O'KEY Group Reports Financial Results for Fiscal Year 2023

O'KEY Group S.A., a prominent food retailer in Russia, disclosed its financial outcomes for 2023. The report highlights a 2.8% year-over-year increase in total revenue, reaching RUB 207.9 billion. This growth was primarily propelled by the revenue expansion of DA! discount stores.

The Group's gross profit experienced a 1.8% rise, totaling RUB 47.7 billion, despite a slight decrease in gross margin to 22.9%. The decline in margin was attributed to higher transportation costs, albeit somewhat mitigated by lower shrinkage expenses. EBITDA remained steady at RUB 17.0 billion, although the EBITDA margin saw a minor reduction of 0.2 percentage points to 8.2%.

Financial challenges persisted, evidenced by a net loss of RUB 2.9 billion for the year, a downturn from the previous year's net profit of RUB 0.2 billion. The loss was largely due to non-cash foreign exchange losses and elevated finance costs. Rental income, however, showed a positive trajectory, increasing by 6.2% to RUB 2,093 million.

On the expenditure front, Selling, General and Administrative Expenses (SG&A) climbed by 5.3% to RUB 42.5 billion. This increase was notably in personnel costs and utilities, linked to the expansion and growth of the discounter segment.