Georgian Railway’s revenue was up 11.9% y/y to US$ 184.7mn in 9M23. Growth was driven by increased revenues from logistic services (+28.9% y/y) and passenger traffic (+89.5% y/y), while the freight traffic revenues (67.5% of total) was up only 2.8% y/y to US$ 124.6mn in 9M23. On the other hand, Georgian Railway’s operating expenses surged by 30.6% y/y to US$ 145.9mn, driven by 39.2% y/y growth of employee benefits. The surge in operating expenses led to a 15.1% y/y decline in EBITDA to US$ 62.3mn in 9M23. Consequently, the EBITDA margin stood at 33.7% in 9M23 vs. 44.5% in 9M22.
The volume of cargo transportation was down 5.9% y/y to 10.3mn tons in 9M23, reflecting last year’s high base. This reduction was primarily attributed to an 11.4% y/y decline in dry cargo transportation (63.9% of total cargo) to 6.6mn tons in 9M23. However, liquid cargo transportation (36.1% of total cargo) was up 5.6% y/y to 3.7mn tons, partially mitigating the decline in dry cargo. In FY23, we expect revenues to reach US$ 245mn and cargo volumes to total 13.8mn tons.
