Page 118 - RusRPTJan21

8.3.2 ​ Dividends dynamics
● Oil & gas
The board of directors of Russian oil company​ R​ osneft​ has prolonged a buyback program for one year, until 2022, ​the company said in a statement on Thursday. The US $2bn buyback program to purchase up to 340mn shares was launched in March 2018, and was scheduled to last until 2021. UBS was appointed its independent agent. Rosneft's unit RN-Capital acquires the shares. Since the launch of the program, the company bought back 80.758mn securities spending $369.5mn.
Gazprom Neft​’s EGM approved a 9M20 interim dividend of RUB5/share, with the record date set for 29 December. ​The payout is equivalent to 65% of IFRS net income. Following the EGM, Alexander Dyukov, CEO of Gazprom Neft, commented on dividends and the outlook for the company’s 2020 results, as reported by Interfax. Mr. Dyukov said that the company will continue to pay out 50% of net income in dividends, and any change to the payout policy is unlikely. He said he expects Gazprom Neft to post a profit for 2020, but this will depend on the ruble and oil prices. The company reported net income of RUB36bn for 9M20. On production, Mr. Dyukov said that the company will start increasing production and restarting mothballed wells in West Siberia, according to Reuters. He sees oil demand normalizing in early to mid-2022. Gazprom Neft is in talks with MinFin to move some of its fields in West Siberia to the excess profit tax (EPT) scheme. Sova Capital view the comments as neutral. Consensus and we expect a dividend close to 4% for FY20.
Novatek​’s BoD approved a new dividend policy on December 18​. The company increased its minimum target payout level from 30% to 50% of adjusted IFRS net income. We view the decision as marginally positive but expected. In our update from 11 November, we increased the payout ratio for our dividend calculation to 50% of adjusted net income. Our forecast for the FY20 dividend is RUB 26.6/share, or a 2% yield, which is in line with current FactSet consensus of RUB 26.8/share. Novatek paid RUB 11.82/share for 1H20, or 48% of normalized profit excluding FX. We expected the increase in the payout ratio. The stock reacted positively to the announcement, and the local line and DRs were up 3.2% and 3.4% on Friday.
● Metal & Mining
The shareholders of Russian steelmaker​ ​Severstal​ have approved paying RUB37.34 per share, or around RUB31.28bn, in dividends for July–September, ​the company said in a statement on Monday. The record date for the dividends is December 8. Severstal paid RUB27.47 per share in dividends for July–September 2019. In 2020, the company already paid RUB27.35 per share, or a total of around RUB22.91bn, in dividends for January–March and RUB15.44 per share, or a total of RUB12.93bn, for April–June. The core owner of Severstal is tycoon Alexei Mordashov with a stake of 77.03%.
118 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ January 2021 www.intellinews.com