Page 75 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

dividend payout increase to 50% is an additional supportive factor.
MMK MAGN RUB41.5/ 24% RX GDR
MMK’s shares have fallen 20% from the 1Q17 high and it remains one of the cheapest steel names globally at 3.8x EV/EBITDA for 2017. Steel industry is recovering and the steel over bulks premium in China is expanding; MMK, which has the lowest integration into raw materials, is the key beneficiary.
Novatek NVTK LI $133/GD 17% The stock has been considerably oversold on the back of the crude R oil slump and has not yet recovered. Timely launch of Yamal LNG
along with the new strategy presentation in 2H17 are key drivers for a re-rating, in our view.
Globaltrans
GLTR LI
$8.7/GD 13% R
This year should be successful for the company, because the deficit of gondola cars on the rail network has led to rising tariffs, which have already achieved RUB1,500 per rail car per day. As a result, we see upside risk to our earnings estimates. Additionally, the company may pay interim dividends for 1H17, while the annual dividend yield is close to
8.3.2 Dividends dynamics
The board of directors of metals major MMK recommended a third-quarter dividend of RUB1.11 per share, implying a 2.6% dividend yield (10.4% yield on an annualized basis), according to the estimates of Alfa Bank on November 9.
Russian state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom won't increase dividends due to a record-high investment programme for 2018 –2019, the company said. Earlier in November, Gazprom's management board approved a RUB1.27 trillion ($18.3bn) investment programme for 2018. In 2019, the gas giant's investment is supposed to go up by another 10% to RUB1.4 trillion, which makes the total value of the company's investment over the next two years comparable with its market capitalisation, which currently stands at RUB3.2bn. As a result, Gazprom won't increase its dividends in 2018–2019, keeping the figure at the current level of RUB190bn. "Although the company's investments over the next two years will go up, we will totally keep our balanced dividend policy," Gazprom's chairman Alexei Miller was quoted as saying by Interfax. Nearly one third of Gazprom's investment in 2018 will be paid for from foreign loans, putting the figure at a record high RUB417bn ($7bn), the company said earlier.
Applying the 50% of profit dividend rule to state-owned banks would be “incorrect,” as lenders have to comply with capital requirements that are fed by profits, the governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), Elvira Nabiullina said. Government recently said it plans to increase the dividend payout of Russia's largest bank Sberbank to 40% of net profit in 2018 and further to 45-50% in 2019-2020.
The shareholders of Russian steelmaker Severstal have approved paying 35.61 rubles per share in dividends for July–September , as seen by PRIME on Monday in materials of the company. The record date for the dividends is December 5. In 2016, Severstal paid 24.96 rubles per share, or a total of 20.91bn rubles, in dividends for July–September. The company also paid 22.28 rubles per share or 18.66bn rubles in dividends for April–June 2017, and 24.44 rubles per share or 20.5bn rubles in dividends for
75 RUSSIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com