Mail.Ru Group First-Quarter Revenue Rises 7.3%

By Olga Razumovskaya

MOSCOW--Russian internet company Mail.Ru Group (MAIL.LN) said Thursday its first-quarter revenue rose 7.3% on year to 9.43 billion rubles ($181.8 million), as international initiatives under the my.com brand partially offset challenging economic conditions in Russia.

Mail.Ru reiterated its full-year 2015 revenue growth guidance at 7%-12%. It also forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, margins in 2015 to be between 46% and 47%.

"While we see no near term change to the underlying environment in Russia international initiatives under the my.com brand are going well, and we continue to see a number of opportunities both in VKontakte, and in our games business," Chief Executive Dmitry Grishin said in a statement.

Mr. Grishin said the company continues its international expansion and remains "encouraged" by myMail, which continued to gain traction in the first quarter. He added the U.S. is the largest market followed by the U.K., France, Germany and Brazil. "We will look to leverage the myMail user base through the international release of games later this year," he also said.

Write to Olga Razumovskaya at [e-mail]