VK Company (VKCO)
VK Company Limited audited IFRS results for FY 2021
March 3, 2022. VK Company Limited (LSE, MOEX: VKCO, hereinafter referred to as "the Company" and together with its subsidiaries "VK" or "the Group"), one of the largest companies in the Russian-speaking Internet market, today releases audited IFRS results and segment financial information for the year ended 31 December 2021.
Performance highlights* Results for the three months ended 31 December 2021:
Results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2021:
* Performance highlights are based on the Group aggregate segment financial information, which is different from IFRS accounts. See "Presentation of Aggregate Segment Financial Information".
Commenting on the results of the Group, Vladimir Kirienko, CEO (Russia) of VK, said:
"Given that this is my first reporting as the CEO of VK (Russia), I would like to discuss the key financial parameters and share my initial impressions.
First of all, we have achieved good results. In Q4, Group revenue grew by more than 12%, with Education Technology services (+38%), Other (+25%) and online advertising (around +15%) revenues showing superior growth rates. MMO Games continued to expand despite the challenging base effect, combined with no new games launches.
Q4 revenue split:
VKontakte remains the key contributor to our core online advertising revenue stream and to the largest Communications & Social (C&S) reporting segment. Its quarterly revenue reached RUB 8.1bn (+12% YoY), with Q4 providing the toughest comp within 2021 (+17.2% YoY in Q4 2020). VKontakte delivered 21.9% YoY revenue growth to RUB 27.9bn for the year and further strengthening of its leading position on the domestic social networking market remains among our major strategic priorities.
In terms of advertising products, performance remained the key driver (+20% YoY) in Q4. Within advertising formats, we saw 27% YoY growth for video.
Community IVAS (14% of Group revenue in Q4) grew by 2.9% YoY, driven by Music.
With 97% of Community IVAS and 81% of Online advertising revenues booked within the C&S segment, it saw 10.2% growth with significant margin improvement as EBITDA margin expanded to 45.7% versus 40.7% in Q4 2020, as we continued to focus on efficiency and exercise tight cost control in all the key verticals of the segment.
MMO Games (27% of Group revenue in Q4) grew by 3.3% YoY, with the overall Games segment (represented by MY.GAMES) delivering 5.1% growth to RUB 11.6bn. EBITDA of MY.GAMES was RUB 3.8bn with a margin of 32.7% compared to 24.2% in Q3 and 13% in Q4 2020. MY.GAMES delivered RUB 10.4bn in EBITDA in 2021, having more than doubled EBITDA versus 2018 level (RUB 5.0bn) a year ahead of guidance. EBITDA Margin was 23.6% for the year, a significant improvement versus 16.0% in 2020 and in line with the target low to mid-20s through-the-cycle margin for this business outlined in 2018.
EdTech segment (Skillbox Holding Limited) revenues grew by 38.1% YoY in Q4 (to RUB 3.6bn) with RUB 10.4bn in revenue delivered in 2021. EBITDA margin stood at minus 12.7% in Q4 versus minus 13.0% in Q3 given the ongoing investment into the course offer along with international experiments.
Within the New Initiatives segment, Youla remains the largest component, with RUB1.1bn in revenue in Q4 (+11% YoY). Youla delivered RUB 3.8bn in revenue in 2021, arriving within guidance of RUB 3.6-3.9bn. The EBITDA margin stood at minus 20% in Q4 2021 versus minus 59% in Q4 2020.
For the year, VK revenues were RUB 125.8bn versus guidance of RUB124-127bn with a stable margin of 25.3%. Forward guidance and outlook will be provided following the completion of the ongoing strategic review and upon better overall visibility.
Our net debt position excluding lease liabilities at the end of December stood at RUB 35,030m (RUB 50,478m including lease liabilities), with RUB 21.6bn invested into the O2O JV, $60.3mn into the AER JV and RUB 4.7bn into online education and games in 2021.
Also, I want to share my initial impressions. I believe that VK offers a phenomenal combination of assets, which cover almost all the daily online, and now also many offline, needs of millions of users. The company has unique technologies and platform solutions with up-to-date services that allow people to stay in touch, support each other, work, study and much more.
