MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russian supermarket chain Magnit doubled its IFRS net profit year-on-year in 2012 to 24.995 billion rubles ($803.87 million), the company said in an unaudited preliminary financial statement on Tuesday.

That was higher than the 23.6 billion ruble profit forecast by a group of analysts Prime News contacted.

Magnit, one of Russia's leading household goods retailers, posted a 34 percent rise in annual revenue for 2012 to 448.66 billion rubles, approximately as forecast.

EBITDA for the year rose 71.62 percent to 47.374 million rubles, with EBITDA margin at 10.56 percent.

Net profit for the fourth quarter rose 54 percent year-on-year to 8.2 billion rubles, while revenue for the same period was up 35.2 percent to 129.18 billion rubles.

Magnit raised its forecast for ruble revenue growth for 2013 to the top of the band for its previously-made estimate, or around 27 percent. However, it did not rule out this would be accompanied by a fall in EBITDA margin, CEO Sergey Galitsky said.

“We think around 27 to 29 percent, probably closer to 27 percent,” he said.

In September, Magnit said it expected a growth of 25-27 percent in ruble revenues for 2013.

(Updated with ruble revenue forecast and CEO comments)