Moscow-Tatarstan Teleconference Discusses Wildberries Distribution Centre Construction in Zelenodolsk
The Zelenodolsk industrial park in Tatarstan is to house a distribution centre of Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries. The local utility and transport infrastructure was built with MONOTOWNS.RF’s financial support totalling 930 million roubles. Progress in setting up the large-sized distribution centre was discussed during a teleconference attended by VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, VEB.RF Deputy Chairperson and MONOTOWNS.RF Director General Irina Makieva, and Wildberries CEO Tatyana Bakalchuk.
“It’s important to take an integrated approach to the development of small towns. This project is not only support for entrepreneurship, but also infrastructure development and job creation. When completed, such projects will give urban areas a new quality of life,” VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov said during the online discussion.
According to Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, the republic has seven single-industry towns with more than 1 million residents, or a quarter of the economically active population.
“The republic’s key companies representing various economic sectors operate here. The further development of single-industry towns needs support for new investment and infrastructure projects,” he said.
The Tatarstan President added that the region had plans to apply to the Monotowns Development Fund for new projects. These include the Kamskie Polyany transport infrastructure project and Phase 2 of the infrastructure project for the Haier industrial park.
The teleconference also discussed the construction of the Wildberries distribution centre in Zelenodolsk, which started in November 2019. At the first stage, a facility with an area of 50,000 square metres will be launched in the first half of 2020. Overall, the investment project will create over 4,000 jobs.
“Zelenodolsk today is an economically sustainable place. The town sees alternative businesses and new investors coming; the urban environment is changing. We are pleased that the Fund takes part in these changes. There are good prospects for growth in the town; I’m sure we have a lot of joint projects in the years ahead,” VEB.RF Deputy Chairperson and MONOTOWNS.RF Director General Irina Makieva emphasised, adding that Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer Wildberries coming to Zelenodolsk would open the door to new small businesses.
It is worth noting that in addition to logistics functions, the new Wildberries distribution centre will help entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and export their products to other countries. Wildberries became a resident of the Zelenodolsk advanced development zone in December 2019. Currently, the total number of residents is 11. The industrial park already houses 13 companies now.
“We are confident the opening of the centre will enable Tatarstan entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized businesses, to expand their product range on Wildberries and consequently increase sales. The number of suppliers from the republic to Wildberries has increased more than threefold to 66 in the last three years, while their turnover has grown more than fivefold,” Wildberries CEO Tatyana Bakalchuk said.
VEB.RF published its interim condensed consolidated financial statements as prepared in accordance with IFRS as at 30 September 2019
VEB.RF Group’s key performance indicators for the nine-month period of 2019 are as follows:
- The Group’s assets as at 30 September 2019 amounted to RUB 3,209.5 bn. The decline against the beginning of the year was RUB 152.4 bn (-4.5%), mainly due to the decrease in the loan and leasing portfolios, and assets of disposal groups and non-current assets held for sale.
- Loans to customers accounted for 41.9% of the Group’s total assets. As compared to the beginning of 2019, the loan portfolio after allowance for expected credit losses decreased by RUB 217.7 bn (-13.9%) to reach RUB 1,343.9 bn. The portfolio decrease was largely attributed to the disposal of Sviaz-Bank.
- In Q3 2019, the loan portfolio posted a slight growth of RUB 13.9bn (+1.1%).
- The amount of loans granted by VEB.RF in the nine-month period of 2019 reached RUB 65.5 bn. The Group’s investment priorities included industry, export support, infrastructure and urban economy. VEB.RF started financing the first projects within the Project Financing Factory.
- In the nine-month period of 2019, there was a reversal of allowance for expected credit losses in the amount of RUB 3.2 bn vs the reversal of allowance of RUB 1.4 bn in the same period of 2018.
- The total liabilities of the Group as at 30 September 2019 amounted to RUB 2,778.1 bn, decreasing by RUB 299.7 bn (-9.7%) against the beginning of the year. The decline was mostly due to the decrease in the amounts due to banks and in the amounts due to customers brought about by the disposal of Sviaz-Bank.
- The operating income for the nine-month period of 2019 went up to reach RUB 48.3 bn as compared to the operating income of RUB 18.6 bn for the same period of 2018.
- The Group’s negative financial result for the nine months of 2019 came to RUB 18.6 bn, decreasing four times as compared to the loss of RUB 69.6 bn for the same period of 2018. The financial result for the nine-month period of 2019 is, inter alia, attributable to the net interest income decrease against the general interest rates drop.
- The Group’s equity for the nine-month period of 2019 went up by RUB 147.3 bn (+51.8%) to reach RUB 431.4 bn as at 30 September 2019.
- VEB.RF’s capital adequacy ratio (according to RAS) was 16.7% as at 1 October 2019 (11.8% as at 1 January 2019).