I have also been impressed with the team at all levels and their motivation to either remain or become the leaders in their directions. And we have a strong brand and unique culture. In my view, the company generally has everything it needs for us as a team to succeed in our main goal - develop the VK ecosystem and solidify its role on the Russian market".
Commenting on the results of the Group, Dmitry Grishin, Chairman of the Board of VK, said: "I have a lot of confidence in our team and our unified ability to make VK the best it can be. We will continue to develop the VK ecosystem and strengthen the Group's leadership positions in the key areas. I remain confident that our services will remain indispensable for our users and partners in solving their everyday tasks in a highly convenient and safe way".
Postponement of conference call and webcast: In light of the current level of uncertainty and market volatility, the conference call and webcast, which had been previously scheduled for today to discuss the results and outlook will be postponed until there is better visibility. We continue to assess the situation and are in the process of contingency planning for all potential sanctions outcomes. Continuity of our business with ongoing protection of our employees and our customers are our top priorities.
We will host a group call as soon as possible. In the meantime, all our stakeholders are welcome to send any questions related to our business using the contact details available below and we remain available for individual incoming call requests.
Financial and operational highlights around our most material non-consolidated assets among associates and joint ventures including AliExpress Russia JV and O2O JV can be found below in the "Joint Ventures" section of the press release.
Segmental highlights
Communications and Social segment
The segment's revenue was up 10.2% YoY to RUB 17.9bn in Q4 2021 driven by advertising revenue growth. EBITDA increased by 23.8% YoY to RUB 8.2bn in Q4 (with a margin of 45.7% vs 40.7% a year ago, mainly driven by increased efficiencies across the largest cost items, including Personnel, Marketing and Agent/Partner fees) despite the ongoing product investments, particularly into content and music.
Communications and Social Segment Performance - Q4 2021 & FY 2021
VKontakte
VKontakte leads among the local social networking platforms, with an average Russia MAU of 72.5mn and DAU of 47mn in Q4. According to Mediascope*, VKontakte reaches 76% of the Russian Internet audience every month, with 45% visiting the platform daily.
The number of VK Mini Apps rose by 53% YoY in December to over 39,700, with MAU of 46mn (+18% YoY). Monetization of mini apps and games on the VK Mini Apps platform is expanding, with its in-app ad revenue increasing by 300% YoY in Q4.
Video is a major focus area, with VKontakte's revenue from video ads increasing by 6.25x YoY in Q4. VK Video was rolled out in October with DAU of 40mn in Q4. To further drive engagement, an updated video player with automatic Russian subtitles was rolled out in October. In November, a new interface, along with an updated search and recommendations system was released, with the full video catalogue enabled for unregistered users in December. The first series of a VK Video originals generated 44mn views within three months.
48mn content creators published content on VKontakte every month in Q4. Creators using VK Donut earned over RUB 53mn in Q4 (+23% QoQ), with the number of public pages using VK Donut up 1.8x and the number of donating subscribers up 2x YoY in 2021.
Among the latest social commerce initiatives was the addition of a new tool for VKontakte stores that shows related products.
* Source: Mediascope, October 2021, Russia (all cities, age 0+), mobile app
Odnoklassniki (OK)
Average Russia MAU stood at 38mn in Q4, with high engagement reflected in more than 7.3bn virtual gifts, 731mn postcards and 573mn stickers sent during the quarter.
Average mobile games MAU exceeded 13mn. DAU in mobile games grew by 7% YoY in Q4, with penetration exceeding 10% of overall OK mobile DAU. Total payments to game developers exceeded RUB 3.2bn in 2021, with ~40% of payments made to mobile game developers. Total games advertising revenue grew nearly 4x YoY in Q4.
Moments MAU reached 27mn in December (+2.2x YoY), with reach exceeding 50% of total OK MAU. The number of views stood at 434mn (+4x YoY) and reactions at 46mn (+4.8x YoY) in Q4.
Some of the multiple latest product initiatives include recommended publications within newsfeed, new content formats based on machine learning and AI-algorithms, updated business platform, new social commerce tools, major mobile interface update etc.
OK continues to develop advertising based monetization, with the revenue from the internal ads manager within OK up 38% YoY in Q4.
Cross-integrations continue, with the launch of VK Mini Apps application on desktop in October, along with the ongoing integration of VK Pay Checkout on the web platform.
