Expert RA assigns a high credit rating to PAO Abrau-Durso ruA+

One of the leading rating agencies, Expert RA, has affirmed the credit rating of PAO Abrau-Durso at ruA+ with a stable outlook. PAO Abrau-Durso is the parent and management company of the Abrau-Durso Group.

Analysts of the Expert RA agency highly appreciated[1] the market position of the leader in the production of sparkling wines in Russia, the quality of which is confirmed by numerous achievements – awards at international competitions, as well as high scorers at the annual expert rating Top100Wines, where Abrau-Durso won the highest title of Winery of the Year. The company is successfully developing product lines by increasing sales of premium sparkling wines, Abrau Light drink (the collection's sales grew by 45% in 2022), still wines, as well as strong alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Revenue and net profit, according to the consolidated financial statements of PAO Abrau-Durso as per IFRS, in 2022 were a record for the company – revenue increased by 20% and amounted to 11.9 billion rubles (9.87 billion rubles in 2021). At the end of 2022, 54.171 million bottles were sold, which is 18.06% more than in 2021.

In the context of external factors influencing the activities of companies, Abrau-Durso is resistant to macroeconomic fluctuations due to developed vertical integration, the availability of its own distribution and a well-established logistics scheme. The high rating of Expert RA was also facilitated by the presence of its own resource base and a large volume of its own vineyards located in different districts of the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region.

To date, the Abrau-Durso Group of Companies includes four production enterprises in the Southern Federal District: in the Krasnodar Territory (Abrau-Durso, Loza, “Yubileynaya” Winery) and the Rostov Region (“Vedernikov” Winery). At the end of 2022, the area of viticultural land in the assets of the Abrau-Durso Group of Companies amounted to 6.3 thousand hectares, of which vineyards accounted for 3.7 thousand hectares.

Analysts of the rating agency also assessed the EBITDA margin at a high level, which amounted to 32% at the end of 2022 and is comparable to the level of this indicator in 2021. Analysts assess the debt load as comfortable, and the level of forecast liquidity is assessed as moderately positive. The diversification of the company's sales is also at a high level – Abrau-Durso works with federal and regional networks in all regions of the country, and is also represented in HoReCa channels in 12 key cities with a population of over one million.

The Abrau-Durso Group of Companies also continues to actively develop the resort in the Krasnodar Territory, represented by hotel, restaurant, museum and historical complexes in the region of the same name. In 2022, Abrau-Durso was the first among all Russian wineries to join the GWTO (World Wine Tourism Organization). One of the results of the partnership was the International Wine Tourism Forum, which was held at Abrau-Durso in May 2023. In August 2023, a modern four-star Abrau Light Resort & SPA hotel with 111 rooms was opened on the territory of Abrau-Durso.

[1] https://raexpert.ru/releases/2023/aug28c