Russian Real Estate Portal Cian Sees Record Revenue and Profit in Q3

The Russian real estate portal company Cian has released a report on its activities for the third quarter of the financial year. Highlights of the most profitable three months since the firm went public include:

• Revenue was up 44% year-on-year at RUB 3,238 million ($33.2 million).
• Profit was up 114% year-on-year at RUB 812 million ($8.3 million).
• Adjusted EBITDA Margin increased by 9.0 pp to 33.5%.

Commenting on the results, Cian's CEO, Dmitriy Grigoriev said:

“Our company demonstrated solid performance of its Core Business and transactional services even in the challenging macroeconomic environment. Cian maintains its focus on the [sic] growth supported by robust profitability. Q3 results proved once again that our business can be characterized as counter-cyclical: while content generally decreases during periods of high activity in the secondary market, pay-for-action verticals, such as primary real estate and mortgage marketplace, have been growing quite actively. We continued strengthening our transactional business by acquiring 100% of SmartDeal – a leading player in the Russian market for e-registration of property deals.”

Although Russia's invasion of Ukraine may have led to Cian's American depositary shares (ADSs) being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, a decision which was held up by the exchange in July, it has led to an increase in Russians investing in real estate which has benefitted the portal's business.

Cian also noted in its report to investors that the Russian market saw a surge in demand for primary real estate in the quarter because of changes in government mortgage programs.

The company's core business saw revenue increase by 41% compared to the comparison period of 2022. There was an uptick in all key revenue streams including listing revenue, lead generation and display advertising revenue.

Cian also saw spectacular year-on-year growth in its mortgage marketplace and end-to-end transaction offerings. It has now amalgamated these revenue streams in its reporting along with its data services into a 'Transactional Services' segment which saw revenues of RUB 202 million, up 169% year-on-year.

The third quarter also saw Cian close the acquisition of the online transaction specialist SmartDeal for an undisclosed sum.