Games segment (represented by MY.GAMES)
MY.GAMES revenue grew by 10.5% YoY in 2021 (to RUB 43.8bn), including 5.1% YoY growth in Q4 (to RUB 11.6bn). ~67% of Q4 revenues came from mobile games (versus 76% in Q4 2020). The share of revenue coming from markets outside of Russia & CIS stood at 73% (versus 77% in Q4 2020), with the top-3 international markets being the US, Germany and the UK. MY.GAMES revenue splits by geographies and platforms in Q4 2021 were affected by strong performance of PC/console games in the quarter (saw traditionally high demand on Russian market) and ongoing adaptation to IDFA-related changes.
Average MAU rose by 5.2% QoQ to 22.1mn in Q4, with hyper-casual players of Mamboo Games being the key driver, while the share of monthly paying users was stable at 4.31%.
In Q4 2021, MY.GAMES EBITDA grew 163.6% to RUB 3.8bn, with a margin of 32.7%. MY.GAMES reached its goal of doubling EBITDA versus RUB 5.0bn delivered in 2018 a year ahead of schedule, with its 2021 EBITDA reaching RUB 10.4bn.
MY.GAMES Venture Capital (MGVC) completed 2 new minority investments in Q4 (Square Triangle and Talerock), with 12 transactions including 2 consolidations (Mamboo Games and Playkey) executed in 2021.
Games Segment Performance - Q4 2021 & FY 2021
Mobile
The top-5 revenue-generating mobile titles in Q4 remained War Robots, Rush Royale, Hustle Castle, Grand Hotel Mania and Left to Survive.
In Q4, Rush Royale from IT Territory became the second-highest revenue-generating title in MY.GAMES portfolio as well as data.ai (ex AppAnnie) number one Tower Defense Strategy game in revenue.
PC & Console
The Warface franchise (2013, PC/console/mobile) remains a top-3 revenue generator for MY.GAMES. MY.GAMES will continue expanding its PC portfolio.
EdTech segment (represented by Skillbox Holding Limited, which includes Skillbox (100%), Geekbrains (100%), Skillfactory (63.75%), Mentorama (90%), Lerna (70%)
The segment continued to demonstrate solid performance in Q4, with revenue rising by ~38% YoY to RUB 3.6bn and RUB 10.4bn in revenue for 2021, in line with guidance.
EdTech delivered an EBITDA loss of RUB 0.5bn in Q4 2021 compared to a positive RUB 0.4bn contribution in Q4 2020 due to an increase in personnel and commercial expenses especially marketing expenses to promote seasonal Christmas and New Year discounts, as well as «Black Friday» in December. An increase in the tax burden relative to 2020 also had a negative effect (with minus 1% margin excluding this tax effect). EBITDA margin stood at minus 12.7%, with a slight improvement versus minus 13% in Q3 2021.
EdTech Segment Performance - Q4 2021 & FY 2021
The platforms exceeded 9.9mn in combined cumulative registered learners as of the end of December, up 1.5x YoY, with 1.1mn in new registrations during the quarter (excluding the effect of adding the cumulative registered learners of Mentorama and SkillFactory). The cumulative number of paying learners approached 349,000, up 2.1x YoY, with nearly 48,000 new paying learners added during Q4 (excluding the effect of adding the cumulative paid learners of Mentorama and SkillFactory).
The units launched 115 new courses and programs (professions and faculties) during Q4. The average check stood at RUB 63,000 in Q4 (+17% YoY).
New Initiatives segment
The segment's revenue was up 26% to RUB 4.2bn in Q4, with the largest growth contribution coming from recommendation platforms. New Initiatives EBITDA loss amounted to RUB 881m vs a loss of RUB 1.2bn in Q4 2020, and a QoQ improvement versus a loss of RUB 1bn in Q3. EBITDA margin stood at minus 21.2% versus 35.6% in Q4 2020 and minus 35.2% in Q3 due to the ongoing improvement in profitability across most product groups, including Youla, recommendation platforms and B2B (including Cloud).
