Page 21 - bne_newspaper_March_15_2019

Eurasia
March 15, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
World’s biggest uranium producer Kazatomprom sees net profit surge 112% in 2018
bne IntelliNews
The world’s biggest uranium producer Kazatom- prom last week said its adjusted net profit surged by 112% y/y in 2018. The company added that it expected further revenue growth this year.
The jump in net profit was thanks to rising prices and high sales, which grew 65% y/y in 2018. The company’s performance last year overlapped with its initial public offering – it sold a 15% stake in a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the new Astana International Exchange (AIX) that valued the company at $3bn.
Kazatomprom’s net income adjusted for one-off transactions stood at KZT66.8bn (€157.2mn), the statement said.
The company expected consolidated revenue of KZT485bn-KZT505bn in 2019 thanks to higher prices offsetting lower physical sales.
Kazatomprom plans to sell 13,500-14,500 tonnes of uranium this year, compared to 15,287 tonnes in 2018.
The Kazakh uranium miner’s revenue rose 58% to KZT436.6bn, it said.
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FDI in Georgia down 35% y/y in 2018
bne IntelliNews
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia de- creased by 35% y/y to to $1.232bn in 2018, statis- tics office Geostat has announced. The figure is 23% below the average FDI seen in the previous five-year period.
The FDI-to-GDP ratio remained, however, robust at some 7.5% in 2018.
The main reasons for the decline in FDI included the completion of a pipeline project, the transferring of ownership in some companies from non-resident to resident units and a reduction in liabilities to non- resident direct investors, Geostat observed.
41% y/y to $700mn, which was also 41% below the average in the previous five years. The volume of earnings generated by FDI companies in Georgia and re-invested dropped by 15% y/y but was
60% above the five-year average. Inter-company borrowing was not yet significant: a negative $26mn in 2018 (local FDI companies returning loans to partners in the same group abroad).
The largest FDI investor remained Azerbaijan (19.5%), followed by the UK (16.5%) and the Neth- erlands (13.6%). Azerbaijan was the largest inves- tor in the country due to the gas pipeline project centred on Shah Deniz.
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The volume of new equity investments dropped by