ASBIS finished a very challenging quarter, and will pay an interim dividend

OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS:

• The largest ASBIS country in terms of sales was Kazakhstan, despite the challenges in the country, while the CIS region still maintained the largest share in the Group's revenues (42% in the Q1-Q3 2024).
• Poland has become a permanent member among the 10 countries with the highest revenues in the Group, taking 5th place in the period of Q1-Q3 2024 with revenues of over USD 105 million (an increase of almost 30% compared to the same period last year).
• ASBIS announced the payment of an interim dividend from profits for 2024 in the amount of USD 0.20 per share, which means that ASBIS shareholders will receive a total of USD 11.1 million. The date of determining the shareholders' right to the interim dividend was set for November 25, 2024, while the date of the advance payment was set for December 5, 2024.
• Breezy, a subsidiary of ASBIS, signed a cooperation agreement with the RTV EURO AGD network in Poland.
• ASBIS doubled the number of product lines of its Lorgar gaming brand and entered the rapidly growing segment of racing games.

Serhei Kostevitch, CEO of ASBIS Group, commented: "We have completed Q3 2024, which turned out to be as challenging as the previous quarter. The key issues we had to face during this period were the negative impact of new market realities in Kazakhstan, the continuation of the war in Ukraine and the growing concerns  in the Middle East. The main goal of ASBIS for the rest of 2024 remains unchanged - to maintain and even strengthen its market share in the main markets of the CEE and CIS regions. We intend to intensify our efforts in bringing value through the development of  our own brands, but also new business from new vendors in new markets."

Serhei Kostevitch added: “We continue our dividend policy, which resulted in the decision of the Board of Directors to pay an interim dividend from the Company's profits for 2024 in the amount of USD 0.20 per share. This is in line with our strategy of sharing profits with our shareholders. We want to continue our policy of paying high dividends, always combined with strong cash flows.”

FINANCIAL RESULTS

A summary of the financial results of the ASBIS Group in the first nine months of 2024 is presented in the tables below (presentation of the results are in USD and in the table below in PLN). USD remains the official reporting currency of the Group.

Financial results of the Group in Q3 and Q1-Q3 of years 2024 and 2023
USD million

PLN million

DETAILED SALES DATA  

SALES BY REGION

The Commonwealth of Independent States ("CIS") and Central and Eastern Europe regions traditionally account for the largest share of the Group's revenue. This has not changed in Q3 2024 and Q1-Q3 2024.

In Q3 2024 and Q1-Q3 2024, revenue generated in the CIS region decreased by 24.3% and 22.4%, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023, while sales in CEE and other core regions  significantly increased. The main reason for lower sales in the CIS region was the extremely difficult market conditions in our core market in Kazakhstan (grey imports and illicit trade and new consumer law) and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which also had a negative impact on our results. The Middle East and Africa region’s share increased in both Q3 2024 and 9M 2024 to 17.65% (from 16.01% in Q3 2023) and 17.41% (from 14.67% in 9M 2023), respectively. The Western Europe region’s share also increased to 9.88% (from 8.98% in Q3 2023) and 11.03% (from 8.71% in 9M 2023), respectively.

 Geographical structure of ASBIS sales in Q1-Q3 2024 and 2023  

SALES BY COUNTRY  

The country-by-country analysis shows a large drop in revenues in Kazakhstan, the Group’s largest market, which was the result of unofficial imports of many product groups from unofficial distributors and  channels.

Revenues in Ukraine, the second largest market of operations, fell by 13.8% in the nine months of 2024 compared to last year due to the intensification of hostilities and worse consumer sentiment.

The United Arab Emirates, the Group’s third largest market, brought in revenues of $258 million in the nine months of 2024, up 6.8% year-on-year.

Poland remains the most dynamic developing country in the TOP 10, ironing out dynamic growth in both Q3 2024 (+57.1%) and the nine months of 2024 (+29.4%) compared to the corresponding periods of 2023. The best-selling product categories in Poland were processors, SSDs and HDDs.

Revenue breakdown – Top 10 countries in the 9M 2024 and the 9M 2023
USD thousand