Kazakhstan Kagazy PLC
Kazakhstan Kagazy PLC: AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR YEAR 2013 (UPDATED)

12 November 2014

KAZAKHSTAN KAGAZY PLC ANNOUNCES AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR YEAR 2013

Almaty, Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan Kagazy PLC (KAG LI) (the ‘Group’) announces its audited consolidated financial results for the 12 months period ended 31 December 2013 (the ‘Period’).

Note – the Group’s audited financial results for 2013 were announced on 30 October 2014. This announcement has been updated to include the full financial information provided in the ‘Group Highlights’ section of the 2013 Annual Report, and to clarify the current situation regarding the Group’s return to trading on the London Stock Exchange.

The Group would also like to correct a misprint on pages 44 and 87 of the 2013 Annual Report, where it is stated that a payment to Alliance Bank of 2.7bn Tenge ‘.may be made in equal quarterly installments over a two year period.’ This payment may in fact be made to Alliance Bank over a three year period.

Group highlights

The Group’s revenue increased by US$ 2.7 million over the period. This was mainly attributable to the increase in revenues from the paper segment. Gross margins have remained stable.

The Group’s EBITDA has decreased by US$ 3.0 million due to an increase in distribution costs of US$ 1.1 million, increase in staff costs of US$ 1.3 million, and an increase in provision against VAT recoverable of US$ 1.5 million. This was partially compensated by the increase in gross profit of US$ 1.0 million.

The Group’s Total Comprehensive loss has increased by US$ 77.0 million due to a decrease in the Group’s EBITDA of US$ 3.0 million, increase in impairment charges of US$ 22.1 million, increase in finance costs of US$ 20.7 million, increase of income tax expenses of US$ 8.1 million and increase in loss of discontinued operations of US$ 23.2 million.

The Group’s Operating Cash Flows have decreased by US$ 6.2 million, mostly caused by an increase in income tax of USD 1.2 million and legal and professional fees of USD 3.9 million.

The Group’s Debt (principal) has decreased by US$ 50.5 million mostly as a result of partial settlement of debt to Investment Fund of Kazakhstan (IFK) by a court marshall enforced transfer of the assets pledged to secure the loan, i.e. the Class A Warehouses and Container Terminal.

Tomas Mateos Werner, Group CEO, commented as follows:

‘2013 has been an important year for the company. We have started the recovery of over USD 150 million misappropriated by the former shareholders of the company, focused the company on our core paper & corrugated business and strengthened our management team and board. We are now much better positioned to successfully overcome the significant legal and financial challenges that the company still faces’.

Operational highlights

Paper Business

Production of paper for the Period amounted to 55.1 thousand tons compared to 52.5 thousand tons for the same period of 2012.

Production of corrugated packaging for the Period amounted to 98.3 million square meters compared to 97.1 million square meters for the same period of 2012.

Sales of paper to third parties for the Period amounted to 17.6 thousand tons compared to 16.9 thousand tons for the same period of 2012.

Sales of corrugated packaging for the Period amounted to 98.1 million square meters compared to 96.4 million square meters for the same period of 2012.

The average selling price of paper and corrugated packaging decreased 0.7%.

Logistics Business

The revenue of the Logistics business only includes the revenue for our Class B warehouse, as our Class A and Container Terminal were disposed of in January 2014.

Average occupancy of the Class B warehouses stood at 95% compared to 94% for the same period in 2012.

Class B business revenue increased 13.8% which is mainly attributable to an increase in other value added services as terminal handling, rent of open sites and temporary storage.

The Group’s 2013 Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements along with earlier financial reports are available at http://kazakhstankagazy.com/en/investor-relations/reports.html

The Group also announces that it has withdrawn its request to the UKLA for to return to trading on the London Stock Exchange, pending the outcome of discussions with the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers regarding the proposed buy-back of shares from Phoenician Capital and other parties (announced on 2 October 2014).

For more information please contact:

Mr. Sadyr Shaguzhayev +7 727 244 02 08
Head of Investor Relations ir@kagazy.kz

The content of this document includes forward-looking statements. These relate to Kazakhstan Kagazy’s future prospects, developments and strategies, including statements regarding target returns. Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ‘believe’, ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘envisage’, ‘estimate’, ‘intend’ ‘seek’, ‘may’, ‘plan’, ‘will’ or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These statements are based on Kazakhstan Kagazy’s current beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Accordingly, these beliefs, assumptions and expectations can change as a result of many possible events or factors that may cause Kazakhstan Kagazy’s business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and actual returns to vary materially and target returns to be revised from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. None of the data in this statement has been audited and where any reference is made in this statement to the past performance of investments by persons associated with Kazakhstan Kagazy or other investments, you should bear in mind that such information is not necessarily indicative of the future performance of the relevant investments or of Kazakhstan Kagazy’s future performance.