Page 118 - RusRPTApr19

reported on March 6. In 2018 MegaFon said remaining public is not among its priorities, as it prepares to complete its transformation "into a digital business in the heart of the new digital ecosystem in Russia." The company as it delisted its shares and GDRs from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and made a $1.3bn buyout offer to minority shareholders almost fully wiping out its freefloat. Reportedly Gazprombank could cash in RUB77.5bn ($1.18bn) for selling the shares at the buyout offer price of RU659 per shares that expires on March 7. The bank acquired the stake from Telia for RUB60.4bn. MegaFon's main shareholder is USM Group of Alisher Usmanov with 56.3% stake, 22.5% controlled by MegaFon Finans, 2.2% held by minority shareholders. MegaFon, in turn, is one of the shareholders in internet major Mail.Ru.
9.2.10 Utilities corporate news
Russia's largest hydropower holding Rusagro reported 2018 revenue growth of 3% year-on-year, to RUB305.9bn (up by 5% to RUB400bn with government subsidies), with Ebitda up by 5% y/y to RUB101bn and net profit jumping 29% y/y to RUB32bn. Earnings of the company beat the consensus expectations by 3%, while net profit came in line with expectations. The increase in revenues was mostly attributed to a record 2.8% y/y production increase (including the Boguchanskaya hydro power plant) due to higher inflows to reservoirs of the Volga-Kama cascade in 1H18 and to reservoirs in Siberia in 2H18, BCS Global Markets wrote on March 18. The hydropower holding was also helped by the increase in consumption of electricity of 3.7% year-on-year in the Far Eastern District of Russia. As reported by bne IntelliNews ahead of the massive write-offs in 2019 after the Russian Far East projects are commissioned, RusHydro’s management rolled out its new dividend proposal, which envisages setting a floor for the absolute dividend level at par with the three-year average. The 2018 results are seen as neutral by BCS, with key focus in the short term being the dividends’ indication for 2018, 2019 financial guidance and the timing of the anticipated additional share issue. "If 50% of IFRS net income will be confirmed as a payout ratio for 2018 dividends’ calculation, DPS will amount [to] RUB0.037/share, yielding 7.8," the analysts estimated.
9.2.11 Metallurgy & mining corporate news
● Gold
Net profit of Russian gold miner Nordgold in 2018 declined by 45% to $91.9mn, the company said on March 25. The decline in net profit was attributed to negative revaluation of non-core assets and higher financial costs, partly compensated by currency gains. Nordgold is controlled by tycoon Alexei Mordashov and is the former gold wing of metal major Severstal's resources division, which the main company span off in 2012. Company's Ebitda in 2019 went down by 10% to $470mn, with revenues down by 6% to $1.14bn, due to "temporary decline in the share of gold in mined and processed ore". In the meantime Nordgold increased capital expenditure by 47% due to exploration and investment in new mines. In 2018 gold output declined by 6% to 0.907mn ounces, also linked to lower quality of extracted gold ore. In the fourth quarter alone output increased by 3% to 0.234mn ounces, due to higher output on Bouly (Burkina Faso) ad Neryungri (Sakha Republic, Russia). Nordgold also operates in Kazakhstan.
● Diamonds
118 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com