Russia's Magnit reports forecast-beating margins, profits rise

* Q4 EBITDA margin at 11.1 pct vs 10.8 pct forecast

* EBITDA comes in slightly above expectations

* Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) profit up to 15.6 bln roubles, beats forecast

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia's biggest food retailer Magnit said on Wednesday its core profit margin declined slightly in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, to 11.1 percent, beating analysts' forecasts.

Analysts had expected Magnit's margin on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to fall to 10.8 percent from 11.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to weaker sales growth and price cuts amid intensified competition and consumer spending slowdown.

"The results are quite strong: with a slowdown in revenue growth, Magnit did not have significant profitability losses," said Nikolai Kovalev, analyst at VTB Capital.

The company, Russia's top grocery chain by sales and number of stores, also reported a 13 percent rise in net profit to 15.6 billion roubles ($197 million), while analysts expected a 10 percent drop to 12.4 billion roubles.

Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rose by around 14 percent to 28.8 billion roubles, slightly above the Reuters poll forecast of 28.4 billion, while net sales were up 17.8 percent at 260.2 billion roubles.

Moscow-listed shares in Magnit were up 0.55 percent in early trade on the slightly negative market.

($1 = 79.1500 roubles) (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Olga Sichkar; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov)