STOCKHOLM, Nov 25 Reuters Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA stores, reported on Friday a 9 rise in annual operating profit, as price increases helped it offset higher input costs as well as compensate for costs incurred to wind down in Russia.

The world39;s biggest furniture retailer said operating profit in the 12 months through August was 2.04 billion euros 2.12 billion, on sales growth of 6. It had in March predicted price increases would average 12 in the year.

During FY22, we needed to compensate substantial cost increases in raw materials, energy, transport and logistics, Chief Financial Officer Juvencio Maeztu told Reuters. We absorbed many of these new costs ourselves, but ultimately had to pass on parts of them.

Maeztu also said the operating profit reflected good performance across divisions, which also include shopping malls and an investment arm.

Net profit, however, tumbled 82 to 287 million euros. Ingka attributed this to higher interest rates, which hit one of Ingka Investments39; investment portfolios.

The drop is mainly due to the significant impact of interest rates on Financial Market Investments FMI, in line with global financial market developments and due to the effects of scaling down operations in Russia, Ingka said.

During the year, rising interest rates meant lower bond values in our FMI, in line with the world39;s financial markets, an Ingka spokesperson added.

Ingka Investments has 20 billion euros worth of financial assets under…