AFI Developments improves FY pre-tax loss

Russian property developer AFI Developments has improved its full-year pre-tax loss as it sees a continued gradual macroeconomic recovery to positively impact the country's real estate markets.

"Revenue growth of 48.2% for the year, supported by residential sales, stemmed from our continued focus on development and marketing of our core residential projects," said executive chairman Lev Leviev.

Revenue was reported at $138.3m, from $93.7m. The company's pre-tax loss for the year was $50.7m, which was substantially down from the loss of $557.2bn of a year earlier.

The year-previous period saw a $434.4m decrease in the fair value of properties, while the in the year just finished the fall was $123.0m.

"Although our macroeconomic environment remains challenging, we are encouraged by the more positive trends in Russia's economic indicators in 2016," said Leviev.

"We expect continued gradual recovery to positively impact Russian real estate markets."

Leviev added that, beyond the short-term, AFI Developments believed the Moscow real estate market continued to offer significant growth potential due to its size, its position as the largest financial centre in Russia and as one of the largest capital cities in Europe.

At 12:16 GMT, shares in AFI Developments were flat at 0.24p each.