Page 95 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
Russia's heavy truck maker Kamaz had its corporate family rating (CFR) upgraded to Ba3 from B1 with Stable outlook by Moody's Investors Service, the agency said on November 14. Last year saw a spectacular turnaround for Kamaz that made net profit of RUB1.2bn ($20mn) versus net loss of RUB3.3bn in 2015 and boosted its market share on domestic truck market to over 55%. Kamaz's Ebitda margin (as adjusted by Moody's) increased to 3.5% in 2016 from -3.8% in 2015, and further improved to 6.1% for the 12 months to June 2017. Leverage was cut from 6.1x as of end-2016 to 4.1x by mid-2017, driven by increased Ebitda. The leverage is expected to remain stable as Moody's assumes that the Russian government's guarantee of RUB35bn (out of, which RUB20bn covers Kamaz bonds issued in 2015-2016) will cover any new debt that Kamaz takes on to fund capex. Most recently the company said it will pay its first dividend since 2014 , the main shareholders being state technology agency Rostec (49.9%), Avtoinvest holding (23.54%), and German carmaker Daimler (15%).
9.2.3 Aviation corporate news
9.2.4 Construction & Real estate corporate news
Latvia's AirBaltic plans its passenger services from Riga to Russian cities will grow by 15% in the current year, the company's CEO Martin Gauss told TASS on sidelines of the air show in Dubai on Sunday. "This year we plan the growth of 15%, and a similar growth in 2018," he said. The company will serve at the Russian direction within the current year 3.5 million passengers, he added. Earlier, Gauss told TASS in the coming year the company would open flights from Riga to Russia's Sochi and Kaliningrad. The flights would be performed by Bombardier CS300.
Real estate major Immofinanz will sell $1.05bn worth of its Russian assets to St Petersburg developer Fortgroup , Reuters reported on November 13 citing the Austrian company. Fortgroup is to acquire five shopping malls in Moscow by the end of 2018, clearing the way for Immofinanz's merger with another Austrian peer CA Immo. For Fortgroup that owns ten shopping malls in St Petersburg with a total area of 0.5mn square meters, the acquisition will allow to get a foot in the Russian capital.
Alfa Group of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman established a subsidiary Alta Plus to sell non-core real estate assets , Vedomosti daily said on November 24. The company that consolidated over 0.1mn square meters of real estate valued at about RUB10bn ($172mn).
9.2.5 Retail corporate news
French lingerie producer Etam Group will open its own Russian branch instead of expanding its franchise operations and holds to increase its market share ten-fold , Vedomosti daily said on November 10 citing the head of the group Laurent Milchior. Etam is the largest French lingerie maker running over 4,000 shops in 52 countries under brands Etam, Undiz, and 1.2.3. with operational profit of €49mn and €1.3bn turnover in 2016. Russia is the group's fourth largest market with a share of 6-7% in total revenues,
95 RUSSIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com