTS

Consolidated net revenue stood at RUB 4 703 mln

Revenue from restaurants decreased by (4.4)% to RUB 4 490 mln compared with 1H 2013

Operating profit before impairment amounted to RUB 207 mln for an operating margin before impairment of 4.4% compared with a margin of 3.3% in 1H 2013

EBITDA before impairment and write-offs amounted to RUB 376 mln for a margin of 8%

EBITDA amounted to RUB 359 mln and EBITDA margin stood at 7.6% compared with a margin of 5.5% in 1H 2013

Net profit for the period amounted to RUB 57 mln and net profit for the period margin stood at 1.2% compared with loss for the period margin of (0.9)% in 1H 2013

As of June 30, 2014 gross debt was RUB 1 480 mln, that was 100% long-term debt in total

Net debt stood at RUB 1 313 mln, leading to a Net debt/EBITDA before impairment and write offs of 2.5x as of June 30, 2014 in comparison with 3.3x as of December 31, 2013

Sergey Zaytsev, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"In the first half of 2014, our company has successfully continued the expansion of activities in transport hubs. During this period we opened 7 new restaurants and coffee shops in Kazansky, Belorussky, Paveletsky and Leningradsky Moscow railway stations. As of June 30 2014, Rosinter operates 54 stores in transport hubs.

We continued a strategy of portfolio optimization and focused business development throughout all territories of our presence. As a part of the strategy we sold our operations in Poland to a franchisee.

During the spring of 2014 we successfully launched two marketing campaigns. One to celebrate the 15th anniversary of one of our key brands, Planet Sushi, and the second was a promo-campaign for IL Patio, "Rome Vacations", offering a special spring menu that supported average check in challenging economic environment.

The slowdown of consumer spending affected our restaurant revenues. However the revitalization of brands and the optimization of fixed costs contributed to support our operational efficiency. Currently we have 14 revitalized restaurants in our portfolio that all deliver positive sales growth. Also, the optimization of fixed costs, such as headcount reduction in our support center with a corresponding payroll expense decrease by 12.3% compared to 6M 2013 made a positive contribution to our efficiency targets.

During the second half of 2014, we are continuing our portfolio optimization. We plan to sell corporate canteens business, continue restructuring of SG&A expenses and management processes as well as focusing on the further development of our business in transport hubs and strategic projects. At the same time, due to changes in import regulations, our target is to maintain the F&B cost keeping the high quality of our meals."