Page 8 - bne_newspaper_May_18_2018

The Regions This Week
May 18, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eastern Europe
Embattled energy and metals major En+ of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska reportedly stepped up lobbying efforts in the hope of reversing the effect of US Treasury sanctions that rocked Deripaska's businesses in April.
The Ukrainian government postponed the privatisation of major state-owned companies, including those planned for May-June, to the end of autumn, while some experts doubt the country will be able to sell any large assets this year.
The net capital outflow from Russia exceeded the full year forecast in first four months of this year after it increased to $21bn from $17.9bn in January-April 2018 against the same period of last year, according to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).
The Association of European Businesses (AEB) says a draft anti-sanctions law will hurt Russian and European businesses. The bill has already passed its first reading and is designed to punish companies that comply with sanctions imposed by the US on Russia in April.
Russian retailer O'Key could hold an IPO of its discounter format "Yes!" (Da!) once discounters become profitable in the next 12-18 months, the company said. The discount arm of the business saw revenues grow by 56% y/y in Q4.
Major Russian fertiliser producer EuroChem exited the Ukrainian market by selling its
100% stake in Ukrainian distribution subsidiary, Agrocentre EuroChem-Ukraine. The companies are supplying nitrogen fertilisers to the rebel-held territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions without customs clearance via closed checkpoints or checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border forbidden by the Ukrainian government.
Russian GDP is expected to expand by only 1%- 1.4% in the second quarter in year-on-year terms due to a high base effect in 2017, despite a recovery
in consumption and industrial output, the central bank said. The estimates don't take the new US sanctions imposed in April into account.
Inflation in Belarus stood at 0.3% month-on- month in April (vs 0.8% m/m in March), and 2.8% year-on-year (vs 4.5% y/y in March), according
to the national statistics agency Belstat.
The London High Court started another hearing in the case involving billionaire Russian shareholders of Norilsk Nickel — metals major Vladimir Potanin (controls Interros), Roman Abramovich (controls Crispian Investments)
and sanctioned Oleg Deripaska (controls Rusal aluminium major).
Ukraine’s leading mobile phone company Kyivstar increased revenue in the first quarter of 2018 by 10.1% to UAH4.263bn ($162mn). Revenue from mobile Internet services was up by almost 59% in the period and accounted for a third (33%) of total revenue from mobile communications.
Rosneft started to deliver on its recent pledge to investors to cut its massive capex programme and reduce debt, seeking to support capitalisation seen as undervalued by its management. Net debt was down 2% as compared to the end of 2017 to RUB3.39 trillion, cutting the leverage to 2.2x of net debt/Ebitda from 2.5x previously.
The Council of the European Union (EU) is imposing sanctions against five individuals responsible for organising the “illegal presidential election” in Ukraine's Crimea and the city of Sevastopol annexed by Moscow in 2014 that were part of Russia’s presidential elections in March.
The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a law that gives foreign investors easier access to the local capital markets by introducing nominee accounts.