Page 102 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

Although more might come in 4Q17, we do not rule out the total being below our estimate of RUB 10-12bn. The company is to hold a conference call on Monday, during, which we shall focus on whether the Mir mine insurance payment gain is to be recorded in P&L in 4Q17 (offsetting the impairment), an update on the sale of gas assets and additional colour on 2017 dividends. Our unchanged 12-month Target Price of RUB 140 implies an ETR of 98%: Buy reiterated. EBITDA in line, FCFE stronger as capex lags. The top line of RUB 59bn beat our estimates by 4% on higher other revenues, but EBITDA of RUB 27bn was in line. The company recorded RUB 7bn of capex, with 9mo17 at RUB 18bn, lower than we expected, which suggests downside risks to the FY17 guidance of RUB 31.5bn. Hence, 3Q17 FCFE came in at RUB 11.1bn, better than we expected.
Paslentia Investments LTD, the owner of a 5.03% stake in Korshunovsky GOK, a subsidiary of Russian metal and mining major M echel , filed a lawsuit against Mechel over a series of old loans totalling RUB4.2bn, Vedomosti reported on November 24. Palestina Investment LTD claims that its minority shareholders' rights were violated, as they were not consulting on loans, which were actually a way to funnel money from Korshunovsky. Mechel, which just recently began to merge from years of financial distress, allegedly masked the size of loans by dividing them into smaller ones. "It was done with just one goal of avoiding to pay dividends to minority shareholders," a spokesman for Palestina Investment said, adding that as much as RUB22bn were eventually funnelled out of Korshunovsky. Minority shareholders claim they haven't seen dividends in nine years.
9.2.11 Transport corporate news
One of the leading container shippers Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) wants to participate in the sale of major container shipping company Transcontainer , Kommersant daily said on November 7 citing sources close to the deal. Transcontainer is one of the most attractive transportation assets that is potentially up for sale in Russia, along with country's largest port operator NSCP and Far East port operator Fesco. Government officials expressed readiness to breakdown the controlling stake in Transcontainer held by state railroads monopoly Russian Railways (RZD). Previous unconfirmed reports claim that UCL Holding of Russianbnaire Vladimir Lisin is ready to acquire the stake from RZD and now MSC could reportedly team up with UCL in the deal. The company already co-owns a stake in St Petersburg Container Terminal with UCL.
Russia's first ever “Platov” airport built from scratch on not on top of existing Soviet infrastructure, has been launched 29km outside of the city of Rostov-on-Don. However, the new RUB19bn ($324mn) airport controlled by the Aeroporti Regionov of tycoon Victor Vekselberg could be too expensive for local air carriers, according to Vedomosti. The fees for landing and take off are 1.6-fold higher than an existing airport in Rostov-on-Don, security levy is 3.2 times higher, and other fees are between 2 and 5 times higher. Reportedly the flights from the old airport that served 2.1mn passengers in 2016 will be transferred to Platov from December 1 to December 7. Rostov-on-Don was the seventh-largest regional airport in 2016.
The state-owned Russian Railways (RZD) monopoly is considering the sale of its 39.8% stake in the power company TGK-14, Interfax reported on
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