Russia's Yandex Reports Net Loss of $130.5 Million

Yandex Faces $130.5 Million Loss Due to Rising Expenses

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian internet giant Yandex swung to a first-quarter net loss of 10.8 billion roubles ($130.5 million), against a net profit of 20.1 billion roubles a year earlier, partly due to high expenses relating to its staff stock compensation programme.

A Russian consortium of buyers in July finalised a $5.4 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire Yandex's Russia-based assets.

Yandex has spent 16.5 billion roubles on its stock-based compensation programme in the first quarter, the report shows.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, were up by 30% to 48.9 billion roubles, while adjusted net profit reached 12.8 billion roubles, it said. Adjusted net income refers to the net loss before SBC (Stock Based Compensation) expenses, one-off restructuring costs, and foreign exchange losses, Yandex added.

Revenue increased by 34% year on year to 306.5 billion roubles ($3.71 billion), driven by growth in e-commerce and its search and portal business, Yandex said.

The company maintained its forecast for the group's total revenue growth in 2025, which is expected to be more than 30% year–on- year, and adjusted EBITDA of at least 250 billion rubles, it added.

($1 = 82.7500 roubles)

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Anastasia TeterevlevaEditing by Andrew Osborn and David Evans)