Results for the six months ended 30 September 2011

Aurora Russia Limited (“Aurora Russia” or the “Company”)



Results for the six months ended 30 September 2011





The Board and the Manager are focused on ensuring optimal exits from the investee companies


Continued strong growth in underlying companies




Financial highlights



Net asset value per share as at 30 September 2011 of 70.1p per share (Net asset value £78.9m) down from 83.6p per share at 31 March 2011.
Cash and cash equivalents as at 30 September 2011 were £1.6m (£4.1m cash within the Group)


Portfolio highlights



OSG

Revenues for the 6 months ended 30 September 2011 were £9.16m compared to £6.82m for the same period in 2010.
EBITDA up 17% to £1.08m as at 30 September 2011
Equity valuation of Aurora Russia’s stake in OSG at 30 September 2011 was £30.7m compared to the valuation at 31 March 2011 of £28.8m


Unistream Bank

Unistream’s share in the Russia-outbound transfer market is estimated at 16.7% as at Q2 2011
Revenues for the nine month period ended 30 September 2011 were RUR 1.7bn, up 11.6% YoY
PBT for the nine months to 30 September 2011 was RUR71m up from a loss of RUR24.6m for the same period last year.
Equity valuation of Aurora Russia’s stake in Unistream at 30 September 2011 was £14.9m, compared to the valuation at 31 March 2011 of £18.7m


Superstroy

Revenues grew by 31% YoY for the nine months ended 30 September 2011 to RUR6.5bn
EBITDA of RUR45m
Equity valuation of Aurora Russia’s stake in Superstroy at 30 September 2011 was £15.0m, compared to the valuation at 31 March 2011 of £24.5m


Flexinvest and Kreditmart

Flexinvest launched a new retail strategy with a credit card as its main loan product financed by retail deposits
After a strategic review, the decision was taken to sell Kreditmart for a nominal price to stop its cash burn.
As at 30 September 2011, Flexinvest and Kreditmart had £15.5m in net assets down from £17.6m as at 31 March 2011
Equity valuation of Aurora Russia’s stake in Kreditmart/ Flexinvest Bank at 30 September 2011 was £16.3m, compared to the valuation at 31 March 2011 of £18.5m






Commenting, Geoff Miller, Chairman of Aurora Russia, said:



“While we are now facing challenging times in Europe which are having a knock-on effect on Russia, oil and commodity prices remain robust and the fundamentals in Russia continue to outperform Western economies. We expect to see continued strong growth in the underlying companies in which we are invested and therefore we remain confident that we can deliver value for shareholders from these assets. The Company’s strategy remains focused on ensuring optimal exits from our investee companies on a two year horizon. I would hope that we can make significant progress in this regard during 2012.”







Enquiries:





Aurora Russia Limited


Geoff Miller
+44 (0) 7408 830719




Numis Securities Limited


Nominated Adviser: Hugh Jonathan
+44 (0)20 7260 1000

Corporate Broking: Rupert Krefting / Nathan Brown





Financial Dynamics


Ed Gascoigne-Pees
+44 (0) 20 7269 7132

Jack Hickey