Corporate profits bounced back strongly in October on the back of the summer’s rapid recovery from the lockdowns in the second quarter that saw retail sales return to about the same level as they were at in September 2019.

Russian companies earned a cumulative total of RUB8,425bn ($114bn) by the end of October, on a par with the profits achieved up to the end of October in 2017, but still well behind the RUB11,552bn in 2018 and RUB13,002bn in 2019, when the post-2014 recovery was gathering some real momentum.

In month-on-month terms October saw a large bounce-back, with companies earning RUB1,452bn ($19.6bn) in the month against the RUB470bn they earned the month before.

The m/m earnings in October were very strong and even ahead of the results of the last three years as the pent-up demand from the summer’s lockdown was released.

October was the first month of “normal” profits for Russian companies, as earnings have been below par for every month this year, although in June and July earnings were only slightly below those of previous years. However, the strong profits in October are unlikely to repeat themselves in November and December, as these months were increasingly affected by the second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19), which has been twice as bad as the first wave.

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