OREANDA-NEWS. Fourth Quarter Total Adjusted Net Revenue Increases 6% to RUB 2,821 Million and Adjusted Net Profit Increases 9% to RUB 940 Million or RUB 15.43 per diluted share

Full-Year 2016 Total Adjusted Net Revenue Increases 4% to RUB 10,611 Million and Adjusted Net Profit Increases 14% to RUB 4,714 Million or RUB 77.73 per diluted share

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NICOSIA, Cyprus, March 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QIWI plc, (NASDAQ:QIWI) (MOEX:QIWI) («QIWI» or the «Company») today announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2016.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Operating and Financial Highlights

Total Adjusted Net Revenue increased 6% to RUB 2,821 million ($46.5 million)

Adjusted EBITDA increased 4% to RUB 1,260 million ($20.8 million)

Adjusted Net Profit increased 9% to RUB 940 million ($15.5 million), or RUB 15.43 per diluted share

Total payment volume decreased 1% to RUB 231.1 billion ($3.8 billion)

Full-Year 2016 Operating and Financial Highlights

Total Adjusted Net Revenue increased 4% to RUB 10,611 million ($174.9 million)

Adjusted EBITDA increased 7% to RUB 6,035 million ($99.5 million)

Adjusted Net Profit increased 14% to RUB 4,714 million ($77.7 million), or RUB 77.73 per diluted share

Total payment volume decreased 2% to RUB 847.0 billion ($14.0 billion)

Visa QIWI Wallet active accounts increased 7% to 17.2 million

«Although in 2016 our core business was pressured by a range of factors including macroeconomic slowdown in Russia and overall consumer weakness, I perceive that our results prove our ability to execute our strategy and develop attractive and useful product offerings in the markets we service,» said Sergey Solonin, QIWI's chief executive officer. «Notwithstanding the challenging market, we managed to increase our payment adjusted net revenue as well as adjusted net profit as we successfully implemented our cost control program. Although, 2017 will likely continue to be challenging for our core business, we will continue to focus on executing our strategy and developing our new products.»

Fourth Quarter 2016 Results

Revenues: Total Adjusted Net Revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 was RUB 2,821 million ($46.5 million), an increase of 6% compared with RUB 2,659 million in the prior year.

Payment Adjusted Net Revenue was RUB 2,389 million ($39.4 million), an increase of 21% compared with RUB 1,971 million in the prior year. Payment Adjusted Net Revenue growth was predominantly driven by an improvement in yields across all market verticals resulting largely from shift in product mix as well as volume growth in the Money Remittance and E-commerce market vertical partially offset by a decrease in payment volumes in the Telecom, Other and Financial Services market verticals.

Other Adjusted Net Revenue, which is principally composed of revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments, interest revenue and gain from currency swaps and overdrafts provided to agents, revenue from rent of space for kiosks, cash and settlement services and advertising, was RUB 432 million ($7.1 million), a decrease of 37% compared with RUB 688 million in the prior year. The decline in the fourth quarter was mainly due to the decrease in revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments, cash and settlement services, advertising revenue and revenue from sale of kiosks slightly offset by increase in interest revenue. Fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016 were RUB 228 million ($3.8 million) compared with RUB 397 million in the prior year primarily due to effect of change in the Company's approach towards recognition of revenue for unclaimed payments. Other Adjusted Net Revenue excluding revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments decreased 30% compared with the same period in the prior year.

Total Adjusted Net Revenue excluding revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments increased 15% compared with the same period in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA: For the quarter ended December 31, 2016, Adjusted EBITDA was RUB 1,260 million ($20.8 million), an increase of 4% compared with RUB 1,217 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA increase was largely driven by an increase in Adjusted Net Revenue offset by slightly higher SG&A expense due to increase in personnel expenses (excluding effect of share based payments) to RUB 423 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 as compared to RUB 361 million for same period in the prior year and office maintenance expenses in connection with the launch of a new project SOVEST. Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Total Adjusted Net Revenue) was 44.7% compared with 45.8% in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA excluding fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was RUB 1,032 million ($17.0 million), an increase of 26% compared with RUB 820 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin excluding fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was 39.8% compared with 36.3% in the prior year.

Adjusted Net Profit: For the quarter ended December 31, 2016, Adjusted Net Profit was RUB 940 million ($15.5 million), an increase of 9% compared with RUB 860 million in the prior year. The increase in Adjusted Net Profit was primarily driven by the same factors impacting Adjusted EBITDA as well as recognition of an income tax credit of RUB 34 million in fourth quarter 2016 as opposed to the income tax expense of RUB 139 million for the same period in the prior year and decrease of foreign exchange loss1 generated in the fourth quarter of 2016 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2015. Adjusted Net Profit excluding fees for inactive accounts and unused balances (net of tax) increased 40% compared with the prior year.

