One of the largest Russian online retailers, Utinet.ru, has begun to prepare for an IPO on the MICEX stock exchange, reported ComNews.ru, a site covering telecoms and IT issues. The operation is scheduled for the first half of this year. Utinet.ru is valued at an estimated $100 million to $120 million and intends to sell up to 15% of its shares.
The funds raised from the IPO will be spent to promote the Utinet.ru brand and to develop advanced technologies related to online searches for products and services, says the company. It plans initially to improve the search technology based on natural language processing, which allows customers to search for products using informal language—for example, “white laptop for my mom.”
“The company’s growth potential is obvious in the regions,” believes Natalya Kiy of IKS Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in the Russian telecom and IT sectors, “95% of its customers are from Moscow and Saint Petersburg and currently only 5% come from the regions.”
The turnover of Utinet.ru by the end of 2010 amounted to 1.06 billion rubles. The company’s EBITDA was 19 million rubles, and its profitability on EBITDA was about 1.8%.
Source: ComNews.ru
