Page 92 - RUSRptSept18

Euromonitor. Local analysts surveyed by Vedomosti e stimate the share of black market at 7.7%, with the share reaching as much as 30% in regions bordering with Belarus and Kazakhstan. The illegal tobacco market grew 7-fold in the past four years, with the state missing about RUB50bn in excise payments in 2018 alone.
Russian billionaire and tech investor Alisher Usmanov and his partners will invest over RUB200bn ($3bn) in state-private partnership that will develop a country-wide system of goods labelling, Vedomosti d aily reported on August 22 citing internal government memos. USM Holdings of Usmanov will own 50% in the Centre of Research of Promising Technologies (CRPT), with another 25% held by Alexander Galitsky of Almaz Capital Partners and state technology company Rostec. CRPT will reportedly spend RUB206bn in 15 years to create a countrywide system of labelling goods, to be charging the producers RUB0.5 for each labelled unit. The joint venture plans to earn RUB1.5bn profit annually, with a return of 16%. The joint venture will also inherit the database of fur and medicine labels that was created by the Federal Tax Service. Other mandatory goods to be labelled include alcohol, tobacco, footwear, perfumes and toiletries, photo and video equipment, and other. Vedomosti c laims that CPRT got the contract in a non-competitive bid by a decision of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, which was lobbies by Rostec's Sergei Chemezov. Reportedly the CEO of Russia's largest bank Sberbank German Gref is lobbying to allow different label system operators for different goods categories.
Sberbank becomes Russia’s most valuable brand In the topsy tuvey world of Russian business it is perhaps no surprise that a state-owned bank is the biggest in the country, Russia’s most valuable company, most profile financial institution in the sector, one of the most efficiently run corporations and now adds “Russia’s most valuable brand” to its long list of accolades. Sberbank was recognized as the most expensive Russian brand, after the value of its name surged 18% y/y to RUB670.4bn ($10bn), according to the Brand Finance consultancy in its annual review. Google remains the most expensive brand in the world, but Sberbank tops the Russian list followed by Gazprom that saw its brand value up by 5% to RUB320.8bn ($4.8bn), and privately owned Lukoil that saw its brand value lose 1%, falling to RUB281.1bn ($4.2bn) over the last year. Russia’s most valuable brands
Brand
value RUB Rank Company bn
Brand
value USD Change bn % y/y
1 Sberbank 670.4 10 18
2 Gazprom 320.8 4.8 5
3 Lukoil 281.1 4.2 -1
4 Rosneft 203.9 3 13
5 Russian Railways 159 2.4 35
6 Magnit 145.2 2.2 -5
7 VTB 117.6 1.8 11
8 MTS 114.5 1.7 23
9 Tatneft 97.3 1.4 9
92 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com