Other Operating Data: For the quarter ended December 31, 2016, total payment volume was RUB 231.1 billion ($3.8 billion), a decrease of 1% compared with RUB 234.1 billion in the prior year. Dynamics of payment volume was driven by mixed trends across market verticals with growth in Money Remittances market vertical resulting largely from secular growth in card to card transfers and E-commerce market vertical offset by declining volumes across Telecom, Other and to a lesser extent Financial Services market verticals. Payment average net revenue yield was 1.03%, an increase of 19 bps compared with 0.84% in the prior year primarily due to the shift of the revenue mix towards higher yielding services.

Total average Net Revenue Yield was 1.22%, an increase of 8 bps as compared with 1.14% in the prior year. Total average Net Revenue Yield excluding the effect of fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was 1.12%, an increase of 16 bps as compared with the same period in the prior year.

Full-Year 2016 Results

Revenues: Total Adjusted Net Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2016 was RUB 10,611 million ($174.9 million), an increase of 4% compared with RUB 10,228 million in the prior year.

Payment Adjusted Net Revenue was RUB 8,510 million ($140.3 million), an increase of 13% compared with RUB 7,522 million in the prior year. Payment Adjusted Net Revenue growth was predominantly driven by an increase in payment volume in E-commerce and Money Remittances market verticals as well as net revenue yields improvement in certain market verticals, especially Money Remittances, resulting from product mix shifts towards higher yielding services, that was in turn partially offset by the declining volumes in Telecom and Other market verticals.

Other Adjusted Net Revenue was RUB 2,101 million ($34.6 million), a decrease of 22% compared with RUB 2,706 million in the prior year. Revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was RUB 1,290 million ($21.3 million) in 2016 compared to RUB 1,113 million in the prior year due to the same reasons discussed for the fourth quarter including changes of the write-off policy offset by the effect of change in the Company's approach towards recognition of revenue for unclaimed payments. Other Adjusted Net Revenue excluding revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments decreased 49% compared with the same period in the prior year.

Total Adjusted Net Revenue excluding revenue from fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments increased 2% compared with the same period in the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA: For the year ended December 31, 2016, Adjusted EBITDA was RUB 6,035 million ($99.5 million), an increase of 7% compared with RUB 5,640 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA growth was mainly driven by revenue growth and operating leverage in the business. Adjusted EBITDA margin (Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Total Adjusted Net Revenue) was 56.9% compared with 55.1% in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA excluding fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was RUB 4,745 million ($78.2 million), an increase of 5% compared with RUB 4,527 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin excluding fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments was 50.9% compared with 49.7% in the prior year.

Adjusted Net Profit: For the year ended December 31, 2016, Adjusted Net Profit was RUB 4,714 million ($77.7 million), an increase of 14% compared with RUB 4,142 million in the prior year. The increase in Adjusted Net Profit was primarily driven by the same factors impacting Adjusted EBITDA as well as lower income tax expense as compares to the previous year. Adjusted Net Profit excluding fees for inactive accounts and unclaimed payments (net of tax) increased 13% compared with the prior year.

Other Operating Data: For the year ended December 31, 2016, total payment volume was RUB 847.0 billion ($14.0 billion), a decrease of 2% compared with RUB 860.3 billion in the prior year. Payment volume was driven by mixed dynamics with increases in E-commerce, Money remittances and Financial Services offset by decreasing volumes in Telecom and Other market verticals as the result of the decline in our kiosk network. Average payment net revenue yield was 1.00%, an increase of 13 bps compared with 0.87% in the prior year primarily due to product mix shifts towards higher yielding services.

The total average Net Revenue Yield was 1.25%, an increase of 6 bps as compared with 1.19% in the prior year. The total average Net Revenue Yield excluding the effect of inactivity fees was 1.10%, an increase of 4 bps as compared with the same period in the prior year.

The number of active kiosks and terminals was 162,173 including Contact and Rapida physical points of service, a decrease of 6% compared with the prior year, primarily resulting from enhanced controls that the Central Bank of Russia has implemented over the agents. The number of active Visa Qiwi Wallet accounts was 17.2 million as of the end of 2016, an increase of 1.1 million, or 7%, as compared with 16.1 million in 2015. The increase was driven mainly by development of core market verticals through connection of new merchants and better usability of services.