Russian Portal Cian Continues to Benefit from Russian Investor Reversion to Real Estate in Q1

The leading Russian real estate vertical operator Cian PLC has released its results for Q1 of the 2023 financial year. Highlights of Cian's performance for the three months ended March 31st include:

• Revenue increased by 39% year-on-year to RUB 2,402 million ($31.2 million).
• Profit for the period amounted to RUB 211 million ($2.7 million).
• The Adjusted EBITDA Margin increased by 11.5 pp year-on-year to 14.7%

The company's revenue and profit have continued a healthy streak despite the war in Ukraine. The portal has been benefitting from the increased demand for real estate among wealthy Russians as other avenues of investment become more risky or even illegal.

Commenting on the first quarter results, Dmitriy Grigoriev, Chief Executive Officer of Cian, said:

“Our business continues to show steady revenue growth backed by positive signals of a gradual demand recovery. Among other things, it sets the backdrop to allow our business to continue growing at a good pace. We believe it is crucial to leverage part of this growth to support our market positions in our key regions."

Cian's results were affected by a favourable comparison period with demand much more stable this year than at the beginning of 2022 for obvious reasons.

While the company's core business has flourished over recent quarters and its mortgage business hasn't suffered unduly, Cian's adjacent revenue streams have seen revenues decrease sharply.

When it floated on the NYSE the portal company had high hopes for its market intelligence and valuation service, a C2C rentals segment and an end-to-end convenience product offering. In its Q1 filings, Cian said that these business lines that constitute its 'Other' segment saw revenues fall 49% year on year to stand at around 18 million Rubles (around $200,000).

Cian floated on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2021 bringing in $290 million. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 Russian companies have been subject to sanctions and removed from American exchanges.

Although Cian is technically based in Cyprus, it too has also been de-listed from the NYSE. The company's latest missive to investors stated that Cian has appealed against the delisting and that the appeal process is ongoing.