Page 106 - RusRPTSept20

eventual capacity of 75,000 tonnes of pork in live weight at full capacity.
“Its primary focus is on meeting internal pork consumption demand within Russia, which is to be covered by the first stage of the project. On our numbers, that is to bring 35,000 additional tonnes of pork supply (12% more capacity in our model) in 2021F,” VTB Capital (VTBC) said in a note.
But the real potential in the project is for exports, particularly to China, which are currently being discussed by the respective authorities and business representatives, VTBC reports.
The USDA estimates that China will import 4.4mnt of pork in 2020, implying 43% of the global pork trade and 15% of meat overall. Were there to be greater export volumes to Asian countries, that could become an important growth driver for the meat sector in Russia, as well as Rusagro’s project in the Russian Far East.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
In spring, the tech firm registered 17 financial trademarks, including YaBank, YaBroker, YaDeposit, YaInsurance, YaPortfolio, YaSavings, YaStocks, YaTrade, and YaCash. The firm lost Yandex.Money, which was developed as a joint venture with Sberbank, when the companies’ ended their partnership earlier this year. Experts note that Yandex does not look simply to replace Yandex.Money, but to create an entire ecosystem that rivals Sberbank’s.
Norma Investment of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich will invest $20mn in 110 Industries game developer, Vedomosti daily reported on August 14 citing representatives of Abramovich and other co-investors GEM Capital and film producer Sergei Kornihin. As reported by bne IntelliNews, Abramovich and partners have recently sold a stake in Russian gold producer Highland Gold, and the market was wondering where he would reinvest the proceeds. 110 Industries was founded in 2017 by Sergei Kolobashkin and Anton Poletayev, with the first games waiting to be released with the final investment from Abramovich and partners. The developer had already raised $4.1mn. Previously Norma Investments also invested in the botched blockchain project TON of Telegram messenger of Pavel Durov, along with other high-profile Russian investors, Vedomosti reminds.
9.2.8 Telecoms corporate news
Russian mobile phone company Veon reported 2Q20 IFRS that were below expectations leading the manage to suggest there may be no dividend payment this year. Results were 2-3% below forecasts, but Veon anticipates recovery in 2H20 and updated 2020 guidance to a single-digit decline in EBITDA. “In this light, no ’20 dividend guidance is very negative and unexpected,” said analysts with VTB Capital (VTBC) said in a note. Revenue declined 16% y/y and EBITDA dropped 19% in EBITDA (7% and 11% in local currency), driven by both weakness in local currencies vs dollar (especially in Russia and Pakistan), as well as pressure from measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. The latter includes a hit to handset sales, roaming revenue, issue with customer top-ups in countries with lower penetration of online payments (e.g., in Pakistan and Bangladesh), as well as macro weakness. In Russia,
106 RUSSIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com