Ukrainian strikes send Ozon shares plunging 27% after warehouse attacks
Shares of Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online marketplace, which accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s e-commerce market, plunged on the Moscow Exchange after the company reported a series of drone strikes on its warehouses.
Ukrainian drone strikes hit several of Ozon's warehouses across Russia, causing a sharp 27% drop in the company's shares on the Moscow Exchange. The marketplace, which controls nearly a quarter of Russia's e-commerce, saw its market capitalization plummet by 185 billion rubles ($2.2 billion) shortly after the attacks, marking the lowest point for Ozon's shares since August 2023.
This incident marks the sixth warehouse attacked by drones in the past three days, with the most recent strikes occurring in Samara and Orenburg on the weekend, and another attack overnight on August 24 in a suburb of Krasnodar and in Makhachkala.
Ozon disclosed that six of its warehouses were targeted, including facilities in Adygeysk and Nevinnomyssk that were evacuated due to the threat of drone attacks. No damage was reported to the warehouses or the goods inside, but the fire at the Makhachkala site left several people injured. Shares of Sistema, the company owned by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov which has a substantial stake in Ozon, also fell by 12.4%, hitting a low of 7.56 rubles ($0.09) per share.
The Russian market, including the broader Moscow Exchange Index, suffered a decline due to the new wave of attacks on logistics infrastructure and heightened geopolitical risks.
The broader Russian market's decline saw the Moscow Exchange Index fall by 2.5% to 2,081 points. Analysts predict that a fresh wave of stock-market downturns could push shares to new lows for the year. BCS analyst Andrey Sharov suggested that Ozon might suspend dividend payments, although it remains uncertain how much damage the attacks inflicted on the company's operations.
Wildberries, which generates more revenue than Ozon, has already incurred significant losses, estimated at several hundred billion rubles or several billion dollars, from the attacks, including the destruction of goods and the impact on sellers. Total damage from the attacks on the marketplace's infrastructure could reach approximately 1 trillion rubles ($11.9 billion).
Written by urgent.news from New Voice of Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
