Russian car-sharing firm Delimobil, still eyeing IPO, reports revenue jump

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian car-sharing company Delimobil on Tuesday reported an 89% jump in revenue in the third quarter to 3.9 billion roubles ($53 million), and said it was still eyeing a public market listing after postponing its U.S. IPO plans last month.

At least 10 Russian firms could hold IPOs in 2022, extending a listing spree that started a year ago, if their plans are not thwarted by geopolitics, including Ukraine tensions, or other risks, according to bankers and advisers.

Delimobil put its IPO plans on hold in early November, citing market conditions. The company had been planning to raise as much as $240 million in a New York Stock Exchange listing, with a valuation of more than $900 million.

“The company continues to eye a public market listing,” Delimobil said in a statement shared with Reuters.

Adjusted gross profit was more than five times higher in the third quarter at 1.3 billion roubles compared with the same period of 2020 and Delimobil’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) had leapt almost 14 times.

CEO Elena Bekhtina put the revenue and EBITDA growth down to its expanded fleet of cars and increased revenue per vehicle.

Founded in 2015, Delimobil is one of Russia’s biggest car-sharing providers with a fleet of over 19,000 vehicles and around 7.4 million registered users in 11 cities. It first announced IPO plans in 2019.

Car sharing has particularly flourished in Moscow as the city has made parking expensive and limited the amount of available parking to try and reduce traffic.

($1 = 73.5780 roubles)

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Bernadette Baum)