New Initiatives Segment Performance - Q4 2021 & FY 2021
Youla (classifieds) Revenue exceeded RUB 1.1bn in Q4 (+11% YoY), reaching RUB 3.8bn in 2021, meeting the set guidance of RUB 3.6-3.9bn. Revenue growth was driven by the rising share of B2B sales.
MAU grew by 18% YoY reaching 39mn in December, stimulated by the ongoing rollout of VK Classifieds, with integration across 195,000 Groups in VKontakte.
EBITDA loss as a proportion of revenue continued to decline, with EBITDA margin of minus 20% in Q4 versus minus 59% in Q4 2020.
VK Clips (short video) As of December, VK Clips offered over 11.3mn in short videos (+223% YoY) from more than 2.4mn unique content creators (+118% YoY).
Engagement continues to rise, with 368mn in average daily views in Q4 and >430mn in peak views. Time spent per user in Clips grew by 103% YoY in December, with the number of users with 10+ minutes in time spent rising by 135% over the same period.
Pulse and Relap (recommendation platforms) In Q4, Pulse DAU stood at 9.8mn (+74% YoY), with MAU of 77.6mn (+36% YoY). Relap DAU stood at 9.7mn (+23% YoY) in Q4, with MAU of 114mn (+6% YoY). Combined revenue reached RUB 473mn in Q4 (+115% YoY), with RUB 1.3bn in revenue in 2021 (+124% YoY). Timespent per active user increased by 25% YoY to 13 minutes.
Joint Ventures
O2O JV (equal 45.01% ownership between Sber and VK) GMV of O2O JV reached 53bn (+34% YoY) in Q4. EBITDA burn stood at minus RUB 6.5bn with e-grocery being the main investment area. At the same time, continuous focus on operational efficiency resulted in an EBITDA margin of minus 12% (as % of GMV), an improvement versus minus 16% in Q3 2021 and minus 21% in Q4 2020.
AliExpress Russia (AER) JV (15% stake held by VK) Total GMV (excluding services) increased by 46% YoY to RUB 306bn in 2021, with the local business growing by 124% YoY to RUB 110bn to 36% of total GMV. Total number of orders reached 309mn in 2021, with 204,000 (+220% YoY) in average daily local orders in December. The number of active buyers exceeded 28.7mn in 2021 with buyers of local goods growing 2x YoY. Total number of sellers exceeded 400,000 (+69% YoY), with the number of Russian sellers increasing by 193% YoY to 102,500. Further details can be found here: https://press.aliexpress.ru/page25326016.html
For further information please contact: Investors Tatiana Volochkovich Phone: +7 495 725 6357 extension: 3434 E-mail: t.volochkovich@vk.team
Press Alina Fedorova
Cautionary Statement regarding Forward Looking Statements and Disclaimers This press release contains statements of expectation and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Group. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "intend", "will", "could", "may" or "might", the negative of such terms or other similar expressions including "outlook" or "guidance". The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions that are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and may be beyond the Group's control. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements herein. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward looking statements included herein, including competition in the marketplace, changes in consumer preferences, the degree of Internet penetration and online advertising in Russia, concerns about data security, claims of intellectual property infringement, adverse media speculation, changes in political, social, legal or economic conditions in Russia, exchange rate fluctuations, and the Group's success in identifying and responding to these and other risks involved in its business, including those referenced under "Risk Factors" in the Group's public filings. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date they were made, and the Group does not intend to amend or update these statements except to the extent required by law to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof.
About VK VK develops the ecosystem helping millions of people with their day-to-day needs online. More than 90% of the Russian internet audience use it every day. The ecosystem enables people to keep in touch (using social networks OK and VKontakte, messaging apps and email service), play video games (via MY.GAMES), get and offer items and services, browse jobs and hire talent (via Youla and VK Jobs), order food and grocery delivery (via Delivery Club, Samokat and Local Kitchen), get a ride (with Citymobil and Citydrive), master new skills (at GeekBrains, Skillbox and other educational services), buy and sell at AliExpress Russia and fulfill other needs. The VK ecosystem features a number of shared elements bringing the services together. Users can sign in to different services with a single VK ID account, pay and earn cash back with the VK Pay platform, get discounts and deals with VK Combo, access their favorite services via the VK Mini Apps platform - and the Marusya voice assistant can help with any task. The company offers enterprises to employ its dynamic ecosystem to digitize their business processes, providing a range of solutions from online promotion and predictive analytics to corporate social networks, cloud services and enterprise automation.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE COMPANY TO CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (REGULATION 596/2014/EU) AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW PURSUANT TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED. UPON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Filing of the Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for 12m 2021 The Group's interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the nine months ended 31 December 2021 prepared in accordance with IFRS and accompanied by an independent auditor's review report have been filed on the National Storage Mechanism appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority and can be accessed at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism or on the Group's website at https://vk.company/media/files/vkifrsfy2021.pdf
Group Aggregate Segment Financial Information*
(*) The numbers in this table and further in the document may not exactly foot or cross-foot due to rounding. (**) Including Other IVAS revenues. (***) Including the impairment of Love Choice and Ashes of Creation in amount of RUB 327m in Q4 2021.
Operating Segments The composition of the reporting segments reflects the Group's strategy, the way the business is managed and units' interconnection within its eco-system. From the first quarter of 2021 the Group has identified the following reportable segments on this basis:
The Communications and Social segment includes email, instant messaging and portal (main page and media projects). It earns substantially all revenues from display and context advertising. This segment also aggregates the Group's social network Vkontakte (VK) and two other social networks (OK and My World) and earns revenues from (i) commission from application developers based on the respective applications' revenue, (ii) user payments for virtual gifts, stickers and music subscriptions and (iii) online advertising, including display and context advertising. It also includes Search and music services (UMA). These businesses have similar nature and economic characteristics as they are represented by social networks and online communications, common type of customers for their products and services and are regulated under similar regulatory environment. The Games segment includes online gaming services, including MMO, social and mobile games operated by the Group. It earns substantially all revenues from (i) sale of virtual in-game items to users, (ii) royalties for games licensed to third-party online game operators and (iii) in-game advertising. The Education Technologies (EdTech) segment includes our consolidated education businesses presented by GeekBrains and Skillbox. The businesses earn substantially all revenues from education technology services. The New initiatives segment primarily consists of Youla classifieds earning substantially all revenues from advertising and listing fees, VK Clips with potential to become a major separate product with the planned launch of own application and target presence across the various Group's services, B2B new projects including cloud along with other services, which are considered insignificant by the CODM for the purposes of performance review and resource allocation. Each segment's EBITDA is calculated as the respective segment's revenue less operating expenses (excluding depreciation and amortisation and impairment of intangible assets), including our corporate expenses allocated to the respective segment. Operating Segments Performance - Q4 2021
Operating Segments Performance - Q4 2020
Operating Segments Performance - 12m 2021
Operating Segments Performance - 12m 2020
Liquidity As of 31 December 2021, the Group had RUB 23,737 million of cash and cash equivalents and RUB 58,767 million of debt outstanding (excluding lease liabilities). The Group's net debt position was RUB 35,030 million excluding lease liabilities and RUB 50,478 million including lease liabilities.
Presentation of Aggregate Segment Financial Information The Group aggregate segment financial information is derived from the financial information used by management to manage the Group's business by aggregating the segment financial data of the Group's operating segments and eliminating intra-segment and inter-segment revenues and expenses. Group aggregate segment financial information differs significantly from the financial information presented on the face of the Group's consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS. In particular:
A reconciliation of group aggregate segment revenue, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated revenue of the Group for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
A reconciliation of group aggregate segment EBITDA, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated loss before income tax expense of the Group for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
A reconciliation of group aggregate net loss, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated net loss of the Group for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
A reconciliation of group aggregate segment revenue, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated revenue of the Group for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
A reconciliation of group aggregate segment EBITDA, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated loss before income tax expense of the Group for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
A reconciliation of group aggregate net loss, as presented to the CODM, to IFRS consolidated net loss of the Group for the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is presented below:
Consolidated IFRS Statement of Financial Position
Consolidated IFRS Statement of Comprehensive Income
Consolidated IFRS Statement of Cash Flows
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ISIN: | US5603172082 |
Category Code: | ACS |
TIDM: | VKCO |
LEI Code: | 2138009IXUP41SPL5B50 |
Sequence No.: | 146482 |
EQS News ID: | 1293007 |
End of Announcement | EQS News Service |
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